bass_dinger

I think that what we call a compact cassette, was originally marketed as a dictaphone recording device. Nakamichi managed to get a lot of mileage out of the format, but they were perhaps best suited for in-car entertainment, and for recording Radio 1's chart show - and for doing mix tapes for your mates. I still treasure my Best Of Shalamar, compiled by my mate Roger... "Home Taping Is Killing Music."

I did the same with a 12 year old that wanted to learn. He liked Fly me to the Moon; Flamenco Sketches by Miles Davis; and All of Me by Micheal Buble.... I had to tell his parents that those songs were beyond me!

I recently offloaded my small vinyl collection, because I rarely if ever listened to them. With a cheap Dual CS505 deck, and nowhere to store the records, it was an easy decision to fix my old Marantz CD52 player, and focus on that medium. However, my wife still has some vinyl and cassettes, which I thought that I could easily replace with the CD version. I was stunned to see how expensive CDs can be, especially when it was released as a limited run by an obscure artist. Contrast that to how easily available the vinyl version is. EDIT - everything is easily available, if one has the money...

Ah yes - if they had been invented 5 years ago, they would have called it "heat-activated low density biodegradable packaging granules", but we know them as a bag of popping corn. I find that it works best if it can be separated from the item being sent - nobody wants food-stuff in the slots of their tube power amp! I used ziplocked bags full of popcorn. "10 out of 10, delicious. Would buy again." I see that the wood grain on the packaging is better than that on some guitars I have owned! If it is 6mm ply, it is expensive to buy (but cheaper than a damaged instrument). So, I have been known to resort to a bit of skip diving . . .

At our church, we use four fixed cameras, with HDMI-out, into a video mixer - the visuals team select the shot that they want (whole band; worship leader close up; preacher close up; preacher wide shot). The main mixing desk is set up in two layers - one for the room, which is rarely used (all the microphones and instruments are on gates which only open when the band plays, or people speak). The second (virtual) layer on the main desk goes to a second software-based desk in the studio, via an Ethernet connection. That second desk can remotely control the broadcast sound, and allows the "live" room to have a different mix to the broadcast. There is a third desk on the stage, to allow the band to control our foldback - an old analogue machine that previously served as the main church desk. We also have three separately controllable screens: In the church building one with the words to the songs facing the band. The other screen is for the congregation to see words to songs, and links to external broadcasts (Zoom calls to missionaries abroad; BBC broadcast of the Cenotaph memorial service; pre-recorded videos). There is also a transmission screen - that's what is shared with people watching the service online. We did try doing all of the sound from one digital desk, but quickly realised that the way of optimising the sound was to treat each zone differently, and have specialists in control of each zone. That level of commitment was tied in with the decision to move to a fully broadcast service, as well as the "live" room. I can share more detail if people want it - make of camera, make of desk, kit and software used to do the visuals and streaming. However, I realise that not every church will want to install a broadcast studio. For now, here is a link to the service - complete with a prerecorded interview, adverts, too-loud harmonies, and the bassist turning up late because I needed the loo and did not realise that the studio had started broadcasting the rehearsal early!

There are very good! There is a whole concert of their stuff - great fun for those of us who want to hear the oompah version of Ghostbusters.

Because the majority of white worship musicians are so uninspiring . . . I decided long ago that, in order to improve my musicianship, I needed to listen to and play material outside of CCW - so, less Christian Contemporary Worship, and more Credence Clearwater Wevival. Less CCW and more CCS. Adam Neely has something to say on the subject -

So excited that you still remember it!

At my church, A, G, D and C are the Keys of Worship - often the same song, tried in each key until the singers are comfortable. However, there are never any flat keys, oddly. As for Don't Overplay, spot on. Recordings and videos of professional arrangements are often very sparsely arranged.

But now, with Facebook and YouTube broadcasts, 300 looks small! Somehow, my own church services reach 1,000 views in the month following the service, from a live congregation of 250. You are right - a venue full of real people singing, is better than the current set up (100 people in masks, forbidden to sing).

Ah yes . . . So, we previously had lots of people playing and singing, with each "seat" being rotated. Each week would have a different combination of musicians - see Luke FRC's comment below, for the range of abilities! However, since we returned to the church, we no longer have a mix of musicians. Instead, the band members are largely fixed. So, we no longer have different bands, but one core group. That's sad for those who are excluded, but the move seems to have been accepted, in the main.

An update on my own playing in church. Since 9th August, we have been playing as a band, in the church building. With a new leader, it has proven more challenging than I expected, even though everyone in the band is experienced and capable. I think that's because the new leader wants a proper arrangement, rather than as before when the leader would play and have us follow him for rhythm and changes in volume and mood. I am enjoying the challenge, but felt the need to take lessons {Thanks to dudewheresmybass }, simply to keep up with the other musicians' level of ability. The more I play, the more I realise that I don't know....

The skin does wear out - but it regrows! Ladies and gentlemen, I give you . . . the self-repairing guitar-brain interface. I call it "The FingerTip".

A spare for everything? Now you have set me thinking! I have spare cables, battery, a spare tuner (headstock) and a spare 2032 battery for that tuner, and even tools to tighten up ring nuts. I check the battery once every two months (this, after my batter died during a broadcast gig). I have bought a DI box, in case the amp fails. However, I don't have spare strings, nor my own spare bass. However, there is a four-string at the venue at which I play. I had one battery that lasted 8 years - and another, just two months. That variation probably reflects the difference in playing time that I put into the bass, during my current phase of paying, and my previous "bass dark ages". EDIT - a more complex error. I bought a pair of batteries for an active acoustic bass. One battery died, having first given a distorted sound via the pre-amp. I replaced it with the other battery, and about a week later, the pre-amp was distorting again. I reasoned that it was the pre-amp at fault - it could not be the battery, as it was fresh. In fact, the battery was freshly in the bass, rather than freshly made - both batteries were the same age, and both had deteriorated at roughly the same rate, and both died at the same approximate time. Now, I buy one battery at a time, and place the old spare into the instrument, and make the new battery the spare.

I have a friend who played a lined fretless 6 string, restrung with guitar strings from D to E flat. That was because there was already a bassist in the band that he joined, and he therefore found a way of occupying a different sonic space, with his "baritone bass". That's even more nuclear than your nuclear deterrent!

I play 5 string for the same reason.

This is the reason why I never let others borrow gear, and I always bring my gear home - even when I finish playing at 11:30am and am due to return to the same locked and safe venue at 4pm the same day. I don't understand why anyone would leave their portable gear in a venue - in one case, a Line 6 amplifier was on the stage for 2 years, and in that time it was used just once, by the owner.

Anyone who can do that, are immediately assessed as very cool in my view. It is the musical equivalent of pulling a wheelie, on your BMX, all the way to the shops. You probably don't need to do it, but that fact that you can shows me how very excellent you are.

I always thought that Nile Rogers would make a great ukulele player. Funky choppy rhythms using only the four highest strings on the guitar, above the fifth fret? That's what a ukulele is all about (if you play it like Feng E, above). He seems to get around a fair bit - here he is again, with an Australian guitarist backing him up . . . Worth watching, if only for their delight at the synchronised "neck bend" wammy bar effect at 2'57".

That sounds like a great gig! Congratulations. I have found it helpful to place the amp (or rather, the speaker cabinet, if your have separate units), about 6 to 10 feet away from myself, and to have it pointing at my head. The problem seems to be that, with the speaker cabinet close by, the sound is directed at my own legs and bottom, in which I do not have any ears. Thus, what I hear is different to what everyone else hears. I have heard tell that the sound is best heard at a distance greater than the length of the sound wave - but others with more experience, and more science, will be able to confirm. I have had great success in experimented with cab placement - most recently, 9 inches away from the wall, and at a 20 degree angle. When it was parallel to the wall, the sound was loud and boomy. 20 degrees, and it was lovely. Get a long cable, and walk around your cab as you play - my SWR Workingman's' 12 is louder out of the side of the cab, than out of the front, if you are 6 feet away from it. You might also experiment with EQ - again, others will be able to suggest the right setting. I also found that my original 30 watt Laney amp, which was really loud indoors and in rehearsals, quickly ran out of puff when the rest of the band and the congregation kicked in. So, I upgraded to the SWR, which works much better in the same venue. Even better is an Ashdown Electric Blue 180. The latter feels effortlessly muscular, and deliciously rich.

The first proper bassline that I learned for a band, was Mr Blue Sky. I had been asked to deputise at a gig, moving from baritone ukulele (don't ask) to bass, while the original bass player was away for a few months. I so wanted to get it right, and to be as good as the proper bassist, that I found a bass cover video on YouTube. I spent three days transcribing the music, including the walking bass line toward the end of the main song. In the process, I realised that the other bassist was simply playing root notes. The whole process taught me that I really could learn songs properly, which was a revelation to me. I was invited to be their full time bassist, and spent a few happy years playing with them. Ahh - deputies being asked to take over from their full-timers - a whole new subject!

That's a great bassline!

That's what I feel about my own bass. My Washburn XB500 feels right, to me - an extension of myself, that does not get in the way of my playing. They don't do them in white, however, and I don't have a matching pair. Yet.

Another vote for AKG K 240s. Had mine 38 years, and the one of the earpieces stopped working just two months ago. They are easily repairable, if one knows what one is doing. So, I shall be sending mine off to https://uk.electronic.partners/ I also have a pair of AKG Y50s - this time, after just two years, one side has stopped working.

I am wondering if you are referring to this excellent YouTube video, from David Bennett Piano. It is well researched, featuring clips of the Beatles speaking about music theory, and a deep analysis of their understanding of timing, beats, bars, time signatures and keys. For me, I find music theory liberating. It took me a couple of years of playing music on an two -manual organ for me to realise that a D major chord often appears with a G and C chord, especially when there is a single # sign on the stave. I worked out that the notes are all the white ones, minus F, plus F sharp, and that the fifth note of the G scale is D, and that I could use that knowledge to play Root-fifth on the bass pedals, and play scalar runs on the keyboard. So, I worked out the concept of the key of G (and other keys) all by myself, and it only took a few years. My youngest daughter polished off the key of G, over a couple of weeks, aged 8, in her violin lessons.... So, for me, theory is useful, as it gives me the tools to understand what I am playing, and how to add interest to my bass (and guitar) lines.