Happy Jack

Has anyone contacted Stephen Hawking yet?

this sort of complete-and-utter bollocks is still being produced. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-FFRpBKeiU Warning: This is NOT a suggestion that you should waste an hour of your life on it. Very little happens until 10 minutes in, and it will then take less than two minutes to convince you that these idiots should be locked up for their own protection. [url="http://s1128.photobucket.com/user/h4ppyjack/media/Just%20Stuff/GIF%20files/AbbeyRoadmoving_zps1de8ff88.gif.html"][/url]

I've been plenty busy this last couple of years, but I've been keeping an eye out on Gumtree for interesting side-projects. Several recent mentions of Join-My-Band and MusoFinder have had me re-visiting such sites today (stored for ages in my Favourites folder) and I've been shocked at just how poor they all are. The search facilities are usually a joke, and the filters either ludicrously complicated - and always returning zero results as a consequence - or completely non-existent. Hmmmm. There is another possibility of course, which is that I am being totally incompetent, or perhaps that you need to be a paid-up subscription member to see any of the good stuff. So, what's really out there guys? Are any of these muso-websites actually worth putting a bit of effort into?

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1412601570' post='2570244'] .. your not coming across as ethereal enough.... [/quote] Heathcliffe, it's me, erm, Wayne ...

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1412527423' post='2569601'] Met my wife playing an open mic night. Haven't felt the need to play another such evening since. [/quote] Oh come on, she can't be [i][b]that[/b][/i] bad, and anyway now you can't get caught like that again.

[quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1412588339' post='2570093'] Here's a good example of traditional Tuvan overtone singing. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIvCHK-OSkw[/media] [/quote] Proof, if proof were needed, that cowboy music always sounds like cowboy music.

Ye$, it$ a£way$ a re£ief when thi$ $ort of thing get$ £aid to re$t.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1412594364' post='2570146'] ... Jazzers would be playing stadia!! [/quote] Is that in 9/4?

I don't think that started as a Precision. Look at the shadow of the routing under the scratchplate, and see where the pickup (or possibly one of the two pickups) originally lived.

No, they're a well-chosen colour. You can step in all sorts of stuff and no one will know it was you. Apart from the smell of course.

I must agree with Discreet. I've had several Skyline models, supposedly the 'cheap' ones, and they easily match any of the (many) US-made Fenders I've had. One day, I'll get around to trying a US-made Lakland; they're supposed to be even better. As an aside, I play mainly fives in covers bands. Lakland 5-string basses tend to be 35" scale, which I really like.

Forget the guitarist ... how old is that bloody drummer?

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1412285366' post='2567591'] Here's some more with JS from (I think) the same show as the original clip. Familiar fare for Satch fans for the first few minutes, but then after 4m20s it's all systems go, we have lift off on Satriani spaceways. The pickup from 7m45s onwards is amazing all round. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1DzRb4DHGw[/media] [/quote] I'm sure I'm in a tiny minority here, but there are few things my life needs less than an 11-minute guitar solo played to an audience of wannabee guitar heroes. That was painfully dull, and the "all systems go" from 4m20s sounded far better when The Who started Baba Yaga with that riff & sound. The bass playing from 7m45s was astonishing technical stuff and I will never be able to get anywhere near that standard. Which is fine, because I would never want to play bass like that. Not having a pop at anyone, especially not toneknob, just saying ... not everyone likes this sort of stuff.

Thank God I don't fall into the category of "most people" then ...

Excellent video, which proves for once and for all that a Precision always sounds like a Precision. I see that as a good thing. For personal preference I went with the 1977, which also did a great job of demonstrating why you should never use sh*t-Glo as a colour for bass.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1412292662' post='2567676'] And is that Dave Marks on bass? [/quote] I think you'll find it's actually Peregrine Took. Or possibly Meriadoc Brandybuck. [quote name='visog' timestamp='1412319497' post='2567721'] Yngwie clone playing classical-prog cross-over. Destined for a life of trade fairs... Watch him blossom into a endorsement virtuoso... [/quote] Sad to relate, the fact that this was some years ago means that we can see exactly what happened next. He's (basically) a guitar teacher in Italy, and yes, he does endorsement slots at trade shows. Undeniably an astonishing player, but that's no guarantee of rockstar success.

The 'guest vocalist' and her equally-inebriated boyfriend had been sat in front of us for nearly two hours at this point, singing along and doing big hand-claps over her head. Towards the end of the second set she suddenly launched a one-person stage invasion when we played [i][b]Long Train Running[/b][/i] and provided BVs on "[color=#800000][i][b]without lo-o-o-o-o-ve[/b][/i][/color]" using my mic. In all fairness, she was on-key and on-time. You can't really ask for more from the BVs.

So you're saying it's all for cherry, D?

[quote name='Adrenochrome' timestamp='1412237371' post='2566935'] I can't think of many active bass players that have only 1. [/quote] Yes, but passive bass players have fewer ...

I'm glad you didn't ask how many I've sold ...

It has four expensive new stings ...

I know an expensive sting when I see one ... http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CIMAR-VINTAGE-BASS-60s-70s-GREAT-COND-PLAYS-GREAT-EXPENSIVE-STINGS-FITTED-/201161016647?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2ed6218547

[quote name='Kevin Dean' timestamp='1412076329' post='2565335'] ... bashed me in the shines ... [/quote] Is that a euphemism?

My first DB was a Stentor Student, my second (and still current) is an Andreas Zeller. Obviously individual basses vary hugely, as do the set-ups and strings and (where used) the pickup arrangements, and there are always better and worse examples out there, but in my own particular experience the two basses are chalk & cheese ... the Zeller cost me three times as much as the Stentor and is easily worth every extra penny. Ultimately though, there is simply no substitute for playing them both and deciding which you prefer.

In NY earlier this year, went into Sam Ash to buy a pedal. The shop assistant was a bit past his sell-by, but then so am I, and he seemed like a knowledgable dude. 10 minutes in to chatting with him, someone else comes over and says "Hi Larry" and the penny dropped. I've never bought Hartke, but there's loads of stuff I've never bought. I was genuinely impressed with his obvious desire to stay in touch with real-world bass players though. Nice guy, too.