seashell

Brilliant! Many happy returns. :-)

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1441966835' post='2863300'] Don't have time to go thru whole thread so apologies if these have already been posted [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxUfg3uCBbg[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cITjfIMXN0g[/media] No so much novelty in the actual sounds as the not quite run of the mill subject matter. [/quote] Some absolute gems in this thread. I love nearly all of them. But especially good call on Ray Stevens. I rather like 'It's me again Margaret', although it's not very PC! :-) Also, I had Big Bad John played at my Dad's funeral. He loved that song. They played it as the coffin was brought in. The pall bearers placed it down and bowed just as the words rang out 'At the bottom of this mine lies a big, big man'. Perfect timing! :-)

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1441998933' post='2863752'] Aww! Get well soon. [/quote] Thanks! Car off road for the weekend. :-( But no problem really as it is my birthday and various friends are taking me out! :-)

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1441992654' post='2863685'] is your clutch gone? [/quote] No but my rocker gasket is. So I can't make it this Sunday either :-(

Absolutely brilliant. How did he DO that?

Aw :-( We're doing Message to You Rudy with my new band. Only just started rehearsing it.

First specialist subject tonight. Tune in Quizters.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1441351777' post='2858098'] It's all good, but do be aware that few open mic sessions will be keen to grind to a halt for 20 minutes while you set up your toys! The ideal jammer walks on stage as soon as his name is called, his bass already tuned, plugs the lead into his bass and starts playing. I've seen any number of guitarists infuriate the entire room by spending ages kneeling down, plugging and re-plugging various pedals, looking for power supplies, asking if the PA has a parallel output busbar with its own aux and slider, and does anyone have a spare patch cable? Damn! Forgot to bring the tuner. [/quote] Oh God yes.

Davey Jones capered about holding a bass when he wasn't playing maracas. Not too sure he was playing it though!

[quote name='roceci' timestamp='1441282696' post='2857505'] Bandstand by Family. Cracked it out last week for the first time in years, great groove rock & solid, tasteful bass throughout. [/quote] Absolutely! I was going to suggest this one :-)

[quote name='anaxcrosswords' timestamp='1441320824' post='2858005'] Well, that was interesting in the weirdest way possible. The guy I’d agreed a few songs with was supposed to meet me at 7:30. As I needed an ATM I set off slightly early so got to our rendezvous about 5 minutes early, just in time to watch him being arrested. I kid you not. Still, had a great night! [/quote] Blimey! :-0 How very rock n Roll

I'm doing a lot of them at the moment. They can be pretty scary and I've had some disastrous moments, but I have also learned a HUGE amount (all the stuff Happy Jack mentions above) I've also met loads of people, which is fun socially. But more importantly, I've been asked to guest with various local bands and groups of musicians at music events here and there. So I think I'm building up a reputation of sorts. Of course at a lot of these open mics hale the audience are other musos straining at the leash to get up and have a go. But I was quite pleasantly surprised by the number of regular punters who come along as they genuinely enjoy the music. I've had some nice comments, which is very gratifying. So all in all, they've been good to me so far.

I think it all depends on your learning style and if it fits with the teaching style of the tutor. I would never have had the self motivation to teach myself. But I wanted to practice in between lessons so at the next lesson we could move on. Also I love the interaction with the teacher. If there's something I don't understand I can ask him and get an answer straight away. He's introduced me to types of music I never particularly liked. Apart from helping me to enjoy something new, it's also come in handy when playing with other people (funk leaps to mind in my case) He would often structure his lessons round one song, and use it to illustrate a particular point. So by the end of the lesson I would have s new song to play, but also learned something about, say, descending bass lines, modes, arpeggios or whatever. He tends not to teach me particular songs now. He knows I can now usually listen to a piece of music and work out the bass line for myself. So our lessons tend to be more on the theory side. He's trying to improve my sight reading at the moment. He taught me from scratch 4 years ago. Within a year I was in a (somewhat terrible) band. I could have stopped the lessons then I guess, but I just love what I get out of them. I only go every three weeks or so now. It's great to get that little boost every so often I do recognise that I am very fortunate to be able to afford it.

There are musicians on this forum from absolute beginners to top professionals and everything else in between. What is (usually) good about this place is the way that everyone can share ideas/ advice/tips/common experiences. If people start casting aspersions about other people's musicianship or lack thereof, it's only going to put off the more timorous posters. How many times have we seen posts starting 'this might seem a stupid question but?'. Usually that leads to loads of other posts from people who had been wondering the same thing!

You might want to point out that they've got plenty of time to find another dep if you don't want to do it. Then they can find out how easy it may or may not be to find someone else willing to do it for nothing.

I'm going with hammer.

We're rehearsing this with the new band. It's completely different from anything I usually play. I haven't managed to nail all the fiddly bits, so am doing a much simplified version and hope it will be filled out by the keys player (if she ever turns up to a rehearsal, but that's another story). I don't have pedals, so am just doing my best with the bass on its own. One thing though - it just doesn't sound right on the trusty Fender P so I am using the Ibanez SRX 500 for that one. Bit of a faff taking 2 basses to rehearsals, but at least I can just leave the Ibanez in dropped tuning and use the P for everything else.

[quote name='pfretrock' timestamp='1441092532' post='2855901'] In other news.... "Kanye for president: could his beautiful dark twisted fantasy come true?..." [url="http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/31/kanye-for-president-2020?CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2"]http://www.theguardi...EMCNEWEML6619I2[/url] [/quote] Rather him than Donald Trump!

Welcome to another Brummie (well I'm just an honourary Brummie - only lived here 20 yrs) Hope you stick with it. I started from scratch 4 years ago. Had a lesson a week and practice an hour a day. I'm sure you'll make good progress even with 20 mins a day. When I started someone advised me to pick up the bass every single day, even if only for 15 mins. IMHO, Brum is still a great place to be for live music venues. There are also tons of open mics and jams going on, and several reasonably priced rehearsal studios. We're very lucky that way. Enjoy!

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1440935384' post='2854796'] I'm going to the Birmingham show. Jonas's playing is very eclectic, from amazing slap virtuosity to beautiful acoustic playing like in the video I posted above, to stunning solo work, I remember seeing a video of him doing a solo bass arrangement of Hendrix's Little wing. So combine that with Steve's amazing soundscaping and it promises to be a pretty fantastic night. The Tower of song is a really nice venue too. There's also a ticket discount if you're a subscriber to Steve's music on Bandcamp. [/quote] I practically live at the Tower of Song, lol. :-) So, hope to see you there 4 Oct.

Shame KevB is on hols at the moment. He'd have smashed it !

I'm not familiar with Jonas's work, but I'm about to get educated! :-) I'll be along to the Birmingham gig at Tower of Song.

Never mind playing outside, most rehearsal studios are arctic in winter. I play in black fingerless gloves. I think they look quite cool

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

...where are you going with that gun in your hand?