NickD

... And if it's got no bagpipes!

I'm on it!

Alan bought my Lumix LX100. Couldn't have been a smoother, friendlier deal. A top chap to deal with!

I do this, demo everything (except drums) and pass it on... I put a lot of thought into everything, writing and rewriting, so if someone can't take it further on their own instrument that's their deficiency, not mine. Anyone else is totally welcome to do the same and I welcome the challenge of upping the ante on something that's already well done.... They never do of course. 🙄 You don't seem to have a songwriting issue, you seem to have a singer issue.

Anyone got any Tango tips... Apart from 'don't... ever!'? 🤣

What is this "melody" of which you speak?🤔

Jesus tapdancing Christ!🤔😭🤔

Congratulations... Well deserved! I loved the way it progressed. Really pleased with the variation the pic pulled out, from classic 80s to Britpop, via Kraftstein... Or was it Rammswerk? Nice one!😎

He's re-invented the Hungarian Minor then!

I'm also not sure we should conflate inventive and successful.

Liane Carroll - Often accompanied by her Husband Roger Carey, whose playing I really like. They did a livestream from Ronnie's last week, and it was a lovely hour!

One set for me please.... currently looking for novel uses!😊

I think maybe it would be if the formal stuff is all you do, but if you want to spread your wings beyond that you'd have a much better base to work from. Years ago I went out with an excellent cellist, a really proficient reader, and very highly thought of among her peers. Fascinated, she showed me around the cello and tried to show me how to bow (roughly). The radio was on in the background and I started jamming along to the riff from Prodigy's Firestarter. She could never have done that, as simple a part as it was, just because it wasn't something that had ever occurred to do. Music came to her written, and that's how she consumed it, listening to music she liked was a separate thing in her mind, and creating something herself just wasn't on her radar. I reckon it's the case though, that had she chosen to turn her attention to that she'd have made me look like an idiot in no time.

Totally... I'd be up for a couple of those, should they ever be brought into existence!

I'm sorted for straplocks, I know what I get on with... but I've signed up anyway, there must be some other cool use for them as yet undiscovered!

Jeez, I made a rod for my own back there! My entry for the Basschat July composition Challenge, inspired by the photo chosen by last month's winner.... er.... Me! I initially wanted to go for a jazzy 60s lounge act feel, but struggled with the jazzy chord timing (something to work on for another time), so went back to the drawing board for the next best thing, the mid-90s, faux 60s English indie janglepop.... You know, the ones that played authentic period instruments in the hope that they were imbued with some ancient pop magic from the ghost of Lennon. Recorded in Cubase Elephants, I used my Jake 5 (I always do), through a sim based on an old HiWatt, and my old Westbury Standard, again through the Helix, in a patch I tweaked to get the sounds I seem to remember from that era. Vocals through a battered no-name mic with a cleaning cloth draped over it in lieu of a pop-shield, in the front room, with the sounds of next door's telly in the background. Drums courtesy of the Mrs and Roland. All plug ins are the standard Cubase ones. I really need to get into mixing and mastering, I just went through this track by track until I got it as close as I could to sounding ok, but I still wish the vocals sat in the track more. I'm sure there's a better way.

Gutted for you. Here's hoping things work themselves out in your favour!

Does someone want to tell him about Cubase/Logic/Reaper/Ableton?🤣

Mandolin is fine with fat fingers, you're supposed to mash 2 strings at a time. I do that on guitar and it doesn't sound good, on mandolin it's fine. I always fancied having a Rudra Veena, but I'm not sure I'd fit between the gourds.

Aw... I was looking forward to his opinion on flatwounds and facemasks.

Neil Peart!

Obviously he couldn't have known, so it's hardly his fault, but Elvis Costello claimed "...when they finally put you in the ground, I'll stand on your grave and tramp the dirt down". Unfortunately for the accuracy of his lyrics, Thatcher was cremated.

I sat through a set of Nik Kershaw, an acoustic guitar and a looper at a festival a few years ago. I'd happily do so again, he was excellent.

Pretty much anything with a Yamaha badge on it. Bass, guitar, brass, drums, keys, tech. The price range is almost irrelevant, you always seem to get quality beyond the price you pay.

'I've got a ticket to the moon'... Oh really Mr Lynne?.... in 1981?.... Bullsh!tter!