chrisba

I've got an imperial Allen key set and I don't think I've ever used it. All hex bolts I've ever met seem to be metric ( not sure about US Fenders though, but my MIJ is metric ). The bridge screws are tiny, maybe 2mm ? Halfords and good bike shops ( I don't count Halfords as good ) sell cheap multi key sets, in a penknife style format for just a few squid.

...and another fan. I bought my Ashdown amp from there after trying out several in their demo room. I didn't buy a Yamaha BB614 after spending ages playing it, and they were just fine about that too. Really helpful and reasonably competitive on price Well worth a visit.

I've done several free gigs on this basis, because it's part of our village life ( all the band members live here). I get a buzz from being on stage while all my mates are down on the floor watching. They've also come to expect us to be part of such events. I think we've got a few free beers afterwards, but that's it. If it was a somebody else's village, then we might think differently.

+1 for the Firth of Fifth, and Shine on. A couple of bits from the classical world that make my hairs stand on end... The off stage trumpet section near the beginning of the 2nd movement ( Dies Irae ) of Verdi's Requeim and a bit half way through the first movement of Brahms's Violin Concerto where the opening section is repeated, except with the orchestra taking the violin solo part, and the soloist playing the whole accompliment in a series of amazing arpeggios. I remember a radio program years ago called "The Tingle Factor" that dealt with exactly the kind of moment we are describing

I saw the Australian Pink Floyd Show a couple of yeasrs ago, and they were absolutely outstanding. The key word in the name is the last one. It was a full-on stage show, with lights, videos, backing singers and a stunning sound system. Also immaculate, professional, musicianship, of course. If you like Floyd, do it, you won't regret it.

This rebate scheme is really common in the US on all kinds of goods. It is a good way of the manufacturer getting your details onto their database, so they can direct marketing at you some time in the future.

don't forget you'll probably have to transpose everything. Most brass instruments are Bb or Eb. I don't know about Sousaphones though.

I use Elixirs on my MIJ Precision. They sound like not-quite-new conventional strings, which I prefer to the zingy brand-new sound, but keep that quality for ages ( I replace them once a year rather than once every 3 months for Fender nickels that I used to use )

Just the one for me. Our guitarist has a very similar P, so I could always borrow that in emergencies. I do have three bikes though, and I've got my eyes on a fourth.

[quote]I was in the first edition of Keraang[/quote] Bizarrely, my 14 y.o. daughter is in this month's. In one of the little vox-pop reviews "Izzy from Reading" says how much she thinks Twin Atlantic ( who? ) have matured in their latest album

My son is on that course in Guildford, in his final year. He is very enthusiastic about the course and the quality of teaching. He says the Maths/Physics/Music A-level requirement is representative of the course content, and you would struggle without A's in all 3. I think you can drop most of the performance stuff after the first year, so don't worry if you can only just scrape the Grade 7. It used to be a fast-track into the BBC, but they have cut right back on recruitment recently. They still have some involvement in the department though. p.s. Spelling is "Tonmeister"

Anderton's in Guildford sell a "Build your own P-bass" kit that has all the bits. Pretty cheap, so presumably not particularly good, but might make a good starting point. ( Their website is a bit broken at the mo, otherwise I would have posted a link )

I used to watch a few friends play at an acoustic jam session in a local pub. I fancied joining in, but didn't play anything. Thought bass looked easier to play than guitar, so bought one and taught myself. Now play with them in their 'proper' band too, as their bass player left.

U2 - With or Without You. 4 notes repeated over and over with no variation. I sometimes try and change the fingering half way through to relieve the boredom, but always end up fluffing it. Fortunately seems to have quietly disappeared from the set.

[quote]Yes. The only harmonic that's genuinely "in tune" (in terms of equal temperament) with the open string is the octave (12th fret). Everything else just gently drifts off from there.[/quote] I would argue it's the other way around, the harmonics are always, by definition, "in tune", but won't agree with the fretted notes ( except 12th ) which are always a compromise to some degree. The whole subject of temperament came as a complete surprise to me. Quick summary, an octave is double the frequency of the root note, and the fifth is 3 times ( or 1.5 if you prefer it in the same octave as the root). If you do the maths on the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_fifths"]circle of fifths[/url], from A ( 440hz ) multiplying by 3 each time, and dividing by 2 as required to keep it sensible, you get back to A = 446hz, which is slightly sharp. The different versions of temperament ( [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equal_temperament"]equal temperament is the one commonly used[/url] ) tweak all the intermediate notes slightly so that you get back to 440hz instead. Hence harmonics won't quite match the fretted notes. I have heard a theory that the reason why choral harmony sounds so "pure", is that they don't have problems with the slightly out of tune notes, as voices would naturally adjust slightly so they sound in tune with the other notes in the chord.

I learned bass in order to play in a band with a group of friends, so I have performed with them most of my playing life ( 4 years ) Last night I played with somebody else for the first time, standing in for a colleague in a rock covers band. Interesting experience, hard work learning a bunch of new songs but good fun. Also played with a pick for the first time in public. They play a couple of punk numbers and in rehearsal I gave it a go and it just felt right. Nice to have the tonal variety it gives.

We do an event on the village green every year, and the first time we managed to put one of the marquee pins right through the underground mains cable to the pavilion we were getting our power supply from. Southern Electricity were wonderful, and fixed it in time for the event, but we always use generators now, as our power demands have grown considerably.

Somebody once called my playing "Simple and understated". As it was my first gig, I was pretty chuffed.

£99 + VAT IN Costco, saw one there this evening. Might have been my imagination, but it looked like it wasn't full length scale.

The chink of ice cubes in an early evening Gin & Tonic

[quote]+1 on liking Judy Tzuke. I am the Phoenix is a superb album.[/quote] + another one, both for Judie and I am the Phoenix. I used to listen to her a lot at Uni, and saw her play live there too, back in the very early '80's. Loved the music and fancied her wildly too. I only have her vinyl though, and no way of playing it, must buy some digital versions. I always adored the put-down at the end of "Sportscar", spoken rather than sung, "I don't care who you are, you're not putting your car in my garage". Another favourite song of hers was called Liggers at your Funeral, not sure which album it was off.

[quote name='Conan' post='978363' date='Oct 5 2010, 02:13 PM']Totally agree! You can hardly tell that it's the same track! Horrible self-indulgent semi-soloing from Wetton that ruins the delicate ambience of one of my favourite Genesis tracks. Yuck! I was expecting him to start slapping! I don't like it. [/quote] +1. Spot on about ruining the ambience. Nice bass playing, but wrong song to do it in. I liked "...and then there were three" too, great song writing, but was very disappointed by Duke and its successors.

[quote name='Conan' post='974151' date='Oct 1 2010, 03:14 PM'][i]Several[/i]? [/quote] I once designed a computer system that stored peoples details, and had a binary field for storing their sex, 0=male, 1=female. We sold the system to a local authority in London, and they had at least 5 different values they wanted to put in that field, including "hermaphrodite","born male, now female", "born female, now male" and I'm sure there were some others. I'm not sure if there are any hermaphrodites or trans-sexuals here, but I was just covering myself :-)

One of the main things I like about this forum is the diversity of those on it. There are all ages from teens to retirees, several different sexes, many musical tastes: jazz, punk, metal, indie, classical, gospel and many others. We have people who never play outside their bedroom, and those who play to large, packed houses, and everything in between. And we have those who play in tribute bands, covers bands, those who play mostly originals, those who play solo, and those who play in orchestras. Those who make a living from it, and those who would happily play for nothing. Lets celebrate the diversity of this happy crowd rather than trying to criticise or question peoples choices.