ambient

When you get to uni, play as much as you can with other students, whether it's just jamming or gigs, it will all help with your self confidence.

Don't ever think or say that you're rubbish, even joking. Thoughts like that can have a major subconscious effect. Always smile too when you're playing, and enjoy it, especially if you're getting paid to do it .

And remember, it's only music. No-one has ever died from playing a wrong note ! That's what my programme leader told me after I told him about my problem.

It's fairly normal and you'll get more comfortable as you get more experience. I've been gigging for years, I was absolutely terrified at my first one, but gradually got more and more comfortable playing live. Have you read the book 'The inner game of music' by Barry Green ? If not then get it, it'll give you some ideas on how to cope with performance anxiety. My personal problem is playing at uni. We have live performance workshops each week, I hate them and have done from week one. That's called situation anxiety. At the start I used to physically shake with nerves. Meditation has helped. One thing you can try is to look forward to the gig, really, really look forward to it. Starting a few days before start counting down, and think to yourself, now I'm really going to enjoy this, it's going to be amazing. Keep repeating it to yourself like a mantra.

I definitely prefer to support a UK shop, though at the same time do they support my loyalty ? I bought my bass from a shop mentioned below, asked if they'd maybe include a set of strings, only to be told no. I have bought quite a few items from the Gallery, Bass gear and Bass direct, and will again no doubt in the future. I'm just a student though, with a finite amount of funds at my disposal, so I have to shop around and buy from wherever is cheapest. Surely though, if you're a UK retailer, and you see someone selling something that you are, but they're selling it for £100 less than you. It's got to be better to match that price, and maker a smaller profit, than to ignore it and lose sales ?

I'm interested in an Aguilar Tone hammer 350. Ebay - £529 - [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/like/261493615446?limghlpsr=true&hlpv=2&ops=true&viphx=1&hlpht=true&lpid=108&device=c&adtype=pla&crdt=0&ff3=1&ff11=ICEP3.0.0&ff12=67&ff13=80&ff14=108"]http://www.ebay.co.u...f13=80&ff14=108[/url] Woodbrass - £443.80 - [url="http://www.woodbrass.com/en/ampli-basse-tete-aguilar-tone-hammer-350-p153933-af833-gbp.html?gclid=Cj0KEQjw3IieBRDl1oG0gr_PweoBEiQAwGHVwwiScBAHIvGdCLp6F25tfRzBZjgxY3fRJv-K_bkpgasaAsfe8P8HAQ"]http://www.woodbrass...pgasaAsfe8P8HAQ[/url] - what a strange price ! Bass gear - £449 - [url="http://www.bassgear.co.uk/product/aguilar-tone-hammer-350/"]http://www.bassgear....one-hammer-350/[/url] a shame because I really like this shop. Bass direct - £399 - [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Aguilar_Amplification.html"]http://www.bassdirec...lification.html[/url] Thomann - £335 - [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/aguilar_tone_hammer_350.htm"]http://www.thomann.d..._hammer_350.htm[/url] that includes shipping. What a range of prices, almost £200 !

A guy I know had a something or other anniversary Jazz bass. That was a mix of the best of every model ever produced over the years.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1405189347' post='2499563'] I'm not a huge fan but they made the right choice for number 1! [/quote] Yeah, one of my favourites too.

They rate their albums from worst to best. [url="http://www.prog-sphere.com/specials/dream-theater-albums-worst-best/"]http://www.prog-sphere.com/specials/dream-theater-albums-worst-best/[/url] Funny, but I'm guessing a lot of long term fans will disagree. I however think this seems about right. I'm just listening to 'Falling into infinity' now, that's an album that attracts a lot of criticism from fans, but I actually like it.

There's a trombone player who's jazz band I play in occasionally. He studied at Birmingham conservatoire, and just took it for granted that I could sight-read when I started playing for him. He learned to read as he was learning to play as a small child. He's only young, 23 or 24, but was shocked when I told him that most contemporary musicians couldn't sight-read, and plenty didn't actually know what note they were playing, never mind how it related to what they were playing over.

[quote name='Adrenochrome' timestamp='1404984083' post='2497490'] For a lot of the music that I play, and have played, TAB trumps score for things like drop tunings. For example, there are parts that sound MUCH better where the low C is played on a drop-C tune 4-string bass than a fretted C on a 5-string bass (for pedalled bass notes etc). This is easily shown on TAB but I haven't seen it done with music score. [/quote] I have seen 1 or 2 scores where it says drop C or whatever, I have a chart somewhere for 46 and 2 by Tool, which is drop D. My problem with TAB is the lack or rather absence of rhythmic information, ok you play the note 3rd fret on the D string, but for how long, and how ?

It's funny, it's maybe because I taught myself at the start, and didn't really know that you could play [b][i]without[/i][/b] being about to read and know the fretboard notes, that the first thing I did was to learn the fretboard notes, and where they were on the stave. I just assumed that when I started playing in a band, I'd be given music to play. I did come from having learned violin at school.

I've just got back from a rehearsal with my function band in London. We rehearse at the guitarists home, he's got his garage converted into a studio. I also recorded some bass for a couple of his songs. This took maybe 30 minutes, he'd composed the bass parts in logic, then just printed out the score for me to play. Nice and simple, no faffing about having to work out what he'd played. I just played what was on the score, then made a couple of suggestions that I thought might be nice.

Increasing the size of the B will just accentuate the tonal differences of enharmonic notes across strings. I use a 125 and have done for years.

I don't have any experience of the Sennheisers, I have a pair of Sony MDR7506 and it seems to power them ok. There's a separate headphone level control which is nice. They just seem well designed and put together, especially considering the price. There's a bit of Chapman stick here - I hadn't been playing long when I recorded this, maybe just a week or so. [url="https://soundcloud.com/ambient-bassist/final-mix"]https://soundcloud.c...ssist/final-mix[/url] I'll have a listen to your track later, thanks for sharing .

I have a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 that's quite nice, and very reasonably priced. [url="http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb12/articles/focusrite-scarlett.htm"]http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/feb12/articles/focusrite-scarlett.htm[/url] [url="http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/focusrite-scarlett-2i2-530852"]http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/tech/focusrite-scarlett-2i2-530852[/url] I think it'll do what you want. I use mine for recording bass, guitar, and Chapman stick. I also use it for playback from logic and iTunes off my MacBook into a pair of Yamaha monitors.

I can't visualise where it is/was.

Apparently it's mostly instrumentals. If you listen to the division bell, there are a couple on there. They started to record this at the same time, so possibly something similar. I'll certainly buy it.