Doctor J

I don't play slappa-da-bippa-boink-boink. In fact, I run a sanctuary where abused basses can spend the rest of their lives peacefully, without the threat of shameful thumb abuse hanging over them. They're kept clean and well set-up with good, fresh strings and get played frequently in a non-violent way. Society frowns on slapping children or pets, yet slapping a bass is still flagrantly popular, especially on youtube. It's enough to bring a tear to your eye. You're welcome to donate to Thumbs Down. I'm determined to make a better life for [i]every[/i] bass.

Have the strength of character not to be a brand slave. Basses look fine without logos, [Img]https://docjgear.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/king_1.jpg" class="ipsImage" />

That's one louder. You may be the most metal out of all of us.

I saw a band live called the Jubilee Allstars and really enjoyed them. I picked up their album the next day and it was utter sh*te, every song starting the same way and no energy or soul at all. It really was the same band so I'm guessing I caught them on an off night when they were actually useful.

Your Result 10/10 You're a steel panther, a manowar and a battle beast. All of your sabbaths are black and your killswitch is fully engaged. You were about to rock, now we salute you! I did guess the Slipknot one though

When I was a kid I had an open double fracture of my left (weaker) arm, damaged a load of nerves and couldn't move my little or ring fingers for about 6 months afterwards. After uncomfortable electro treatment, they started working again though I still have limited feeling in them and they don't like to move in cold weather. I started playing bass a few years after that. I got frustrated that my mates quickly progressed to much higher levels than I will ever be capable of. I can relate to your arm injury situation, even if our stories might be different. It frustrated me but I just love the sound of the instrument, that feeling in your chest when those low frequencies shake your ribcage. If you love the sound of a bass, then stick with it. Try working on more basic stuff, say old AC/DC for example - it's not too taxing on the left arm but it will make you a better player. If you can play along to all of the "If You Want Blood" album you're not doing badly. You might progress slower than you'd like but a good right hand technique can really help if your left is weaker, trust me. I'm still never as good as I'd like to be (who is?) and I'm ridiculously sensitive to setup - I just can't function on even remotely high action - so maybe look at how you play the instrument and how your bass is setup. Experiment with strap height, always try to have the bass in the same place when you sit and stand. You might find your arms just work better at certain positions. As I said, if you even remotely enjoy the instrument you owe it to yourself to explore a few different avenues before you break out the kerosene.

I usually either hear something in my head and try to work it out or I just faff around on guitar or bass until I play something I like the sound of. If it's something just for myself, I'd make a rough map of the song to a click track, flesh out the other parts. Often, at this stage, I'd have a line or two of vocals in my head too, a hook. I would do the full arrangement of the song to click, just with a rough guitar track and everything else in my head. Then I'd record drums - up until a couple of years ago i did this literally, playing and recording a full kit in the house but I wasn't playing drums frequently enough to stay at a standard I liked so I sold the kit and turned to midi - and build up from there. I always bounce down rough mixes as I go along and listen to them away from instruments, just see what I can come up with while listening and then try to figure out how to get close to what I envisage the song to be when I record it in the real world. It is all down to the work ethic though, much as I con myself otherwise. I really like the deadline of the composition competition, it forces you to do a bit of work which I'm hoping to take into the 50 or so songs I have in various stages of completion I started recording over the last eight or nine years - when I moved to a rural house with no neighbours so I could make as much noise as I liked. I find the ideas come easily, actually finishing something is the hard part but it's really is down to getting of your arse and grafting. I'm finding writing lyrics very hard at the moment. I want to have something of substance, tell a story, make a point, whatever - I used to write lyrics for a couple of my bands in my youth but it really doesn't come easy any more. Maybe it's an age thing. With the band, generally, it starts with a riff. If I come up with something I'll record it into the phone and then come back and build from the drums up. I tend to leave the arrangements open, just record a verse, chorus and a couple of related bits and then let it be finished with the input of the entire band. Our singer writes the lyrics so I leave him to it.

Sepultura released a couple of belters - Dante XXI and A-Lex. The first based on Dante's The Divine Comedy and the second based on A Clockwork Orange.

Such a wide variety of entries already, well done all I've most of the music done. I'm going to try singing again. I don't like it, but in for a penny... etc. I may need to re-record some guitars after that. The deadline is a real bugger, isn't it? It seems far away but then it sneaks right up on you all of a sudden.

PiL - Metal Box

Very sorry to hear that, Douglas.

That's one hell of a run, to be fair. I saw them just once, in the early 2000s, and was surprised by just how much I actually enjoyed it. Good time rock 'n' roll, nothing wrong with that at all.

I do love them but I may leave the old t-shirt at home for a while, had a few people come up to the stage to take photos of it during the last gig I played wearing it

We're through to the semi-final of the Irish part. 30 minutes isn't a whole lot of time when you're playing low tempo doomy stuff. We were told the sets would be 20 minutes but, a couple of days beforehand, they bumped it up to 30 so we added one extra song

Josh Klinghoffer out, Nile Rodgers in. Now let's see if tjey can get the funk back.

If you enjoy it, at least give it some timw with the new guy. It might be worth talking to the current guy, see if a break would suffice. Find out what's eating at him and see if something can be done to take away some of it. As Kate Bush advised Peter Gabriel, "Don't give up"

That pic really had me stumped for a while, wasn't quite what I was expecting, considerably more summery I've got something brewing now, need to digest it for a while, see if I can do anything like what I'm hearing in my head

Hearty congratulations, Douglas!

Get a cup of tea and spend the next half hour chuckling away http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ussbf8hJKSA Great man.

A very funny fella. RIP.

It's getting tense now, just one more vote needed to swing it

This one?

[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1454013828' post='2965529'] Leo got it right with the P bass. [/quote] Yeah, but [i]which[/i] P bass? There were already three versions by 1957.

Fair enough FWIW I'm not offended by that either

You didn't and, even if you did, don't worry about it. It's a discussion forum, it's ok for people to experience thoughts which conflict with their own. Could you put up the gist of the original post, as someone in their 40's now playing in a band which contains a couple of young 'uns I'd be interested to see what started this