bassist_lewis

Is it not a kind of "Tesco Syndrome"? Everyone slates them because they're the market leader yet a huge number of people regularly shop there. On the other hand people gravitate to the familiar, which, due to them having such a long history with many big names attached to them (and even the bass guitar being called a "Fender bass" - as opposed to a double bass - for decades) gives them a massive advantage over say, Lakland, meaning that other manufacturers can easily be overlooked by the beginner, which continues the cycle of familiarity.

Snarky Puppy's GroundUP (I missed all three of their gigs up here this week )

Arrived at the venue well on-time (I'd been late the last couple of pub gigs so made a special effort) to find another band setting up. Spoke to our guitarist and singer and it turns out the pub had double booked and hadn't noticed for nearly two months! They gave us a bar tab which the guitarist, my girlfriend and I abused for a couple of drinks but I had my gear in the car so couldn't exactly make a night of it. Ended up watching trash TV online (a big thanks to Gok Wan and Paddy McGuinness) with the missus and drooling over 75 RI jazz basses , from which I'm now £70 further away thanks to last night! Could have been worse...

I enjoyed Guthrie Govan's interpretation of the vocals far more than the bass player. that Frank Zappa thing was ace!!

Played a wedding in North Berwick, which is about and hour from Edinburgh. So far this is my longest solo journey since getting my license. I managed to get to the drummer's girlfriend's house (in this case the joke is true) just about on time and got to the venue 25 minutes early (a big improvement on being half an hour late). It was a funny one, the crowd danced to a few then everyone disappeared, then up again then gone again... still, the bride was very appreciative (we saw the groom at the very start then again in the last ten minutes). Music-wise we played a couple of new songs which could have gone better but we'll work them out later

I've had a successful day as bass player. Only got one shift this week but got 2 gigs so I don't need much more. I got a looper a few weeks ago so really enjoying playing with that. I start this morning by making a loop of Cm and Ebm and finding ways to link the 2 tonalities. Then my new flatwounds turned up so changed them over and I love them! Just the sound I was looking for. Then I used the looper as a click, playing a 4/4 loop and changing the place of the click. I started putting it on beat 1, beat 2 etc, the 'and' of beat 1, 'and' of beat 2 etc, then played slightly faster so that the click landed on 1 in the first bar, 2 in the second bar, beat 3 in the third and so on. Then I did some sight-reading with the Hal Leonard big band series, played with looped chords again. I also emailed a couple of guys about blues bands so maybe some new gigs on the horizon. Then i signed in here.

maybe its coz the bass looks like a guitar and lots of kids don't realise the difference? I was speaking to a friend who teaches guitar in about 20 different schools around the Borders and he's expected by the schools to also teach bass, which he strongly disagrees with (the only guitarist to have a conscience!) so in that instance it seems to be the council/head teachers' fault. I think its quite simple: the majority of people just aren't interested in playing bass.

I'll be crashing at a friends in Borough but my girlfriend's brother lives in Clapham Junction so that's also an option. [quote name='OliverBlackman' timestamp='1350332614' post='1837531'] You'll need to brush up on your fusion playing and slapping triplets [/quote] It'd be a nice change from an indie band followed by singer-songwriters followed by an indie band (with great hair) followed by a singer-wongwriter... many thanks

Hey there, Londoners (or those who live nearby or those who just 'know') I'm going to be in London in December and wanted to have a wee jam while I was there. Which ones do you recommend? I prefer playing funky stuff or pop stuff or funky pop stuff but I'm pretty happy just to play outside my comfort zone. I'll be there Monday to Thursday. Many thanks Lewis

I was playing a wedding in the Ubiquitous Chip (real name) in Glasgow, lovely venue and a great crowd. Had a woman in her 60s grinding on one of the roof's supporting poles and her equally aged other half doing what I think is called the mash potatoe to every song. The food was good, had tablet in jars and the best chocolate cake I've ever eaten, bacon rolls were decent (in a sesame seed bun ) and singer said the pies were good too. The usual classics didn't go down as well as they usually do (Summer '69, Sweet Child etc) but a couple of people asked for our card so all in all not a bad night!

I can't afford more strings but I've owned 4/5/6s and felt pretty comfortable on most of them (some had serious balance issues). [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1347629411' post='1803287'] We all talk about the music rather than the gear so the gear becomes a peripheral issue. [/quote] Very much coming round to this, I've recently had a lot of free time (not in a good way) and I've got sick of gawping at gear and not playing/gigging. Down with GAS!!

I like your thinking