knirirr

Short answer: No. Long answer: My school offered both music "theory" (how to read music, compulsory from 11-13) and classical instrumental lessons. I was encouraged to make use of these and wanted to, and although I was a bit bored by classical music I didn't hate it so I tried both violin and piano to start with, and, eventually, the highland bagpipe. It was not until I went to university that I found music I actually liked and also managed to save up for an electric guitar (anathema at school). I've not continued with violin or piano and gentlemanly conduct requires that I refrain from piping. Reading music was a useful skill to learn, but I had forgotten it all by the time I got that electric guitar. Frustratingly, I found out years later that the head of music was in fact an arranger for BBC Radio Leicester's big band and her husband was a jazz bassist. A shame she couldn't have brought any of that into the lessons. Edit as requested by @BigRedX - I am referring to the years 1982-89.

I was also wondering whether lower gain valves might help; the sound so far is reasonable, when it's not buzzing.

Thanks - I'll give that a try.

That does appear to help. But, it would be nice to fix it, if I can be certain of how to do so.

What the bassist does in this jazz context should be fine in a pub as well, I'd think. Cool outfit also:

When I bought my Terror Bass 500 it used to buzz on certain notes when sitting on top of the cab. Orange replaced it under warranty. The replacement is now doing the same; an example, demonstrated by some guitar noodling, can be heard at: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/hcz9oy9m2jy79s3m2ssq6/Amp-buzz.m4a?rlkey=dkdp2m9ocn71xmgqmvzorndjx&dl=0 Putting the head on the floor instead stops this from happening, though this is not ideal as it can get in the way. Perhaps I should just buy a longer speakon cable... Could this be a dodgy (microphonic?) valve? If so, how hard is replacing them? I've seen warnings to the effect that fiddling with the internals of a valve amp is potentially fatal for the unqualified, but perhaps the Terror Bass might not be that bad having only a valve preamp. It's been happening for a while, but I normally play unamplified at home and so only notice at the beginning of gigs/jams/rehearsals and have forgotten by the time I get home. I could perhaps take it here: https://www.oxfordpowershop.co.uk/pages/amplifier & Speaker repairs.html ...as long as I wait until I'm on holiday, as they only open when I'm working.

There's one horrendous piece I used to hear on repeat over and over again in the mid 90s when I worked in a lab where someone insisted that they couldn't work unless a radio was on. I know it as "the naa song" but I think it might be called "here comes the hot stepper".

My first bass (an Encore unlined fretless P) and amp (Trace Elliot BLX-130 combo) came from ABC in Oxford. I must have bought them in 1993. The Encore was sold to by an EUB a few years later but I kept the combo until Covid (sold via this forum).

The jam earlier this week was interesting. - Bass and drums. - 2x horn players. - 2x acoustic guitarists. The guitarists wanted to call gypsy jazz tunes and the horn players were more into modal hard bop stuff, which the guitarists struggled to play as chugging chords doesn't really work on that sort of thing.

By what means were you able to send the bow? I suspect that Royal Mail/Parcelforce won't be keen given that mine would cost £800 to replace if they break it. If there's reasonably cheap and insured postage this sounds like a good service. I'm finding it difficult to track down coarse black hair.

My other half claims to be unable to visualise anything (a shame, as it's a useful ability), yet to constantly have music playing in her head. I am able to enjoy both the internal music and also to visualise things.

This one may perhaps be entertaining (I enjoyed the lyrics):

FWIW I've gigged with two different pianists who also happen to be physicists and are notable enough to have Wikipedia pages. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Hopkins_(musician) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Marshall_(academic)

It definitely needs to coordinate. I spent a while choosing this for a new instrument (apologies for it being a guitar).

This one: It's got a neck and body by WD Music with Villex pickups. The strings are currently Labella gold tapewounds. It sounds awsome and I even have a T-shirt with it on (a gift)... It rarely gets out these days because, inevitably, everyone wants double bass instead.

That middle one could also be a rootless Em9 with the b3 at the bottom, IIRC. A favourite of mine. There's lots of fun to be had with jazz chords!

Samsung. Years ago I bought a Galaxy Nexus. After a couple of weeks it stopped connecting to 5GHz wifi, and other owners found the same thing. Samsung's customer services were slow and incompetent, simply reinstalling the operating system (a task I could easily do myself) and returning the still-broken item to me - three times. More recently, my parents mistakenly purchased an oven/grill from them. It was so bad it could barely even make toast, and never worked well even after several visits from a technician. Also, their "smart" televisions are a bit dodgy when it comes to privacy.

Personally, I have never liked the B string, not even on a bass I had with a 38" scale (it did make playing some tunes easier, though). I ordered a set of custom strings from Pyramid (E-C) for the other half's 5-string (23.5" scale) Bee and took these to a good tech. When he handed it back he said something along the lines of "amazing tone from the B string on that bass. I'd never have guessed it would work on such a short scale." A look at the packets (which I'd never bothered to open) confirmed that Pyramid had ignored my instructions and sent a B-G set instead. IMO the B string is unimpressive on this small bass guitar, but at least that tech liked it.

There was a jazz jam on last night; IIRC there were 5 bassists in the room and 2 guitarists, with neither of the guitarists wanting to play. So, I ended up on guitar instead, but I think I just about got away with it. Video here, should anyone be interested (dodgy guitar solo at approx 2:15).

To my embarrassment, I haven't got around to clearing out the garage, so these are still available for now.

In an ideal world I could retire from the day job and earn a bit of money on the side from gigs. But, as I only play jazz this is probably a fantasy. Full time pro work would probably take the fun out of it.

Lending out backline seems fair enough to me. If it's jazz then the expectation seems to be that the house bassist will let others use their upright for a tune or two (same for keyboard and drums), given that all these instruments are a pain to transport and cause a great deal of clutter. Having said that, I went to a jazz jam recently where two keyboard players set up because one refused to use anyone else's keyboard (and then noodled on everything). I'd expect anyone wanting to play guitar or bass guitar to bring their own, and to accept without complaint or argument if they are told they may not borrow one. Not everyone I meet at jams shares this opinion.

AFAICT that's the default for jazz jams, at least, though there's some variation. There's one I usually don't attend as I'll be lucky to get one go in the first set and one in the second, then get back to bed near midnight for an 06:00 alarm and 90+ minute commute the next day. Another, where I am the house player, it's extremely rare for another bassist to appear. When they have they have brought their own bass guitar and amp and we have then alternated two tunes on and two off between us. If they wanted to use my upright I would be reluctant to let them play more than a couple of tunes during the night. My least favourite jam (> 20 years ago now) involved turning up early to set up, then helping the drummer and keyboard player, and playing for the first 30-40 mins or so. At that point other bassists would turn up and demand to use my bass and/or amp, supported by the MC because "you've already played for a while", and this would go on until the end of the night when I would get out last and struggle to find a taxi.