uk_lefty

I've now been on YouTube and watched their Live Aid set. Film could have done better! Not complaining though.

It was entertaining. Haven't been to the cinema for years and it was a good film for the big screen and surround sound. I don't know the biography of Queen so I wasn't aware of the exact liberties taken with the timelines etc. So for me it was very enjoyable and a great reminder of what a unique and formidable group they were

Aha! I was out running along the river and stopped on a park bench to listen for ages to that gig. Open corners on the ground gave us quite a clear sound for miles

Orange Crush was the first single I ever bought. Aged 4.

Sounds like the end of 2018 is definitely pointing you onwards and upwards! Best of luck

I had a pair of Sony DJ headphones off eBay years back, very good for bass practice. 3m lead and you can swivel the ears really well. I'd look for DJ headphones if I were you. Oh, and they can be had quite cheap. Mine were probably £20 ish, have lasted years with lots of use. Very good quality.

I expected to want to swap out the tuners and bridge but a few months in and a fair few gigs including outdoors in the cold and it's fine. The battery boxes are a very tight fit, not a job you can rush. I think they addressed this with the newer versions but not sure.

Or the guitarist goes "No! I'm sacking YOU!" like twelve year olds arguing over who dumped who

I know how you feel. Sometimes the set my band plays bores me. We try to get away from typical pub covers and I am pushing us towards being an "80's mix tape" band. The big 80's tunes go down well and we have now got 45-60 mins of this. But there are others in the band who want to either stay true to their blues roots (you guessed it, guitarist) and others who think we need to play utter tripe like Take That's re-launch songs from the mid-noughties just to get more gigs. I don't really practice because the set is burned in my memory. I often discuss with the singer doing originals or doing heavier music, but life is busy, sadly. One day!

I am happy if someone wants to ask me to try some over drive or chorus, or if they say hmmm that isn't quite right. I usually will try what they ask or I already know I've not got it nailed. However, if this was constant and they wanted to take my personality out of the bass playing they can get a sequencer or whatever and play samples from the record, I'd be off like a shot. I don't play carbon copies, I play my interpretation. I'm not in a tribute band, I'm in a band that plays its own interpretation of classic songs. That's my viewpoint. If you feel this guy is stamping out your personality, such as the accents you throw in, hand him your bass and ask him to demo... Then watch him make a hash of it. I'm sure there are many other bands that would want an accomplished bassist who can do their own thing without having to instruct them, you hold the power here!

I chose the vintage V7 jazz fiver, ash body maple board. Mainly because that's a combo of specs that I'd have to spend three or four times as much to get elsewhere. There's so many options with the body and board that you can be spoiled for choice. I'd personally go for the one that gives you the most variance from what you already have. But, you might be looking for a quality but inexpensive backup, so you need as close to what you've already got. Your choice. I've been no help whatsoever.

My wife was there with me. She even told me to buy it!!! I'm waiting on some news any day now, and if that goes my way the Ray will be my own personal momento of the occasion! Bit sad the Warwick was so far behind it though. I think now, having owned one in the past also, that no matter how much I want to love a Warwick, I just can't.

Yesterday I tickled a USA musician stingray for the first time. Absolute bass-love. The punchiness in the sound is to die for, I can't get that from my P bass or others. The three band EQ was more intuitive than my Sire with its two mid controls that baffle me. The bass was perfectly shaped and perfect weight. It probably topped the Sandberg P+MM I tried out a few years back, the presence that a Stingray pickup brings is just the nuts. I tried a Sterling Ray34 in the past and didn't get this same level of satisfaction. I tried the stingray against a Warwick double buck and the Stingray was head and shoulders above it IMO, no matter how much I wanted to love the Warwick equally. However I didn't get to try this against a USA Fender Jazz. Very different basses I know, but I would like to have played the USA jazz. If I get a Stingray (or other) it's my Mexican Jazz that will go, I can't justify having more than four basses... Should I have tried it against the USA Jazz? Is this the start of a Stingray obsession???

Being left handed if I want to try a particular bass I pretty much make an appointment at the music shop so that I know it's in stock and I will get treated properly and not like an urchin blown indoors by the cold winds. Not been to BD yet but tried one of their basses at LBGS years back and had a very good dialogue with them by email, though I chickened out of the purchase.

How many basses are you up to now??!

Perfect for any TV show with the word "celebrity" in the title

Exactly! I cannot see myself ever using the synths and many, many others. It will be compressor, EQ, preamp... Probably finding a favourite and sticking to it, plus drive, chorus or touch wah as needed.

While all this was ongoing I picked up a Boss GT10B at a good price, too good to turn down. I appreciate all the comments and was looking at the Zoom B3n seriously. The Boss is far, far more complex than I need. I've had a play at home, in rehearsal and for a small gig last night. There's loads more o need to work out how to do, like assign a pedal to activate the tuner, and so on, and create my own patches in order, but I'm starting off slow. The presets are hit and miss, but there are lots of useable ones, probably because they focus on preamp and EQ rather than any crazy extreme sounds. There are plenty I just cannot fathom how or why they were made. So for now I'm experimenting. I think the sound of the effects is good enough for my uses live, it's just about understanding enough to use it in a simple way. Having nine compressors to access instead of just what's on my board is hardly helping me with simplicity!

Probably only reporters. If the music was stinky poo and the band leader is known for either pulling a stint or being a weirdo then I doubt many would part with their hard earned cash to see the two minute novelty.

Was there last month. Get up early to enjoy the beauty of the place without the crowds. It really is special. Walking over Charles bridge to the Castle side look left at the end of the bridge, there's a guitar shop down there! I didn't manage to go but it has a giant painted mural including a bass so I was sorely tempted. Be careful buying Trdno's, weird ice cream things in a pastry cone. The first one I had was amazing, every one thereafter was more rubbish than the last. Choose your Trdno vendor wisely!

It must be embarrassing for the venue's, they've now got an empty slot and it's national news that any idiot can book them saying they're a big touring band. Agree on the support acts, unless getting hold of tickets was stupid expensive or difficult on some way. The article says that the "artist" had a hired band, which is what brings me to think he's a fantasist that somehow got people to play along/ turn a blind eye and take his cash, rather than this being a clever-clever stunt about social media.

Never quite got it myself either. A woolly mush out front for everyone! And in my band the guitar amp/ pedal/ lead... We never know which, packs up every single time guaranteed. We keep telling him to get the lot serviced but it's falling on lead-guitarist ears.

Hmmm he is going for the hipster crowd who enjoy nothing but will attend "ironically"... Plus a few junior journalists getting the thin end of the wedge when assignments are handed out. He has cracked it! I think he could have only got more publicity by being a serial killer.

It can really help you as a bassist I find. I was in a drumless band and it was great for me and the guitarist to gel and play off each other. It made me play more percussively and play more notes to support the song and drive the rhythm, so now with a drummer I lock in a lot more and emphasise his playing which works well under two guitars. In short do it. One, because you have no choice, and two because it will make your playing as a unit so much better. Slotting in a new drummer should then be easier. And with a drummer you'll notice there's one more round coming in from the bar!