Oopsdabassist

Dr Dave...as I live and breathe..its been a while, welcome back sirrah!

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1507286765' post='3384496'] I've re-quoted my whole post as I think this will help to highlight the point. Really, it's all about promoting good hand health and posture. I've had people, bassists, come to me who complain that they have aches in their thumb, hand and sometimes lower arm and shoulder too from playing long gigs. Often, there's a reason why that can be helped. I'm not a physiotherapist but my experience (sometimes learning the hard way) I hope can help to undo some bad habits. It's not always about hand position, sometimes it can be down to being too heavy handed on the instrument or the bass weighs a tonne and suffers from terrible neck dive for example. This is easier demonstrated than described, but here goes: Thumb first. If you bear down on your thumb joint with your arm, then it's taking the load. That joint isn't supposed to be compressed. Add to that the constant pulling motion on the strings with your fingers, it's going to eventually cause discomfort. Instead of that, your hand should be more 'dangling' but your thumb is there to steady your hand not be an anchor for your arm. Ok, I've got an analogy. Think of it as resting your thumb on an egg. Forearm. There is a tendency for bassists to rest their forearm on the top of the body and dangle the hand over towards the strings. Also not a wise idea because the wrist is bent over at an angle (sometimes as bad as nearly 90 degrees) to the forearm. This is a recipe for carpal tunnel and other complaints. Keeping the arm and wrist straight is the way to go. Or at least as straight as possible. [/quote] Ah I see now, I was interested as my thumb is usually anchored on the pickup regardless of what string I am playing, which means my wrist angle changes depending on what string I am playing, so I was wondereing if I can expect pain problems at some point in the future! Thanks for the explanation Dan.

Action a bit high?????? Even FinnDave could limbo under those strings!!!!

[quote name='dood' timestamp='1507225860' post='3384092'] Quick tip: If you rest your thumb on a pickup or a string, don't let it support the weight of your arm/hand. It should be touching, resting and firm enough for your finger to pull back towards only. [/quote] Interesting..why do you say that?

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1507236325' post='3384211'] We have a rule in our band, more of a law actually. No hats and no waistcoats. Nothing screams "Late middle aged rocker" more than those two items. And yes I am 65, and bald. [/quote] that's me buggered then, waistcoats for years and for my Birthday this year...A Terry Pratchett hat!![url=https://imgur.com/IZt2N5O][/url]

There are many ways of muting strings, maybe you already mute the others in a different way?

I looked the pics and thought, 'if only it was a 4' then I see Muppets post, and I'm thinking 'Your local shop being?.........'

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1506892171' post='3381885'] Wednesday 27th I was playing with my pickup band and at the end of the first number this chap from the audience went and spoke to our keyboard player. He then sat down at the piano and played for the rest of the set. Don Airey. Damn he can play! [/quote] Now THAT is a story..who got the KB players share of the dosh?

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1506843131' post='3381388'] We had great gig last night (Saturday) at a village pub in Buckinghamshire. Our first time there, but unlikely to be our last! Went down a storm, played 3 hours in 2 sets with a 15 min break and they still wanted more! Bonus for me was that a bunch of my biker mates that I've not seen for a while came along and were really enthusiastic. I use my Epi Thunderbird, Rootmaster 800 head into Barefaced Super Compact, a good punchy set up that takes up very little space. [/quote] Ooh which pub? I would love to come and watch next time you get there if its localish!

Certainly beyond me!

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1506941783' post='3382087'] With regards to a - depending upon what wireless unit you choose to use, you may get results which are/are not acceptable to you. For example, two line 6 units used in this manner will give you less overall latency than say just one single smooth hound wireless unit. Whether you can cope with additional latency depends upon you as a player - and what other digital pedals are in play that will add latency. Its a shame that the latency on the smooth hound is bad - thats the sort of form factor you'd like hanging out the last pedal in your chain. [/quote] Interesting comment, although I've never actually measured it, I have never noticed any additional latency from my smoothhound over my previous wireless rigs.

I had a teal green Yamaha TRB5 for a while (along with several other bass chatters!) Lovely piece of kit, but at over 11lbs my back didn't thank me. Not sure who has it now, but I'm sure it stayed within the bass chat collective!

[quote name='dmccombe7' timestamp='1506362446' post='3378243'] Stargazer Smoke on Water Ace of Spades Enter Sandman Fool for your Loving (Mendosa slightly faster rockier version) Kill the King. [/quote] Sounds like my kinda gig, we do the slower, lower version of Fool For Your Loving which I love! Have fun!!!!

Thanks Peeps, plenty to look at with those links

I'm up in Edinburgh on Wed for a meeting and staying overnight, any suggestions for evenings entertainment? Cheers

Was a dedicated Schaller user for years, mainly as I had more basses than straps, and swapping was quick and easy. But in the end the rattling annoyed me too much, so I am now a firm Grolsch washer fan.

Agreed, John is a proper craftsman!

You need to use a 3rd party photo hoster like Imgur or image shack...Avoid photobucket though as they have started charging silly prices!!!

When I started doing BV's I knew I sang flat, so acquired this from another basschatter. [url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ve-20-Vocal-Performer-Effects-Processor/dp/B002W0Z8DU"]https://www.amazon.c...r/dp/B002W0Z8DU[/url] Mainly because it had an auto tune function. However it also has a harmoniser that you can set to a 3rd or a 5th or an octave, above or below. its set to 1 footswitch, either on or off, so simple to use. if used sparingly it can work, but just having it all the time does start to sound a bit weird. As I got more confident with singing BV it got used less and less to be honest.

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1505032615' post='3368906'] On the few occasions it has happened I have questioned it with the payer and been told it's a bonus for doing a good job. [/quote] That's why we mention it....its nice to have that kind of feedback!!

Just finished 'the craft room', bloody hell mate what goes on in your head!!! Excellent read.....literally couldn't putvit down...roll on the next one!

Also bear in mind that sitting at home practicing you might hear the strings clicking on the frets, but at gig volume, unless that noise is being transmitted to the amp, it will be lost. I almost always practice at home through headphones so I rarely hear any 'mechanical' noise. Just a thought. Ooh and another one, maybe your pickup is too high and the strings are hitting the pole pieces?

Sure are!!