Barking Spiders

I started out on bass with a short scale EB copy but have been playing long scale ever since. I had a good go at a couple of Chowny's recently because of their looks. However, it felt like going from my Martin jumbo acoustic to a uke and just didnt feel like a proper bass. Just my take on it.

Aye, the appeal of opera on recordings totally passes me by though I sort of get the appeal of live performance. And strummed chords on an acoustic drives me nuts, me being a fingerstyle player.

Yes read a bit about him,. The bloke in the clip is an actor miming while the whistling was done by one Noel Walker who was a record producer at Decca

Just wondrin' if Whistling Jack Smith ever gigged, just him and his lips? There could be a revival of this sort of thing

+1. there's nowhere for new, young guitar bands to go anymore and it's been that way for many years. Plus, the mainstream doesn't have much appetite for artists with radical approaches, who mash up disparate genres to come up up with unique sounds, have unconventional lineups etc blah. Otherwise the likes of Autechre, Sunn O))) or The Young Gods would be shifting shedloads.

But saleswise, unfortunately none of them will be bothering the likes of Ed Sheeran, Adele and Sam Smith etc any time soon looking at BPI sales stats for 2017. In the top 40 sellers the highest positions by rock bands were Foo Fighters at 32 and Royal Blood at 39. Seems there's not much love in the UK mainstream for rock which makes it a tad tough for any new band trying to break through

Be accepted back into civilised society

+1 here . Lamb of God's Chris Adler is an exception as his double bass drum work isn't merely high speed Duracell bunny stuff but he throws in all sorts of off beats Banjo -I'm ok with the occasional bit of Scruggs type of bluegrass playing but all that strumming jug band stuff, no way Oh and I forgot to mention the noises made by community samba bands in the UK. In Brazil samba works great when there are several hundred drummers all in tight unison. A dozen, 20 or so Brits clomping along to fairly basic rhythms on a dank July day at your local carnival doesn't have the same magic.

Over crimble I got myself a £500 dobro, summat I've been hankering after for a fair while. While it's not a top of the range model it still has the classic sound you here on better bluegrass and country albums. For me there are few better sounds in all music than someone of Jerry Douglas's class letting rip. At the other end of the speed scale I find the sound of haunting acoustic slide playing a la Ry Cooder equally hard to beat which leads me to the sound of sustained notes on a fretless bass, as played by Pino P on No Parlez. But then there are certain instrumental sounds that have me diving through the nearest window in a desperate attempt at escape, number one possibly being neverending Hammond organ soloing to whit on Argent's Hold Your Head Up. Other irks...the overuse of pinch harmonics in metal lead solos, 80s drum sounds (syn drums and gated), the weedy 'snare' sounds you often hear on r n b songs, ukelele bands (apologies to anyone here who plays in one). Over to you...

17 Seconds for me is their best followed by Faith but after that I lost interest.

I'd like to get a Stingray, Fender Jazz and Aria SB1000 all in natural finishes but I can't really justify shelling out that sort of wonga to myself when I'm only a hobby player and so need to kill off my lust for these this year. Other than that I think I'm all out of GAS for basses in general as I admit to myself what I have is more than fine. Over the holiday period I barely touched any bass spending any spare time I had playing my new dobro.

hmm are a bit I'm afraid. i've already got two electric fretless basses. Thing is people at this pub just pick up guitars, bongos, whatever is around and just get on with it. No faffing around with tuning up, counting in etc. I 'd just wanna be able to whip out a bass and join in. Might just stick with bringing along my banjo instead.

Sulk by the Associates - not every track has bass but each one that does is a peach Penthouse and Pavement by Heaven 17 - just 4 tracks on the Pavement side but each with some great funky chops + 2 for Rattus Norvegicus - every bass line a gem Now Do You Wanta Dance by Graham Central Station - arguably the heaviest grooves from Larry Graham esp Earthquake Lexicon of Love by ABC - chock full of tasteful funky lines esp 4 Ever 2 Gether, Valentin'es Day Show Me. Songs in the Key of Life -this has Sir Duke and I Wish. What more do you need? Graceland - I b ought this mainly for the bass on Boy in the Bubble, You Can Call Me Al and Diamonds..

I'm a youthful stripling of 47 and don't want to ever stop playing bass, though others might want me to. Only problem is that potential audiences and the number of venues continue to shrink so by the time I'm 60 the only gigs available will be at Shady Pines Rest Home, seeing as there probably wont be any proper pubs left as staying in will be the new errm..staying in.

Hmm, now thinking it's praps not such a good idea to get one. If these need amplification then I'm not sure what the point of them is

some useful info here casapete. Yep, the big thing for me is the need for a decent sound without amplification . Also whether to go for steel or nylon strings. I'm guessing nylon strings don't give off as loud a noise as steel.

I've found myself a cracking pub where peeps come along with their acoustic guitars, things to hit (drums not people), banjolele's etc and just jam. I've been along with bodhran and cajon but there's loads of folks with bongos etc but there's no one with a bass. So I wanna get an acoustic bass but dunno what's good and what's not. I don't wanna spend loads, maybe £500 at the very most. Anyone here got one ?

I'm sorely tempted to get either the new Aria SB1000B/2 or a Cort GB74..or both if I had the dosh. No doubt common sense will get the better of me and I wont get either. I've got a budget Vintage fretless I might get shot of which would leave me with 3 so there is room for one more

Liked to've been at Van Halen's debut in the UK in 1978 at the Rainbow in Finsbury Park when they supported Black Sabbath. I was only 7 at the time so might've been stopped from going in. Reputedly they blew BS off the stage. Besides at that age i was more into the Junior Choice scene rather than heavy metal.

No love for Little Mix or Bruno Mars then?

No Sheep Till Buxton by The Macc Lads or in fact pretty much many of their fine tales of life in and around the east Cheshire/west Derbyshire region. Then again I could've gone for Now He's A P**f, Uncle Nobby, Guess Me Weight, Beer Sex Chips N Gravy. These tunes always put a smile on my phiz and get me singing in the car

only bought three 2017 releases, all good stuff Emperor of Sand by Mastodon - I have to disagree with the poster who reckons their glory days are long ago. I prefer their more accessible style Prophets of Rage - another poster said one of the vocalists was from NWA. Nah, it's Chuck D from the very great Public Enemy! World Eater by Blanck Mass - excellent dark, thumping electronica from one half of Fvck Buttons, for my money the best British electronica act since Orbital, Underworld, Chemical Brothers etc came on the scene etc

Some of the best gigs I've been to have been Underworld, Chemical Brothers, Chase & Status and Orbital. Somehow they manage to hold their audiences attention without much movement or lengthy badinage. I think it's partly because they don't replicate their album tracks slavishly but rework them and ad lib quite a lot. Some bands can overdo the audience participation thing. At Download this year, with Five Finger Death Punch's set there were long gaps between songs with the lead singer trying to work the crowd up into a mosh frenzy. This undermined the momentum built up by the furious tunage

+1 viz QOTSA. Although Josh Homme was kind the band leader/head over the first three albums, Nick O was clearly the heart of the band . Every album they've done since his sacking are'nt a patch on SFTD

The Bangles, so on stage I could've stood behind Susannah Hoffs and watched her derrière all evening