petebassist

I got a 3/4 size Fender Precision style bass for my son from Gear4Music when he started for around £125 - great little bass, which I use myself now to noodle around on and take to rehearsals when I don't want to take my upright.

It's the same scale length as the NS Design Omni upright (34 in), so I guess it's competing with the Omni? Wouldn't be for me unless it had an end-pin and adjustable bridge. Nice looking bass though, if you just wanted to play upright and weren't bothered about the difference in scale length between this and a standard 3/4 acoustic bass.

Agreed the pizz is raspy and sounds almost like s synth in places, but I like the arco bits, especially where it veers towards distortion. Only 34 inch scale though...

Start another band alongside this one, and see which one is more successful, and leave/disband the other one. As Warren Buffet said, sometimes you have to kill off your favourite children... ;-)

Good advice. I find it much easier to play upright for long periods if I've put in a bit of gym time, or even just a few push-ups (I'm making a mental note to start doing this again...). @Jezyorkshire I hope you get your arm & shoulder back in working order mate.

Choose a different song if you don't like the lyrics. Looking at the lyrics, high heels, backdated, you for my mum (at least I'd get my washing done), isn't that also sizeist, ageist, and sexist?

I remember seeing Brian Johnson interviewed a few years ago, and he said something along the lines of 'all the best musicians I've worked have also been great guys'. I was surprised at the time, I'd assumed they'd all be a$$holes.

I tried one in Hobgoblin Music in Bristol, stunning bass and superb craftsmanship. I didn't get to try the amplified sound, which is where they shine I'm told. Very nice !!

Didn't Hendrix play a right-handed Strat re-strung as a left-hander? Which also enabled him to manipulate the volume and tone controls with his upper wrist while playing, hence getting his amazing effects - that's another innovation they might want to include.

"Rick: I know, let's put Neil's speaker in front of the door! Neil: Oh, not that speaker! Jimi Hendrix once pi$$ed on that!" The Young Ones - 1982

I think it's a great investment in time if you mean to perform, and I find it fun , completely absorbing, a bit like sitting down to enjoy reading a book. Also, you never know when you might need it. A few months back I arranged to try out/audition with a jazz orchestra, and I told them beforehand that I could read basic bass clef (i.e. not up the dusty end), if very slowly, but I mainly played from memory having first learnt the parts. No problem they said, just come along and do what you can. When I did turn up, someone plonked a music score on my lap and we were off. As the bass lines were relatively simple, I just about managed to keep up note wise, and also remember the notation symbols, having read a book years ago about how to read scores. It could have been a car-crash two hours, but I managed to leave at the end with at least some dignity...

@stewblack Thanks for sharing mate, loved RockSteady & hadn't heard of Chuck before. He's a bass master ....

@Dad3353, that's me on the double bass.

@Dad3353, hi mate, yes we play mainly to the local swing dance/lindy hop groups and it's great fun when everyone's up on the floor, they're a lovely bunch and great dancers. Pretty impressive to see some of these blokes doing the side splits in mid air, I wish I could do that. All the best, Pete

Heard a great story years ago that JJB was on stage during the early punk days, and someone wouldn't stop spitting at him from the front of the crowd (was quite common in those days), so eventually he just picked up his bass by the neck and whacked the spitting bloke over the head with it. True or not, great story. You can't do that these days, political correctness gone mad...

The Kill, great live band, I've seen them in Coundon working mens' club a few times and in the old Bishop Auckland Belvedere. Hope you have a great night.

There're no shortage of bands at the Download festival as far as I know, or loads of other festivals, and a lot of them seem to be in ever more niche genres like Math Rock, Deathcore, Nu metal etc etc. Maybe it's the niche aspect that makes it difficult at the local level, where tributes and covers seem to be predominant. I'd love to dust off my old black leather biker jacket, have a cigarette holder stuck on the end of my bass and turn it up to 11 just like in the old days...

Looks like he's still got his own hair, own teeth, and his voice is still as good as ever, so I reckon he's doing pretty good. Who says musicians have to age well anyway? That's why I took up bass and gave up a potential career as a fashion model ;-)

Definitely mate, I was playing Love Song on YT the other night, awesome bass lines & tone.

Hi mate, haven't tried those, but I got a Westbury bag (I think it was the 22mm) for my 3/4 bass from Bassbags and it'a great bag, well made, with handles in all the right places - it's pretty bulky but I can fold it in half. 3mm will keep the rain off but might not be much use at preventing knocks, but depends on where you plan to play I guess.

Hi, rent one if you can, you'd have to google it, or buy a good quality second bass that you won't lose much money on if you decide to sell on. tuition: Ed Friedland's Jazz double bass DVD is great for learning bass technique, from how to hold it right through to jamming with a band. All very practical stuff. I used that and of course the amazing videos and lessons that Geoff Chalmers creates. I think that can easily get you started, and you can maybe consider a teacher in the future to fine tune Your technique if required. good luck!

Coming up in March, the whole album played by Gary Crosby's sextet, haven't heard of him before, but looks good. https://www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk/event/gary-crosby-kind-blue/