Stingray5

I was sent a link to this some time ago (from an article in The Times online) and meant to check it out further. Thanks for the reminder.

Nice one, Sarah. Well done you!

Digging back into the mists of vinyl, I was reminded of this gem by 70's funk/rock/fusion band Upp. The aptly-named Stephen Amazing is on bass. (Produced by Jeff Beck). (Thanks be to Youtube, saving me the task of transferring from vinyl! ) Upp - "Get Down in the Dirt" Upp - "Give it to You" Upp - "Bad Stuff" and finally... originally from 1974 and shown on BBC Four Upp feat. Jeff Beck - "Down In The Dirt" (incl. nice pick bass and drum solos)

Hehe - nice try, Tom!

Slap seems to have settled down again and come through that over-the-top-all-guns-blazing phase from a while ago, where the whole bass-playing world and his wife seemed to be slapping the hell out of the instrument! Ok, I know there will always be those who do and I have no problem with that. In a general cover band situation, I like to employ slap techniques up to a point and where it suits a particular song. I think I get what B5 is talking about and, among other styles, I'll often snap with the thumb (and finger) to add a little something, where appropriate. At times I'd like to improve my slapping abilities even more, but it's not the be-all and end-all of bass playing for me. Keeping it musical and with a solid groove is still paramount for me.

Continuing one of the best threads on Basschat, here's a funky groove for Saturday afternoon. Featuring M King on bass and the ridiculously tight Charlie Morgan on drums (...well, he never bought [i]me[/i] a drink, anyway!! ) I always liked how the chord sequence works in this one too. [b]Nik Kershaw - Easy[/b]

[quote name='witterth' post='910059' date='Jul 30 2010, 11:11 AM']I think its absolutey hilarious that people still use the word "crikey"[/quote] [quote name='skankdelvar' post='910268' date='Jul 30 2010, 01:53 PM']Most pertinent observation of the thread (pace Scalpy's [i]keenly [/i]observed piece. And a few others). Crikey is rather a fine word and sadly under-used. I'd welcome the reappearance of such alternative exclamations as: [b]Jings[/b], I'm surprised I haven't received ...etc [b]Man alive[/b], I'm surprised I haven't received ...etc [b]Lordy Lordy[/b], I'm surprised I haven't received ...etc [b]Jakers[/b], I'm surprised I haven't received ...etc [b]God's blood[/b], I'm surprised I haven't received ...etc [b]Great Caesar's Ghost[/b], I'm surprised I haven't received ...etc [b]Damn your eyes, Sir[/b], I'm surprised I haven't received ...etc[/quote] Ok, breaking my decision to not bother posting in this thread - but as it's you skank... Gods holy trousers! I must admit to being guilty of still saying 'crikey' quite a bit. My American cousin and friends thought it hilarious when I first blurted it out during a conversation over dinner one time. I always liked 'Great Caesar's Ghost', too. (Thanks, Chief!! )

Nigel, you've made exactly the point with your OP that I kept thinking I would make in that 'Macca' thread, except I couldn't be ars*d as, for me, that thread was just way too tedious to bother with in the end. Personally, I've played guitar for 45 years, bass for 40 years, keyboards (sort of!) for another 20-odd years, I've also sung (b/v's and some lead) in every band I've ever been in plus written my own songs for as long as I can remember. In my passport, I would put 'Musician'. Talking with anyone who asks, I'm a musician whose primary instrument is bass (...that's bass guitar! ). That's what has given me most work as a musician. I view the likes of Macca and also Sting in a similar way. They are musicians whose primary instruments happen to be the bass. But they also play guitar, keyboards, even a bit of drums in Macca's case, plus sing and write their own material. Likewise, I wouldn't just call Stevie Wonder a keyboard player!

Mmmm, still funky as hell! And no mistaking the dulcet tones of Ms Khan... Nice version of Boz Scaggs 'Lowdown' too. I've always loved that number. Funnily enough, I was just looking up details of the Dukes of September tour (Boz Scaggs, Donald Fagen & Michael MacDonald) and whether they might make their way across the pond. Would love to see that!

[quote name='scalpy' post='906425' date='Jul 26 2010, 10:46 PM']All these people saying Macca's a bell-end as if they have to work with him. Obviously I haven't either, but I know a man who has who can't praise him enough. He has endless tales of Paul rolling his sleeves up and getting involved, never ever mentioning his wealth and giving to charity on an epic scale. For somebody to live through what he has without any semblance of precedent would put any personality to the test, and you could argue that only George got close to being truly humble about it all. Musicians as a breed are proud of what we do or we wouldn't put ourselves in the position to communicate our ideas to an audience in the first place. Paul is quite rightly proud of his accomplishments and a lesser man would be even more boastful or whatever characteristic you wish to choose to describe him. If I had played bass in the Beatles I'd probably find it a little tricky not to mention it once in a while. Musically I believe the word to describe his playing is eloquent. Always the right turn of phrase at the right time. One of the few bass players the average punter will do "air bass" to when he drops a fill in- I'm thinking "With a little help from my friends". [b]I can't believe there's 7 pages of this stuff and I don't believe anyone's mentioned him playing and singing at the same time.[/b] There's a video from the Magical Mystery Tour period where you can see him miming away admittedly but the bass line is bang on. I must remember the song. The earlier stuff maybe more simplistic but he rips through it. And as to all this business about Entwistle and Jamerson. McCartney was doing a very different job for those songs. Most of us have played in more than one band and know that you just can't always do your thing. It's back to the right thing at the right time. The Beatles were about the lyrics, the melodies and the textures. Paul did what he needed to and considering the variety of material demonstrated an imagination way beyond what most other musicians are capable of to suit. Entwistle was effectively the lead guitarist in his band and Jamerson developed a niche for another equally fantastic way of playing, again very specific for the audience. I'm staggered that so called musicians can't recognise what McCartney has achieved, especially as in many ways he has defined commercial bass playing.[/quote] +1 from me too, scalpy, though may I just add that I did actually allude to Macca's singing and playing abilities on page 2 of this thread. That aside, I'm just wondering if the video/song from Magical Mystery Tour you might be thinking of is 'Hello Goodbye'? Great number and a lovely bass line.

The Beatles and Macca in particular are why I started playing guitar (1964) and bass (1969) although I had many more early influences including Hank Marvin and Chris Squire. (Jeez, that was a long time back! ) But, like him or not, ask yourself this: Can you play those bass lines and sing the appropriate parts too (where he was the lead singer, of course)? Try something 'simple' like 'I Saw Her Standing There' or 'All My Loving'. Also, how many other pop/rock bass players will be similarly discussed 50 years after they first started - and still out there doing it!? (ok, stoopid question, but you get my point...?)

In the main, it looks like a guitar, it plays like a guitar, it can even sound like a guitar. It's a (form of) guitar! We've just got so used to simply calling it a 'bass' as it's the dominant instrument of it's type in popular music. Many jazz groups, etc., where the bassist plays both, will be credited with Double Bass / Bass Guitar, or something like that. (Stanley Clark, for example)

Marvin, there are also 19 pages (and counting...) in the Funk and Groove thread with many examples of some fine slappy stuff. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=70165"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=70165[/url]

Must admit, OG, I was wondering what I was gonna find when I opened this thread! Cool video, indeed. Quite like the toon, too.

I'd hate to think how much that baby weighs!

[quote name='Jacqueslemac' post='896752' date='Jul 16 2010, 06:27 PM']Does anyone else's have this change in colour between the back of the neck and the back of the headstock? [/quote] Kinda like this?

Absolutely, definitely and for sure! For me, The Nightfly is also one of the most perfect albums to drive to. A permanent all-time favourite.

Yeah, that does look nice. +1 on the colour scheme too. Nice matching pearl guard.

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='884393' date='Jul 2 2010, 10:09 PM']Hi Steve, good to meet you last week are you re-hydrated from that day yet ? Yes, I do remember North Street, but havn't been there for around 20 years. Last time I was there I sold Monkey Business a ten watt battery powered Vox amp, having cycled ten miles with it on my back. That was in the early '90's though. Not long before that I snapped up a maple / maple '73 Precision just around the corner for £200, again in the early '90's. I ended up selling it to finance my Rumour four - string. I'd buy that Precision back again in a flash. Perhaps it's time I bought myself up to date on Romford thanks Steve Tom[/quote] Hehe, yeah, I don't think I've arrived home and gone straight from the car to the shower as quickly as I did last Sunday. Scorchio! Great day though and good to meet you too, Tom. And everyone else, of course. Ah, Monkey Business - long gone now, of course; in fact, PMT is not too far from where MB used to be. Digital Village is actually in Gresham Rd (back of North Street). Websites have full details, locations, etc. S.

Tom, have you been to Digital Village, off North Street, Romford, lately? Must admit, I've not had a chance to visit the store myself since the Victor Wootten night they recently hosted, but if that was anything to go by, they were certainly expanding their bass stock big time, compared to previously. And while you're in the Romford area, there's also PMT in South Street. That said, as previously mentioned though not really south Essex, it has to be Bass Merchant, Colchester. Cheers, Steve

Ok, Si - so how did it go?

All Blues chords are 7th's, so just make sure you include the (dominant) 7th in your runs, too.

[quote name='OldGit' post='881226' date='Jun 29 2010, 06:45 PM']Sure but pay a pro about 2 wedding band fee's worth of money and you can get a great CMS driven effective website that drives your bookings hard enough to pay for itself easily in a few months and then generates bookings for decades...[/quote] No argument there, OG, but as Jamesemt mentioned 'problems with his software', I figured it was a case of DIY (for now anyway?) and wanted to point out there are at least alternatives to Word, etc!

Just thought I'd let you know your website links only seem to work in Internet Explorer (IE8), but not in Firefox, Chrome or Opera. This might not have mattered as much a few years ago but as IE no longer has the market share it once had, you could be losing out somewhat. Fyi, I'm on a PC running Windows XP and my own default browser is currently Firefox (3.6x). Looking at your source code (which is very bloated), it looks like the site has been put together using a Microsoft Office program (was it Frontpage, Word, Publisher?). There are better (and even free) ways to put a respectable website together. Hope this helps.

Many thanks for the comments, folks; glad you like the pics.