Rayman

Good choice in music!! Good start!! It really does depend how much you want to spend. As always, you get what you pay for, but for a couple of hundred quid or more you can get a great bass. I'm a big fan Ibanez and Yamaha, you can't go too far wrong there in my opinion, but Warwicks are great basses, and as said above, the Rockbass stuff which is the budget end of the range if you like can be really good too. However you can pick up second hand Warwick Standard basses for 300-400 quid, it depends how much you've got. It's difficult if your local place has half a dozen pieces of crap and not much else, but if you can, take your time looking, and get to a couple of decent music stores if you can, it'll be worth the effort. The Yamaha BB basses are really good, don't know about the weight, but the range of tones really is killer for the money, and again, Ibanez don't make many duffers, at least, I've never come across one. Good advice to get some help from someone who knows about basses and get them to go with you too.

Depends a lot on what you want mate. Are you a rocker, or a funk machine, a pop player etc etc. [b]Golden rule number 1[/b], go and try some basses in as many shops as you can get to. Find one you like the look of, and sound of, and feel of, and that is within your budget and start from there. PLEASE don't just buy one from ebay if you don't know what you're looking for. Yamaha BB basses (BB414 for example) are great, Ibanez RBX basses (RBX170 for example) are great value, and Squier classic vibe basses too, but you really must go and try some out to get a feel for what you like, that's so very important. Go and try as many as you can before you do anything else!!

[quote name='Clarky' post='1179682' date='Mar 28 2011, 04:14 PM']+1 and happy birthday you old fart![/quote] Cheers Geezer, I'm preparing cake and crisps as we speak.

I understand fully the argument with regard to bettering ones self technically as a player and understanding theory etc, however one has to ask why you picked an instrument up as a kid in the first place? Is it because you wanted to be proficient in musical theory, and technically brilliant as a player? Or was it because the music you first heard stirred enough emotion inside you to make you say to yourself "I want to play music like that". For me it was the latter, and my only motivation to play today, some 30 years since I first picked up a Columbus Jazz for the first time, remains the same. Emotion, and love for music, of many different styles. For me, it's emotion and feel first, technique second, and theory some way behind that. My lack of musical theory knowledge hasn't spoilt my love of music thus far, and my playing, as average as it may be, still makes me feel happy inside, which for me, is the [i]only[/i] reason for playing music at all. Edit: not sure how much relevance this post has to the OP, sorry if I've wandered off topic, again.

I love Ibanez, always have. Currently I only have one, a GWB-35, but I'd love one of the Prestige models. Comfortable, ergonomic, tone in buckets, fantastic basses, and very underrated. I really miss a K5 I had, fabulous thing, and so easy to play, it was just as shame it had a ruddy great K5 inlay at the 12th fret.

I get it when I think too hard about what I'm playing. Normally muscle memory takes over and I'm fine, but sometimes, if the gig isn't exactly going down a storm, I drift off and go into autopilot, thinking about what I'm doing the next day or whatever, then I suddenly remember I'm playing a gig with people watching me, and I go totally blank and forget where I am in the song.

I'd come and see that, I like a bit of the Mac. Nice one, always good when it goes to plan, or even better than the plan. SW is a bit far for me though, maybe when I'm down there on hols.

I loved my H1 Jazz, but I modded it a lot, and never really did get the action down very low at all. It was a pub gig workhorse, and not the easiest player ever. My Schecter Model T was fab. A bass I wish I still had. Lovely finger funk over the bridge pup, nice and poppy, and a nice thump from the neck pup. Good bass. L2000, fantastic basses, end of. If [i]I[/i] was spending £700, and actually I might be, I also would think about another Stingray, although I've had two before, and sold them, so I have to ask myself why. Mainly down to the missing G on both of them.

My ESP Horizon has a beautiful ebony board, and my Ibanez Gary Willis has an ebanol board. I love the look, feel and tone from ebony, it's by far my favourite fretboard timber.

Smart. I fancied one of those Hofners myself.

Big fan here too. She has a very fluid style, and makes it look effortless. One of the grooviest players alive IMO, Plantation lullabies is always in my car. Click on "Expensive sh*t" from this link: [url="http://www.freemyheart.com/we_funk.html"]http://www.freemyheart.com/we_funk.html[/url]