Silvia Bluejay

Same here, it's easier to mute unwanted vibrations that way. But open strings are good when the note is long.

When I try to access this forum in the early hours of the morning, say around 2am, it seems to be offline every single time. It has happened at least three times so far, when I wanted to check the topics I posted on before going to bed. It happened last night when I tried to log on after a night out. The page just remains blank and displays Firefox's "moving circle" (hourglass) as if it was taking a long time to load, but it never does load. The forum works perfectly at all other times, and I'm using the same PC. Is it just me? I'm on Firefox 3.6.24 and Windows 7 Starter.

"I'd rather go BEAD if really necessary." Whaaat-everrrr...

Not a huge fan of the guy, but yes, you *can* play disco on 4 strings. Whether you should, or want to, given the existence of 5-string basses, is another matter

LOL yes, the decade By the same token I guess when I get round to having a heavy metal party, I'll have to specify that invitees are not required to wear steel or lead garments Edit - dontcha hate typos. Grr.

You will NOT be invited to my 70s naked disco party then

I play A LOT of disco and had to get a 5-stringer pronto as soon as my beginner's fretting hand became able to tackle one! Disco relies on octaves - at its most basic, you will have the same note repeated several times, but the first time it will be, for instance, a low D, immediately followed by two high Ds, then another low D, before changing chord and moving on. You simply can't do that properly on anything other than a 5-stringer. Quite apart from disco, there are rock and pop songs which rely on octaves; the reason why I'm hoping one day to buy an upright 5-stringer is that transposing for the normal upright often ruins the effect completely.

ROFL - Love it! Thank you

My amp is just a small practice one, so, erm, no, it's already hard enough to hear the damn B string properly in the regular tuning. Maybe one day, if I start playing in a band...

Very true! I tune down half a step when i play Metallica - that's what they do themselves. An entire step would not be kind to the B (or A in this case!) string, though - it would vibrate at an uncomfortably low frequency.

Hiram, I agree, and am total crap at transposing a song when i've learned it in its original key. I think the band's singer may be to blame in this case, perhaps? Some vocalists are more comfortable if the band tune down half a step, or have their own favourite keys to sing in.

We'll definitely organise a meetup when the time comes!

Remember that the most high profile performer was Mark King this year - to me, The Man Who Single-Handedly Killed Slapping. Forever. (I hate slap bass, and my hatred started with him and Level 42 all those years ago!) I guess that, as a consequence, many of the guests were expected to be, unlike me, fans of slap bass. There was a huuuge queue for the auditorium where he played. The demonstrators probably thought it was a good idea to show off that skill to attract custom. Hoping for a non-repeat of that this year!

I agree with you. If the Saturday is good, I might buy a ticket for the Sunday too, on the door, unless they're sold out.

Thank you! Still mostly lurking and reading but loving it nonetheless.

Do get one, if you're even remotely curious! It's the second best thing that's ever happened to me, after the "normal" bass guitar

Ha. I see Vmax, I thought there was much more than slappers (wrong kind) there, but yes, I agree, coming from Manchester is one hell of a trip for the show. You guys have Bass Day UK there tomorrow, though, am I right? With Marcus Miller. Not bad!

Pray, what's the good sort of slappers, Sir?

Just watch out for tube disruption when you do get to London (lots of ongoing upgrade work during weekends). Luckily, Olympia is well served by buses too.

I bought a ticket for the Saturday. It's a pity that we don't know what acts or guests will be there as yet, which makes choosing the day a bit of a random affair.

When the day gets near we'll see if we can organise a meetup of Basschat forumers there!

Thank you AttitudeCastle! I don't see any hints of anything old fart-like in your post Machines, be nice to us grrrls, will you, and even lefties have rights

LOL! Love you sister! xx

Exactly. There used to be a lot more special show offers in the past, when the then "London Guitar Show" (IIRC) was held every year at Wembley. I guess the recession is biting hard.

It's a rich person who can afford to buy something at every bass show they attend, whether they need the new gear or not. I enjoy window shopping on music gear too, and it's good to keep abreast of progress in technology even when you're not planning to upgrade immediately. BurritoBass, I *love* and share your "Interests"! Anybody got a time machine, even a one-way-only model?