Cato

The locking up wouldn't be a problem, but there's no way I would take any kind of responsibility for making sure the building was empty and the lifts are safe.

As others have said the best era is now, because everything else from every other era is still available. Having said that, it seems to me, as someone who was too young to remember the decade, that the 1970s was a bit a a golden era/game changer for bass guitar as it really started to come to the fore in any number of genres from the funk/soul of the Meters and Tower of Power, the jazz of the likes of Herbie Hancock and classic rock bands like Free and Queen. Not to mention the emergence of bass driven dance music such as disco.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1472692549' post='3123408'] I'm getting really tempted to try to find a jazz with a nice natural wood body,,,, so no good looking at Fender. For me maruscyk is a natural choice to look at for value for money on a great bass. [/quote] I've not tried one but the natural bodied Fender Elites (and before them the Deluxes) look very pretty to me. I'm a bit undecided about the merits of active basses though, particularly active Fenders.

I was hoping for Flea but got Geezer Butler. I've never really listened to Sabbath so I'm not sure what to make of that. Still we both come from Birmingham.

You mean all those hours I spent learning to hit the strings cleanly and quickly with my thumb could have been spent learning to do the same job with a tiny hammer? I feel such a fool.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1472614383' post='3122599'] Dave, I'm 63 and I have no interest in having a say. [/quote] Have you had a Birthday recently? I could have sworn you were 62 last time it came up. If so many happy returns.

I saw Kamasi Washington live recently, he has two drummers and it worked superbly well. Made the inevitable drum solo/duet almost bearable although during the rest of the set I did wonder if each drummer was actually playing half as much as they usually would. I'd love to give playing in that kind of set up a go, but I imagine most pubs/small venues would sh*t themselves if you arrived and set up two kits.

As usual with this artist (for an artist they surely are) I'm caught somewhere between sheer admiration for the technique, the performance and the passion whilst simultaneously wishing I could unsee the clip.

At sixteen I was just coming out of my metal phase (fave bands were Maiden, Anthrax and Megadeth) and entering my indie phase (Dinosaur Jr, Pixies & Wedding Present). Although pretty much from 13 onwards when asked I've always given my favourite band as The Ramones.

[quote name='Trueno' timestamp='1472050297' post='3118025'] I wonder how many come from the same factory (like baked beans do). That is genuine wonderment, by the way. [/quote] I used to have a summer job in a cannery. We made beans for a couple of supermarkets as well as a couple of well known brands, though they all came from the same factory, the recipes and manufacturing instructions were actually all slightly different. Maybe it's the same with strings?

I like Vic. I got into him through the Flecktones, but I also like some of his solo work, though generally not the more acrobatic stuff. This is by far his best solo piece. http://youtube.com/watch?v=IgtZIK-M0_8

I had a look at the guitar pickups a few years ago after hearing positive things, but got put off by the ridiculously 'metal' names for everything. Not sure whether they were being ironic, but I came away from the web site thinking they should do the Spinal Tap endorsement.

I got through a few when I first started around 25 years ago. I used to have a very aggressive pick style. About a year in I switched to a much gentler finger style and I've only had one string break on me since then, about 10 years ago an E string broke at the nut whilst the bass was propped up against the wall, not being played.

Turn up to the gig with a BC Rich Warlock, when they complain that it doesn't fit the image tell them that you happen to have a spare P bass in the car. They'll be delighted. As others have said, short of a double bass anything you play will need to be plugged in if they want the bass to be heard, so it seems a bit daft for them to be worrying about aesthetics.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1470772618' post='3108391'] Oh yes, she is in the charts as a guest vocalist for another artist at the moment I think too. She can belt it out and get the crowd going! [/quote] It's this one, it's a cracking tune. http://youtube.com/watch?v=B9BLMNn0PrQ

My brother in law got a bass for his 40th, when he asked me for tips I told him to start off by working out the lines and playing along to his favourite bands. His favourite band happens to be U2, so he's s been having a great time playing those simple-but-perfect-for-the-song Clayton lines. Lucky for me that his favourite band isn't Weather Report or I wouldn't be making it look quite so quick and effortless on the couple of occasions he's asked me to show him how something goes.

I really enjoyed it, cheers for posting. That's just the sort of cheese I've started to really enjoy listening to in the last couple of years. Unrelated but in a sort of similar vein, my latest discovery has been Bobbi Humphrey, jazz/funk flautist extraordinaire.

I was planning on changing my strings every two to three months this year, just to try out a few different makes. I put a set of hi beams on my favourite bass in February and they still sound so good that I have no intention of changing them again before they die.

[quote name='wishface' timestamp='1469198112' post='3096568'] What is MIM? [/quote] Made in Mexico. Broadly speaking top end Fenders are made in the USA. After that it gets a bit fuzzy. Made in Japan Fenders are highly rated, as are some Made in Mexico's (by some people). Then you have the Squier range made in Indonesia or China or possibly somewhere else in the Far East if they've moved production again when I wasn't looking. Some of the more expensive Squiers are as good if not better in some respects than the bottom end of the Mexican range.

Half these things are misreported, the classic example being the kids who were supposedly issued with safety gear whilst playing conkers. The other half started out like 'baa baa green sheep' which began a few decades ago as a joke based on the drive for trying not to use potentially offensive discriminatory terms in public institutions (back when racially offensive terms were frequently used by police and politicians as well as on prime time TV sitcoms) but somehow became so deeply ingrained in the national consciousness that there are now generations who think it really is illegal to teach kids 'baa baa black sheep' and nurseries and schools that do indeed insert a non skin tone colour in the rhyme to avoid causing imaginary offence.

Personally I think 24 frets makes more sense, giving you a full two octaves. Having said that I'm currently mainly playing a 20 fret jazz at the moment with no major issues, although I do find I miss the 21st fret more than I thought I would. I do more little runs and fills up the dusty end using that E than I realised. Edit: There no point in comparing tonal variations between my 24 fret and 20 fret basses because one of them is a carbon graphite neck through active headless Status the other is a bolt on passive Jazz - there's a lot more differences going on between them than the number of frets.

Try Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. http://youtube.com/watch?v=w9XDUBDMNuk

[quote name='Westenra' timestamp='1467928113' post='3087460'] ^ the squier HB jaguar didn't get that favourable reviews if I recall correctly. [/quote] That's a shame. I really like the look of them, although, as others have said, they're crying out for a seafoam green or sonic blue model.

There's a new (at least I've only just noticed it) Squier version on the Fender website with a single humbucker at the bridge and active electronics which looks interesting.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1467912789' post='3087292'] Never listen to the radio & never watch music programmes on the TV. There are loads of bands & artists people mention on here that I've never heard anything by. [/quote] I'm almost envious, through absolutely no proactive effort on my part I've managed to hear her last three singles so many times that I never want to hear them again.