ambient

The best thing is to sit in front of a mirror and watch yourself play. Pay particular attention to the left hand. Look to see which left hand fingers are free when you hear notes sounding that you don’t want. Use those free fingers as mutes. Unless you’re playing chords then the chances are that you have three fingers to spare. Start slowly, very slowly and gradually increase the tempo as you get more proficient at muting and slapping. To start with it has to be a conscious thing, after a while it just happens.

Use the left hand fingers that aren’t playing notes. I can slap on a six string. It’s just practice really, maybe sit in front of a mirror and watch what you’re doing?

That’s me too. I’ve had some nice days out to places I wouldn’t otherwise have gone to.

I don’t think Parcelforce cover instruments. Though they’ll probably take your money for the insurance.

I don’t know if everyone’s aware, but solo bassist, educator and all round nice guy Steve Lawson is currently undergoing treatment for cancer. There’s a benefit concert for him taking place in California later today, featuring some absolutely stunning musicians, including Michael Manring. It’s going to be streamed live via this link here: https://bluejeans.com/558774000 Here’s a link to Steve’s Facebook page with more details on who’s playing and when etc: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0GuPo5GuFQtSEiMrq7sPtDuRLTNhRnGBs5Gv3ATAzXVjPhQNn9bj5Ssa2TvtUUF3Sl&id=633571454

It looks good for its age.

The pedals scam seems to have been something he dreamt up during lockdown. His real money making con appears to be be in entertainment. He takes bookings for venues, they pay him a deposit, then he either cancels at the last minute, or just the singer turns up. He’s often booking the same band to multiple venues on the same night. He’s also taking money from bands for shows that are never booked. According to a friend, he has a reputation for booking musicians but not paying them.

I once, in what I thought was a very ‘rock and roll’ pose, put my foot on a monitor which started sliding across the stage. I didn’t fall over but it was nevertheless a very embarrassing moment.

This is impressive. Maybe not something to try at your local pub gig though.

I'm truly shocked at the scale of this. I found out a couple of days ago that he conned a band a friend of mine plays in. I think what we're seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg. I have a few mutual muso friends on Facebook, I've just alerted them to this thread, I’d hate for them to be scammed too.

He’s been away for quite some time now.

I know Mark is away. I don’t know who’s running it for him.

I can yes. That side of playing has always interested me. I started off as a kid playing violin, then classical guitar. When I switched to playing bass about 13 or 14, I just assumed that you had to read. My MMus was a mixed composition/performance course. I started using extended performance notation that even the greatest sight reader would struggle to read and play at the same time. I’m currently using TAB to notate some of my solo bass stuff. Standard notation doesn’t easily work with it, I’m using different tunings and harmonics. I bought a 6 line TAB book.

I tend to use my fingers.

I think what you don’t like about the sound is the reason people do. The envelope of the sound and the click is I think why people use them. I’m not a pick player. The only time I’ve ever used one was at uni, and that was spectacularly unsuccessful. The thing fell out of my fingers mid song and landed at the feet of the examiner.

If you don’t like the sound of a pick then don’t use one.

If you really want a Fender then buy used. I’m of the opinion that they’ve always been massively overpriced anyway.

There’s an hour or so you won’t get back.

I like Pearl Jam, especially Jeff Ament’s playing. I don’t see the point in smashing up gear. There’s a lot of people would love to own a decent instrument but can’t afford it.

She could retune it. Depending on the setup, she might have a bit of fret noise, but I don’t reset my instrument up every time I change tuning.

If she’s comfortable with it then why not? Why would she need to adjust at some time? I don’t get that. A lot of the metal bassists use non-standard tunings. I find strings will accept quite a bit extra tuning. My is currently tuned C F Bb Eb G C, I also use B G B D A D, and other tunings where the strings are higher than standard tuning. I love the way a bass takes on a different character when it’s tuned differently. If it works for you then do it.

I sold some cables to Jim. A very straightforward transaction, no problem at all.