ambient

The Joni Mitchel and Peter Gabriel’s new blood albums were excellent.

Part of the problem is, like with the original question, "the most musically talented man of all time". It's really only in very recent times that it's been considered acceptable for women to forge a career in music, either as a musician or a composer, for instance craddock Mandelson, she often published under her more famous brother's name. Jaqueline DePres is one female musician that I’ve always particularly admired. In the avant-garde you have Eliane Radigue, an electronic music pioneer who worked with the late Pierre Henry. Delia Derbyshire from the BBC Radiophonic workshop, and composer of the doctor who theme. Another electronic music pioneer Pauline Oliveros who began playing music at a ridiculously early age, and later developed some lovely concepts about soundscape and listening. In musical performance you have Maria Callas for instance, and a whole load of more contemporary artists, Carol Kay instantly springs to mind.

Also why only man?

There are so many, and talent manifests itself in a myriad of ways. I would argue that having the ability to spend thousands of hours practicing and learning is a demonstration of talent? In the past as now there have been phenomenally talented youngsters from all walks of life. Haydn was the youngest of 20 children and was destined for a life as a boot maker. I'd say maybe Mozart.

It's capitalism. The same as someone buying shares in a company owned by the state that's being sold off cheap by the government, with full knowledge that it's undervalued and the shares will be worth two or three times more within hours of the sale, i.e BT, British gas, Royal mail etc.

You like what you like. I love classical music, it lead me to the music that I now play myself. I don't like all classical music, the 'popular classics' I especially dislike. What I love about classical music is the soundscape that's produced, the way the instruments mix to create beautiful textures and layers of sound. Similar textures can be created in electronic music, but rarely to my ears in pop or rock, where it's melody that is important. Jazz is something else I can listen to, though I wouldn't call myself a huge fan. It is more interesting to listen to than standard rock and pop though. It's something I play quiet often too, mainly because I'm lazy and it's a gig I can just turn up to and play.

Seven.

The Phil Jones double 4 is amazing. The size of a shoe box, and 75 watts. It can also be used at small gigs too, if needed. There's currently one for sale in the marketplace

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1508850731' post='3394845'] "Though"??? My brother in law plays trombone in two brass bands and even the local competitions are brutal. I can only imagine how competitive, nerve shredding and nit picking a national comp would be. Respect. [/quote] It wasn’t meant with any kind of disrespect. The fact the guy played at the Royal Albert hall is enough for me to offer him the greatest respect. 😊

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1508846434' post='3394791'] National Brass Band competition. Now that's proper rock and roll. We won by the way [/quote] Bet it was still an amazing experience though.

Bass too commonplace? More commonplace than drums or guitar?

Gumtree? You do still get time wasters though.

Slightly off-topic. It's best really in the long run at least, to avoid playing scales in a 'box' pattern like this. Learn to play the notes instead, rather than a fingering pattern. Imagine if there was an LED at every fret on your bass. You have a button to press and it lights up every note in a given scale, that kind of thing.

All the time, both for fretting notes and muting.