thisnameistaken

Cheers man I saw the doc this morning, he says it doesn't seem too serious so that's encouraging, but he didn't seem to know what the problem was. He thinks it's more muscular than tendons though so fingers crossed. He's given me some advice about treating it (the usual; heat, painkillers, ibuprofen gel) and a form to refer me to a physiotherapist, which I'll sort out later today. It seems a bit worse today though, all sorts of clicking and grinding feelings when I rotate the shoulder. Trying my best not to use it at all but that's fairly impossible.

[quote name='TPJ' timestamp='1345455213' post='1777583']May be think about a chiropractor too?[/quote] Would be a last resort for me tbh. I'm firmly on the science side of the fence, especially when it comes to important things like... well, me! [quote name='sarah thomas' timestamp='1345464747' post='1777728'] [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alexander-Technique-Approach-Double-ebook/dp/B004JKMSSE"]http://www.amazon.co...k/dp/B004JKMSSE[/url] [/quote] Cool, I might take a punt on that.

Yeah learning to play it is the fun part. Don't treat it like a bass guitar whatever you do.

Today it's changed. Weird. I've got the full range of motion back but I'm getting shooting pains between my neck and my shoulder, especially when driving my lousy car that has no power steering, and I had a nasty headache after a busy 1hr drive home today. Very odd. I'd had limited motion (painful lateral raising of the arm) for a couple of weeks but that's apparently OK now. Or much more OK than it was - it's no longer painful but feels a little tight around 90 degrees. Will try to see a doctor ASAP.

All analogue octave dividers have similar note-tracking performance, so choose the one you like the sound of. The MXR looks pretty versatile sound-wise, so it's probably worth a try. I've got a pair of OC-2s myself.

It just looks cool. Hey it probably even looks cool when [i]you're[/i] playing it!

I used to get problems with my lower back but since trying my best to fit in an hour of exercise every day my lower back problems have gone away. I have worked on losing my gut and trying to keep myself in decent shape, but I think this might just be a posture thing. Hope I don't end up having to do yoga, my balance is terrible! I will end up with broken arms and legs! I will try to fit in a trip to my GP next week. I did see her about my wrist tendons a couple of years ago but she basically advised me to try to manage it by avoiding over-use, which is what I'm doing. It's working to an extent in that I don't often get any pain in my wrists now, but it means I can't realistically play bass guitar every day. I'm more interested in playing DB these days anyway so I don't want anything getting in the way of that.

Site looks pretty good but I'll never understand why function bands have a bio or a list of trivia about each band member on their websites. I love watercolours of finches as much as the next man but I doubt it will get me any gigs.

Just tried holding the bass in a different way but it's awkward... If I bring the bridge towards my body to make it less of a stretch to pluck for my right arm, the bass feels too upright and I am too close to it to get into thumb position easily. Not that I use thumb position much, but it would be nice to know it's there when I can eventually do it properly! I wonder if my shoulder wasn't sick if this would be a problem. Maybe my position is actually OK and I just need to improve everything else I do.

So I've been having a bit of shoulder pain/muscle tightness in my right shoulder for a few weeks, which doesn't seem to be going away. I think it's a combination of factors; slouching infront of a computer all day at work; driving a car with no power steering, and it seems - judging by how my shoulder reacted this morning - playing double bass. I'm a bit bummed out because I can't play bass guitar too much these days due to wrist tendon problems, but they don't seem to get inflamed at all from playing DB, so to find another injury cropping up on my other instrument is frustrating. I do tend to lean over the bass a bit so I suppose it's my fault. I've got generally crap posture too. Just wondered if anyone's had anything similar and if it's worth seeing a doctor or if it's likely to bugger off by itself if I concentrate on improving my posture and playing position?

Never heard it before. I'm just waiting to hear if there's a part that De La Soul sampled or something (that's the only reason I know what 'Peg' sounds like). So far I don't like it. It doesn't seem to go anywhere, or have any killer hook or anything. Maybe why De La Soul never sampled it.

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1345041280' post='1772747'] Oh, I do the opposite to everyone else then, i try and stick the vocal line over the bass line as soon as I know what notes they're meant to be, so the whole thing sticks as one massive rhythmy-melodic thing in my head, and become inseperable. [/quote] I go for that approach too, but I've been singing and playing for about 20 years, maybe the previous experience makes that approach easier I don't know. But there are still times when I have to go away between rehearsals and work on certain bits that don't fit together easily. And in those cases I slow the whole thing down - sometimes really slow - and pay attention to the timing of the notes and syllables in relation to eachother. Soon enough you get used to how it feels to play/sing them both at the same time and it feels a bit like playing drums IMO. Getting two rhythms going in your head at the same time. It's a cool feeling when you get it working. One tune I often recommend to get started is the chorus from 'The Lovecats'. There's just a couple of little places in that where the vocal and bass part separate, and I reckon if you can learn to play and sing that (and you can) you can probably play and sing anything.

It's not about playing a little or a lot, but about improving the song with what you play. Sometimes that's by accentuating certain vocal passages, sometimes by not playing in places to create contrast, sometimes by adding hooks of your own in places where there's space to do it. Some might roll their eyes at this but one guy who routinely does a good job of this is Flea. He can play busy or he can play **** all but he makes it work and he improves the song.

No of course you don't have to be able to sing to play bass well. I think most people can carry a tune if they practise enough though. As was suggested above - sing when you're on your own to get a feel for how to use your own voice. And if you're serious you can always go get vocal training. It turned out that in the last band I was in I was the only person who'd never had a vocal lesson!

If you enjoyed singing then keep trying - it's like anything else, it requires practise. In the mean time see if there are places you can simplify your bass parts to give you more spare brain to do the singing with. Eventually it will become automatic, the more familiar you get with the songs, and you can start introducing busier bass parts where appropriate. In my experience though, in places where there's more than one voice going on, it's usually best not to be playing anything too busy anyway.

We got a boxer from the RSPCA in January who either hates music or thinks I'm the worst musician in the world. He tolerates me playing double bass these days but if I start bowing it he barks at me and eventually goes to sulk in another room. Also if I play guitar he barks, but if I have other people over here playing guitar he's fine with it. Arsehole dog. This is him. His name is Boo. The only other things he barks at are horses with jobs (horses just grazing are fine, doing anything else is not acceptable) and skateboards. [attachment=115664:boozer.jpg]

Get an analogue octaver. That way nobody will be able to tell you're slapping and your public persona will be unblemished.