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Just saw an advertisement on my Instagram feed. Paramount+ 5/12/23. Geddy Lee; 'Are Bass Players Human Too?' This looks good fun.

Recently got this beautiful 55-94 as well as the HX stomp. Going minimalist with my board. Christmas came early for me haha

I consider myself technically a very average bass player, very average, but rightly or wrongly I also consider myself to be musically/artistically and acoustically/structurally literate. The best compliment I ever received from a fellow musician was: "You're one of those players who no-one notices until you stop playing". I try to live by that, don't stand out, be part of the whole, but nonetheless make a difference. You don't have to be much cop at bass to do that 👍

To this day, I still really enjoy early Rush (aside from Caress of Steel), but fell out of love from Signals on. The one overriding thing with them though - Neil Peart included - is that it's obvious there's huge chemistry between them, there's humour and they really don't seem to have any issue in poking fun as themselves. Just look at the dinner film they did. It's hilarious. Like many of us here, we've seen the Beyond The Lighted Stage documentary and from this and the many interviews with Geddy and Alex, like Taylor Swift, they seem incredibly likeable - the Dan Rather thing with Geddy Lee was great too. I'm of the belief that the joy we can get from Geddy transcends music itself. Looking forward to this.

Guitarist's view of what makes a good bass player - plays the roots. Drummer's view of what makes a good bass player - locks in with the drums. Singer's view of what makes a good bass player - plays the right notes. Bass player's view of what makes a good bass player - owns a van, PA, lights, organises gigs and rehearsals, breaks up fights, designs websites and prints setlists...

(with thanks to the GIMP and sincerest apologies to Gallien-Krueger...)

I am looking forward to packing away someone else's Spectors. Ideally, Guy Pratt's! I can add it to Paul McCartney's Hofner....

If I’m not in a band , I will rarely play bass at home , I much prefer to pick up a Classical guitar and play that until I manage to wheedle my way into a band as a bassist . As previously said , there is always the natural ebb and flow of playing music , I don’t think you can sustain 110% effort all the time without some burnout or disinterest. My current band suits me very well , we mainly gig in Summer, our rehearsals are very low stress social events , lots of chat and cups of tea , lots of varied and unusual material to try , we all know we are never going to play Wembley , For me , the key is to enjoy music / playing bass.

I'm going to try to get over to this. It looks like it's going to be busy. I'll bring some LFSys cabs, including a brand new model, together with a Veyron amp and Squier CV Precision. I'm looking forward to meeting all the familiar names I've read over the years but never met.

There's another HPF thread here. (I've partly quoted my response from there). I've recently added the Sine H24 to my board, at the end of the line. I can't compare it with any other HPF. We have a regular sound guy and he was showing me the EQ he uses for my bass in the FOH sound. It had a cut at 35hz and since I like the sound he gets, I thought I'd invest. I tried the Sine at rehearsals, going in to a TCE BAM200 and a 1x15" bass cab. The Sine was set to cut 30hz (the lowest setting). I could definitely hear a difference with it engaged. Very subtle but it tightened the sound up. We record all our rehearsals (just in case we want to release a 'Lost Tapes' retrospective 😂). The recording had a more defined bass guitar sound (all other factors - mic position, recording levels etc - being equal). The master volume on the amp was slightly lower than usual. A non-scientific review, I know, but enough for me to be placing this as a permanent 'always on' pedal on the board.

Yeah.... about that.... Err..... I hope you take soul crushing, world ending disappointment with a smile.

This Saturday, in Hereford...

(Instant) Whip It! ～ Devo

Build one?

The main problem (in my opinion based on several interactions) with BD is Marcus (not Mark). Unbelievably rude and arrogant - acts in such a condescending and patronising way, absolutely no excuse for that - it's been something that's been said on here many many times. Honestly, I don't understand why Mark keeps him around. Lose him, hire someone that can at least act like they give a single toss, and BD would hugely benefit.

On a good day I think I'm a decent bass player considering that I'm an amateur enthusiast. I could definitely have been a professional if I had wanted to be, bearing in mind that to be a professional you don't need to be great, you just need to get paid. My goal from when I got my first bass when I was twelve years old was always to be a good player. I wasn't even that bothered about being in a band. Forty-odd years later I still feel the same way and I'm still tormented by the need to improve even though I am only playing at home for my own amusement nowadays. I've seen and heard some superb bass playing from Basschatters over the years, for sure. Occasionally I have also seen some very average to poor playing too, sometimes from members who have stressed and obsessed about the finer details a equipment choices. That in itself has been a valuable lesson. It's much easier to improve your equipment than your playing. Good luck to all of them anyway. What's for sure is that if I don't have something nice to say then I say nothing at all. It's worth mentioning that I've endured an awful lot (much too much) virtuosic bass playing by pro players that was incredibly dreary and self-indulgent. I would much rather listen to amateur players who play with conviction at whatever level than have endure competent twaddle, so I definitely wouldn't necessarily equate how technically proficient a bass player is with how enjoyable the music is.

I should be getting a fretless tomorrow, and I have a gig on saturday. Seems like the ideal oportunity to find out if it is a good idea

Yes, because they have eleventy-five Spectors to pack away... 🙄

Dirty Old Man — Martha Turner

Moves like Jagger - Moron 5

Buy a whole cab from Stevie pre made and all the design and DIY niggles taken care of!

You’re My Best Friend - Queen

Being competent will do for me. As long as I play the right notes in the right order, I'm happy.

I have plenty of hangups about my playing. I know loads of people who can play better than I can. However, a drummer who knows once told me I put the beat in a sexy place and that is good enough for me.

Despite gigging more or less continuously at 20-30 gigs a year with a covers band I’d probably describe myself as barely adequate. Far too lacking in confidence to even try out gear if it means playing in front of other bassists. It can take me weeks to learn some songs and I rely heavily on tabs and chord charts. If it’s not in ultimate guitar I’m lost. I know my limitations and work within them. I’ve along list of skills I want to accomplish so s*** hot? I’m not. I’m sure bass playing is like every other human skill, normally distributed: 20% of us are truly skilled, 20% are awful and 60% of us are intermediate. A little story, I came to bass via cricket. I have one skill, I can throw straight. I can’t catch and I definitely can’t bat. I’m not big or strong but at my best I can bowl accurate line and length and I’ll happily run round a boundary all day. I can do maths as well and realised we won more matches when I played than when I didn’t. Some of my team were in a band and they needed a bassist. However crap I was they would be better with me than without a bassist and I let myself be persuaded. I could hold a beat and hit a root and mostly that was enough. I’ve played in bands with people with genuine talent and skills but sometimes in life, music and cricket a good line and length, holding down an end is all you need.

The deadwood stage - DD (so lovely, they named a bra size after her)

Last one of the year for us, at our second home and sometime recording venue. We're 60% sold already, which is nice and we'll be showcasing some of the new stuff as well.

Mark needs to recruit, train and manage his staff better than he does. They lost my business by taking payment for a £1500 item that was not in stock and it appears was never going to be, and then when I contacted them they pretty much blanked me, forcing me to get PayPal involved to secure a refund. Mark was away at the time, which perhaps explains the problem, but even so it’s still his responsibility. He should make sure his staff don’t lose him customers as the result of poor training and poor systems

I came close to giving up some years ago. Instead I started collecting unusual bass guitars, although I've now reduced the collection somewhat. I kept my hand in, played with a folk outfit for a bit but quit that when other members demonstrated their lack of regard for the time I was committing to the project. Then I got contacted by a lifelong friend and former bandmate asking if I'd be interested in getting involved in a musical project with him and a very talented songwriter. I seized the opportunity, and now at the age of 51 am playing the best I ever have - creating music I am immensely proud of (including singing! ) with two great mates. We have a good laugh, we perform professionally and I am so glad I didn't jack it in.

I thought I'd just mention these Yamaha WL500 headphones as I haven't seen anything posted about them elsewhere. They were developed by Yamaha and Line6 and offer full wireless capability aimed at musicians. https://uk.yamaha.com/en/products/musical_instruments/guitars_basses/amps_accessories/yh-wl500/index.html I recently bought a pair of Yamaha YH-L700A headphones and they are stunning... I came across these when looking at their site and was amazed I hadn't heard about them before. Given how impressed I am with the 700's for listening to music, I am naturally intrigued about these, which are called the YH-WL500 (catchy) Thought it might be useful for some, as I have seen a few threads recently asking about playing bass through wireless headphones (normally people assume bluetooth would work but there's too much latency) Cheers ped

I would have to rate Elton's band up to 1976 as one of the very best backing groups of the 1970s. Off the top of my head I can only think of David Bowie's band post -1976 (George Murray, Carlos Alomar et al) that can rival them.

Facebook link of some vid from last Saturday's gig at Blues at Barleylands, Billericay - a Jeff Healey tune 'See The Light' https://fb.watch/nWlFa4jPa_/

The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) - Tom Waits

At 66 I've reached the point where I am the best bass player that I can be - aspiration for improvement becomes inexorably balanced against increasing decrepitude. Does that make me a good bass player? Not really, I don't have the chops or theory. But am I good enough for what I do? I believe so. I might not do much but what I do is OK.

I absolutely live and breathe envelope filters lol. After trying nearly all of them I have come to the conclusion that every filter reacts differently to every instrument you use it with, and that also depends on the player's style and attack. As such it's really hard to recommend any given filter because even some of my favourites sound better with some basses than others. As said above, it's a slippery but funky slope and you won't lose anything by trying out as many used examples of all the different types as you can. Can I also recommend that you keep your first one, because it's annoying to realise that you liked that one best all along when you're about 20 filters through the journey!

I have bought so many over the years and the EBS is the best. In a live mix it does the sound I hear in my head when I think envelope filter

Possibly with just 2 basses,vox and drums - no guitar!!!

Looking at and reading about, yes. I am incredibly competent at spending too many hours reading about other basses when i should be playing mine. Despite the research i still forget things and ask stupid questions partly due to a partied out short term memory. When it comes to playing, a polite person would say " bless, look at him have a go" Mark me down for the bottom of that scale please

https://soundshirts.com/ have kindly donated a fab Bass motif Tee shirt.

I aim for mediocrity and hope to achieve it one day

I've only been playing for a year, and not practising as much as I should due to life being busy etc etc, and I'm not very confident in terms of technical ability, but I've finally learned how to read tabs and during the last couple of months something has "clicked" in terms of understanding what the bass is there to do. I might not be a great bass player, but it makes me happy in a way that nothing else does, and I'm grateful for that.

One of my mates, Chris ( @bassface2k10) is imo a great player - never known him to miss a beat, always in time and had an excellent practice regime. Despite this he would never play at Bass Bashes - he held everybody else in high esteem while doubting his own ability. I think that this is a typical bassist characteristic - if we were shouty, "look at me" people we'd probably have been guitards.

It sounds dreadful and is overpriced big time.

I LOVE Dee!! He was one of a group of seventies/early eighties bassists (Peter Cetera, Tiran Porter, Rutger Gunnarsson, John Deacon, Joe Puerta, etc) who took groove, melody and counterpoint within pop/rock music to a new creative level... You're right, Elton should have never sacked him & Nigel!