zbd1960

Sounds to me like there is lack of clarity in the Ts&Cs... Can't tell from here what the scenario is: was set-up/take down fully included? Or, is the fee set at a level with an expectation of some set-up/take down support? From my limited experience, decent sound guys are not two a penny. If you think you are being taken advantage of (i.e. the implicit assumption is he's making more money by not having to pay a helper) then your only solution is to obtain quotes from other providers and be very clear about what you expect. Alternatively, he is reasonably priced with an expectation of some support in setting-up/taking down. A sound engineer is having to either buy or hire equipment, have transport, carry insurance etc so a decent job will not be cut-price.

People can be triggered differently - itis improtant to take notice as it can get worse. Some people are tirggeredby volume, for some people it's to down to the frequency, fo rtohers it is to do with 'attack', e.g. high frequency transients. If you can't isolate the trigger, your best optin is probaly ear plugs reagrdless... TBH your best bet is to seek a consultation with an audiologist and get checked out. I've recently bought some musicians ear plugs due to sitting in front of drum kit and trombones. I measured 95 dBA at my music stand a couple of weeks ago. Bear in mind that bar staff are not meant to be exposed to more than 85 dB. If you want to check how 'loud' you are get an app for your phone and measure it.

I went to the Birmingham outlet. They were helpful.

I'm a fan of Herculaes stands, I have a number of different ones for different applications. Generally they are very well engineered, e.g. their orchestra[url="http://www.herculesstands.co.uk/p/quik-n-ez-grip-orchestra-stand-with-foldable-desk?pp=24"] music stand[/url] is well engineered, albeit on the heavy side - but that's why I got it. I do think though that the bass stand is not as well thought out as some of the other stands I've used.

It's a common issue with people learning any instrument (or singing) to not 'play out' (or sing out). It was interesting to hear my teacher say when having lessons on another instrument that he liked that I wasn't afraid to make some noise. He was saying that a common problem he experiences is people just not playing out and making a decent full sound. He thought it was related to people not wanting to be heard making mistakes. The poiint about style is valid too

Being new to anything to do with anything guitar shaped, yesterday was a good day and I'd recommend similar events to anyone thinking about going to one. It's good to meet real people and chat to them, to be made to feel utterly inadequate by the makers I'm seriously impressed by the stuff you guys make and it has resurrected thoughts about what I could do when I retire in a year or two's time... It's also a good chance to see various bits of kit... I really liked that rig in the corner with the two TC 1x12 (I'm guessing RS112?) plus the Markbass head (? I think)... Now all I need to do is find some events a bit nearer to home such as Shrewsbury/Chester/Liverpool or Birmingham...

Some pics https://www.dropbox.com/s/kh5nkmpforu6dsp/Mid%20bash%202.JPG?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/zmw56k8rxoflnv5/Mid%20bash%204.JPG?dl=0

It certainly was an interesting sight

Thanks for the welcome, the organisation and the cake I took a couple of pics - I'll post something when I load them up

[quote name='MoJo' timestamp='1462519383' post='3043654'] Very northerly then. I'm an ex Shropshire lad myself. Born in Wellington, raised in Oakengates [/quote] I'm near Whitchurch

There are two small books aimed at general music theory, not bass specific: AB Guide to Music I and II by Eric Taylor, about £6 each. These are published ABRSM. These cover everything you need up to Grade 5 theory and possibly beyond..

Thanks guys - yes I've found Scott already @Grangur you're right - there are some round here, not many. There is one in the town where I live, and he had not replied to my enquiries. After that I'm looking at 15 - 25 miles for the next nearest. One has fobbed me off for several weeks and then cancelled at the last minute. Another at least replied but decided he didn't want to continue. I think I was more experienced than he was used ot teaching... I have made contact today with a teacher in Wales about 15 miles from here... Hopefully seeing him next week. I sort of expect that teachers for sax and cello might be thin on the ground and I might face having to travel 25 miles or more to Chester or Shrewsbury or Telford or worse, but I thought guitars would be easier!

The 'great staff' of 11 lines is cumbersome and we've settled on using 4 five line clefs or views over the 11. The one you use is selected to avoid having too many leger lines all the time. For most people, two are used - the treble for the top 5, the bass for the bottom 5 and 'middle C' is the one missing in between the two. There are two C clefs - Alto (C3) and Tenor (C4) which are used by some instruments (cello and bassoon use tenor when high up rather than bass to reduce the number of leger lines. Alto is used by viola and a few other instruments). There used to be more (e.g. French violin clef, soprano clef, baritone clef) but these have withered and are no longer used at all. The instruments I play require me to use all 4 standard clefs...

North Shropshire - it's the Midlands - just! Welsh border is 1 mlle away and Cheshire is about 4

Just checked venue location - it will take me about 2 hours to drive there, assuming A41 and M6 behave... Public transport (train) would be over 4 hours...

If you want a pile of music to try, have a look at cello music - it's in bass clef (optionally it goes to tenor and treble clef when high to reduce leger lines). There will be no tab to distract you.. As a bass player you will sound an [i]8ve lower than it's written. There's a ton of downloadable (classical) material on IMSLP.ORG[/i]

Bump. I'm guessing not much around this neck of the woods...

As a complete newcomer, really looking forward to this.

Hi Looking for a tutor, I'm near Whitchurch but happy to travel within about 25 miles - so Chester, Crewe, Shrewsbury etc are managable.

I didn't post, but I read a thread last week, and ordered on the basis of that - all done and dusted in 24 hours.

If you look through the F holes with a torch, there ought to be a label on the inside of the back which may have a maker and if you're lucky a date. There were a lot of workshops turning out instruments in the Germany/Czech/Hungary area. Although most will be 'workshop' instruments i.e. made by the staff and supervised by the master luthier, they tend to be well made instruments. I bought cello made by a German maker around 1900 (and the family still exists and are still making instruments). A visit to a good luthier to have a new bridge made, repositioned with sound-post, glue a joint, new end-pin and end-pin unit, new tailpiece and tail-gut, plus a clean and new strings, end result is a very nice instrument. The total bill for the work was £500 (the cleaning was £200) plus the stirngs. I did have the work done in three phases though: glue, bridge, end-pin was one lot. The clean was a separate task done a few months later and the tailpiece work I have only just had a done a year later.

Sorry I can't offer strap suggestions (if it was a bari sax I'd recommend a harness) but I would suggest seeing a sports physio - and take your bass/strap with you. Probably cost you around £30 ish for an hour. You may have posture or other things making life harder than is needed or muscles that need easing off.

I get it in my left elbow playing cello... one of the causes in my case is gripping the back of the neck with the thumb. Find yourself a sports physio - probably cost you about £30 for an hour. A common cause is muscle fibres 'shortening' which puts tension on the tendon which attaches to the bone. There are some simple exercises which will stretch and lengthen the muscle fibres which reduces the tension, which is causing the inflamation. Anti-inflamatory gels may help - but I have very mixed results with them. The physio treatment does work and in my case gave immediate relief and doing the simple stretches myself fixed it pretty quickly. Obviously, there may be other causes, but a physio will be able to advise..

Can't comment about guitar per se, but no, it's never too old. I was over 50 before I picked up cello and sax (and now pickuing up bass). I joined a community orchestra and found loads of people - returning adults in their 50/60/70s, absolute beginners, people taking up 2nd or 3rd instrument. General consensus being, "Wish I'd done this 20 years ago...". So no, not too late by decades! But adults suffer from two general issues: one is they tend to be busier than youngsters, so you can't necessarily devote the time you'd like, and another is that as adults our brains get in the way as we tend to think 'Why can't I do that, I've tried it twice?'. We tend to forget how long it takes to acquire fine motor control (e.g. writing). Good luck.

Well done. I'm brand new to bass - first lesson due on Tuesday - but I'm experienced on other instruments and other genres. Much good avice above. I strongly advocate getting to play with a group/band/community orchestra whatever as early as possible. It provides encouragement and better players pull you along (especially good for timing and getting past "oh-it's-hard slowdownitis"). A useful lesson I learnt from my singing teacher many years ago is if you are faced with a passage of lots of notes that you're goign to struggle with, just put the key notes in - the rest are decoration. It is much more important to be in time than anything else - no one will notice the odd bum note, but wrong timing really stcks out. I'm hoping to do something similar to you as soon as I can, fortunatley I play cello so I have no problems reading bass clef, so that's one challenge avoided, just need to learn to play