TrevorR

A “strumpet”?

Big, big plus 1 for Neil Murray's playing on the early Whitesnake albums - especially Trouble, Ready and Come and Get it. So souful and funky but yet still driving and perfect for the bluesy heavy rock sound the band had at the time. One of my favourite bass players.

Inspired me to listen again to the Drama album and in fact, there is some amazing bass playing across that album despite being one of Yes' less well known ones. And while we're at it has anyone recommended listening to anything with Bernard Edwards of Chic playing on it? Those early Chic albums and the Chic produced Sister Sledge stuff has some great bass playing on them. And Tony Levin does some fantastic bass and Chapman Stick playing all across Peter Gabriel's So album.

I love the album Tribes Vibes and Scribes by Incognito. Wonderful funky, soulful bass on every track. The Yes Album has great playing by Chris Squire (and check out Tempus Fugit from their Drama album - best bass line ever).

Funny enough, in Waterloo Station at the mo there’s a big display of iconic album covers to celebrate “National Album Day” and this one features in the display!

Because “tempering” a scale means very slightly moving the frequency of each note in the scale... which is what their bendy frets does. So the “even tempered scale” we use in western music assigns a standard, fixed frequency of each note in the chromatic scale slightly to create a compromise that kinda sounds good and more or less in tune when playing any natural major or minor scale.

She’ll be coming all the way from NYC to tell you off and give you her “Don’t Do This At The Gig” face!

Yes and no. Most ears probably wouldn’t hear it but there are frequency differences between thre notes in the even tempered scale (a harmonic compromise popularised around the time of Bach*) and the strict temperament scales. The best of classical musicians on string and brass instruments will compensate automatically. In fact with real true temperament (as opposed to True TemperamentTM - which is just a tuning “sweetening” system) you’d strictly need a differently intonated guitar for each key you might want to play in. Of course, in the real world it barely makes a gnat’s crotchet of a difference. But, hey, it’s just (yikes, “just”!) the next step on from the Buzz Lightyear tuning system some folks have on their guitars, or the type of sweetening that players like James Taylor use on standard guitars. If it floats his boat... *Hence his two books of piano studies written for “The Well-Tempered Klavier”

You’re confusing the dragons with Boris Johnson! 😂

I’m completely easy with when and for how long. Would like to have at least a week so I can, at least, take it to a rehearsal and then try through the church PA in a service... so practicality and logistics first. Let’s make it as convenient for as many folks as poss.

Not a worry, you can’t see the gold for the constant pea-soup fog you always seem to see on old movies! A lot of the main traditional sites are in a very small area around Westminster. Parliament, Big Ben (tho it’s covered with scaffolding at the mo), Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, St James Park... My top tip is go see the changing of the guard at Horseguards Parade (opposite end of St James Park from Buckingham Palace, 11 am every morning and you get to stand really close to the horses - literally only 20 feet. At Buck House they’re 100 yards away at best. National Gallery On Trafalgar Sq is free and lovely to wander round. So many iconic paintings. And Windsor is lovely - just a 40 min train ride from Waterloo Station. The castle is amazing, as is Eton College and wandering by the Thames.

Sounds like a plan! But you still need to pop in for a go on the Wals @Grangur

No you mistake me... I think that the series/parallel switching is a great idea. I was just saying that two switches [pickup selection switch + series/parallel] was better than the 3 switches and gives exactly the same functionality.

Another stealth one is the Aria SB900. The soapbar pickups are reverse P configured coils. This is Erik Scott of Alice Cooper's band playing one. Neil Murray also played one in the Whitesnake days...

I’ll be having a proper test drive further down the line but I had a good look at the bass at the Bass Bash and despite how lovely the bass is, the pickup switching arrangement is one thing I was not convinced by. Here s my thought... Set aside the series/parallel switch, the two on/off switches aren’t a simple ergonomic solution to me. They give you four pickup options. Three of those are useful (neck, bridge, both) and one of those isn’t useful for me and, actually, has active downsides - both off. Why should I want both pickups off? Maybe to mute the bass while it’s sitting on the stand. But I have a volume control for that or, more likely, an in-line tuner pedal which mutes the signal. So in practice the “off” setting is entirely redundant and unnecessary for me. AND there is always the risk of accidentally turning the bass off mid song and having to work out in a panic why? Pedalboard died? Cable broke? Amp died? DI box bust? Oh, no. I’ve just turned the bass off. But a standard three way switch gives you all the useful functionality of the two on/off switches in a single switch... neck, both, bridge. A much more straightforward and usable arrangement for me.

Sure it could be squeezed in. Whereabouts are you?

Sounds like a plan. I'll be happy to pop the kettle on! Any while you're here it would be a shame not to have a whizz around the Wal!

Yes, of course.

Yeah, Matt Freeman from the Harry Potter films with Magneto the WIzard. I was surprised he didn't play one of his own signature basses! 😋

Some photos from the day here...

Huge shout out to @silverfoxnik, @Hamster, @cetera @NancyJohnson and everyone else that made today happen. Great day out as usual. And Richard Searle was a revelation. I knew his bassing would be great but what a raconteur and so entertaining to listen to. Well done guys. Great to chat to so many of the regulars and try some lovely basses out too. Can’t wait til next year’s!

Missed you Trev, was looking forward to having a chat. Doubly so since I’ve managed to miss your blues bands local(ish)gigs.

Lol, well I’ll maybe just ogle then. I’m cack handed too, for everything except eating with a knife and fork, blowing my nose and playing bass. Maybe it’s time to get in touch with who I really am... 🤣

Oooh, @Seer73 looking forward to seeing your Overwater. Must have a quick tinkle on it at some point today, if that’s OK.

On a personally selfish basis it would be hard for me (and others of a God-bothering persuasion) as I’ve always got commitments on a Sunday. Much prefer a Saturday and just plan it into my annual calendar as a sacrosanct day. Plus for those who have been gigging and crawled in a 2 or 3 in the morning there’s a disincentive to be up at 7 or 8 and loading up the car again, I guess. Whatever day you have it, it’ll be inconvenient for someone. Colin, does the church still use the school on a Sunday morning and evening? If so it would be venue hunting time...