Monkey Steve

see, I'm reading this not so much as going cold turkey for a year no matter your GAS, as using it as an excuse to bring forward your Status purchase Good work

another vote for playing with other musicians - not necessarily joining a band. When I first started (many, many years ago) what helped enormously was having a mate with a guitar who wanted someone who had a bass to jam with. depends on the mate so it might not always work (for example i had a jam with a really excellent guitarist the other weekend - complete disaster, all because of him) but having someone to bounce my playing off of, to see how it all fitted together, and also to give me some tips where i was getting stuff wrong or could do better, gave me my biggest leap forward in playing. It may not work for everybody, but it certainly worked for me. Do you have any friends who are bedroom guitarists? For picks vs fingers, in my experience picks will get you a fairly consistent sound quite quickly - I loaned my bass to a guitarist friend a couple of years back so that he could record the bass lines for his band's new album and my one tip after hearing him play some of the lines he'd written was to use a pick as he didn't have time to get up to speed on finger style. However, if you are starting from scratch and aren't about to go into the studio then there's nothing wrong with trying both and seeing which you prefer, or simply learning both at the same time - they are equally valuable tools, and while they can sound different, neither is any more "right" than the other (contrary to what you will hear on this site!). Whatever suits you.

CD's for playing, vinyl for looking at/owning if it's very nice, a band I truly love, or not available on CD. Downloads as a last resort if I can't get it anywhere else...although if the vinyl comes with a download code then I will typically do that and copy it to a back up CD, just in case That said, I do most of my actual listening on my iphone these days, but I don't trust my computer not to lose all the downloads that I have (see above). Plus I love just having "stuff"

nothing specifically bass related since getting my custom Warwick in late 2016...might have got a couple of MXR pedals since then but they are of a similar vintage... but... I have paid the deposit and next instalment on the Wal I ordered in January. I'm going to exclude that from being an actual purchase until I get it at some point in 2020. My GAS us usually fairly under control, although it usually flares up in about February each year, ahead of getting my bonus at the end of March. next year's bonus will more than likely be paying the balance on the Wal so there's unlikely to be any serious acquisition until the 2020 bonus arrives...must stop looking at those new Rickenbacker 5 strings...

Short answer: no, move one... slightly longer answer: no, but I know it when I see/hear it Better, longer answer: define what you mean by "technicality" and then we'll talk

Rock n roll is alive and well and charging people £120 a ticket and £30 for a t-shirt. Quite who's to blame for that is another matter, and on a more serious note, the internet and kids growing up knowing that music is something that can be obtained for free, there's plenty of it to choose from so they don't even need to buy anything, they can subscribe to a streaming service that will play whatever they want whenever they want to listen to it, and pay the artists a pittance for the pleasure.

well that sucks...though I guess it answers a few questions remind me, has this happened after you'd asked for clarification on your place in the band? It would be a very clumsy power play if you're suddenly not in the band after asking form clarification that you are in fact in the band. they must have a whole sack full of insecurities and tiny, tiny pen1ses

well, that's more of a leisure activity than a profession then, isn't it? My Dad is retired and plays golf three times a week. I don't think he should stop just because he hasn't got on the European tour or won the Open yet, I think he should carry on for as long as he and his mates enjoy themselves

horses for courses. I know a band who rehearse three times a week, every week, no exceptions (they are signed and touring, though not making real money). They play very technically demanding stuff, and the reasons for so many rehearsals covers a collection of reasons: the need to keep their playing sharp (the lead guitarist plays for at least an hour every day, on top of rehearsals - that's just the way he is, he loves playing the guitar) writing and developing new material an indication of the dedication they expect from the band members - if you can't find three evenings/afternoons a week then you clearly have other priorities what do you have to do that's more fun than rehearsing? They are all in this to record albums, tour and play festivals - surely anybody that wants to be in the band must actually quite like playing music

unusual to have a kill switch setting on a bass... shouldn't be an issue to swap it for a switch that does what you want, or to get a local repairman to wire it exactly as you wish. My local one is very used to me asking him to re-wire Les Pauls so that the volume and tone remains independent for each pick up when they are both on in the switch's middle position.

I think there's probably something to the theory - there are a couple of bands I loved at that age that I've stuck with, some that on listening back these days I recoil in shock at how bad they sound, what was I thinking?" But an awful lot that I don't listen to often, but bring a smile of fondness to my face. Probably more influential was late teens to mid/late 20's - peak gig attendance, and a lot of stuff that I got into then has stuck. But I still look for new music, or old music that I haven't listened to before. However, perhaps we're not the ideal community to be picking holes in the theory - by definition we're people that have kept up an active interest in music over time, who were/are motivated enough by our love of music to learn to play an instrument and play in bands, whereas a lot of civilian friends are happy with the records they bought as teenagers and don't feel the need to look for anything new. We're almost certainly outliers on the bell curve

I've got a mate in a signed, touring band (big fish in a very small pond - not enough income for him to regard himself as a full time musician, but he's ready to drop everything else for the band at a moment's notice) who's attitude is that any girlfriend he has will know one thing about him, which is that he is the guitarist in a band. If she wants to go out with him then she will be left in no doubt that practicing, recording and playing gigs will always have first call on his time. His current band rehears three times a week and his girlfriend has to find other things to fill her time on those nights - she knows not to complain about not being able to do something with him on a rehearsal night.

Have to agree. While there are some fans that will buy into the "bludgeon the crowd" approach espoused by Lemmy (and I certainly did when i was 14) I've been to more than one big show where it was painfully loud to the extent that large swathes of the crowd were leaving - Airborne at Hammersmith on their second album tour, and I remember seeing Super Furry Animals at Guildford where they virtually cleared the room over the length of the gig, with just a few dedicated fans at the front, some grouped behind pillars or out of direct line of the PA, and everybody else in the bar or gone home. It's also true that I've been to shows that are too quiet - the last time I saw the Cult for instance - so there is a happy medium, but at least too quiet doesn't do any permanent damage

Exactly, family life apart, what do people have to do that is better than playing their instrument all evening? Fine if you have a reasonable answer, but lying on the sofa watching Big Brother, or "I've had a long week, I don't want to spend the evening in the studio" don't make sense to me. YMMV I once had a guitarist who took the attitude that there was an exact amount of effort to be expended on each band and a maximum amount of time he would spend playing the guitar each week. If he had used up that allotted time then he wasn't going to practice, or play a possibly under-attended midweek gig, etc. Fortunately we had a second guitarist who's attitude was "brilliant - more solos for me" so it never held us back. Possibly it would have come to a head if the band hadn't split up for other reasons, but there was a lot of discussion between me and guitarist #2 on the issue and whether, at some point, we were going to have to look for someone else, because it felt like we were doing the hard yards in getting the band up and running while guitarist #1 was picking and choosing to only do the bits he fancied

I live in Surrey, but work in London. At one point I was in two bands that rehearsed every week: Band 1 practiced in Surrey, always during the week. I had an hour's travel to get to my local station, from where I was picked up. This was really just my trip home, so it wasn't a hassle in itself and it was then a short lift home afterwards, but taking my bass and assorted kit to work with me during rush hour, both ways, was no fun. Our drummer got married and moved to the Kent coast. His job was originally half way between the studio and home, so he would drive in and then home again after practice. He was then transferred to London, so he took to getting the train down with me and kipping on my sofa - every practice meant a night away from his lovely new wife. In fairness, he was always clear about wanting to stay in the band, but what it did do was focus attention on another band member who was less appreciative, was always late to rehearsals, and seemed to think that we should all be grateful for his presence. While it wasn't the defining factor that led to the sacking of the offending band member and the break up of the band, the oft repeated chorus of "I'm not making all this effort for that c#nt to leave me sat in the studio not rehearsing because he ca't be @rsed to turn up on time!" set the scene. Band 2 practiced in London, two stops on the tube from my work...but we never practiced on a week night. On the rare occasions that we did I made sure that we ended early enough that I wasn't getting home after midnight. Instead we practiced at weekends, so I'd have a 90 minute + trip each way. never bothered me - after all, it wasn't much different to what I did the rest of the week anyway. One thing that did help was that we'd rehearse during the afternoon. More often than not we then went drinking so it became a Saturday night out, and getting home, notionally from practice, at one in the morning with my bass on my back was fairly regular. I doubt I'd have put up with it if it had been all practice and no drinking. The key to all of it is how much we both got out of being in the band, that a couple of hours travelling is an OK price to pay. YMMV so whatever makes you happy, and if it stops being fun, stop doing it

But surely the point is that good or bad, the sound can be too loud, and there seems to be a lot of evidence on this thread that this is more often the case than needs to happen

Exactly - headroom makes a lot of sense for bass. Plus we generally know that the volume control goes in two directions

I'd suggest that 50w is the maximum you'd ever need for a valve guitar amp for any gig, anywhere, ever. The smaller the amp, the lower the volume needed to achieve the best distorted sound (if that's what you're after). 100w amps aren't anywhere like twice as loud as 50w amps (I think the volume difference is about...pause while i google it...3 dbs) but often they seem twice as loud because the guitarist doesn't understand the concept of headroom and has to drive the amp much harder to get the sound he's after. The Beatles played through AC15s and they could be heard over Ringo... Actually, one of my old guitarists had a tiny 15w or 20w Mesa Boogie head for all pub gigs and it never let him down - although Mesa Rectifiers are excellent as they seem to make the same sound on their dirty channel regardless of the volume control setting so there's no volume issue if the guitarist has a much bigger amp...other than the problem of getting the guitarist to realise that volume controls go down as well as up. If that's an issue and the guitarist has to drive an amp that is way too large quite hard to get "their sound" then on pain of death make them buy some sort of attenuator - I personally favour a Marshall Power Brake, although they haven't been in production for years, but there are plenty of alternatives.

Drummers getting a kicking, but in my experience it's usually the guitarists that are to blame: Guitarist #1 playing through a 4x12 that is pointed at his ankles, stood right next to my 8x10 and across the stage from guitarist #2 who's 4x12 is also pointed at his ankles: "You're too loud, I can't hear myself" Me: "No, I'm the right volume, i can just hear myself above the drums. You can only hear me because my cab is closer to your ears. You're too loud - you need to stand where i am so that you can hear your cab" Singer "he's right, the bass is fine, your guitar is way too loud" Guitarist #1, doesn't move an inch: "that's not right, I can't hear myself, and anyway #2 is much louder than i am so I'm turning up" Guitarist #2: "I can't hear myself, #1 is much louder than me, so I'm turning up" Drummer. singer and bass player: "FFS!!" repeat to fade Too many stories of guitarists being complete d#cks at soundchecks, or confusing on stage sound with FOH and generally not understanding basic physics. But a couple of favourites...possibly "favourite" is the wrong word: The rhythm guitarist who thought that the number of watts his amp had was a measure of how good it is - the more the better - who got a 200W Blackstar and then had to drive it loud to get it to distort. (everybody else knows that the fewer the watts, the better a valve amp sounds (I once did a gig playing guitar with a 5w class A Marshall - had to get it far enough away from the drums for separation and I wouldn't recommend it for even a small gig, but it coped brilliantly for what was playing a few songs at a back garden BBQ and sounded great without going through the PA) but guitarists seem to think that having more watts and needing to drive the amp much harder to get it sounding good than they would have had to do for a smaller amp is a good thing rather than an utterly stupid thing) The lead guitarist who would do the soundcheck and agree that everything was fine, then turn up a couple of notches as he came on stage because "all he could hear was the bass so he needed to turn up" and when people told him that we didn't sound that great would blame me because the bass was clearly too loud. Even if everything was mic'd and going through the PA, it was never his fault, always mine. The rhythm guitarist (not one of mine) who was doing a gig at the Underworld and kept being told by the soundman that he had to turn it down because he was drowning everything else on stage out and he wasn't even going through the PA. Guitarist refused on the basis that "that was his sound". Soundman smirked and let him get on with it...they didn't go down well that night

severely off topic, but linked to how badly TV is run behind the scenes, a friend of a friend was on MasterChef a few years back, and didn't make it past the first show because of the mismatch between how slick it looks on screen and how badly it's actually run in the studio. If you watch it it looks seamless - the contestants cook, the time ends, they present their dishes and are judged accordingly. In practice they cook their dishes, and while there are a few shots that are set up, that's OK. then the time finishes and the crew start getting a vast array of shots of the finished dishes, the cooks looking relieved/anxious/pleased/infuriated/etc, the judges looking serious. this takes forever, and in her case well over an hour. Dishes that have risen fall, meals that were intended to be served hot are served stone cold. In this particular case what wasn't aired when the show was broadcast was the contestant's rant at the judges that their criticisms would not have been made if they had actually tasted her dish when it came out of the oven bang on time and ready to be eaten...she thinks that this probably didn't help when they chose to send someone home that week.

Mine sits unloved in the case - it’s position is exactly where my hand would want access to the strings when I used to play with a pick and rest my wrist on the end of the tailpiece. but I take your point - with it on it directs where you can hit the strings which has a huge effect on the sound. Just not for me

As I understand it, the Act can be quite subtle. A lot of it is pinned on what is a reasonable expectation for the life of a product - in this case it's certainly reasonable to expect a truss rod to last for more than two years, and you can assume that any problem is the result of a faulty part or faulty installation at birth. And to be clear, the claim is against the retailer for selling you a faulty bass, not against Fender for manufacturing a faulty bass. So, even if the shop points at their guarantee, this doesn't give them any protection against selling you a faulty good in the first place. They're only off the hook if you're clearly at fault... In fact the main problem with this sort of thing is that because so few people make these sorts of claim they may genuinely not be aware of their legal obligations ans stick to the "no mate, two years, go away" defence for a while. Once they accept this (and you may have to take them to court to prove your point) then their obligation is to get the goods back to the same condition that they should be in after a couple of years use. Again, shouldn't be an issue for a bass neck, but this is often misunderstood for things like TVs and laptops where the manufacturer doesn't actually have to repair or replace it, they can simply give you what it would cost to buy a six year old TV or laptop that isn't broken (peanuts). Worst case scenario, given that you have now replaced the neck - the shop asks for the opportunity to fix the truss rod, asks for the whole bass back, and then decides that they can't repair it and gives you the cost of a second hand two year old bass.

another +1 for Strings Direct - my go to place for years now and I've never had a problem, great customer service and comms, way above and beyond what is required, like they're worried that you might feel let down if they don't get all of your order by first post the following day An odder, or at least less obvious one to keep an eye on is Amazon. Some music shops use Marketplace, and you can sometimes find unexpected stuff listed at very competitive prices (also, a lot of stuff listed for not so competitive prices, you have to wade through it all). Any problems with the order and Amazon will sort it out. Worth having a trawl through the previous posts on String Busters...all I can say is that you're not the first...

Personally I'm another one who likes to play with musicians that are better than me, or at the very least will push me, and be technically demanding. Depends on the circumstances - sometimes the band doesn't demand that level of technical complexity, and that can still be great fun, but the aim is always to get out and play gigs, and you need a level of competence to do that (well, possibly not...I have examples of musicians who play regularly and an an offence to your ears) But I'm done with keeping the rhythm guitarist because he's a great bloke and always buys his round if he can't actually play the guitar very well. I now have a very simple test - if i can play the guitar better than you, by definition you are not a good enough guitarist to be in a band with me. I am bang average at the guitar... ...that said, the most fun i ever had in a band, and the one that got the most gigs and earned the most money was one where I played guitar and the bass players (we had a couple over the time i was in the band) were a triumph of enthusiasm over talent.

assuming that your bass has the standard 4001/4003 tailpiece, the strings pass down the side of an array of raised metal arches at the front, with adjustment screws on either side. Below these arches, the screws should raise and lower a piece of foam (black in the picture), which is designed to damp the strings, stronger or weaker depending on how much the screws have raised or lowered it. In mine (actually a 4003 bridge put on my much older 4001 as a replacement) the sponge was always in contact with the strings even at the lowest the screws would drop it to, so I gaffa taped the foam which makes it compact enough to keep it below the strings as I don't want any damping. A far easier alternative would just be to remove the foam completely. Of course if wouldn't need this if they just left off the whole damping array in the first place, because you would be able to damp the strings with your palm as normal. Bit like the large bridge pickup cover, looks cool, but is a really stupid idea playing wise. If you want to be able to damp with your palm then you can get replacement bridges that allow this, or if you want the damping permanently "on" or want to be able to adjust it, then what you have can do that.