mangotango

If you'd made that comment about someone from a different ethnic background, rather than a different regional background, it would rightly be regarded as racist. It's no better for that.

No, it's just the usual lazy stereotyping. 🙄 You'd have been much more likely to be a victim of car crime in Manchester than....oh, anywhere else in England. https://www.honestjohn.co.uk/crime/top-10s/10-worst-cities-in-the-uk-for-car-crime/?image=7

Very happy with this change...gives me the perfect excuse to go back to my home town for a few days to visit.

Shez Raja's Tales From The Punjab album - particularly this track. Long intro, but worth waiting for it to kick in......

Pure Sunshine in a piece of music....

There's always one.....

As has Anthony Jackson, at times. And as mentioned elsewhere, Steve Swallow on a 5'er. Both in my chosen genre of music. I have no problem with them.

Yep I remember that Liverpool-born player well!! 😁 The first gig I ever saw, the Fabs at the Liverpool Empire when I was just 7 - obviously an even bigger influence than I thought......

A little while back, the jazz/funk/world band in which I play went from a quartet to a keyboard-based trio, with the loss of the front-line horn player (trumpet). The rest of us began jamming as that trio, and found that we liked it, so that's how we're going forward. Suddenly, the bass had taken on a more important role, as I found myself taking a few additional solos and covering more of the sonic spectrum. To manage the latter, I tried out the Squier Bass VI that I acquired from Al Krow. The feedback from the other two was that it didn't really work - having the increase in the top end range was great, but losing out on the deep rumble that I had from my Spector 5-stringers wasn't so good. So I went all in and acquired a Cort A6 six-string bass. This is pretty much ideal for the job, but in getting used to the narrower string spacing than my 5's, I initially found myself gravitating towards a pick. (Those of you who have seen the words "plectrum" and "six-string bass" and have suddenly found themselves reaching for the keyboard to type in "Jaco only needed 4" or "that's not a bass, it's a guitar" - please feel free to seek another thread about whatever suits your point of view). The fact is that I am also a guitarist in a different band, so using a plec is no issue for me. However, instead of losing the pick once I became accustomed to the new bass, I have found myself using it more and more, though not on everything. I hadn't used a pick on a bass since back in the days of the Noo Wave, so at first I felt that it was a bit out of place in the music that I'm now playing . Now, however, I don't really care. I've even started using the plec instead of slapping on a few funk tunes - it sounds more solid (so obviously my slap technique had needed improvement, LOL!!) and cuts through better. I'm even planning to use it with the Spectorcore fretless (shock!!) on part of a new tune where it helps to give a better attack. So am I due soon to be ostracized by the bass-playing community? Am I doomed to wander the musical highway like David (but really Bruce) Banner at the credits of The Incredible Hulk, trying to flag down a lift to take me back to A Town Called Acceptance? Or more likely, do I just go my own way and not give a toss for the rising tide of public opinion? "You do you and I'll be me".....

Just acquired one. Still getting into it, but the outbreak of "I could do THIS, and THIS..." kind of thinking was worth the price of admission on its own. It's a COrt A6 and is a lot of bass for the money - through neck, Bartolinis, Hipshot tuners. Yes, it's a bit heavy, but actually lighter than my Spector 5-string fretted and it may just be what I need going forward. Watch this space.

Explain ukuleles? This. Giving this kid the opportunity to come along. He's 11. One day, he will grow into playing a guitar and become a Dan Hedges or Andy McKee, but for now he's having the time of his life and at least he's playing music, not stuck in front of some crappy computer game. (Yep, Old Bloke Comment. Sue me.)

Just bought Nubya Garcia's new album Source. It's jazz, but heavy with Reggae and Latin influences. Such a great mix of sounds. Quite frankly, it's the best thing that I've heard in ages....and it's her debut album. 😲

The jazz/funk/etc. quartet in which I play bass recently slimmed down (if such an expression can be used to describe anything involving me!) to a trio and I found myself in the position of being called on to take the odd bass solo or two by way of variation in some of the arrangements. At the first rehearsal in this new format, I used the Squier Bass VI that I acquired from @Al Krow to see if the whole concept was viable; the general consensus was that going up high for soloing sounded good BUT the Squier lacked a little.......testicular fortitude down the low end, certainly by comparison with the Spector 5-stringers that are my normal weapons of choice. So after trying to snag the Spector Legend 6 that Bass Direct had on their website (just missed it), I found this on The 'Bay. It's a Cort A6. I even found a video review of this bass by that Dan Veal bloke, which was pretty glowing and inspired me to pursue this. And so, after a rain-soaked journey through Storm Francis last night to pick it up, it is mine!! First impressions - the string spacing's a lot better than I was anticipating - there's room for moderate slapping, and everything else is comfortable, even up the dusty end (to which there is very good access). It's not too heavy - quite comfy in fact. Probably lighter than my Spector Legend Custom 5'er. And the twin Bart's give it a lovely growl, with a lot of bottom end. Just two things as a result; 1) Sorry Bas, but the Bass VI will have to go now. Really lovely instrument, but I have neither need for room for it after this. Yes, I KNOW that it does something completely different from this bass, but.... 2) Dan Veal - @Dood, I bought my Spectorcore and now this , after seeing your videos. Can you please stop making stuff sound so good in your reviews, at least for a while until my bank balance recovers.

Well, it all went OK. I only tried to start one song in the wrong key (had been changed the day before), but everything else pretty good. Now there's another one for the jazz originals band, same venue, 13 Sept, and potentially another for that band in Ilford in October. And now...I can't flippin' wait.

...on Sunday, and I'm more than a little nervous. It's a dep for the band of the drummer who runs the Workshop Band with which I was playing regularly up to Xmas of last year. Venue is the Bandstand in Priory Park, Southend-On-Sea. An hour's worth of Jazz standards, so I hope that I should be able to cope with that. I've done a fair amount of practice. I was originally going to try to do the gig on the 5-string fretless because of the gorgeous sound, but I'm going to go for the soft option of the 4-string fretted. After all, the tone of the fretless would impress if I want to overwhelm people with sound...but first time out with this lot, I reckon that not having to worry about my intonation and playing in tune is going to work better on the "being called back" front. But overall...? Yes, there's not having played with other people since March, during which time I've been suffering from (and treated for) RSI of the left wrist. I'm getting through that so it shouldn't bother me. No, it's the Social Distancing thing. Most of all, it's the whole Covid thing. I'm not young, I'm definitely not skinny - so I'm at risk. I'm sure that I've got enough anti-bac, I should be far enough away from people - but you never know. On the other hand, I could just sit at home for the rest of my life. Thoughts?

Deirdre Cartwright nowadays plays jazz guitar in the highly-rated Alison Rayner Quartet.

Alright La! Welcome to the forum from an Expatriate Scouser now living Down South. Friendly bunch on here (even the Mancs! 😉) and you can learn a heck of a lot from all sorts of people. Unfortunately, you will also develop bad habits about "needing" more/better gear from seeing what other people on here have....that's the trade-off I'm afraid. Worth it though. Oh and another Red on here can only be good.

First set of bass strings I ever bought were Picato flats. In 1975 they were £4.95 and the cheapest things out there. Because I was still at school, I couldn't afford anything else. They were a major component in the worst bass sound ever known to humanity - the other elements being an Eko violin bass, a cheap distortion box, an Impact 60 valve amp...…. and me. Ask @Scoop - he was at the only gig that I ever played with that set-up!! As soon as I got a Saturday job and could afford better - I did. Maybe they've improved since then. I won't be looking to find out any time soon.

Yeh, good luck with that.

Exactly. I'm supposed to be seeing Chick Corea (with Christian Mc Bride on bass) at the Barbican on Monday - but given that their first concert in that tour is in Luxemburg on Saturday, and also that there are 9 or 10 dates after that in Continental Europe...I'm not holding out much hope that it's going to happen.

Hey ZBD, welcome to the forum. Good people on here.... Just turned 60? No problem. I started bass again at 58 and am now just so far into it If you're used to playing cello...you haven't been a guitarist....and you want to play big band jazz...have you thought about an electric upright bass? Nice compromise between bass guitar and double bass. Easy to amplify and cart around. This is mine, which I use in a workshop big band: (photo by Silvia Bluejay, from the last South-East Bass Bash), (One thing that we are VERY good at on here is trying to spend other people's money for them. You'll see lots of that...)

Coincidentally, the basses on which I was going to pull the trigger were : (fretted) white/maple, (fretless) 'burst/rosewood. Got it in one.

...plus once the Country has survived the Coronavirus scare, there will be all sorts of gigs aplenty again. And you'll be glad that you held onto those basses....

I was going to get a couple of 5'er P7s, this time last year. I wanted two basses the same rather than batting about between active fretted and passive fretless from different manufacturers, and stepping up to a couple of these was within the budget. So it was just a matter of going over to Anderton's and checking them out. Noice, as they say. Really good basses. I had found a fretted and a fretless in colours I liked. I had them in my hands and was looking for an assistant, with the credit card in hand & ready to go. Whilst I was waiting, I noodled around on the fretless on a tune that's a bass feature in my band; it involves me playing the intro melody above the octave.....and I ran out of notes. The neck only goes up to a Fender-ish 20 frets, and I wanted at least 1 more. I put them back on their respective hangers, and Mrs. Mango and I went back to the car for the journey home. A week later, we went up to Bass Direct and came home with 2 Spector 5'ers. Which have 2-octave necks. Sorted. I would have had the P7's, though, if not for that.