Barking Spiders

Indeed The Greek. While James Jamerson, Larry Graham and other bass pioneers back then came out with cracking stuff they were anonymous to the music buying public. When Mark King et al turned up they took bass right to the front of the band, often eclipsing the other members. For your average music listener, this was the first time they heard slap funk and fretless bass playing. It was King on Love Games and Pino on Wherever I Lay My Hat that got me into bass. These guys weren't the first to play these styles but they sure brought them to the mainstream.

Not sure I reckon 'now' is that great. Sure there are niches like jazz, fusion and prog metal where there are top players but in much mainstream and dance stuff the bass is all computerised. Back in the early-mid 80s the charts were chocka with songs that had upfront bass playing what with Level 42, Sade, Duran, Paul Young, Associates, Smiths, Japan, ABC, Jacko, Paul Simon etc doing their thing.

What do you folks consider to be your golden age for bass - not just the quality of players but great and memorable basslines. As big a fan as I am of Motown, classic funk and Stax for me it was UK pop 1980 to about 1987, when slap and fretless bass had high profiles in the UK charts. Great bass lines all over the shop, even on some really cheesy pop tunes.

He's one of many players whose playing I respect but I really don't like the music one bit. Sometimes I'll watch clips on You Tube of IM, Rush, Dream Theater, Yes and fusion stuff to just to check out the bass players chops. But there comes a point when enough is enough. What I'll say for SH is he' s got powerful fingers and a mastery of keeping time at speed

The Blues, jazz, rock n roll, punk, metal, hip hop, folk...all came into being against or independent of the establishment. Now, Berklee, Rockschool and similar types of institutions offer graded exams. Would you have wanted to pay to study bass at one of these types of places or d'ya reckon taking exams goes against the original spirit of rock n roll? Have a gander... [url="https://www.rslawards.com/music/graded-music-exams/bass"]https://www.rslaward...usic-exams/bass[/url]

Not sure he's old hat as his most recent album was out last year!

I bunged in his name in the search box and the most recent tread was posted in 2012 so I'm guessing there's not a lot love here for the quirky drum n' bass merchant? Viz technique he's right up there with Claypool, Wootten and Sheehan though I much prefer his music to theirs. Any other takers?

Ha..I'm a Sid Vicious too but tbh this quiz is just a bit pants. Thought it might be a lot funnier. And I hate punk

You could use a couple of drum machines instead in a kinda similar way that pioneering acid house duo Hardfloor used to with several TB 303s

It's up to others whether they consider themselves musicians but I don't think of myself as one for reasons other than money. The main one is that playing bass, guitars and drums is not an all-consuming passion but one of several interests. I can easily go several weeks without playing or listening to music. If I had to go more than a week without beer I'd go bonkers. The other main thing is I know what I like listening to and playing and ain't that interested in broadening my horizons . As long as I've a decent repertoire of songs I can master I'm not that bothered about advanced theory and all jazz

I guess when I was at school in the early-mid 80s the in-crowd types played footie or rugby league (northerner, me) while the oddballs formed rock bands. Still, bung in guitar, bass, rock music related phrases into Google Trends and they all follow the same pattern. I've just put in 'greatest guitarist' and as of now it's 14% don from a baseline of 100% in 2004.

I've just plugged in the terms 'learn bass' and 'learn guitar' into Google Trends. From 100% in 2004, there's a year on year decline to 22% in 2016.

In one of the less classic episodes of South Park, Stan and Kyle are wowing their mates on Guitar Hero with 'Carry on wayward son' when Stan's dad walks in and shows them how he can play it on his guitar for real. They aren't impressed, with Cartman saying guitars are for old people. In my 11 year old's year 6 leavers book many of her classmates profiles show they want to be games designers, actors, You Tubers/vloggers and slebs. Not one wants to be a musician let alone a bass player. When I was that age I knew of at least a handful who wanted to be pro drummers or guitarists. D'ya reckon kids these days don't give a monkey's left tit how well someone can cut it on a guitar, drum kit etc?

Hurrah! This might be the first mention of The Red Guitars. Top band but like many fine but overlooked combos of the timothy cameo nowt. Good Technology is a top tune.

My 9 year old daughter is quite small for her age but preferred a full size nylon strung to a 3/4. I got it for £70, not much more than the 3/4 and better in all ways.

ivansc - it's a type of tarantula found in Oz (I have two pet tarantulas but not selencosmia crassipes as it's under threat. I only keep rescued pets) but it's also slang for.. ahem...the action of the a***hole in fart mode

For online lessons Scott Devine is the man. You need look no further. Basswise there are many decent sub £300 instruments. Cant go wrong with Ibanez, Cort, Sterling SUB or ESP.

Back then I was mostly into synth pop/ electro stuff, the gamut of post punk and hip hop. Roll on another 30 years and little has changed . I think fave bands were Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Tears for Fears and Heaven 17

Vic, Bill Dickins, Billy Sheehan, Richard Bona, Kai Eckhardt, Jeff Berlin, Gary Willis and many more jazzers/fusion dudes..all superb players but the music they make bores the tits off me. As with so-called hotties like Charlize Theron, Kate Beckinsale et al. everything is in the right place but my boat ain't being floated. A Michael Dempsey bassline off 'Sulk' or Pino's playing on 'No Parlez' say much more to me than any any hyper technical solo on a jazz fusion number

Am I a musician? As it's not my bread and butter nor my main occupation outside of work then the answer is 'no way'. As I said on a thread of my own I'm a hobbyist, a dabble, a noodler..

I recall seeing them on Later, an edition mostly full of dull indie pap, some old geezer Jools Holland was brown nosing plus some anonymous warbler. Then RB sounded fresh ad quite exciting in contrast to all the other toot, even though rock isn't my bag. However, having checked out their album the limitations of their line-up are all too obvious.

I must count myself lucky. Originally I had all mine stuffed into remote corners of the house. When I came back from a work trip she'd been having one of her moving everything about weekends and my see thru blue ESP and cherry Ibanez guitars and Cort B4FL and Peavey Cirrus 4 BXP had pride of place in the living room. However, the previous mrs Spiders would make sure all my instruments were confined to the shed while the lunatic who was her predecessor once sawed through the neck of my US white Fender Tele as she was jealous of the time I spent with it .

A post by one guy saying his wife has a hatred for his guitars prompted this thread. Fortunately for me my missus and daughters like my basses and guitars cluttering up the place as they think they look 'pretty'. So, what about yours?

So, why does your wife hate your guitars then?

No one do anything or by U2, Quo or AC/DC then?