ZMech

Hey pete, welcome to the forum. I had the same idea recently, the move to double bass is definitely a good idea, despite the sore hands and ridiculous increase in difficulty! Anyway, I ended up getting one of those second hand,and it's done me pretty well so far. One thing you should keep in mind is the factory setup is rubbish, so you're probably gonna have to take it to a luthier for them to adjust the action, and maybe the soundpost (about £60-90), but it will make it far nicer to play. The way I went about it was to go for a taster lesson first, to check I enjoyed playing the monster, which obviously I did. He was then nice enough to come with me to check out a bass being sold nearby on gumtree, since I knew nothing at that point. It might be worth seeing if you can do the same in Swansea. Also, have a search around the DB section of the sight, and the DB part of the for sale section, as you often great value for money in there: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showforum=14"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showforum=14[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showforum=76"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showforum=76[/url]

I dunno if it improves dexterity, but I certainly regard it as a vital skill these days. Writing a thesis is bad enough when I can type 90 words a minute, would be even worse if I crawled along at half that (if you want a reference, average handwriting speed is 20-30wpm). I used a kids programme, 'disney's adventures in typing with Timon and Pumba', it was awesome. Rafiki would teach you, then you'd put it into practise in mini games with timon and pumba.

You could try learning to roll a coin across the back of your knuckles. Best thing I learnt during 6th form, and probably helps the dexterity a bit

People study bass outside their bedroom?

[quote name='steve' post='1239844' date='May 22 2011, 12:08 AM']Unbeknown to me, my wife was bidding on this for me, but was outbid at the last minute as she was at work. She'd put a max bid of £550 but couldn't follow it at work.[/quote] Would have been funny if it turned out you were having a bidding war against each other

and if you don't feel the need for drums, Invitation is superb, it's just Bill Evans with Eddie Gomez.

OR spend it on a double bass instead

Get a double bass! it'll be hard, painful, and oh so worth it.

thought I'd share this superb cover:

I started a similar thread a while back if it helps: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=117525&hl=transporting"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...hl=transporting[/url] It seemed that the most people can fit it into whatever car by reclining the passenger seat, and putting the bass in head first. If that works in a ford KA you'll probably be fine.

your loving your lists today aren't you Cheers though, will check those out (once i finish this getz w/ evans album of course).

Got a reply from Tom of TomandWill which started with 'It is honestly something that we have never considered – personally as a double bassist the question had never occurred to me, and in the 6 years that we have been selling cases it has also never come up!' and they're now going to look into the idea. Seems strange to me, I would've thought any designer would look at already existing similar products, in this case the strap system on hiking bags.

[quote name='Gunsfreddy2003' post='1183940' date='Mar 31 2011, 09:23 PM']The keyboard player in my band Zang Tang is also the keys player in Laid Blak!![/quote] Ah jack, he's a good guy, great player too. Had a sweet funk jam with him (and a second bassist!) at the end of one of his mr wolf nights.

[quote name='bassfunk' post='1236169' date='May 18 2011, 07:26 PM']Cheers Bottom E, I'm always worried about leaving cards lying around at weddings in case the couple doesn't like it (might upset the way the tables are decorated) but I guess I could always ask. Thanks[/quote] Perhaps instead of leaving them lying around, when signing off at the end of the show you could mention that you have business cards for anyone that liked the show, and have a short stack ready to hand. At the same time, maybe ask the couple if they'd be nice enough to recommend you to people, and leave a few cards with them (assuming they liked you of course). Might as well help along the word of mouth advertising.

Perhaps either this thread should be made a sticky, or the original should be moved into the main bass discussion area. I for one have only been in the miscellaneous equipment section once or twice, and I suspect I'm not the only one, so for such an important musician's issue surely it should be where the most traffic goes through (other than off topic )

yeah I got the ER20's for gigging with, and might start at least taking them with when going to go see gigs. As a testament to their clarity, my housemate starting talking to me when I was testing them after they arrived, and I could hear her perfectly clearly, just quieter. If you have a wife you might need more than a 15dB reduction though

Just realised the £80 I'm selling my DB case for will perfectly cover the zoom h1. Got to love a guilt free purchase Checked the youtube clips of the zoom, sounds brilliant.

That H1 sounds pretty ideal, especially since I don't currently have a soundcard to record with. Was thinking put it on a shelf pointing at us and let it do its thing, I'm guessing this'll work ok

Well I had a random spontaneous jam with my mates, and whilst we came up with stuff we thought was great at the time, we can't remember any of it. So next time we reckon we want to record the jam, and I dunno what mic is best to do that. Would want one we can just position in the room somewhere, that would pick up guitar - drum - bass, just to a high enough quality that we can go over the ideas we came up with later. Proper studio recording at this moment would be extreme overkill, I'm just hoping someone can suggest a 1 mic solution that'll generally record a room.

as icastle said, surely it's any good teachers job to compliment their students successes, as well as point out the weaknesses. So long as you don't give them a false sense of grandeur then it's perfectly fine.

[quote name='steve' post='1230413' date='May 13 2011, 08:49 PM']what could possibly go wrong?[/quote] Your mate could point out it's the musical equivalent of putting neon lights under your car. The idea's now been ruined for me.

It seems this thread is the second result if you google 'bass cellar', so I thought it might be nice for us to update our opinions. Haven't been in there for a few years myself, but has anyone found an improvement in customer service?

[quote name='Dad3353' post='1230606' date='May 14 2011, 12:41 AM']Good evening, ZMech... Slightly more delicate to do, but much better effect, is to backlight transluscent paper covering the f-holes.[/quote] Great idea, thanks for that. It'll be really annoying to tape in on the inside, but might be doable. Tracing paper would be ideal, probably with a red LED, and I'd need a switch and battery on the outside, maybe attached on the back of the tailpiece. At the moment this is all theoretical, but will put up any photos as and when.

Had a thought today that it'd look pretty cool on a dark stage to have a pair of glowing f holes on my double bass. Wouldn't have to be bright, just enough to be seen from the audience. Has anyone ever tried something like that? Would be easy to do if the inside wasn't so hard to access.