ambient

I played with 'some old guys' a few years ago, just a few gigs in a trad jazz band, it was great, I learned so much from it. The average age must have been 75 or something.

I don't think it makes any difference how old you are. The Stones are still rocking around the world, as is McCartney, David Gilmour, Sting, Tony Levin is 68. I'm 37, but I fully intend to carry on playing for ever. I'm vegan, don't drink or smoke, I do yoga and meditate, all with the aim of being able to do what ever I want, for as long as I can.

[quote name='Samfordia' timestamp='1408387444' post='2529724'] Without going too much into it I have trouble with some direct communication such as phones and Skype, but I do take those points on board. I do require a certain way of teaching, thinking about it. A lot of the time it needs to be visual. Being told something quickly often won't work for me. So I think that finding the right tutor would be a godsend. I'm in Salford/Manchester, by the way. I shall be sitting down with the sites mentioned and having a good look whilst also reading back over the advice given here. Listening to Ambient's Soundcloud page whilst I do this makes for a rather chilled out time. [/quote]

You don't need to have lessons every week, that's quite expensive. Guys I teach tend to come maybe every other week, I give them stuff to take away and work on, they can phone or email me if there's anything they don't understand.

Nice

Why are you stretching from 2 to 5 ? Wouldn't 7 to 5 make more sense ?

Rotosound and Ernie Ball didn't last too long, even with my very gentle playing style. I'm currently using Dunlop Super brights, nice and flexible, and very bright !

Mine [attachment=169363:Unknown.jpeg]

I read somewhere the Tacoma thunder chief is pretty loud.

Some great suggestions, thanks guys !

[quote name='DaveFry' timestamp='1408049003' post='2526698'] I use a collapsible golf trolley . Cost £3 from a charity shop . At home I found a little compartment on it for tees that had a 5p piece in , so it cost me £2.95...... [/quote]

Can anyone recommend a good but inexpensive trolley for transporting my bass please ?

[quote name='Rabbie' timestamp='1407868591' post='2524921'] I'm on the market for a better soft case and I am looking at the Tom and Will, but they don't seem to have wheels (not a deal breaker for me but I just wanted to make sure I'm looking at the right ones). [/quote] Yeah, I emailed them, they don't have wheels anymore, so I'm probably just going to get a normal Tom and Will one.

I think having a policy is ok in theory, but in practice taking/getting money off someone for a lesson they didn't have is another matter. You also need to be a bit flexible. One guy I teach recently cancelled due to his father dying another broke his finger playing cricket. You'll just get people coming up with valid sounding excuses, are you going to ask for proof though ? I personally ask that they give me a reasonable period of notice, I wouldn't ask for money for a lesson they didn't have, for the reason above. I always try and give value for money, a guy I teach is totally new to bass, his first lesson a few weeks ago lasted almost 2 hours, though I only asked for payment for 1. It's a service that I enjoy doing.

Have you got notation software - Sibelius or anything ? You'll probably in fact almost certainly need it when you start at uni. I have a page open in Sibelius as I'm transcribing something, and put it in each note or phrase at a time. Sibelius is great because if you get something wrong then you can just drag the note down or up to where it's meant to be, or change the note value. You can also play it back to hear if you've written it out properly. There's a student version of Sibelius available.

A few more tracks added.