neepheid

Ach, you're a bit too far away, otherwise would have offered to geek out all over this problem.

I play an Epiphone Explorer AND I wear a hat now. F everyone and their opinions about how I look.

Pfft, showoff.

Meanwhile, Canadians are out in their shorts and t-shirts thinking it's not too bad...

Solderless stuff? Sounds like a PITA to integrate it into old school stuff, but hopefully someone will be along soon to allay those fears. Don't listen to me - I'd probably be hacking the connector off the pot end of the EMG stuff and soldering direct to the existing pot/battery positive lead. Surely there's a non-destructive method that I'm unaware of.

Your arm is the length it is and will naturally fall where it's going to fall, depending on the geometry of the bass in question. I normally anchor on whatever pickup is in the P position, but when I'm playing my Explorer, my hand naturally ends up on the bridge pickup due to the relative position of the bass when worn on a strap. I'm lazy and ignorant so I don't fight it, but if you want to because you feel you must have your hand on the "P" pickup, then you've got some training/practice ahead of you. There's no easy way to lose what it sounds like you perceive as a bad habit. Presumably there is an actual, physical J pickup there, and not a phantom, imaginary one? If this is happening on a plain P bass, then the BC answer is obvious - get a PJ bass, problem solved

I wrote a song when my elderly grandpa's declining mental faculties (specifically his short term memory) were swirling around in my head at the same time as the general financial pressures of a economic downturn. They somehow got merged into one song. Odd.

Well, duh, it's because Gibson hates bassists in general. And if you think they're going to demean themselves by talking to a filthy bassist such as yourself, you're dreaming!

Every other Iron Maiden song, then?

Nah, first one was better, you effing wordsmith, you. No sarcasm, I would have been happy to read that pithy description in a published book.

I'm stealing that.

Country: being left by your partner, your pickup truck being stolen/broken down...

Bittersweet night last night with Nine Lives at Grays Inn in Mastrick, Aberdeen. It wasn't super busy, but the folk who were there were up for a boogie so we had a good time anyway. Bittersweet because it was the last gig with our outgoing singer. He's had to quit the band due to increasing family and professional commitments and while we're gutted to lose him (because he's a bloody good singer with a great attitude) we're grateful for the 5 years (3 effectively - thanks COVID) we've been playing together. Anyhoo, it was a decent sendoff (although I wish the gigs had been swapped, Friday's gig was way busier), we played pretty well, and didn't make it too mushy at the end - no public announcement, a handshake all round, a bit of reminiscence after we packed up and that's it. Nine Lives v2.0 is no more. We're working on crafting Nine Lives v3.0. I finally figured out that I can have double the fun at a gig - what's the point in taking two basses and only using one? Swapped 'em at half time. So you get a double dose of festive gear: And, as an added bonus - the bar staff took a wee video. Oh man, that Markbass stuff is clear sounding, innit? Mistake amplifer more like! That was the JC, bass nerds. Grays Inn Nine Lives 20231125.mp4 Oh christ, you can actually hear the bass. I'd better get better at playing the damn thing then!

Sorry for your loss. Look after yourself.

I'm glad you're feeling better for it. Just bear in mind that such a situation would make some of us very sad indeed. And yeah, it's just you. You do realise that this post could be interpreted as a sly dig by those of us with such amateurish numbers of basses, right? People can be "really serious players" and not do it for a living. I could go on, but suffice to say this post ground my gears a little, and I'm miffed because it exposed me for the amateur gypsy's kisstaker that I am...

Ahh, you didn't mention that part initially. 70 miles is maybe a stretch for regular rehearsals, yeah. I play in a band based 30 miles away, so it's about an hour's drive each way. Double that is a big time (and fuel etc.) investment. Looking at it from the other side, I'd be wary that someone might get weary of that schlep - fair play.

The only times I've had physical difficulties while playing have been self inflicted - bruised ribs one time and more recently I shut my left index finger in a door in the week leading up to a gig. Nothing really, compared to people struggling with real, long term conditions that hamper their playing.

Another good reason for me not to be a "pro bassist", as if my abundant lack of skill wasn't enough

I bought a pork pie hat (in an actual hat shop) years ago, but it would seem that hats also have an inbuilt imposter syndrome that expensive basses do. It's taken me a long time to finally feel comfortable to wear it to gigs. The catalyst was a private birthday party recently, I decided to shake off the awkwardness and wear the hat. Felt surprisingly right. So last night I wore it to a pub gig. Surprise surprise, I wasn't laughed out of the place. In fact, when playing Smooth Criminal (the Alien Ant Farm version, not the MJ version, although it works in that context too) I had some people referencing the hat and motioning to tip my hat a la MJ. Obvs a little busy with both hands here to do that, but I appreciated the reference. I think I'll wear the hat going forward now.

Not even every split P pickup has exactly the same amount of copper wire around it. Not every pole piece is exactly the same density or chemical make up. You think every single piece of AlNiCo made in existence is identical? The "P-bass" sound is a ballpark at best and I have distilled it down to meaning "not a Jazz" (and thank goodness for that, because to these cloth ears, Jazz basses are the antibass as far as I'm concerned). If it's made by humans, or made by machines designed by humans, there's going to be some slop in the calculations somewhere. You'll drive yourself mad trying to wring them out of there. For years now I have simply had a rough idea of what "good" sounds like to me and run with it. In broad terms, that makes me more P than J. Other than that, it's looks and ergonomics which are my primary considerations. All my basses sound "good" for my wooly, unscientific definition of the term and I choose not to dive deeper, because I've realised that I consider it to be a monumental waste of my time to try to narrow it down further. I'm not doing a PhD on it, I'm just playing the damn things.

Excellent fun last night with Nine Lives at the Balaclava in Fraserburgh. Got a message from the guitarist while the drummer and I were on our way there proclaiming it to be the emptiest he'd ever seen it. Nevertheless, we ploughed on anyway. Were running a bit late but still crucially got there just ahead of the singer to maintain the natural order of things. Yes, it was pretty bad when we got there - single figures, but I had hope - there was a table of fairly young folk had put on some pretty classic stuff and singing along to it... So we got cracking and our wee table of folk were into it right away. Somehow that energy must have leaked outside because the place started to fill up. Second half was really busy and it ended up being a brilliant night. The table I spied at the beginning stayed from start to finish - the heroes of the night for sure. Also had a table of guys come in towards the end of the first half and they were also well into it - singing along and liked the harder stuff - they were on their feet and worshipping the Maiden songs we put in. All in all, what looked like being a damp squib ended up being a bloody great night! Also, 10 points for Bassindor for colour coordination - Markbass stuff plus Sire D5...

I play all my basses live on rotation. If it helps, I have my priorities straight - I choose which bass I'm playing before I choose which shirt I'm going to wear...

The mask has slipped, we are definitely not the same person!

I'm not going to tell you how to bass. You do you.