Ashweb

Welcome to you, Jay. I've spent some time in Yorkshire with work; beautiful area of the country. You're very lucky. See you on a thread somewhere :-)

I use a Vox AP2 headphone amplifier. Plugs directly into your bass, runs off two AAA batteries and has mini jack sockets for headphones and aux in if you want to play along to a track. It can provide a pre set rhythm and you can set the tempo but I find this a bit fiddly and it eats the battery life considerably. I pair it with TGI headphones and it sounds great although as I'm no longer tethered to the amp I tend to wander about a bit which isn't always appreciated...

I think those that know me far too well will realise that one of the reasons I've started to play is so I can Play at my own 50th in 3 years time. By then I should be playing something worth listening to; ATM my aim for my 48th in April next year is to play along to 48 Crash by Suzi Quattro, the first song I remember listening to as a kid.

I'm the opposite of this, I picked up the bass last Christmas and started to teach myself; instinctively going for fingers rather than pick but only one finger. When I started 'proper' lessons, I was encouraged to use two and this makes faster passages easier but I still have some bad habits from before; watching my video posted on here of me playing along to Pretty Vacant, it's two most of the time except for the run up to the chorus and I swap back to one. Trying to correct it but quite hard.

Really interesting thread this, Thanks for starting it Chewie. I've been downloading tracks from iTunes and playing along so I'll be checking out some of these apps and you tube tracks. Might reduce the amount of spaghetti I seem to create when connecting my bass and laptop to my amp.

16 years old - 1985 - Would have been The Police

I came in as Geezer Butler too. Guess I'll have to learn Paranoid next then.... [quote name='blue' timestamp='1472675050' post='3123233'] I would say I'm an East Coast NYC 70s Style Pop Bass Guitarist. Blue [/quote] You weren't in Cameo, were you, Blue?

As said above, well done on getting this opportunity - I'm sure you'll ace it and it'll be a lot easier than you imagine. I've never played on the radio (not been playing that long) but I have been interviewed live on air as part of a charity event I was taking part in. You do worry about it before hand (especially as I can stutter badly when nervous) but the DJ was brilliant and I was just chatting quite naturally almost on a one-to-one basis. Nothing to worry about really - do a few songs before hand as a soundcheck come warm up and once you start playing your chosen track to air it'll go like clockwork. Ooh, one final thing - make sure you get someone to record it for you for your own records / publicity.

Great story - when I grow up, I want to be just like Hector.

Sounds like a good excuse to get a new case to me...

Give in to the dark side - Use the tabs, use the tabs....

Unfortunately I won't be able to make it this year but just checked out the line up on the web site; looks like it's going to be a fantastic weekend. Interested to see Jilted John is down for a 30 minute set; that's going to be one long version of 'Gordon is a Moron' unless he's also doing some John Shuttleworth stuff - which would be interesting at a Punk festival! Edited due to stupidity

I think I may have the answer to your problem... Go ahead with the 8x10 that you like so much, but order it from Amazon an hour or so before the gig so it is delivered by one (or possibly more) of their drones direct to the gig venue, flying in through the window if not on the ground floor. Play the gig then decide you don't want the 8x10 anymore and the drones come and pick it up for return. Who needs roadies when Amazon supply drones?

The young lady is obviously a huge Jethro Tull fan and has never seen anyone playing the flute while standing on both feet

Nice one Mike - I enjoyed that. Especially liked the formation air drumming team in the foreground, looks like they were having a ball...

[quote name='nigec' timestamp='1467643176' post='3085078'] Like what somebody has already said, your way better than Sid [/quote] Thanks Nigec - I guess Sid did set the bar quite low though! ; I saw an interview on line recently with the other members of SP and apparently when Sid was on stage 'playing' there was someone else behind a curtain doing the real bass line. Very sad story really. [quote name='nigec' timestamp='1467643176' post='3085078'] ...I'm having a ball with Boris the Spider.. [/quote] So you gonna post a vid on here of you playing Boris the Spider? That's part of the reason this thread was started so us newbies could get some constructive comments and advice from the more experienced members. Go on - you know you want to really....

Update video time.... Last video was posted after 3 months in, so here's me playing the same song last week at 6 months in as a baseline to show any progress... https://youtu.be/6FK96E0UKkc Again, best listened to with headphones due to being recorded using the mic on my laptop. Admittedly, this play through isn't as exuberant as the first but it was 11pm and I was trying to not upset my neighbours. Still enjoying it though and having an absolute ball; I did promise a play through of She Sells Sanctuary in previous posts - let's just say this is still a work in progress but getting there; also my bass instructor has challenged me to learn Uprising by Muse as an exercise to improve L/H & R/H technique as well as stamina. I had a go late last week and although it seems quite a simple bass line (octaves, how easy is that? ) I'll be pleased to do 1 minute as a starter, my wrist was killing me very early on so how the hell anyone can do a full 5 minute play through of this is a mystery at the moment; but as I always tell my bass instructor I enjoy a challenge so watch this space... BTW, anyone else who wants to post their Beginners Corner video is welcome to do so on this thread - I've had nothing but constructive comments so don't feel as if you won't get taken seriously. Let's get better together...

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1465854908' post='3071687'] Bum berets?? [/quote] Surely I wasn't the only one to read this and think '[url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed53AgvOqE0"]The Rubettes[/url]'? I'll get me coat....

Thanks for all the comments. Much appreciated. Is it time for an update video? Hmmm.... She Sells Sanctuary is still a bit of a work in progress ATM, mainly due to it being so bloody fast - but I'm getting there and enjoying the challenge.... Been trying to work on RH technique to improve string muting as resonance was really distracting; trouble is by concentrating on this, a few bad habits crept back in on LH so playing this last week has been the Rocky Horror show. My bass teacher says this kind of plateau is common when learning and once I crack it, the LH will come back and then you make a stride forward. Let's hope so, anyway.

Just managed to catch up with this build and what an incredible result. Must be a great feeling playing this knowing it's made from an old door, a shelf and an A4 notebook; it looks like a professionally made instrument. You have a great talent for this and one hell of an imagination, well done indeed.

A little belatedly but congratulations to both Andy and TheGreek on an outstanding achievement. Just played the video of the demo and WOW is all I can say; a very versatile instrument blended perfectly by good old fashioned craftsmanship. I think the name Silk Bass suits it perfectly.

Somehow, I think this may be TheGreek's Saturday outside the venue of the Herts Bass Bash... [attachment=220727:Tents.jpg]

Very nice work, Andy. I notice the new photos skillfully reveal nothing of the surprise on the front - saving the best 'till last, eh?

While browsing the web, I came across this: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_bassguitar_kit_pstyle.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_bassguitar_kit_pstyle.htm[/url] This seems a good way of finding out a bit more about the workings of an electric bass, and while I'm aware this is mainly an assembly job with all machining etc already completed and all components supplied (I wouldn't be putting up a build diary thread, anyway!) I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with these sorts of kit and if the finished article is worth keeping; it does seem a bit on the cheap side... All help and opinions gratefully received as ever.

What an incredible build, can't wait to see the finished article. I reckon whoever came up with the phrase 'Go do the voodoo that you do' probably had you in mind, Andy