Cato

For me death metal was the point where the metal subgenres started to get really confusing & I'm never sure what's what. I used to like Celtic Frost and Sabbat. Do either of those count? I think Sabbat might have been more thrash folk metal if that was a thing? Although it's entirely possible they might have been proto grindcore, speed metal, doom metal, black metal or possibly early djent. All of which apparently sound different enough to each other to get their own subgenre.

In my early teenage years both. These days neither.

I love both. I used to think I preferred Stax because to me their productions sounded a bit rawer & edgier than Motown, but the more I've heard from both labels, the less I think that's actually true.

Merry Christmas.

I reckon John Coltrane is about as accessible as it gets, his Blue Train & My Favourite Things albums are as good a place to start as any. Personally I prefer smaller ensemble jazz stuff to big band because you can really hear each musicians contribution.

I remember reading many years ago that one of the Ramones ( pretty sure it was Johnny) used to perform with a bucket by his feet in the early years because he regularly vomited through stage fright. ( although I just ran a few Google searches & couldn't find any references to this on line). Apparently the Ramones love of curry stemmed from the discovery that it seemed to settle his stomach. Maybe the stories have become confused with Johnny Rotten at some point?

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1450607150' post='2934183'] The kid has perfect pitch, a massive musical gift that is rare (1 in 10000 people have it apparently) but not unique. [/quote] I've known two people in my lifetime who demonstrably had perfect pitch, one guitarist & one keyboard player. And a handful of non instrument playing vocalists who claimed to have perfect pitch, but either didn't actually know what the term means or were just lying to themselves...

I've been watching this guy recently. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqbxybR6Q6Y[/media] I reckon my slap technique has improved more in the last 2 weeks than in the previous 10 years. It's not just slap though, he covers a load of stuff.

New, there's a lot of love for the Yamaha BB range. A new BB424 should come in at just under £300. There's nothing much wrong with Squiers either. Those are the two I'm mainly looking at for when I plan to take the pbass with flats plunge in the new year. Second hand you can get all sorts of goodness in the £300-£400 range. There is a rumour (which I'm pretty sure I got from basschat) that Marcus Miller's Sire affiliate may be starting production on a pbass in the near future but I've no idea on the timescales on that.

I think it's quite common on electro acoustic basses, even the budget Harley Benton model has one. I would guess that its harder to fit an inconspicuous integrated tuner into a solid body & manufacturers know that the majority of bass players will already own some sort of tuning device? Having said that I'm sure some manufacturer somewhere will have done it at some point.

I don't know about the best playing but the best looking in the current range by a country mile that I've seen is the Dee Dee Ramone signature. Pure 70s chic.

I try to keep my chords tight & in time when I play guitar, pretty much exactly how I approach bass, but I've never been much of lead player & that's where I think, within certain styles and genres, a bit of 'sloppiness' can actually enhance a song. Although does it count as 'sloppiness' if you do it deliberately?

I honestly can't remember. I think it had something to do with impressing girls. That part never really worked out for me.

I played a couple in a shop recently & was quite impressed. Sound & playability wise they're not really in the same league as a full blooded Stingray (unsurprisingly) but they're not a million miles away from the classic ray sound either. A couple of years ago there were a lot of complaints about the on board preamp being too 'hot' or producing too much gain, but the ones I played seemed okay, so maybe that problem has been fixed, or maybe I'm too cloth eared to notice.

I've tried to like Level 42, I've listened to recommended tracks, I've watched people break his stuff down in youtube videos, I've even learnt to play a couple of his easier lines. But whilst I can clearly see & hear his genius I still don't really like his music that much, not the stuff I've heard anyway. It's almost certainly my loss.

I once spent three weeks in a hotel in December whilst on a course. 'Now.... that's what I call Christmas' was piped into the corridors, restaurant & lobby on repeat, 24 hours a day & could faintly be heard in my room. So after undergoing what amounted to involuntary aversion therapy for 21 days it's safe to say I'm not the biggest fan of Christmas songs in general & the songs on that album in particular bring me out in a cold sweat.

I blame Metallica. Ever since word got out that James Hetfield favoured a 'scooped' tone, the world has been full of guitarists turning the mids down to zero and everything else up to eleven.

I think I've only bought 2 new cds this year. 'My love is cool' by Wolf Alice, which while not quite a classic has some superb songs on it & 'The Making Of' by the Bohicas which I bought of the merchandise stand after I saw them in Brum which is also pretty good. Other than that it's been a year for discovering old music that had previously passed me by.

[quote name='Nicko' timestamp='1450097018' post='2929485'] I agree, preferably a thinline, with a 'bucker in the neck position. I'll get my coat. [/quote] What is it with bass players and telecasters? I've got a MiM 1972 thinline reissue which I bought c.2000. It's the best skinny string I've ever owned and up there with the best I've ever played. I don't know if it's the simplicity of the controls or the relatively chunky necks, but I've known a fair few tele owning bass players down the years.

Cheers for that. I was aware of his spoken word stuff like The Revolution Will not be Televised & Whitey on the Moon, but I had no idea he'd done the jazz/funk thing as well Something else to check out.

Flea must be close to qualifying?

I'd guess it's probably down to your guitarists tone/eq/amp settings. Or maybe he has a dodgy guitar? There are a lot of myths about humbucker vs single coils, most of which can be largely dispelled by browsing you tube and watching people playing Slayer or Metallica riffs on telecasters or pristine sounding Gilmour or Clapton solos on Les Pauls.

[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1449922304' post='2927984'] I would argue Sting had nothing to do with Punk and New Wave, other than being a blatant band wagon jumper, and add Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees.Who is not very well at the moment. [/quote] If you buy into the idea that punk was a reaction against the overblown musical virtuosity of bands like Led Zep,The Who & Pink Floyd in favour of a bunch of kids picking up instruments and playing their first gigs a few days later then The Police probably don't belong. I'd definitely allow them in as part of the 'New Wave' though. I suspect that like most things musical labels are largely down to personal interpretation.

Dee Dee Ramone. The first time I heard the Ramones I thought to myself 'ah, so that's how it's done'.It wasn't long after that that I picked up my first bass. I suspect that I'm one of a great many who cut their bass playing teeth playing along to Dee Dee' s lines. 25 or so years on my musical tastes have broadened somewhat, but the Ramones are just about the only band I liked as a teenager that I still listen to regularly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvMhPqg2jCo