Silvia Bluejay

I'll be leaving home soon. Lovely sunny day in Chiswick, same expected on the South Bank - Met Office forecast is for a max temp of 24 degrees, alleviated by occasionally strong breeze. Hope to see you there!

@Sean - @Nigel - yes, reminder in my (recently edited) first post in this thread and photos - for good measure! - a couple of pages ago. (Great to hear you're coming, by the way!) @Douglas - We'll do our best and take some photos...

You'll be spoiled, pampered and hand-fed grapes by two beauties, in the sunshine, by the river. Can't beat that

Deb, I think that's a very good routine. I did something similar when I was attending my courses: each lesson had some theory and the notes to a song that applied the theory, and we had to learn both for the following week. I kept up my scales and 7th chords etc. for a while after I finished attending the courses, but now I tend to spend most of my time finding the basslines to my favourite songs by ear, jotting them down in chord charts and similar, and then playing along to records, all of which I absolutely love doing. I try to play bass (all types - guitar, upright and acoustic, although usually not on the same day!) for at least half an hour a day, but preferably longer if I'm not snowed under with work or going out in the evening.

If anything, looks like Thomann are quite inconsistent in their customer care, I would say, rather than 100% bad. Incidentally, everything I have ever bought as new from them has been brand new and "normal" for real, not B-stock, including the scratched bass guitar (which was otherwise perfect).

I assume that a few lurkers might turn up too. I'm going to be there, as planned. All welcome, and if it's just Shell and I in the end, we'll have a girly afternoon

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1337949056' post='1667874'] So is this Sat 26th being cancelled? [/quote] No, why?

Loving this thread, Sarah! Well done, and all the best to your band. I'm sure the cynical rhythm section can hold its own, both musically and aesthetically!

As I said before, my experience wasn't so negative - item collected from my doorstep, returning it was absolutely free to me, and they didn't even take that long to issue a refund (in Euros, obviously, on my credit card, because I didn't use Paypal - maybe that's one of the reasons for the delay?). It's a hassle, definitely, but tolerable in my case (and I LOVE my replacement bass). Also, Thomann use Parcel Force for smaller items and a dedicated heavy haulage company for bigger items.

Don't worry, guys, it's a pity you can't make it, but it's just the way it is. I hope to organise another drink reasonably soon, if this goes OK, so we'll have another opportunity to meet up. As we were saying on FB, those of us who will attend will have to [b]slap [/b]on some serious SPF and carry bottles of water

What a pity, Dave... but I know what it's like to be asked to work with practically no notice at all, and not have the choice to say no. Hopefully you'll be able to make an appearance, if not, next time.

Welcome, John! I agree with Bremen re the D'Addario Chromes. Smooth to the fingers but bright in sound, which to me is the best of both worlds. They work fine on fretless and fretted basses, including 5-stringers. Feel free to ask for any bass- and amp-related advice on here, as the community is infinitely helpful and patient - they surely have been with me, for one, from the start!

Dave - if those two tributes bands are decent musicians, it shouldn't be a bad night (although having to go on stage past midnight definitely sucks for you guys). Kiwi, you must return to visit us one day! Chiswick and surrounds look lovely in the sunshine (we're having our three statutory days of summer right now)

I see. Sounds good - I used to have a client in Hayes years ago, they were near the Nestle factory, and whenever I visited there was always that inviting chocolatey smell! Post pictures of the gig if you get any taken!

Where are you gigging, Dave, and with which of your bands?

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1337854528' post='1666327'] Looking forward to it now, should be fun I reckon we should have a BC drinking game, based on whenever someone mentions the following: pre-amp = 1 sip truss rod = 2 sips clutterbuck = 3 sips impedance = 4 sips That's what I'll be doing anyway, if you all start going all 'techie' !! [/quote] I'll be on H2O (I'm teetotal!), so I'll happily mention, and add to the list: Low/high action - 3 sips Intonation/saddles - 4 sips Pickup height - 2 sips Nut adjustment (only on Warwicks and a few other clever basses!) - 3 sips

They're still changing it as we speak! Lots of building work due to several festivals, the Jubilee, etc. Dave, I agree. I got the impression that only the tables under the parasols are part of the bar area, while everywhere else seemed to be free for anyone to stay even without buying drinks. So, I will aim for the grassy area first of all. Sean, I'll be there at 12 o'clock, everybody else feel free to come along when you can.

GAS!! I was already a victim before I joined this forum. Then someone (step forward Mr H!) pointed me to a Warwick lefty fretless 5 going cheap which I was absolutely sure I'd play a only couple of times. Some two months and a set of D'Addario Chromes later, it's my main instrument, and I'm a happy woman GAS immediately continued with a new upright 5 and a new acoustic... hey, we only live once, right? And - as a Tuscan saying goes - Death needs to find us alive

Unfortunately, this is how FB works. Even band competitions [b]on different websites[/b] end up being linked to FB apps. I have had to turn down voting for some friends' band in a comp exactly because FB required me to give it access to my innermost secrets (friends list, personal data, you name it). For that reason - and because I'm a lefty, durrr - I'm not entering (ebaying it etc. in the unlikely event that I should win would be too much hassle!). However, I personally don't see a problem with Warwick pointing us to competition links. Of course it's advertsing, and we are "paying" with our data, but nobody forces us to take part if we don't like that.

AAALL right - I went there, admittedly long before rush hour, but there appeared to be rather enough space, and hopefully the situation will be similar on Saturday around noon. So, for anyone who may be coming from outside London and not be sure where exactly we are meeting up, the place is this (up the staircase): Nearest tube stations Embankment on the north bank and Waterloo on the south bank. Now, you guys tell me where you'd like us to pitch our tents, so to speak, so that I know where to park myself when I arrive there. This is the grassy area to the left of the entrance: And this is the decked seating area (there's more at the bottom of the garden, on the left): (yes, the "vase" in the foreground on the left [b]is [/b]a toilet bowl...) There is an area with small wrought iron tables and chairs too: I think we should be able to stay in the garden, and bring some of our own drinks, as long as we also buy a few drinks from their bar. Anyone know otherwise? I decided not to ask

I plan to be on time too, and grab a nice spot for us at the garden, if possible.

Yup, I noticed a lot of activity last Saturday, as well as a lot of art - of which I obviously took pictures! I should be out there again today in a couple of hours' time, and I'll take another look at the situation, just in case.

The Met Office is forecasting a max temp of 22 degrees and a sunny, windy day. We should be all right.

Ras, I hope you can make it on Saturday, even for a short time, but if not, hopefully we'll see you at another meetup soon.