louisthebass

I've been playing for 35 years. I'm a failed guitarist (found playing those weedy little strings very problematic) so a mate of mine who wanted to form a band said - "why don't you learn bass? It's only got 4 strings and must be easier than guitar?" (sound familiar?). I bought my first bass (a "Craftsman" Precision) a week after Live Aid in 1985 and a couple of months later had a Carlsbro Cobra 90w bass combo to go with it. About 15 basses and a few rigs later, I've settled on stuff I'm more than happy with. Still think it's the coolest instrument in the band, and found that it "wasn't easier than guitar".... I've also worked with loads of great people, and am still friends with most of them even now after all this time.

I still miss gigging and rehearsing, and I'm lucky to be in a couple of bands where I get on with all the people in them, and there aren't any major egos to deal with. However, as my personal circumstances have changed in recent months, I may have to choose one over the other as I doubt I'll be able to financially cope with two. I know the gig / rehearsal thing is being debated in separate threads on here, but I don't see myself getting back into either until the threat level goes down, or a vaccine comes out. In one of my bands, a couple of the guys are reluctant to get back sooner rather than later, and I respect that.

Another vote here - I wish this book had been out when I first started playing. Excellent beginner book.

What one of our membership said in this video:

I found this fella over the weekend - really good player, don't know if he's a member on here but there's some transcriptions of some of his videos on YouTube:

Rick likes his classic Rock as well as the Grunge thing, but he's also heavily into Jazz and he hasn't done a lot of that recently. I admire the fact that he's got the guts to stand up and say what he thinks, as a lot of his criticism is either aimed at the record companies that block his videos, or the "perfection" that seems so prevalent in modern pop radio.

I'd also recommend checking out @TKenrick's own site; https://freebasstranscriptions.com - there's a few videos on there that a relative beginner can benefit from, and Tom has also produced his own book called "Better Bass Practice" E-Book which is well worth buying. I've found it very helpful, and it makes you refocus how to practice the instrument.

I saw Suzy at Shepherds Bush Empire in the mid 1990's with a great backing band, and she sounds live exactly like she sounds on the records 🙂:

I think that's the thing about it - all the guys I play with I class as really good friends, and I'm hoping that at some point I'll be playing alongside them in close proximity again. In both bands it's agreed that things are on ice for the foreseeable.. Although the "virtual" online jam programmes are supposed to enable musicians to play together in isolation, from what I've read there isn't one that actually works in "real" time. Frustrating.

The longer this thing goes on, the more I'm inclined to agree with this statement although I'm still clinging on in hope that Level 1 will be reached eventually. Getting together with fellow musicians was (is) something that I really looked forward to, and now that could potentially go out the window for a very long time, I wonder what on earth I would do next? ☹️

A lot of people swear by this: https://www.studybass.com/ Apart from that, there is a ton of stuff on YouTube that I get bits from that aren't necessarily presented by bass players. If you want to learn about music, check out Rick Beato's channel. He's recently done some basic harmony and theory videos that applies to pretty much any tuned instrument. I know Joe Hubbard runs a beginners course every 6 months, but it's not free. However, you'll be getting top quality tuition and you'll be expected to put in the hours if you want to get the most from it. I've no personal experience of that myself as I've been playing a long time and I've got my own private teacher, but if you look at any of his videos on YouTube, you'll see what I mean. If you like the thought of learning the basics from a book, get this: I think this is the best beginner's bass book ever written, and one of the many good things about it is that it encourages you to learn how to read. All of Ed Friedland's books are great.

Agree 100% with your point here, and I think that is where employers in "manual" trades (I know that's a pretty broad term) should be treating their most valuable assets (employees) interests as a priority. I feel it's better for them to "take a hit financially" by paying sick pay, rather than risking a Health & Safety penalty which could be huge.

Yep, I don't think it's the work from home (office based) employees who have to worry so much as they can "suffer, work, and isolate" (so to speak even if it sounds a bit Draconian), it's the manual employees (manufacturing etc) who stand to suffer the most financially. I would hope that most employers in that particular field who would display some leniency in these difficult times towards their employees where sick pay is concerned.

Unfortunately, people will still go into work "under the weather" as a very large number of employers will not pay out for the first 1-3 days if employees go sick. I think this will be even more acute given current job losses and employees needing every penny they can get....

I'll go with these:

Think you've pretty much mirrored my thoughts there @paul_c2. Pubs first instinct will be to sell beer and in some cases initially sell food. Bands are way down the food chain as far as they're concerned, so I think anyone getting too excited about the stuff that's been announced are getting ahead of themselves. As the scientists have said, this thing is in for the duration and the economy is being reopened to see if the human race can (somehow) live alongside it. Whether that was the right choice remains to be seen.

Exactly - Andertons will have to claim from DHL. I spent 25 years in that industry, and times have certainly changed, not for the better...

I really don't see pub gigs happening for bands in earnest until sometime next year. I'll be happy just to get back to rehearsals.. A lot of bands will have members who are still concerned about catching the virus so may not be in a hurry to get back to gigging for a while, the pubs will need time to get their operations up and running again properly having had a long lay-off just to serve punters drinks and food, and I'm not totally sure they (the pubs) will have the necessary funding to pay bands for a while anyway. I still think bands may end up playing for next to nothing for quite a while. Whether some bands choose to do that, is a decision for each one to make.

Even if ours opens up (possibly mid July, depending on the owners discretion) I still don't expect to be rehearsing until end of August, start of September. Just had a WhatsApp discussion, and the drummer thinks mid July is too early to restart.

Clapton's "From the Cradle" album has keys / piano on it. You could also check out virtually any Robert Cray album as well, as he normally has a keys player too.

Lost count of the number of times I've seen Be Sharp, but never saw Andy Brown play for them. I've got most of the CD's he's on and he was indeed a great bassist and singer. The bass chair in the band's seen a few changes over the years and apart from Dave Bronze I 've also seen Gary Moxon, Darren Tingey, Kevin Miller (ex Style Council / Tracey Young), and the current Richard J Turner-Finch play for them. Great trio 🙂

Be Sharp are a great band - that's where I first saw them too, about 1990 or 1991 I think 🙂 Met Lee during his time at Rockbottom, the drummer in the band I was in at the time said he was (is) a real talent.

I think £1,000 is a lot of money for a BB1100S, sure you can get one for less than that if you look around? If you get one you won't be disappointed as it's got J and P bass goodness within. I had one for 13 years, and it's the only bass I ever regretted selling.

I've missed doing rehearsals and the gigs I had lined up for this year, mainly because I like the musical and social interaction with my band mates in both outfits. The only upsides to not doing that at the moment is mainly because I'm not working. I'm not spending money on rehearsal rooms, fuel, and general wear and tear on the car. I'm also moving into a flat where I've got to buy essentials like white goods and furniture all over again, so lockdown has been beneficial there.

A few of my old music buds have relocated to Cornwall recently, and (up to Covid-19) pretty active musically.