ambient

One.

Rothko. Stanley Clark had a second bassist in one of his bands a few years ago. I’ve played in a few electric bass duos.

Laurence did a masterclass at my uni once. He’s well worth going to see.

No. It was always totally noise free.

Is it a bass/guitar or a 4/6 string bass? If the former, then the scale length is surely very long for a guitar? if the latter, then why?

There are various websites that are useful for finding students: Find a tutor etc. The good ones will require references and a DBS. It used to be the case that you had to apply for a DBS check through an organisation; I used to use the MU. If you’re teaching children and they come to your house, then every adult in the house will require a DBS check. It’s good to spend a bit of time in the first lesson setting out a written plan of what the student wants and how you’re going to achieve that. You should regularly refer back to that to check on progress. Make everything relevant to the student. You might like funk but your student is into metal. Use examples that they are going to find interesting and have a connection to. Be patient and have several different ways of explaining something. People learn in different ways and at different speeds. You need to find the route for each student to follow to learn what they need.

That’s happened to me, more than once.

I haven’t done a dep gig for a while now. I still have the folder with notated parts from when I was doing them regularly. I have 2 or 3 copies of most songs, in different keys. If I was to do one now then I’d convert them to pdf and import them into ForeScore. A lead sheet would be most useful if I was having to busk. In pdf format.

They cancelled. I’m waiting for them to rebook.

So, here it is. I bought it from a seller on eBay, who lives near Bournemouth. As luck would have it, I have a cousin who also lives in Bournemouth and was coming up to Birmingham for the weekend. It’s a Tanglewood with a built-in tuner and pickup. It's currently strung with a low G. I have a friend who plays, he and his wife have quite a collection of them; I think he said they have eight between them. I've just been to see him, he says it's a nice instrument.

Pictures later 😆

My mum’s friend's son became addicted to gambling while at university. He was thousands in debt. His parents bailed him out and he did it again. You’re bombarded by adverts on TV and social media. They make it out to be fun, without mentioning how it can ruin your life. None of this is to excuse Mr Mason, who’s little more than a serial thief and conman. He’s well aware of what he’s doing, he’s surely had opportunity to seek help.

Absolutely no. That wasn’t what I meant.

Sadly, it often seems to be case that the perpetrator has either a substance or gambling addiction. Looking at posts on the private Facebook group, he appears to have a partner, who while not being a part of the scams, does know about them and covers for him. You’d think she’d be trying to get him to seek help. There is apparently a court case coming up too.

Thanks to everyone who’s replied and given me some very useful information. I had my interview today; just over the phone and standard teaching stuff about safeguarding etc. I have another interview with them next week when I’ll have to play something for them. I’m going to visit Hobgoblin in Birmingham tomorrow. There’s also a rather nice looking Tanglewood I’ve seen, that comes with a gig bag.

I had managed to forget about that. I hope the nightmares don’t start up again.

I’ve done it twice Antonio. Both times were to Ireland. It is - or was - pretty straightforward. I can’t remember who I flew with, it wasn’t Ryanair though.

I just took delivery of a Protection Racket 7051, which I have to say is brilliant, I’m really pleased with it. It’s well padded and offers lots of protection. It’s also pretty roomy. The cushions attach with Velcro allowing you to either remove them completely or reposition them. Theres a strap too across the neck rest. I paid just over £100 for it from GAK.

Just make sure you don’t lose it.

I have an interview in a week or so for a company that runs music lessons in primary schools. One of the instruments I’ll be teaching is ukulele, which I don’t at the moment play. Can anyone recommend a reasonable cheap instrument that I can practice on please?

That’s what I was about to say. I’m wary of these remixes, surely you end up with everything sounding like it was just made?