josie

Right now I have the same problem I have this time every day. I've spent the day getting stuff done, made good progress on a song for our next setlist, then made myself some nice food and a glass of wine, and what I want to do now is fire up the drum machine and for an hour or so just relaxedly noodle around a few bass riffs with a random choice of five gorgeous basses and 150 drum machine tracks. The problem is that I live in a tiny flat with paper-thin walls, and I'm totally inhibited by worry of bothering the three guys in the neighbouring flats. Who are all good guys, and I've asked them all repeatedly to tell me if I ever disturb them, but I think they're all too polite to tell me. AfIk they're all either retired or unemployed, so they're at home almost all the time. So logically this would be equally a problem at any time of day, if it is at all, but by 9pm I just feel I shouldn't practice, and any earlier I can work on it but I'm not really in the mood to relax with it and enjoy it. One answer to this might be on my days off work to have a glass of wine with breakfast, but somehow I don't think that's a good idea 😞

There's a difference here imho between "finding" and "keeping". There are clearly bands which can find bass players (or whatever) but not keep them. That could be for any number of reasons, not suggesting blame anywhere in particular, maybe just personalities don't work out. Although if a specific band has a high turnover there may well be a specific reason. ps much as @ezbass just said at the same time 🙂

On the contrary, it can be more inspiring to hear from people who are getting started and stepping up for the first time, than from the old hands with years of experience. (No offence intended to the old hands!) On my list - Stormy Monday - already one of my better basslines, to the point where the band are muttering ominously about a bass solo. Aaarrgghh. Women Be Wise (Sippie Wallace / Bonnie Rait) and As You Are (Rag 'n' Bone Man). Both adequate but not particularly interesting at the moment. A bit of slide on Women Be Wise I think. Fun. And this one, which we've been working on for what feels like forever and just won't click. I don't know why, it shouldn't be hard, but I still can't get the phrasing right. 😞

Warwick Thumb 6. Bought on BC - I was wanting a 6, and it's a legendary model and was a good price, but much too heavy for me and the shaping on the back of the body just didn't fit mine. 1992 Fender Jazz+V. Again too heavy, a slabby uncomfortable body, and a very floppy B string. This was a top-end bass with Kubicki electronics that Fender made briefly in small numbers, and this one unusually still has the original electronics, so a rare and high-quality beast, but not for me. Both up for sale on commission in my local independent guitar shop.

Warwicks are like Stingrays for me, every time I see one I want one, and every time I pick one up it just doesn't feel good. (A useful GAS limitation 🙂 ) The GMR fretless is the sister of my first ever and still most loved bass, my GMR Bassforce 5, who from the moment I first picked her up felt like a detachable body part and sang in my arms 🙂 Still my go-to bass, as much as I love the others.

Yes that's the Hal Leonard "Blues Bass". +1

Wordpress is a good place to start. As you say, pretty much a shell at the moment, but looks promising (and very pretty). I've signed up to follow.

Details please? Is it the Hal Leonard? or another one worth knowing about?

I'm claiming my Jack Casady was a three-weeks-early Christmas present to myself and not just another result of random GAS 🙂

Not a Morning Person myself... after a quiet day and a sedate couple of G&Ts it's time for a play. I've just started a policy of rotating my (now stable I hope) family of five basses, today it's the fretless, for the first time in a while. It's the smallest and heaviest of the five - I need to do some strength training before I gig it again 😞 Ps half an hour later - I'd forgotten how easy she is to play and how good she sounds! 🙂 🙂

Not surprised it's sold out. I went to Nashville to see them at the Ryman earlier this year - twice in 8 days! (Ok I go to Nvl once or twice a year to see my son and d-i-l and grandsprogs anyway - but as soon as those tour dates were announced I booked flights and my son booked tickets 🙂 ) The first was pretty impressive, as you'd expect from their studio work. Great guitar and bass, strong backing vocals and horns. But the second was completely different - much looser, more improvisation, extraordinary flow - just a *live* music experience over and above. If you are lucky enough to have a ticket, the worst chance is it will be brilliant, it might be even better. 🙂

This is more expensive but a *lot* safer (other suppliers are available) https://www.eaglemusicshop.com/prod/banjo-music-mic-foot-stands/pub-prop.htm

Confessin' the Blues - 42 classics, chosen by the Rolling Stones in tribute to their musical roots. Some choices obvious, others not.

Any Cadillac Three fans here? I actually preferred their previous, four-piece line-up as American Bang. Recognisably the same band, but just slightly lighter, and more varied and interesting musically. Kelby Ray was playing bass then. They're still an awesome force live though 🙂

Welcome!

Otoh I once had a guitarist look at my hands and accuse me of playing in the wrong key. He hadn't noticed I was playing a 5.

Welcome!

My 64th birthday party next Feb is going to be a blues jam, with my Plastic Mojo Blues Band as the house band. I've asked them as my birthday present to learn my personal anthem: I was drifting through life like I'd lost my way, / Had no original words to say, / Road was empty and the sky was grey, / Praying Lord, get me home tonight. I was drifting through daytimes, not even trying, / Long bitter nights of drinking and crying, / Cursing myself for wasting my time, / Praying Lord let me sleep at night. Now I'm playing 12 bar blues on a five string bass, / Finally know I've found my place, / Electric adrenalin, state of grace, / Singing Lord, let me play all night. Sorry, seriously ot, and on the "must-know" list for my band but not for anyone else!

I've been lucky twice. First time, went to buy my first ever guitar and got bitten in the leg by a beautiful, silly-cheap, 2nd-hand as-new Faith Venus in Johnny Roadhouse. Didn't have the knowledge or confidence to grab her on the spot. Walked up the next day with my heart literally thumping, surely by now someone else has recognised how gorgeous she is and she'll be gone? But no, she was still there, and is with me now and is named in my will to my favourite acoustic guitar player. Second time, at my local Americana festival I'd seen and heard a hollow-body bass I didn't recognise but immediately knew I "needed" - a Gibson EB2. Went to visit my son in Nashville a week later - he is always up for guitar store crawls - and in the legendary Gruhn Guitars found a 1966 faded cherry that sang in my arms but was way over my budget. I literally dreamed about her that night. We went back the next day and there she was with a sign saying "Rob". I almost cried - until it turned out Rob was the sales person I'd talked to, who said with a broad grin "I knew you'd be back!" She's still in Nashville, I don't expect ever to get her back to the UK, but my son is an occasional bass player (mainly a drummer) so she's in good hands and there whenever I go back - with the excuse of seeing my grand-sprogs 🙂

Otoh I stepped up at the jam at Carlisle Blues Festival last year and found myself playing with Matt Long from Catfish - possibly the best young blues/rock guitar player in the UK atm - and Connie Lush and Kaz Hawkins, definitely two of the best female singers (both in the loud unsubtle mould - hurricanes if you get anywhere near them on stage). Utterly intimidating (I've told the story in full on another thread) but Matt supported me brilliantly and I got through ok (on the cr@ppy recording on my phone I sound better than I thought I was at the time). Playing with better (in this case off-the-planet better) musicians is imho the best way to raise your game, if you get the chance. And that is now one of my all-time most cherished memories and motivations. If the chance comes again I'll be able to play better. Promise to myself.

We probably will 🙂 My plan for 2019 is strings and only strings. I've just re-strung my Jazz BEAD and it's almost as much fun as having a new bass. (Better in some ways, because I love it and it's now completely different to any of my others and so I'll play it more.) Next on the list is tape-wounds for the fretless acoustic, then move the flats it has now onto the fretted acoustic. That should be as much fun as having two more new basses, and should keep me happy for quite a while! (should...)

... but almost as good - I've just re-strung my Jazz Aerodyne BEAD. I'll have to play the strings in a bit, of course, but first impressions are excellent. The strings (basic D'Addario medium gauge rounds that I've been carrying around as spares) fit the bridge and nut nicely, the tension and action were fine without any tweaking, and the B string (which is supposed to be E) is better than the one on my Jazz V (which is supposed to be B). This is going to force me to use the B string in my main basslines rather than just for throwing in passing notes under them. I do tend to drift towards the higher end of the range, although I know that means my sound can get a bit lost in the mix - this should keep me away from that. It also gives me a new sound - and a new toy! - for a lot less trouble and money than buying a new bass! 🙂 Happy cat.

Welcome! Nice variety of basses 🙂

Living in a very small rented flat, I can't fit wall hangers. So they're out on floor stands. - I'll pick one up on impulse just for 5 minutes, which can easily turn into 15. - I do play all of them - some more than others - but I make a point of picking up a different one every day. - They make me smile. None of those would happen if they were in cases.

Welcome!