Cato

I think she did well in keeping with her own style. It would have been truly horrendous if someone had come on & tried to do a Bowie impersonation.

A while ago I read about a guy who was blasting his intruments with sound and/or vibration to simulate decades of being played. ( cant 't remember where, it might even have been on here). Apparently it realigned the wood molecules to give the instrument that special vintage flavour or some such jiggery pokery. Snake oil anyone?

I didn't watch the Brits last night, but I've been hearing a lot of love for this tribute performance today, it seems to feature most of Bowie's touring band plus Lorde on vocals. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7l3y7LOzLc[/media] Music starts at about 1.09 Edit original video taken down by youtube due to 'copyright issues' music now starts at about 8.50

Despite what I grew up hearing about CBS Fenders the 70s was truly a glorious era for beautiful jazz basses. Lovely example you've got there.

Take him to a couple of big shops and see what he likes. The 'cooler' he thinks his new bass is the more he'll play it.

I once drank two pints ( and I'm not a particularly fast drinker) whilst listening to a band do their version of 'Red House' at a beer festival. That was pretty epic. (in the sense that it seemed to go on for a very long time rather than being notable for anything else).

Three votes is not enough. I could have flipped a coin for two of my choices and happily gone with completely different tracks. Impressive stuff right across the board.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1456216192' post='2986593'] My gf wants me too justify why I must insist on switching my main and only bass several times a year, month or even every week. That I can't justify fully even too myself, especially as my playing level isn't that high. Love the Acg I now have though and can't see me parting with it for some time. [/quote] If you can afford it without forcing your family into penury then that's justification enough. Nice basses make you play better because they inspire you to pick them up & practice more. That's my philosophy anyway.

I used to do it with my old Hartke 3500 , but I've since read that it could potentially damage the amp. The sound only came through one side of the headphones which was annoying, I presume because the speaker output is mono, not stereo. Rereading your post if you don't actually have amp here yet try looking for one with a dedicated phones output. I think a few of the class Ds have them. Further edit. In fact having looked at the ampeg you mentioned it does indeed have a dedicated headphones output. They wouldn't have included it if it was going to damage the amp so you should be golden.

I use Seinnheiser hd201s. Excellent quality for bass practice & listening to music. The cable is quite light & thin & needs to be treated with a bit of care, but you should get around £60 change from your £80 to spend on other goodies. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sennheiser-Closed-Dynamic-Stereo-headphones-black/dp/B0007XJSQC

[quote name='mr zed' timestamp='1456009711' post='2984565'] Best advice I was ever given was "if you can hum it, you can play it". [/quote] I had a similar one along the lines of you can play anything if you slow it down enough, then you can start speeding it back up.

I read recently that while Ibanez don't do custom specs for Joe Public they have a small luthiers & workshop operation in California solely for their endorsees. Maybe its a similar thing with Music Man? Although I doubt this Vamps guy has an endorsement, I can't imagine boy band members shift that many units. ( no disrespect to boy bands).

Watching various tutorials on YouTube I've seen a fair number of people who I would regard as top class players who don't use the 'one finger per fret' technique. Going from the first finger on the first fret to the little finger on the third or even from the third to the fifth seems pretty common & not massively detrimental to their overall ability on the instrument. Maybe getting the person you are teaching to start practising stuff to build strength & dexterity in the little finger, which beginners tend to lack, would be a good way forwards?

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1455614935' post='2980609'] Surely the whole point in getting people talking about you is to pique their curiosity, not to make them all think you're a monumental helmet-flake. [/quote] Unfortunately the world doesn't seem to work like that. Look at Justin Bieber, he spent several years earning a reputation as one of the world's leading bell ends & he's now bigger than he's ever been. In Mr West's case he makes a few controversial or daft statements and he gets the kind of global coverage money literally cannot buy. On a purely commercial level it doesn't seem to matter whether the coverage is positive or negative.The people who are bemused by his ridiculous antics were probably never going to buy his products in the first place. Most of the articles about him mention his fashion business or his various endorsement deals or links to various brands, which rightly or wrongly will ultimately only increase his perceived value to his sponsors.

He's got a new album out & everyone's talking about him. Job done.

[quote name='The Hat' timestamp='1455568124' post='2980345'] I was only talking about a simple t shirt , just to show I play. Nothing else [/quote] Someone bought me something very similar to this a while ago http://www.albertsgifts.com/product/productinfo/bass-clef-golf-shirt/7310?cid=746 Mine is a small gold bass clef motif on a dark red polo shirt. It's a tad more subtle than the average slogan shirts.

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1455550012' post='2980088'] I'm sure there will always be a place fire the nostalgia but will there be as much interest in ten,twenty or thirty years time? I know there is always "my son loves the Beatles " blah blah but generally the next generation aren't that bothered are they? [/quote] I don't know, I live near Statford upon Avon & they still seem to be doing pretty well out of Shakespeare. He didn't even live there that long, apart from his childhood and about three years before he died. His most productive years were spent in London. At least the Beatles' time in Liverpool has a genuine connection to their work.

Just downloaded & listened to the album. It's really rather good. It's a lot more than just a bass players album (although the bass is excellent, it's certainly not the focus), sort of modern R & B but with a slightly jazzy twist.

A Mexican Fender jazz & new pickups? On a more serious note second hand USA Fenders seem to go for between £500-£800 in the marketplace here and there's a load of highly respected pre owned stuff in that bracket from Lakland & G&L to Music Man & Maruswotsit.

Off topic, but my understanding is that there are a load of classic Stones songs that Wyman, Jones & Watts made major contributions to that are simpy credited to Jagger/Richards. I'd guess that from their perspective a smaller slice of a big pie was better than no pie at all.

I always thought he was a massive duck.

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1455194659' post='2976881'] Muse - in the way that you can always play the "what song have they blatantly ripped off for this one" game. [/quote] Even more confusingly there seems be a whole new batch of bands coming through that sound a lot like Muse.

[quote name='chriswareham' timestamp='1455143308' post='2976505'] Ah yes, in the context of the original comment it's much more appropriate. Which reminds me, quoting doesn't seem to work at all on the Android version of Firefox - I have to do it manually, which is even more error prone :-( [/quote] No worries

5/10, at least three of those were educated guesses. Metal & I parted company in about 1993, no idea about anything past that date.

I suspect everbody experiences plateaus where we feel that we're not improving or have a hit a brick wall with where we want to go next. I don't think learning an instrument is a smooth learning curve of constant improvement, its more like a series of steps and landings, some of steps are quite small and some of the landings between them are longer than others. (apologies if I sound like a budget guru).