Silvia Bluejay

Both musically and - probably more so - on a personal level, things changed in Metallica when Cliff died.

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1354576298' post='1887735'] and freddie mercury! kinda skipped that bit, but that wasn't my band that was my mates. Yours would be class but if you were channeling geezer you would have to have AVH as drummer for the groove. Amended for living musicians mine would be Drums- Terry Bozzio Bass- John Paul Jones Gtrs- Jimmy Page, Richie Blackmore Vocals-David Lee Roth [/quote] Yay! Could live with that too To be fair to Dave Lombardo, he can do other kinds of metal that aren't thrash - if and when he wants to. He's not necessarily always stuck in the ultra-fast Slayer lane, although that clearly is his favourite mode by far. \m/ \m/

Sarah, I really hope to end up with enough spare cash and enough time off work to be able to attend the event and meet you - and the others. It would be fantastic. Here's hoping...

Lord Sausage, last time I checked Jaco was dead... Vocals - Rob Halford Rhythm guitar - James Hetfield Lead guitar - Tipton and/or Downing Bass - Me if I could be channelling Geezer Butler... Drums - either Alex Van Halen or Dave Lombardo Keyboards - What's a keyboard...?

Oh my, this must be the fastest reply time to a request of info I've [b]ever[/b] had. In reply to an email I sent a few minutes ago, Bree has emailed me the PDFs you guys got too, [i]and[/i] has confirmed that they can provide me with a left-handed DB (free of charge) for the duration of the event. Wow. I guess I better start saving right now - Christmas is officially cancelled as of this moment or - more precisely - it's been put back to the end of March

Tempted! But I don't have a DB - only an upright - and I'm a leftie, so I couldn't borrow one, and I see it all as rather tricky... Please keep us posted with any more info as and when you receive it. Thank you Clarky for mentioning this in the first place!

I read and tweeted this several hours ago and [b]still [/b]I've got massive GAS. Oh, and of course, Chris, next time you visit Warwick, you may need your BC social network admin by your side, you know that, don't you?

I would also love to buy stickers, and I think they were included in the original list of new merch for sale when the shop was going to re-open (which it did in September IIRC), but I seem to recall Ped saying that the samples he got weren't of satisfactory quality for the price, or something along those lines...? Can anyone help?

Congrats Paul, and thank you so very much to all of you for taking part. I will repeat myself - all the tracks were outstanding. Keep up the good work!

Aha, I see. You're perfectly correct. Hadn't thought of that.

A CD with the winner would be fine, but I would be happier to be able to also refer back to the other tracks taking part in the comp, as there can be only one winner but all of the tracks are of a very high standard, and it would be a shame, in my view, for us listeners to forget about them.

[quote name='Pat Man' timestamp='1354309857' post='1884792'] My first post here! Saw the plug on the BC Twitter. Bit late to the party but better then never eh? Great music being made by all of yous. I'm gonna have to try my hand at this sometime. [/quote] Welcome Pat! You still have time to listen to the tracks and vote. I'm hoping that, if the competition starts to attract more listeners, other companies may come forward and offer other generous prizes like 13 Guitars are doing for this one.

I have finally had time to listen to all the tracks. Well, they are all awesome and I've had a horrible time trying to pick only one among them. I have made an effort not to be naturally attracted to the ones that belong to my favourite music styles, and to concentrate instead on composition, musicianship and general feel. I have finally voted for Robert (Bilbo) because once i start listening to it I can't drag myself away. But well done everyone. I haven't been able to follow the whole of this thread and I'm not sure whether this question has come up already but - why doesn't Basschat create a downloadable album with all the tracks for each month of the composition competition? I for one would love to collect all the tracks from last month and this month (I wasn't aware of the competition before then) and the future ones, and happy to pay for them.

Jerry's reply to my message above - [quote]Great Silvia, You completely understood!!! I haven't heard of anyone writing about that, although when i started in LA the only bass books I had heard about were the great Carol Kaye books, but I had already developed my technique 'my way' at the time. Want to hear a Carol Kaye story? Not so fast: First, yes please tell me how to write on this chat to You and Jack together so others can follow or contribute. Now, about 13 years ago, Carol Kaye invited my son Jason (who also is a bass player) and I for lunch at her house. We had a great time. She is 'right there'. She and I jammed together playing old bebop standards, she on her guitar and me on bass. As we were eating later, Jason asked Carol what it was like being the only woman in the largly male rythym section world during the 60s. (I will use one letter abrieviations of offensive words here.) Carol said, "You wanna know what it was like? I'll tell you what it was like! "I was doing a session one day and I made a mistake. I said'Oh F***! The producer got on the intercom and said, "Carol don't use the F word; we have a C*** in the booth." Jason and i were on the floor. I will start on an outline soon. I would first like to know how you and Jack, and anyone else joining us, feel about drum machines and playing with them. Not as a replacement for the real things but as a tool for learning.[/quote]

Moving on to suggesting areas to explore in Jerry's future book - Jerry, I've been re-reading your initial message when you mention creating musical parts around the other members of the band and creating them in a way that's appropriate to the song. I think that's one massively inspiring topic for your book! I'm sure that empathy, experience and talent play a huge part. Regarding feel and musical space in particular, which in many cases can literally make or break a song, my opinion is that instinctively knowing when to play just a few notes, as opposed to a busy bassline, is the gift of the talented musician and probably something that can’t be analysed in a fully rational way or even described in detail – it can only, as we were saying, be felt. Despite that, would you think you could give the less experienced musician/reader a few pointers, or general guidelines? As in, for instance, would you focus on the singer and musically “be at one” with them, and then either take a back seat and leave space for them where appropriate or, conversely, support them by being, in a sense, more intrusive and playing more notes/more quickly/more in-your-face etc.? (That obviously would beg the question – how do you decide what is appropriate at any given moment?) Alternatively, would you focus on the band as a whole instead, and share the musical space equally with all members or, as the case may be, instead hog the limelight for a while or for the whole song? (Again, when, how?) I guess there might two separate scenarios to take into account regarding the above, one being the time of writing and eventually recording in the studio, and the other the time of performing the finished song on stage in front of an audience (the latter scenario introducing a whole series of added variables). Does that make any sense as a question the answer to which you may be willing to share with you future readership? I know I'd love to learn as much as possible about it

Guys, it's absolutely fine, I'm not and never have been in a militant mood; I just thought that in a contest like this we should all be judged in the same way and compete on an equal level. In this case, that implies not allowing women any advantage, in terms of added attention, if they shed their clothes, and at the same time making sure it's the photos and the basses that are the focus, rather than the looks of the bass player, whether male or female. Thank you Flo, and Garey, and all the others who followed this with interest.

Nah, no prob, I mentioned this some time later, on the Warwick forum on a thread about the Bass Show. There's nothing that can be done, the guys didn't technically do anything worthy of a complaint, they just were very dismissive, and that can put off a person who may happen to be alone there and not feeling exceedingly confident. Not me though, I'm too old to take offence and I've seen much worse in my life

LOL thank you Flo, and all of you following this saga Flo, I can't seem to find my way to that post about the London Music Show 2010, but in a nutshell, I went to the Warwick stand dribbling and in total lust, and hovered around several orgasm-inducing basses, all of which were right-handed. Being a lefty, I couldn't try them properly, so I suggested to one of the guys manning the stand that they should have brought some lefties - he didn't seem to even take any notice of me. Then I approached the other, behind the counter, asking if I could have a Warwick and Rockbass catalogue, to which he looked at me with suspicion and asked if it was for me. When I said yes, of course (I was alone there!) he didn't hide his extreme surprise and said "What, YOU play bass then!!??!" and finally handed me the catalogue with reluctance, as if giving it to a toddler who would immediately chuck it on the floor and jump on it (I carefully put it in my bag instead!). Didn't stop me eventually buying (online) a 5-string Fortress and a Corvette fretless 5, though

Hi Flo, i've replied to you on the other forum. I didn't say it was Garey to post the photo, he was the one who posted the thread advertising the competition. Let me look for my description of the London Music Show "incident" and I'll get back to you.

I'm still addicted to their basses and gear though...

Yeah... I've posted a link to ths thread on the Warwick forum. I hope I won't be taken for a rabid, bra-burning feminist - which I'm not - but I think the company has a somewhat objectionable attitude towards women. Remember when I told this forum (and the Warwick forum too) how rudely and patronisingly I was treated at the Warwick stand at the London Music Show 2010? That plus this makes two unpleasant experiences, and that's only what I happen to have noticed.

EDIT - FLORIN HAS DELETED THE PHOTO FROM THE COMPANY'S AD. Can you believe that Warwick are using exactly that photo, complete with nudge-nudge-wink-wink caption, to advertise their contest on Facebook? Here it is in all its glory, for you guys to feast your eyes on... Shame on you, Warwick & Framus. - deleted -

Do any women who take part have any hope of winning something if they choose not to show their legs (or other assets)? That girl in one of the four photos is half-naked, as opposed to the three fully clothed guys, which makes me slightly uneasy. I'm totally happy to wear very skimpy outfits in the summer or for an evening out and similar, but I think that on this occasion we should all be funny, or good-looking, or awesome, but fully clothed.

Thanks for this, Garey. Time to get out my camera, set the self-timer and point it on myself, as opposed to friends' bands, then grab one of my Rockbasses and stand by a Christmas tree or sumfink Can I tweet your post to Basschat's followers? Edit 1: for the record, I've been a member of the Warwick forum for longer than I've been a Basschatter. Edit 2: I've retweeted Warwick's tweet about the contest.

YAY! Go Shelley go! It's going to be awesome for you all, and we want to see photos and watch vids To my personal taste the only tolerable song on your list is Run To Me - can't stand the others, but hey ho, I'm sure they'll be fun to play on the night!