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I'm really old-school - I'm a bit suspicious of any bass with more than 4 strings and big slabby natural wood custom basses with loads of strings and funny horns really make me uncomfortable. They sound great, mind, so I know I'm being very shallow

Thanks @TheRev - I might get one, but I'd heard that the mounting was a bit flaky alright. Cheers!

While it's never going to do any harm to be in good physical shape, if your technique is good you shouldn't need anything more than normal strength / fitness to play the bass, so I'd take @Duckyincarnate's advice and get a teacher, even for a couple of lessons. I know you say that you've tried different endpin heights and it hasn't made any difference but I think it's worth persevering with this. I had mine a few centimetres too low and I was stooping ever so slightly and ended up in pain. A small adjustment and it went away. In general I've found that the endpin needs to be higher than you might think, especially if you lean the bass into yourself a bit as you play. If you feel that turning your neck is partially responsible, it might be because you're holding the bass too much to your side, rather than angled in a bit towards your body, which means that you're twisting your neck more than you need to. If you haven't seen this video then it's well worth a watch - @geoffbassist does a much better job of explaining it than I could:

Does anyone here have experience with the t.bone Ovid CC 100 ? Obviously I wouldn't expect it to perform as well as some of the more expensive mics out there, but on paper it looks like it could be worth trying, especially for cheapskates like me.

I know it's a joke, that's why I posted it 😀 The bass is "wrong", just not as obviously wrong as the horns. The bassline has a lot of subtle errors that are exactly the kind made by players who are either learning or faking it (myself included)

I think the most important thing with walking is to set things up so that you 'land' correctly on the first beat of the next chord - in my experience, getting this right is probably the most important because if you don't, it can throw the rest of the band because it obscures the chord changes. The bass playing on this shred video is a great example of 'wrong' walking - it's really well done and it sounds like the bass player knew exactly what they were doing:

What @skidder652003 just said! I realise that it can be annoying to ask "what's the best X?" on the internet and be met with answers telling you to get Y instead when you've already ruled it out, but just in case, the Zoom / Tascam recorders are small, cheap, easy to use and will give you much better sound quality than any phone (and they won't have all the problems of battery life, incoming calls etc).

Up to a point, but people who don't like jazz are usually pretty definite about it. Almost anyone can 'learn' to appreciate jazz, but there's no reason why anyone should do so if they're not bothered. If you don't like Kind of Blue, chances are that you're not going to like most music that's played at jazz jams or gigs.

That's one way to look at it, but as a bass player you get to choose what to play over the chord changes and to work with the other rhythm section players to keep things interesting.

Another vote for double bass. I personally find it much more satisfying when played solo than bass guitar. The sound of each note, and the effort to make them not sound crap, makes it more rewarding somehow. Also, you'll find that the economy needed to play DB will probably help your BG playing. Finally, once you reach a certain level you'll probably find yourself playing different kinds of music and maybe getting gigs in those genres.

I've been using a J-Tone for a couple of years now and I like it - it gives a good, even, usable tone and it's far less sensitive to placement than the Rev Solo II that I was using before. It sounds more refined IMO than the BassMax as well. I'd agree with @Beer of the Bass that it lacks a bit of definition, although I actually spent some time working with the EQ on my amp and it's a lot better in this regard. I'm thinking of getting a KNA DB-1 to see if it has a touch more 'refinement' than the J-Tone but either way, I'd recommend the J-Tone as a good reliable (and inexpensive) piece of gear.

I use it to tune up a couple of times per week and the battery lasts months. It takes those metal lithium batteries but they're easy enough to get hold of.

Yep, I have it permanently clipped onto the bridge facing up at me. I did a bit of research at the time and this one was recommended as good for DB (i.e. able to find the fundamentals quickly) and it's been that way for me.

I've had one of these for years and it works well on my DB https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intellitouch-PT10C-PT10-Mini-Tuner/dp/B002KDHBRU

My feeling is that you'll end up going more horizontal as described, but that you should still try and keep as vertical as possible for the sound. So it's a continuum rather than a distinct "switch" if that makes sense. This Christian McBride clip shows this pretty well I think - the faster he plays, the more horizontal his fingers go, but they're pretty vertical. Obviously, it depends a huge amount on the player, and he has pretty big hands, which helps.

I agree with #1 all the way. I find these things tend to work themselves out anyway - people move on, bands break up etc. Better that your friend has a reputation locally of being both a decent drummer and a decent person.

I didn't know he played on that - that means he's responsible (for playing, a least) one of my favourite basslines - Stratus. Nice!

A good way to practice charts is to get the iReal Pro app. You can download thousands of charts, change key, and the app can play a backing tracks in various styles. If you don't know how to read the chord symbols themselves then it's worth spending time learning this as it'll be a big help next time you need to learn new tunes in a hurry.

This guy seems to know a bit about technique as well

It looks to me like you're doing too much of the pulling with your fingers, whereas you should be using more of your whole arm. Geoff Chalmers does a far better job of explaining than I ever could:

I couldn't listen to too much Grime but then it's not aimed at me (old bloke). But I can appreciate how it appeals to "the kids". There was a great article in The Guardian the other day about Fight The Power by Public Enemy (30 years ago) and I remembered how it sounded to me at the time but I'm sure it sounded pretty discordant and noisy to a lot of middle-aged people. I think it's also worth making a distinction between music that has a bit of actual creativity to it, versus the safer, blander stuff that you get in all genres. The Grime that I've heard does seem to have something new (sonically at least - I don't really listen to lyrics). In general, I'd rather live in a world where people are creating new types of music even if I personally don't listen to them

I used to have a BassMax and now I have a J-Tone - I prefer it to the BassMax. It has a more even, usable sound and it's very feedback-proof.

I have a bass that's pretty much the same as this (slightly older). I can't say if it'll give you the sound in the clip, but it does have that 'vintage-y' sound and it's a generally really nice bass. I bought mine new in the early 90s and I haven't seen the need to buy another BG since.

The transferable skills are that the notes are the same, but finding them and playing them are very different Best way to approach is as a new instrument, especially when it comes to technique - it's worth spending time developing some rigour around fingering in particular. The quicker you get used to the Simandl-style 1-2-4 fingering and position shifting the easier it'll be, as trying to "stretch" like you might on a BG will leave you with poor intonation, and sore (or worse) arms and hands. In general, take it slowly, play less notes than on BG, and have fun!

My initial reaction is that reverb is likely to increase chances of feedback, but this isn't based on any actual experience on my part. Like @Bilbo, I have reverb on my amp but I've never tried it.