Happy Jack

You will shortly be joined by 17 people advising you to buy Shure SM58s. I would go a different route. If you are just "giving it a shot" and you haven't done this before, then spending £82 on a microphone is WAY over the top. For less than half that price, I have found this to be very acceptable: https://www.red5audio.com/product/rvd30-dynamic-microphone/ Full Disclosure: I actually use a very expensive Shure SM57 Beta on stage, but that's because I do a fair bit of singing, have done for years, and that particular mic happens to suit my voice. Doesn't stop me from taking a pair of RVD30s to each gig to act as spares and - if necessary - instrument mics.

Are we really going to do this? Oh very well. Artist Country / Market Claimed sales The Beatles United Kingdom 600 million 500 million Elvis Presley United States 600 million 500 million Michael Jackson United States 350 million 300 million Elton John United Kingdom 300 million 250 million 300 million records Guinness World Records listed Madonna as the best-selling female recording artist of all time, with more than 300 million records sold during her career. Previously, the 1998 edition of Guinness Book of World Records stated: "No female artist has sold more records than Madonna around the world... We all know that these numbers are notoriously flakey and depend on one's choice of definition, and of course that everything on the Internet is guaranteed true and accurate. Whatever. It is widely accepted that each of The Beatles and Elvis Presley really outsold 3rd place and lower by at least a factor of 2:1. And then there's the distinction between singles and albums. Not too relevant in an age of downloads, perhaps, but it's worth remembering that each album purchased equates to at least half a dozen downloads and, for earlier 60s albums, more like a dozen. Madonna was Queen of the singles chart, just as The Beatles were Kings of the singles chart. The big difference is that The Beatles were also Kings of the album chart. At the same time. Check out the 50 best-selling music artists of all time by album sales: The Beatles — 183 million units. Garth Brooks — 156 million units. ... Elvis Presley — 146.5 million units. ... Eagles — 120 million units. ... Led Zeppelin — 111.5 million units. ... Billy Joel — 84.5 million units. ... Michael Jackson — 84 million units. ... https://www.businessinsider.com/best-selling-music-artists-of-all-time-2016-9?r=US&IR=T#17-madonna-645-million-units-34 Madonna comes in at #17. Bored with this now.

Next up ... Android. 🤨

You're quite right ... having charts made up of downloads rather than actual copies purchased has flattered some artistes to the nth degree. 🙂

SGC Nanyo Bass Collection SB315 The SB325 would be even better.

The Internet has never been short of sad people desperate to make an impression by striking ludicrous, provocative poses. Most of them fall into the camp of "I don't get it, so therefore they're all complete cr*p and so is anyone who disagrees with me".

Oh yes, great sounding bass, looks iconic, cool as f***, bit on the heavy side so I use a twin-shoulder strap with mine. Responds VERY well to pairing with a Sansamp.

Don't feed the troll.

Pretty much anything sung by

Both. He routinely played Stu's right-handed 500/5 upside down in the very early days in Hamburg, though I can't supply you with any photos of him doing that, but it was awkward and 'looked funny'. The 500/1 Violin was not only symmetrical in either orientation and (as you say) readily available in left-handed form if you were in Germany, which he was at the time, but it was also relatively cheap when compared to heavily-taxed US imports. John and George were both prepared to take on HP (hire purchase) debt to buy Rickenbackers even then, Paul preferred to stay out of debt. He was always the smartest Beatle. The other factor that Paul has mentioned in plenty of interviews is that, at that time, he was a guitarist. He also played piano, drums, bass, even a bit of trumpet, yes, but he thought of himself as a guitarist. The Hofner 500/1 is one of the lightest serious basses ever made and it was an easy thing to swing around on stage and treat like many of the lightweight electric guitars that were around in the early 60s.

Well I'm not too strong on the ones with really bad hair, so I reckon I'll only get a very low score.

I don't see those as being in any way mutually exclusive. He received LOTS of acclaim for what he did with bass guitar both at the time, and in the ten years or so after. I can well remember him winning loads of readers' awards in NME and Melody Maker in those days, and many other bass players referencing his influence on them. But that was a very long time ago. You don't hear endless praise for most bassists of the 60s and 70s because the misguided young people of today for some reason prefer their own musicians. 😉

Well I'm not at all convinced that in 1961 anyone was very interested in retaining George's guitar skills ... he was a thoroughly mediocre guitarist right up to the late 60s as all the primary source material makes clear. He was essential as a Beatle and an old school friend of Macca's, but most of the decent lead guitar work until 1969 was played by the band's best guitarist. That was, of course, Paul McCartney. Lennon was indeed arrogant, and that may have been one of the reasons why he didn't pick up Stu's bass and save Paul from having to buy a left-handed model. Far more to the point is that Lennon was absolutely not a bass player. He just about cut it on rhythm guitar and he had great vocals, plus he was a natural frontman (not a high-value attribute in the all-studio band that they became after Rubber Soul). Mr. Solid holding the rhythm section together he was NOT. *************************** As to being "under appreciated", well there's bass players and there's everyone else. For everyone else there: Awards and honours McCartney receiving the 2010 Gershwin Prize from US President Barack Obama Main article: List of awards and nominations received by Paul McCartney 1971: Academy Award winner (as a member of the Beatles) 18-time Grammy Award winner: Nine as a member of the Beatles Six as a solo artist Two as a member of Wings One as part of a joint collaboration Two-time inductee – Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: Class of 1988 as a member of the Beatles Class of 1999 as a solo artist 1965: Member of the Order of the British Empire[444][445] 1988: Honorary Doctor of the University degree from University of Sussex[446] 1997: Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music[447] 2000: Fellowship into the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors[448] 2008: BRIT Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music 2008: Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Yale University[449] 2010: Gershwin Prize for his contributions to popular music[450] 2010: Kennedy Center Honors[451] 2012: Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame[452] 2012: Légion d'Honneur for his services to music[453] 2012: MusiCares Person of the Year 2015: 4148 McCartney, asteroid named after him by the (International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center)[454] 2017: Appointed Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour (CH) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music[455][456] If that's being under appreciated then I'll have a slice of that please. ****************************************************************** It's also worth bearing in mind that Macca hit his peak (very roughly) about 50 years ago, in the period around 1971. For comparison, in 1971 the songwriter/musician who had peaked 50 years earlier (c. 1921) was Irving Berlin. In 1971 there were plenty of people who remembered Irving Berlin, loved his songs and respected his talent ... but people didn't talk about him all the time. Why should they?

That's hitting depths I never believed even existed.

Excellent idea! Other emojis I would like to see include:

The bodging of the Speakon access is something I would be proud to call my own work. 😎

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/mar/21/rising-from-the-rubble-london-pub-rebuilt-brick-by-brick-after-bulldozing

Starting with the hard ones, eh? 😂

Rarely have I seen a head that looks so much like a literal 'cut & paste' job, as in the head cut out of a paper photograph and gummed onto another photo. It may be genuine, but it looks as fake as that bass.

Yes. This sounds right, but you need to have some idea of what you're doing. If you're new to this stuff, there's no shortage of people here on Basschat who will help. But @Beedster ain't wrong. If you bought this new from a reputable supplier (Gear4Music, GAK, Thomann, etc.) then before you do anything else you should contact the supplier. They will help. Bear in mind that the neck 'moves' (very crudely, either bends or straightens) with changes in the weather, especially humidity. If you bought this bass from a very dry location (possibly the country, possibly a climate-controlled warehouse, whatever) and it arrives in rainy old England then it wouldn't be a huge surprise if the neck moved quite naturally. Sometimes they just straighten out again after a few days, sometimes you need to adjust the truss rod.

I didn't know that either ... I've been happily using MOV files for years on a PC (I've never actualy owned an Apple) and recently with Reaper, especially since @Silvia Bluejay's old Canon SX40 generates only that type of file AFAIK.

Strange really ... most slap bass is a dog's dinner. 🤨

You're still holding out for the bikinis, then?

Several of the pubs I'm talking to will be erecting gazebos / pergolas / marquees for the use of the audience. Same situation applies, in that these will all be shower-proof at best but adequate for that. In the event of it raining heavily then the gig's off anyway so it doesn't matter. I see little point in preparing for six months of outside giggerey in England by saying "I'll only play if the sun is shining, the temperature is over 20C, and the bar staff are wearing bikinis - including the girls".