Nicko

Nirvana:On a Plain. First line is "I'll start this off without any words", and then he carries on whining about it for another three minutes.

OK, here goes: This is my first entry so be gentle - I learnt quite a lot - especially the fingering change from a Cmaj to a Bmin7flat 5 is tricky if you want a clean arpeggio. I just got a trippy vibe from the photo so I stole a Portishead bass line for the main theme - but thats OK cos they stole it from someone else. Recorded in Cubase, using MT Power Drums. Bass is my trusty CV 70s Precision stright into the audio interface with a tough of compression. Guitars are my Patrick Eggle via a H&K TM18 which has a red box out all the distortion is from the amp. Keys are Dexed VST

Does one* have to enjoy a bassline to appreciate it as a great piece of bass playing? * i would have said you, but the "write what you mean police" appear to be out in force tonight

The current band has been together since Jan 2019 and has struggled to pick up gigs regularly. The singer has recently relocated which will make rehearsing and gigging extremely difficult. I think the band will fall apart, and I'm not convinced I can be @rsed to start again. It's a good band, but I haven't really enjoyed being in it as much as my last few bands - it's two girls and two guys and the dynamic is completely different from a bunch of blokes having a laugh. I've started some home recording of originals. In the past I've actually enjoyed being in a band and learning new songs more than gigging which, to my mind, is a necessary evil.

According to the guittard in my last band When I come Around by Green Day qualifies. He's utterly wrong of course - its a good song,

You are a legend in your own lifetime, at least on here. Mainly for fun, and sharing with whoever will listen - watch this space, I may be entering the July composition challenge.

Is Soundcloud THE option, or are others better? I guess other options are Audiomack or Bandcamp. I don't do Apple so don't bother suggesting iTunes.

Neither. I can do it when playing but can't translate this into midi file. It's not a problem if I want to record a real instrument - only if I want to program a virtual one.

Yep, trying that with a midi keyboard too. I'm having problems with latency which is causing this to be more difficult than it should, but will try on my other DAW when I get the studio back (currently the wife's home office).

Yep, I've been doing that. The problem isn't the actual programming it's translating whats in my head to the rhythm. I have been programming Hysteria from tab and score to get to grips with a new DAW and that is working OK (bass is straight in the verse but a bit more complex in the chorus but I've also done the guitar parts getting rhythm from score and drums from tab 1e+a,2e+a etc). I can read rhythms from score, I just cant translate whats in my head to what the score would look like.

I've been playing guitar for over 30 years and took lessons a few years back which taught me a lot about scales, harmony. and how to phrase melodies so they sound interesting (I studied to grade 5). I've recently started using VST instruments and I've realised that I have absolutely no idea what I'm playing rhythmically when I play the bass. I am completely unable to program in anything other than fairly straightforward rhythmic patterns on a bass sequencer. I can just about cope with programming drum patterns. Any idea where I should start to fill this gap in my knowledge?

If you think that's a minger try a "sunburst" Shergold for dreary

D'Addario XL160 50-105 Nickel wound, as I felt the standard Fender fit 45-105 was a little bit unbalanced volume wise.

Except it's actually the best song they ever recorded.

Misty morning, Clouds in the sky, Without warning, the wizard walks by Casting his shadow, weaving his spell Funny clothes, tinkling bell. Now, where to start? If its misty, how do you know if there are clouds in the sky. But lets assume its a light mist and you can see the clouds. If its cloudy, you don't generally cast a shadow. Even so, if the wizard is carrying a tinkling bell you might think he isn't arriving without warning.

Did that yesterday and it made a noticeable difference.

I'll take a look. Thanks

Thanks. I'm running a focusrite 2i2 with the latest drivers through a windows laptop. I can see the background processes on task manager, but not having much of a clue about computers I don't actually know what the processes that are running do so I'm a little cautious of stopping them. I'll take a look and see if I can work out how to disable those you've suggested and take some time to google the processes that are running. The midi keyboard is running direct through the USB port. I can't do anything about the processor, but could throw an extra ram chip in as there's a free port

Brendan Brown, writer of Teenage Dirtbag, was 26 when Whetus released it, so no, you are not just a teenage dirtbag, and you really shouldn't be hanging around that school and bothering that Noelle.

David Bowie played the guitar right handed, so I find it inconceivable that Ziggy Stardust played it left handed.

I got a free version of Ableton Live Lite 10 with my midi keyboard which I loaded onto an ageing laptop. Although the DAW works OK for using clips and when I draw in midi signals, there is so much latency on live recorded audio that its not actually possible to record anything. It's not the monitoring that's the issue, it seems to be the time taken from hitting a note on the keyboard (or guitar) to register in the recording. I'm direct monitoring audio in through the interface so I know I'm playing (vaguely) in time but playback is way off. Same problem happens with playing notes on the midi keyboard (which is input via the usb rather than the interface), and I can hear the delay in response when monitoring the live signal in. I've set the sampling rates to minimise the latency but still no joy. I suspect it may be that the computer isn't up to the job, even though it meets the minimum system requirements. Is it likely to be a lack of RAM, the chipset is too slow or something else I've missed?

Was a bloke at my local open mic night that used to turn up and do All Right Now every week on a really flash active 5 (possibly 6) string. It was a dark honey translucent finish multi ply thru neck with figured wood. It always thought it was a bit inappropriate when he turned on the LED position markers for the interlude.🤮 I think the original was played on an SG bass, although Andy later switched to something a bit more exotic looking.

I spent a lot of my early yoof making shapes to this. Cool if you like that kinda thing. Rockit

I don't like fat necks, or wide necks - guitars should have 6 strings and basses should have 4. I haven't really struggled to get a capo to fit, but even so I wasn't suggesting that playing with a capo that high would be a good idea. Personally I find tuning issues above about the 7th fret.

I cant see why you wouldn't go to 11th fret so you get a full octave (on guitar at least) whether its practical to play with a capo that far up or not.