bassbiscuits

My older brother and me (12 and 15 at the time) discovered the local record library in Swansea in about 1986 and from it borrowed Iron Maiden Live After Death, Kiss Alive II and the Scorpions Worldwide Live over the space of a few weeks, along with some other crap that never made any impact. It changed both our lives totally. He'd decided to learn guitar because some of his mates already did, and i didn't want to be outdone so decided I'd go for bass (after quickly realising my first preference of drums was totally impractical) He really hated me nicking his idea but now nearly 30 years later, we've both done an awful lot of gigs with a great many bands, tho only once or twice ever together, and grown a lot musically along the way (tho I've still got a soft spot for those albums on really loud once in a while). Playing bass has totally defined my life through the considerable ups and downs since teenage years to now, and given me something to identify with when things have been really bad. And I've still never got round to learning the drums....

I've had to play Take That's 'Back for Good' as the first dance in a wedding before. As I've got the dog whistle voice in the band, i had to sing the really high soppy middle section too. Needless to say its not stayed on in our repertoire.....

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1422826812' post='2677312'] My sister has never come to a gig with me as a bassist She came to several of my classical gigs, but hasn't seen me rock my socks off live [/quote] Yeah I think my dad still thought I was standing at the back in some studenty metal band from years ago, He was surprised to see me singing, playing bass, some guitar and harmonica and sharing duties of fronting a busy power trio....

[quote name='paul h' timestamp='1422753512' post='2676547'] Awesome! Too drunk to day anythj g else. Awesome! Paul H - your comment made me chuckle a lot! Cheers bud! [/quote]

For years I've been subject to some weird musician curse - that whenever you invite members of your family to a gig, it invariably turns out to be a crap one. I've lost count of the times I've had to explain to a parent/brother etc how last time we played here it was packed to the rafters, while tonight there's about 10 people in and none of them are even listening. Glad to say I reckon I've broken the jinx! My dad, my bro and his missus all came to my band's gig tonight, which is the first time they've seen me play in about 10 years. And guess what - it was a great gig! 'Back of the net' I believe is the term I'm looking for....

My current one is the best I've put together over the years. A USA Fender P bass, through a Little Mark III head into an Aguilar GS410 cab. The sound coming out does strange things to me…. The cab (purchased from Basschat) is a weighty old bugger tho, so more often than not its my Schroeder 1210 (purchased from Basschat too!) which comes to gigs, and that's a monster-sounding cab considering its size.

I love my Fenders - I have two precisions and a jazz, all USA, plus a MIJ strat and a cheapish acoustic. They were all bought secondhand over the last 20 years, not because I went looking for a Fender, but because on each occasion they were the best match for what I needed. And certainly in the case of the strat and both p basses, they are still among the best examples I've ever played. Saying that I've also played a fair few pretty average Fenders too- I just didn't buy them! I'm sure there are higher end makers producing better than off-the-peg Fenders, but for me they tick an awful lot of the right boxes.

A few moments before we were about to hit the first note in a packed St Patrick's Day gig, my keyboard player pulled tight on a lead on the windowsill behind my amp, flipping over a full pint of water right into the back of my bass amp head's vent openings. After a few minutes of very annoyed shaking of the thing and dabbing it with a towel, it miraculously sounded fine - and has done ever since. The same keyboard player gets bonus points tho - for the time his keyboard x-frame stand just gave up the ghost mid-gig as he was about to launch into a heroic keyboard solo. Instead there was just the loudest bang ever and the poor chap sitting there, hands outstretched in mid air, looking utterly gutted, and this pile of leads and gear on the floor below him. He did get a special mention from the singer at the end of the song tho! Good lad

Ah Queen - what a brilliant band. I've been listening to them a lot lately following those two "Days of our lives" programmes on bbc4 recently. What a brilliant bass player John Deacon is. Just so tasteful and melodic. A real lesson in bass playing. Turns out he was born about five mins from where I currently live too in Leicestershire!

Thank you all for shedding light on this one - I'll go to bed having learned something new. Cheers folks!

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1420754502' post='2653184'] My mum has an iPad and uses a rubber tipped pointing device. She's never touched her screen with a fingertip! [/quote] Hmmm interesting. I wonder how that works then? Maybe the whole thing about electrical stuff from skin isn't the whole picture then...

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1420755891' post='2653213'] I can only do the bare minimum on touch screens - don't like 'em and prefer to have a real keyboard under my fingers. I like real, moving keys. Old skool, me. [/quote] Ha ha this made me laugh!

Wow! Thanks folks - at least I'm not a total freak, so thanks for reminding me of that at the very least! I like the approach of using the little finger - why didn't I think of that myself d'oh! For what it's worth I don't think moisturisers affect calluses too much tho, as mine are still going strong despite a daily dose of hand cream. But at least I've got a brand new excuse for not answering unwantwd phone calls now: "sorry my fingertips wouldn't let me..."

Someone put me out of my misery here - tell me I'm not the only one in the world with this problem. My fingers, (complete with calluses and thick fingertip skin from decades of playing) don't seem to work very well on touch screens like smartphones, tablets etc. Now - someone said they work by picking up some electrical pulse from your skin. It occurred to me that thick calluses might be something to do with why my fingers don't always seem to work on touch screens. Or it could be a load of old cobblers. Does anyone else have this problem? Can't figure out whether to call Apple or Embarrassing Bodies...

Out: SGC Nanyo Bass Collection SB310 Fender Modern Player jazz bass In: A 15-yr-old USA fender jazz bass What have I learned? That I'd rather have fewer, good guitars than a range of cheaper ones which I bought for the less salubrious / downright dangerous gigs. Sod's law those gigs usually turn out to be the real good kickass ones, where I end up wishing I brought my good gear. And that after donkeys years of playing precisions Ive discovered jazz basses and love them too. Roll on whatever 2015 brings!

Ah I heard this on Planet Rock yesterday I think for the first time in about 15 years - what a cool tune! Was just thinking exactly the same about the bass playing. Definitely sounded like flats and very good stuff. I like it when you hear a tune you haven't heard in ages and think: 'whoa yeah they were actually pretty cool.'