Cato

Burn the heretical bastards, before their foul perversity spreads to the simple minded and unenlightened.

This is how religious schisms begin. One innocent question about an inconsequential point of protocol. A thousand years from now our descendants will still be participating in mass persecutions and guerilla warfare between E starters and G starters.

I can see a sort of of logic in starting at the G in that your'e then not reaching over tuners you've already tuned in order to get to the next string, so you're less likely to knock a tuner you've already tuned. Although that only really works on a 4 in a row or 3 + 1 headstock. It might be different on a 2 +2 arrangement. If that makes any sense at all. I'm not planing to change from starting on E though.

I always start with the E then A,D,G. No logic behind it, I've just always done it that way.

Many years ago I bought a dirt cheap melodica on whim with some vague idea of using it to learn how to play keyboard instruments. My abiding memory of it is just how much phlegm got into the instrument in a relatively short space of time. I still can't play keyboards to this day.

A friend of mine has small collection of no name shortscale basses of various retro designs including an unlined shortscale fretless. It did throw me a bit the first time I played it, not helped by the fact that it was my first time on a short scale bass. As on a 34" scale bass, the closer the 'frets' are together the more noticeable fretting hand intonation errors become. So I did find the shortscale a bit more unforgiving than my own 34" lined Sire fretless but I reckon it's nothing that couldn't be overcome with a bit more time spent playing that instrument.

Led Zeppelin 3 is by far my favourite Led Zep album. They paused for a moment to do the (mostly) acoustic 'folk music' thing before heading down the hard rock road.

The only Rolling Stones album I've listened to was my parents copy of 'Rolled Gold'. It was one of those those double albums that was probably one disc too long for my tastes. Apart from being at house parties where a Beatles mad friend used to put on 'Revolver' and 'Sergeant Pepper', I've never intentionally listened to a Beatles album.

I had a chat with him about defretting a bass a while back. He didn't tell me what I wanted to hear, but he did go to the trouble of explaining, in some depth, why it wasn't a good idea with that particular bass. He impressed me enough that I'm probably going to ask him to take a look at one of my skinny stringers in the next couple of weeks. I don't mind paying a bit extra for someone who really knows what they're doing.

Might be worth contacting Richard's guitars in Stratford-upon-Avon. https://rguitars.co.uk I know he does set up work, but I'm not sure if that extends to fitting a new nut. There's also Guitar Technical Services in Warwick. http://www.guitartechnicalservices.co.uk The guy has a very good reputation, but he does tend to be a bit more expensive than other luthiers/techs. Definitely worth emailing/phoning round to get a few different quotes, there can be quite a variation in costs sometimes even for smallish jobs like this.

Wouldn't a keytar have the significant advantage of keeping the keys player's left hand away from the bass notes, compared to a regular keyboard?

Ring the guy up and ask him when the jobs will be done. If you're not happy with his answer go pick up your stuff up and refuse to give him any payment. If he goes over his deadline go and pick your stuff up and refuse to give him any payment.

The whole original ethos behind all Leo Fenders guitar and basses was good quality but relatively affordable mass produced factory built instruments. No matter how much Fender claim that the Custom Shop signature range are 'authentic reproductions ' they're actually a long way from what Leo originally had in mind for the brand.

None of the HMV stores round these parts survived the first round of administration. They all went 'full Woolworths ' even selling off the shelves and racks as well as the CDs and DVDs.

I'm leaning towards the HX at the moment because I don't think I need the amp/cab sims, but I won't be buying before the middle of January.

Zoom B1on + headphones = happy neighbours. Comes with with preset drum patterns, it won't give you as many options as a full on drum machine, but it does the job. The effects patches can be a lot of fun too.

Just off to do some trawling. Not that I can afford to spend anymore money on gear right now, well not if I get the Helix I've been gassing for...

I really want this guitar. Not one that looks a bit like it. This exact guitar.

i'm with the others, my money's on the trem. The standard Fender Strat style trem is an intrinsically flawed design. It might be worth adding an extra spring or two to see if that stabilizes things before resorting to blocking it off completely. Outside bet on knackered strings.

I'm pretty sure that a lot of the guys who played on the original records were busking it to some extent. Maybe not the main body of the bassline but a lot of the fills and flourishes were probably improvised. Obviously people expect the lines to be close to the originals but unless they're all fanatical purists I reckon there's room for a bit of flexibility and improvisation as well.

Do these vibration devices not drastically increase the chances of inadvertently discovering the legendary Brown Note?

A few years ago I was at a stag do at a beer festival in darkest Herefordshire. One of the bands did a 2 pint version of Red House. Everybody in the group finished their current pints, queued for the bar and came back to drink most of their next beer before the song ended. It must have been well over 30 minutes long.

For years I assumed that Kylie couldn't really sing, based on the fact that her vocal tracks always sound quite heavily processed. Then a few years back I heard her do a stripped back 'unplugged' performance (might have been on Radio 1's live lounge) and it actually turns out she has a pretty decent natural voice and can carry a tune, well her tunes anyway.

Frank Bello and Dave Ellefson were big influences on me when I first started playing. My music tastes have changed a lot in the intervening years but I'm tempted to check this project out. I'm also quite impressed by Frank's vocals.

The guys got monstrous skills but I can't see why anyone would think that bassline would be 'impossible'. There's clearly a lot to remember and a couple of very fast sections, but I didn't see anything that technically difficult in there. I don't see why the 'start as slow as you need then gradually increase the BPM on the metronome/drum machine' technique wouldn't work here.