Daz39

Noodle: what bassists do with style and flair in music shops when trying to think of the tunes they were going to play to try out this bass they've picked up. Alternatively: what guitarists do in the same instance, but usually at ear-splitting volume with too much distortion and some added: watch how badly I can sweep pick eh?!

1 currently Peavey Millennium 4 and 1 guitar: Modern Player Tele and there's my eldest child's Uke, which is fun for a noodle.

[quote name='Bikenbass' timestamp='1455156608' post='2976578'] Camel, Flight Of The Snow Goose. [/quote] Yes - utterly brilliant album. Nice story it's inspired by too.

[quote name='White Cloud' timestamp='1455138762' post='2976430'] Life is short and it is precious. The meaning of life is to do the things that give your life meaning. It may help the OP to be happy and stop worrying about worrying. [/quote] I hope your second line was earnest and not flippant... That's quite a lot easier to say than do for a lot of people. But I agree that you should pursue what you enjoy. I am not amazing but enjoy playing. And yes: family/friends don't think much of it - but then when they say 'can you play something we know?' and you play anything except THAT bit from The Chain by Fleetwood Mac, they will just think you clunked out a few notes that sort of sound familiar.

Well - if you think about it; navigation. 1st Fret doesn't need one, but placing them at 3, 5, 7 and 9 means you can navigate easily up the neck. Double dots at 12 and remember it's 3 fret gap either side... easy enough.

Not to mention Trace Watts, Behringer Watts and obviously Ampeg Watts. Grit - variously delineated with 'hair,' 'dollop,' or 'can I use it for Metal?'

I've been playing Bass for 20 years and I'm still pretty average. Sure I can play Red Barchetta and a dozen of Rush's top tunes all the way through, but I only know a few scales, can't sight read, my timing is probably poor as I've not been in a band for 19 years, and I find Theory numbingly boring - and I cheat by being a Guitarist too... It keeps me happy, I enjoy hearing jingles and playing them by ear, and I've even stuck at it long enough to start handing the reins over to my kids - one of whom now has a ukelele. Don't give up - the Bass needs you! As a few others have pointed out: consider how many bass players can play you off the floor. How many of them can a non-musician name? Not very many... You're better than you think. Tell us the songs you struggled with - I bet some of us find 'easy' songs harder than complex ones with nice muscle-memory noodly passages. I know I do!!

We have to allow for humans in a 'live' environment. If a member of staff is having an off day, fine, they shouldn't take it out on the customer, but it happens. They have personal lives too. If the management repeat the attitude or don't address it - then yeah, you have a problem - but expecting every visit to a shop to be wonderful is a bit much. Often it's younger, lower paid staff doing these front line jobs: working their way up and on in the world of employment. Most of us were in such a job once (any job, I never worked in retail, but I spent many an hour keeping a photocopier company (but that's another story...)). There are a couple of local music stores near me; one is a bit 'are you local?', and the other is a nice place to visit. They compete with PMT, which in Leeds is actually alright - yeah it gets busy and you can't find staff when you need someone, but they play good music and are fairly helpful. (Their stock is another issue though...)

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1455107986' post='2975923'] Rush - hemispheres ? [/quote] Cygnus X-I Part 1 on A Farewell to Kings has it's other half, Part 2 on Hemispheres, but the rest of the latter album is just other random awesomeness, and not a concept album.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1455059955' post='2975632'] Oh lordy, an April '65 Jazz... not just a YOB bass, but a MOB bass. *whimper* [/quote] I suppose it wouldn't help to track down the QC inspector of the time who wrote the final tick on it the instant you were brought wailing into the world (even allowing for time difference.)

The new Bergantino B-Amp goes down to 2.67 I believe.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1455024810' post='2975118'] Yeah, it's garbage. They should never have bothered. [/quote] The perils of money. I have put off listening to it for years and finally Spotified it last week. Ugh. Talk about thrown together in a week. Muse - Absolution (just about) and Drones.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1455024212' post='2975106'] "Operation Mindcrime" - Queensryche [/quote] Good one. Great album. The sequel is rubbish though. Also pretty much anything by Coheed & Cambria is one long story thing going on, across the albums.

Clockwork Angels - Rush 2112 - (the A Side anyway) - Rush Tales from Topographic Oceans - Yes Duke - Genesis (loosely) As mentioned: Scenes from a Memory and The Astonishing by Dream Theater (they also have Disc 2 of Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, which is one long piece in multiple parts.) 7th Son of a 7th Son is about a child born with mystical powers: and the rush to kill him before they fully awaken and brings doom on everyone etc.

I met John Petrucci in a guitar shop the day after their gig in 1997. I even had the tour t-shirt on. Being a bit shy I only got as far as telling him how great the show was and cadging his autograph on my Travelcard - but he was very polite and grateful and the store guy who was helping John with some cables didn't do the 'omg' eye roll. I also met Jordan Rudess and Rod Morgenstein the night before at the gig as they were the opening act and were signing CDs at the end - even with a queue they gave me 30 seconds of time and didn't seem remotely hassled.

Ai Caramba there's some nice gear there: A Geddy Lee Jazz and a $$ Streamer for a steal (good job it's not a Corvette or a 5!)

Remco does some darn funky stuff. I can manage thumb on E and A and index and middle for noodly bits and chords: obviously not like he can, but it's not like learning a new language or anything, just approaching the strings in a different way. It's actually easier to incorporate rests and a bit of swing by alternating thumb and fingers (for me anyway.)

The first 3 albums have some cool lines on too - bits of high register noodling to fill in for the sparse lead guitar sound. And agree: most non-musical listeners probably wouldn't know how right a bass line for a band like AC/DC or U2 is until you turn it off.

I recall trawling Denmark St regularly when I used to work in Center Point tower in 2000. I found all the shops then to be like art galleries - lovely stuff on the walls but you spend 5 minutes of your lunch break finding a staff member to ask to try something and then they mutter and idle over to it and then loiter nearby the whole time you have it on your lap...

And of course the original seller might be a little miffed that he could have sold the item for more if you'd seen it earlier!

Squier VM: there's Jazz, Dimension and Jaguar (SS) in that range.

Pedals! Oh yes, noodletastic. Welcome!