mrtcat

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1432660302' post='2783714'] We are lucky to have Cream City here in Milwaukee. Walk in there and they will have anything you want from vintage 60s Hofners to any Fenders Gibson Warwicks Rics Sadowsky etc ... They have it all. Blue [/quote] Putting my house up for sale and looking into green card lottery...

Having recently converted my workshop into a soundproof studio I have furnished it with all sorts of bits (guitars, amps, PC, monitors and drums). Now i have absolutely no inclination to pick up a six string guitar but I can't stop playing drums. It's so much fun and I love it. With the PC i have flown through a heap of youtube lessons and found it really easy so far. 6 weeks in and one of the guitarists I work with who's pretty decent has asked me if I want to join his band as a drummer. I always wanted to play drums as a kid but my folks wouldnt let me have a kit or lessons so I gave up on the idea without ever picking up sticks. I've played bass for 23yrs now and love it but love the drums SO much more and would say I'm already close to being as good as a drummer as a bass player. Anyone else ever found a new instrument by mistake?

Simple economics. The shops will know what sells best and stock accordingly, the ones that don't will go bust. Places like Bass Direct, Bass Gear etc are great and will do well as long as there aren't too many of them. There are few enough bass players out there relatively speaking and the savvy ones will know where to find the bass they want. High st music shops are possibly left with the less savvy to sell to these days hence the fairly dull ranges of basses and amps carried (the old faithful middle of the road combos etc). If all the music retailers have a killer bass dept then each one would probably only shift a handful of basses / amps each year and they'd all be wasting their time with it.

They are more expensive but the tips are replaceable at just $2 so they have a long life. I've played with them (I'm no drummer) but they felt ok to me. The kick beater really helps too.

Anyone else using these? [url="http://www.lidwishsolutions.com"]www.lidwishsolutions.com[/url] we find them far better than hot rods for volume control and drummist says they feel better to play with.

Very quiet. I quite like it though as it's good for the technique. Irritates the hell out of the wife when I play it on the sofa tho.

With a frequency range of 42Hz - 160Hz there's not a pre amp in the world that will make it sound like a bass amp. It's clearly a dedicated sub..............AND I WANT A PAIR!!!

Best of luck. Enjoy it and you'll be fine.

They're hard to find because they're so important that you simply can't compromise. IME they either have groove or they don't and all the chops in the world won't make them right for a band. If you get a good one you take a big first step towards making a success of the function outfit.

I have left a band before because a guitarist would refuse to play a guitar that was detuned by a semitone (he claimed that only wimpy guitards tuned down as it made it easier to play). Ultimately I'll play any song in any key as long as it's the key that is best for the singist. I take two basses to gigs if the band requires something like Sweet Child in Db. I just use an A/B pedal so changing bass takes approx 4 seconds. In my main band a semitone on sweet child / forget you / higher and higher etc makes a big difference for our singer in terms of comfort and reducing the strain on his voice. So much so that we can do two gigs in one day if we drop tunings on just a couple of songs. Our guitard uses a digitech "the drop" pedal and it makes it easy.

Every Yamaha bass I've ever picked up has been pretty much perfect. I really need to visit this place.

Our setlist is slowly changing to be more like my playlist as the band evolves naturally. We started as a pub rock band six yrs ago (easy way to get gigs) but we have grown and various members have left to be replaced with better players so our collective chops have improved. We no longer play pubs or much rock as we now do loads of Motown, pop and disco at weddings, parties and corporate gigs.

Sounds awesome. It's great to hear of kids being encouraged to play proper instruments. Hoping and praying my littl'un gets into music and enjoys it as much as I have done / will continue to do

Lucky enough to have bought a house with a massive shed / workshop two years ago. Have converted half the shed into a 5m x 4m rehearsal space with sofa fridge, electric kit and a bunch of small amps. Built a room within a room so although not 100% soundproof it is pretty close. Awesome to have a free space that we don't have to book and we can over run whenever we like.

Played a 21st bday gig last Fri. There was also a DJ who was a friend of the bday girl's dad. He came up to us before we started and gave us a lecture about not swearing as there were kids present. Towards end of our set we played Happy Birthday with the audience singing. By this point DJ was well oiled and grabbed our singers mic and shouted at the crowd "for f***s sake you miserable bunch of c***s f***ing well sing you b***ards". Made us all chuckle.

I find a heavier gauge B string on a 5er makes an enormous difference. Anything but rotosound will be considered but I'm enjoying D'addarios at the mo.

If it were me, which it isn't, I'd be thinking that a rock/ metal band could do with a little more than 125w per side. Sadly that means changing mixer and then beyond that budget / transport / storage etc are all going to be factors.

I have a stash of super cheap basses in the workshop cupboard. Every time I want something nice I make a big show of selling a cheapo one before buying something sw***y. I just neglect to mention the price difference and instead harp on about how "I'll never understand why people pay so much for the roadworn look" if she questions how I swapped a dog eared old bass without a case for a pristine one in a posh custom fit case.

I went to one a few years back at a pub in Kingswood (A41 between Bicester and Aylesbury). There were some great players there and it had a really nice welcoming vibe and the resident bass player (pretty sure he runs a music shop in Hemel Hempstead or something) was very complimentary and more than happy to let others play.