project_c

Its musicians making dicks of themselves and prancing around for attention like a bunch of kids with ADD. If you think that's a great way to make a living, great, but I don't. Have you actually seen PewDiePie?? The guy is a gigantic twat sitting in his bedroom and shouting at video games. It's the most retarded thing on earth. These are only good sources of revenue in the same way as Primark and McDonalds are good sources of revenue. It's stupid garbage for the lowest common dominator. I'm not ok with it. (yes I know nobody cares, but I like a rant).

All these Jaco threads always come down to 2 things: taste and jazz language. 1. Taste - pointless debate, it's like trying to convince someone to like cheese when they just don't like the way it tastes. 2. Jazz language - if you are interested in jazz, then complex use of language are going to interest you. If not, it's just going to sound like a mess. I like jazz but I can fully see how it sounds like random fart noises to others. Meanwhile I hate old rock music, especially Geezer Butler / Sabbath etc, I think it sounds like a car crash covered in stale lager and piss. But I don't feel like my musical taste is any more or less valid because of that, it's nice to like different things. You don't have to like Picasso to be a great artist, and in the same way you don't have to like Jaco to be a great bassist.

.. and that 'incident' with a tampon at Reading festival (I think it was there). Anyone remember that?

Kim Gordon played bass in Sonic Youth. Not necessarily known for her bass skills as such but probably one of the most important bands of the past 30 years nevertheless.

Yes I know it's a bit of a first world problem, in the grand scheme of things it's no big deal but maybe see it as a more general comment about the state of things. Musicians with integrity and a quiet confidence used to be considered a lot more interesting and credible than the cheesy show-offs poncing around on stage. These YouTube guys are like a modern day Liberace, prancing about for attention like a bunch of annoying children high on sugar. So much music that was popular in the past wouldn't stand a chance in these ponce-infested times.

I'm sure there's been a few threads about this but oh my god, this kind of hyperactive attention whore-ishness represents everything I hate about the internet. I see that annoying face and the awful clickbait every time I look at YouTube, there is just no getting away from it. You search for anything to do with bass, and bang, there he is, with 4 thousand novelty party trick videos, pulling stupid YouTube faces and pointing at 12 string novelty basses. "Finally, a funky fretless 19 string slap bass jam! Leave a comment, like and subscribe LOL etc smiley face" ad infinitum. Jesus christ. Yes I'm sure these guys are all very talented and special, but when I see this stuff, all I see is a bunch of ballerinas prancing around for attention. Anyone remember a time when people got laughed at for being attention-seeking show-offs? Those days are long gone. Now I know this is a rant and I'm being rude, and I'm obviously in the minority, because 1 million followers blah blah, and I know it's a 'business model' blah blah.. but it annoys the living crap out of me personally. Stock Aitken Waterman was also a business model, and their pinnacle was 'The Reynolds Girls'. Just because something is a 'business model' it does not mean it's good. There are people like Adam Neely out there who also have a trillion followers, and they're not resorting to this stuff. No disrespect to anyone who loves it obvs, just my personal view. /end rant (I also hate 'Remco Hendrix', and that german guy with the ridiculous massive beard, and every other o.c.d. novelty internet show-off out there).

Not trying to be a smart arse but Magellan is not a random girlie name, it's a word that refers to discovery, exploration and circumnavigation (after the portugese explorer Ferdinand Magellan). I'm guessing it's a reference to the technology behind the new genz stuff, or a reference to breaking new ground etc.

If you can't hear the difference you probably just don't need one, save your money. Drive pedals compress signals anyway, and if you play with a pick and have good technique you may not have peaks and dips in volume, or attack / sustain issues to worry about. Compressors are not a necessity at all, and they tend to be more important in a studio than in a live situation.

I'm in my 40s and I'm learning to sight-read slowly. I feel like a child who is learning to read, I have to play incredibly slowly to be able to follow the music. If you can already play fairly well but then have to revert to playing basics again, it can be a bummer but I'm doing it anyway because not being able to do it is annoying me. I think it's a bit like learning a language, if you're a kid you can pick it up really fast, but as an adult it will take longer and you may never be completely fluent. My aim is just to get to a point where I can read well enough to play a few transcribed lines without pauses and get ideas down on paper faster than I can now.

Only purchase of the year: Acme Motown DI, which I love. Other than that I haven't needed anything else, v happy with my Tony Franklin P / Genz Shuttle. Mild gas for Mustang PJ dissipated when I played one and found the upper register access was crap. Shame because it was perfect otherwise.

[quote name='Cato' timestamp='1509135044' post='3396994'] I'm firmly in the 'record sales don't lie' camp. Doesn't matter if it's Coldplay or One Direction or any other band I don't personally get, if they're shifting millions of units then they must be doing something musically 'right'. [/quote] Not really. It's more likely to be the marketing department of the label they are on are doing 'something right' - i.e. spending cash on media saturation. Crazy Frog charted globally and the ringtone alone made over half a billion dollars, I'm fairly sure that doesn't make it a great piece of music. It's just marketing.

Science explains why bass is the best thing ever: http://www.openculture.com/2015/10/the-neuroscience-of-bass-new-study-explains-why-bass-instruments-are-fundamental-to-music.html

It's just another dodgy chinese knockoff, I think we're only just beginning to see the damage that the recent flood of chinese instrument copies will cause when it all ends up on the second hand market. There's mountains of this crap out there, and apart from a select few people on sites like this, almost everyone else looking to buy a used instrument is going to get stung. It means not just that they'll get ripped off but also that they'll end up with crap instruments and give up on trying to play them. The Chinese counterfeit industry is a disaster that needs to be stopped, I find it hard to understand why people are so lax about it. Nobody likes it but nobody is shouting about it either, it's basically criminality on an industrial scale.

Ok, here's a weird problem, no idea where to even start with this one, so let's see if anyone here knows anything about this. Moved house recently, had to switch to Virgin from BT. Since using Virgin, some plugins that *I think* may need an internet connection (iLok stuff for example) have stopped working. My internet connection is fine, and working without problems, BUT plugins that need to check in via the internet tell me there is no connection. I thought this was an iLok problem, but then I tried to run a demo of TwoNotes Torpedo from Logic just now, and it's also telling me there is no internet connection. Meanwhile, other apps that need to check in - Adobe CC for example - are fine and connecting as they should. 2011 iMac running El Capitan, everything else working without issues. Anyone have any idea what's going on here?

You're very unlikely to find a genuine 'naive person doesn't know what he has' bargain on gumtree, it's wishful thinking and it usually leads to a scam. If you have the technical ability to post an ad on gumtree, you will also have the ability to google what your item is worth before posting it. Nobody with access to the web is that naive anymore. Which isn't to say good deals can't be found on gumtree - people moving away usually have to sell stuff in a hurry for example - but they won't be the result of ignorance or naivety, those days are gone.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1508053029' post='3389430'] Perhaps it's haunted. Or cursed. It is Bromley. [/quote] I used to hate Bromley with a passion, I lived here as a kid and could not wait to leave. 30 years later I find myself living here again (temporarily), and it's not anywhere near as bad as it used to be. Still depressing and chavvy on the high street but the streets are pretty nice these days, i was quite surprised.

[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1508108080' post='3389851'] Yep, just found the same pictures on an eBay listing. Honestly, some people... [/quote] His pics are always ripped from ebay, easy to spot with a quick google check. Story is always 'dead relative left me this, I don't know what it is '.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1508090159' post='3389682'] Surely that should be "Ah Therapy?!" [/quote] True true. I still have a t-shirt somewhere, I loved that band. The 'wake up' Blade Runner sample on one of their songs got me interested in sampling and electronic music, which eventually got me interested in drum breaks, which eventually got me interested in 70s funk, which eventually got me into playing bass. A slightly unorthodox route to bass..

Try this: Pitch shift down an octave, mix 100% - add mild distortion - auto filter plugin (mess about with cutoff & resonance, try low pass or band pass filters) - add chorus - add compression - add a bit of delay.

SCAM! guys be careful. Pics ripped off ebay, this guy does this on gumtree regularly. I think the pics are from this ad: https://goo.gl/images/oNsXpg

Ah Therapy! I used to go see them play in tiny pubs all around north london, must have been around 1990/91. Glad they're still going.

There's a million ways to do that, any particular sound you're after?

If anyone's near Bromley south station and wants to rescue a bass, I just saw someone chuck away a black p-bass, it's sitting by the recycling bins at the side of the station. Looks like a cheap one, didn't see what brand it is (Encore maybe?) but might be a fun project for someone local.

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1507201128' post='3383845'] As Fender themselves put it: [size=4][color=#545454][font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]Few rock bassists are as closely identified with fretless bass as [/font][/color][color=#6A6A6A][font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif][b]Tony Franklin[/b][/font][/color][/size] Who would actually buy a Tony Franklin fretted bass? [/quote] I have one, I got it because I wanted a Fender PJ and liked the nitro and amber colour. I'm not bothered about Tony Franklin and his playing, I'm sure he's a great player etc, but I don't listen to his music or know anything about it. I do love the bass though.

[quote name='ahpook' timestamp='1507743223' post='3387682'] Must have been a good gig, the venue was rammed. [/quote] Really brought the house down.