Sean

I play so well that people walk away shaking their heads in disbelief. Damn, I must be good.

AM, you have exactly the kind of attitude and style that drives people away from this forum. We've lost some really useful people who have got fed up with ignorant full-of-attitude, hate-filled types. Why don't you take your ungrateful attitude elsewhere and leave the forum for us that find it a useful and informative community?

AM, you obviously have a huge attitude problem/chip on your shoulder and you give the impression that the world owes you something. I'd respectfully ask you to keep a lid on it and grow up a bit. Mewsie has done absolutely nothing to prompt such a sh*tty reaction from you. May I suggest you go out for a walk and contemplate a few things about how communities such as BC work. So many of your posts are so negative and aggressive - get it sorted and stop spewing your vitriolic bile over the pages of this forum.

[quote name='mewsie' post='364147' date='Dec 27 2008, 01:29 PM']AM, we've been here before, people are trying to help you, please be nice. you may find the more you lose it in your replies, the less replies and help you'll get. you are lucky to be able to do this by ear. quickly learning these songs by ear and then transcribing them strikes me as an awesome way to develop more than one skill. learning to understand people speaking a new language is one thing, learning to speak it yourself is another, so transcribing would definitely help your reading, and not only that, you'd be helping others in the future by having them available.[/quote] +1 Thanks, Mewsie. Eloquent as ever.

[quote name='AM1' post='364135' date='Dec 27 2008, 01:04 PM']NO! Look - I can pick up an instrument and learn by ear, very quickly and have done for years. This becomes restrictive when there are occasional passages of music that are difficult to learn by ear and being able to read these is a useful tool. One example - You wouldn't expect to turn up and record a part in a studio by learning it by ear before hand, sometimes a score is given out on the day and you are expected to sight read it OFF THE SHEET. That does not mean I will take one or other approach with the bass ALL OF THE TIME. I will work on both. But I am deliberately trying to avoid just becoming an ear player. I can learn any one of these songs BY EAR in a quick amount of time. But that is NOT helping me to develop READING. I disagree fundamentally - from MY personal experience, you CAN do too much ear playing by ear, to the detriment of learning rudimentary music. A good musician is versatile enough to do both. If you want to debate the semantics, open a thread elsewhere, this thread is for finding tabs. Regards AM[/quote] Keep yer wig on and watch the SHOUTING and the patronising tone. Chill out and enjoy the forum - no one's here to wind you up or be rude, most of the regulars and longer serving BCers are very helpful and by the same chalk very keen to understand where exactly people are coming from and what their angle is so we can give the best advice. Maybe I'll wind my neck in and keep any advice to myself in future if it's going to get a spoilt brat response. Remember that a lot is "lost in translation" in posts and people sometimes seek clarification.

[quote name='AM1' post='364116' date='Dec 27 2008, 12:08 PM']I vowed not to go down the road of playing purely by ear because I want to develop my reading as well.[/quote] So, are you saying you have deliberately restricted your ear training because you want to learn to read better? I don't see the logic. It's like saying that you have cut back on conversing in Italian because you want to improve your Italian reading skills. You can never ever do too much ear training; life is not long enough.

[quote name='WarPig' post='362905' date='Dec 24 2008, 03:49 PM']haha yeah, ive had a few infractions, one was for a rick-roll link, which to be fair if Maki or Mungi posted it everyone [b]would of[/b] laughed.[/quote] Would [b]have[/b] - "of" is a preposition not a verb. There's your very generous Xmas prezzie from me, credibility with irritating pedants. :-)

Well, I took the new blue Euro to rehearsal today and the only comment it got was, "urrgh, gold hardware, how tacky is that?!" [From someone in a function band ] Anyway, it sounded great; fat and thick in the mix and the only instrument I've had that has nailed the tone in that Scissor Sisters' song, Take Your Mama Out. It's totally the wrong instrument for a couple of the swing numbers we did but I just couldn't be bothered to put the DJ with flats in the car today. Massive sound and extremely comfortable to play, can't go wrong. Anyone else find that the fingerboard just sucks up the lemon oil, like painting emulsion on a new wall! Gallons of it!

Just played my Spector Euro 4 through an LH500 with a AE210 Bergantino cab and I was very impressed. I would definitely get one as back up. I thought it was really warm and rich, I could easily live with it.

[quote name='Josh' post='357090' date='Dec 17 2008, 04:04 PM']how good must a mass produced £800 bass be if it has made me want to get rid of a bass of much higher value and craftsmanship?[/quote] £800? £1500ish from Thomann! ***Sorry for the short successive posts tonight, my broadband keeps dropping out and long posts or big files seem to make it worse. I think.*** I'm not going to mess about with photos tonight either - too much hassle until this connection is smoothed out. I can assure you it is lovely though.

Cetera, are the body wings of these half maple, half alder in equal layers or are the maple bits thinner veneers? They look like half and half.

I have to agree with Peter, I'm amazed at the balance between the P and J - every other P/J bass I've had, I've ditched because the balance was poor and the J only ever barely coloured the P sound. With this you get the full articulation that you'd expect (want) with such a set up.

Well, I've stopped for a break now, I'm getting sore This is the most [i]different[/i] bass I've ever owned and it's instantly like-able to play. The pre-amp takes a bit of getting used to but I've found a few settings that really work with the bass by itself but it'll be Saturday at rehearsal before I find out what it sounds like in the mix and I'm guessing that this is where its magic will be. If anyone is wondering what an ex-Sound Control liquidation bass is like when it arrives, it's exactly like a new one but a tiny bit dusty; this even had the original Sound Control sticker on it and I'm guessing that by the windings these are the original factory fitted strings and there's lots of life in them and very little tarnish. What brand/type are they? Anyone? Also it's a killer P/J config but it makes me want to join a rock band.

Well, it's arrived! Value for money is [i]un-be-lievable[/i]. I can't find a flaw anywhere and I'm stupidly picky. fabulous fret work, not a buzz anywhere and the intonation is spot on so no input from me makes me really happy. The action is what I call medium-low which is how I like it and now I'm off to put it through its paces for a few hours. Photos tomorrow. Thanks to WH and a special thanks to LukeFRC.

My tracking number says it out for delivery today. I'll just have to waitand see what's in there - it was collected late yesterday afternoon.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='355516' date='Dec 15 2008, 11:52 PM']sean i wouldnt worry too much. Everything will sort itself out, they are a good company in an established base, not some scamming student from brighton/birmingham.[/quote] Thanks Luke. I'll give them a ring today and see what's happening.

The blue one is still on the wall in RDM as of this afternoon and I've been told it's on the way to me. Payment went thru too. It's going to be a long night.

Please leave feedback accordingly. Many thanks Sean

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='355190' date='Dec 15 2008, 05:05 PM']Unusual that they are both in Edinburgh and the guy also has a load of stuff that looks like music store gear! Do you have your bass and how are you finding it?[/quote] It's not arrived yet. It's shipping today - missed the Friday collection. It's coming TNT and I'm hoping it'll be here on Wednesday. I'm preparing myself for a bit of a culture shock as I've always been into the classic Leo-derived bolt-on neck basses like Js and Ps and Laklands. I liked the feel of the Peavey neck-thru I bought (from WH) but the pre-amp just didn't cut it. Incidentally that bass is now in Southern France with a very happy new owner.

The blue [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=260331015124&Category=4713&_trksid=p3907.m29&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D1"]one[/url] is still on ebay! So that can't be my one , then?

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='354708' date='Dec 15 2008, 12:00 AM']Can't be ars*d with waiting for a used one and seeing as how I've sold one of my Warwicks... I've bought a new Euro 4 (a tad worrying as it's unseen and unplayed). [/quote] Ultra Amber? Where's it coming from?

[quote name='bremen' post='352782' date='Dec 12 2008, 03:12 PM']Wasn't just me then! ho ho, wouldn't it be funny if we got banned from Ebay for our cheeky 'enquiries' when none of the scammers we've reported have had their collars felt![/quote] If you have a look at his feedback and see what he has actually sold it's hilarious. Novelty lighters and garish belts!

Self-teaching? I'm not sure how I would define self-teaching. Over the years, I've heard people make the comment, "he's self-taught, y'know" about someone that's a very impressive musician and this gives me a mental picture, rightly or wrongly, of someone who has never bought a tuition book, never taken advice from anyone, not taken any of the gems that are posted here to heart and has just listened to records and worked it all out from there. I've had quite a few lessons over the years and I'd recommend anyone to have them but there's a big responsibility (if that's the right word) to go out there and discover educational/tuition material for yourself and to work out your own development with an instrument. There are some superb books that approach learning in a very structured way, come with a CD and contain lots of the wisdom of the author - is this self-learning? I don't think so. Sure I have to do the research in deciding which book would suit me best and I have to muster the motivation to sit down and go through the lessons therein but I've effectively paid to have the author teach me. Whether I've been to see a human tutor or got a lesson out of a book, I still have to put in the hard graft of learning the stuff in my own time and it's up to me to find the motivation. Any lesson, whether it is with a tutor or by yourself should have a decent structure for you to get the most out of it and it should logically work toward "the next step" whatever that may be within the context of what you're learning. Say for instance, if you are learning rhythm reading we would learn to read quarter note pattern and then eighth notes and then sixteenths and then syncopated stuff etc rather than just leaping in at "flysh*t" Tower of Power stuff. The reason why you should have lessons with a tutor (a good one) is that it's a real person with whom you can interact and they can spot if you are developing any bad habits that might restrict your playing or even long term, give you an injury like carpal tunnel or RSI. Also with a book, it only explains something one way whereas with a tutor you can ask him to try to explain stuff in a different way. Tutors can be expensive though if you have a tight budget and books relatively cheap but a mixture of the right types of both and time spent practising will be hugely beneficial to everyone. Tutors can inspire more than books for obvious reasons and you might find that if you get the right tutor, he or she will be your mentor for many years or even become your wife/husband. Hopefully you can form some sort of coherent reply from my ramblings, I'm sure the usual suspects will come along to expand soon enough.