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Absolutely love Sugizo! No singing, but still falls under the “ bloody foreign muck” category

Yeah, love that too. I have both available songs on my playlist. It’s superb innit?

There are quite a few foreign bands that I am into. I was wondering if any of you are the same. I was once laughed at for listening to “ foreign muck” and “ ya can’t understand what they are saying”, but there are thousands of hidden gems out there. Not least this band. My mate is married to a Turkish girl and when she introduced this band to him, he was like “ that’s actually really good, it’s like normal music!” He went to see them in Ankara last night. Said it was superb.

Ooer missus, I did this when I was younger too 😉

Indeed, I like more expensive basses because of the way they feel. I have a Squire, which sounds amazing, but I still like my Fenders and Spector just because of how they feel and look

There are comparison videos on YouTube between very expensive basses and ultra cheap basses and it’s hard to hear a difference. I was shocked!

I always wanted to use a pick just for the sound. Obviously I am a fingers player, but wanted to use a pick for certain songs when the sound called for it. Trouble is, I can only play simple bass lines with a pick. I can’t easily cross strings. It’s obvioulsy because I have not got used to a pick over the years and I need to practice more but at this stage it’s hard to change.

When I was fourteen, I went to a school dance. I saw the bands guitars standing on stage before they came on. The long neck of the bass just turned me on. That was me hooked. I knew that bass was what I wanted to play.

I have sausage fingers, so long scale is all I can handle. Funnily enough, I can find my way round a guitar ok. Fancy that!

@SpondonBassed have you heard of “ the amazing slow downer” software from Roni Music? It’s superb. You can play your music and slow it down, but it stays in the same pitch. It’s great for working out stuff. I use it all the time.

You certainly can play funky, which sounds like slap with a pick. Listen to Simple Minds Derek Forbes playing. He used a pick and sounds like he is slapping and popping.

What I am doing is setting myself goals. I’m saying right, I will be able to play this all the way though. Then I work on the singing. When and if my job changes and we get back playing, I will be ready with a few songs of my choosing. With good bass parts. It’s a better feeling than just learning bits of songs.

@sammybee playing live is the ultimate goal of learning to play. There is no better feeling than performing and making people enjoy themselves. Getting a cheer after a song makes all the rehearsing, lugging of gear and sweat worthwhile!

@Marvin Reminds me of the time I played the first song with my Eflat tuned guitar when the song was in standard. I’m also the singer , so it was a horrible panic trying to play one fret out and sing 😩

I’ve still got a poster for one of our first gigs. Tickets £1.50. We hired a minibus to ferry people out to the village hall 15miles out of town. Sell out crowd, managed to hire a pa, the minibus and got a five way split too. Try getting kids to travel out of town to an amateur gig nowadays! I should add that we were not as good as we thought. I think the youth of the day were starved of a good night out at a dance back then.

As Ive said, slapping is great when used in its proper environment. Yes, I joked the mid eighties. My gripe is people demonstrating amps or basses who exclusively slap, which doesn’t let you properly hear the instrument and what it can do. I doth my cap to folk who do it well and folk who include it in demo videos alongside normal playing but when it’s used exclusively to demo, it’s just a knob showing off!

Aria Pro II. That’s a name that conjures up the 80’s. are they still in business? You never hear about them nowadays

I have to add, when I was in my late teens, I thought this was the most amazing looking bass that I’d ever seen. Amazing how your tastes change.

I thought it just didn’t suit me as it was too small. I tried a Steinberger stick bass once too, with the same result. The Steinberger was awkward to play as you had to physically push back with your playing hand otherwise your fretting hand would push the bass back. You don’t realise that your arm does this until there’s no body to push against.

I think this is the pointy culprit, although I don’t remember it being an Aria the body was way too small and looked stupid this looks almost respectable, but in real life it was silly looking, but very of it’s age!

I will keep you posted on how it sounds. I’m at work just now, but will get on it when I get home 👍🤘

I know it sounds like a cliché, but I think maybe it because you have a single pickup and a volume and a tone it’s so simple to make a sound without worrying about blending. Maybe that’s why they are popular with sound guys they do have a lovely natural “ woody” sound