josie

His dad plays guitar and keys. His uncle is a drummer and one of his cousins may well be. Beautiful, but no need for Ibby GAS thank you 😞 I'd probably still bite the leg off any GMR that came with reach, to add to the three I already have, but looking round at the five gorgeous electric basses literally in arm's reach (and the two acoustics on the other side of the room) all I want for Christmas is for everyone to leave me alone so I can spend the whole day playing them.

Didn't have a chance to try... luckily I have fairly long arms and fingers, so long scale lengths and wide string spacing work for me. Tbh I just totally love the simple physical *presence* of long-scale basses. A while back my then 4yo grandson was standing in the middle of the semi-circle of my basses on floor stands - their headstocks well above his head - and my one "normal" guitar. I tried to explain to him the differences between a "guitar" and a bass guitar, and play them for him to hear the difference in pitch. He listened for a minute and then grabbed my Aerodyne saying "I want the big one!" The lad has good taste already. If he lives up to early promise he'll get that Aerodyne for his 18th birthday. Sorry, ot but can't resist:

Update: my IT guys confirm they can't find any problems with my Mac. It's still happening occasionally, only in Safari and only on BC/Off Topic. I've just installed the latest Safari update and hope that will fix it - I'll let you know either way. Thanks for your help!

Worst (for me) - Warwick Thumb 6, an impulse buy on BC Marketplace because I wanted a 6 and it was there and it's a legendary model. I wouldn't have bought it if I'd tried it out first. Too heavy for me, the shape of the back of the body doesn't fit mine, and that classic Warwick thump / growl sound with not much sustain just doesn't suit my style of playing. I should have known better. It's now up for sale in my local independent guitar shop. Best - Ibanez Premium BTB 1406, also bought on BC three months later (for 1/3 less), and instant love. Super-light, fits like a detachable body part, lovely clear tone on the higher strings and good punch on the lower. This will almost certainly become my main gigging bass once I've completely adapted to it. Strangely the thing I'm finding hardest to get used to is the amount of taper in the string spacing between the nut and the bridge - much more than on any of my other basses. No problem in the left hand with the extra string (I'm used to 5), but my right hand is still all over the place string-skipping. I'll get over it. She's worth it 🙂 ps I'd also include lessons as best.

Not-very-good singer-songwriter at the lower-standard of the two OMs within 5 minutes walk. It's a lovely little local community music centre, but down to earth with a bump after the highs of Monday and Tuesday (as per post above). But if we don't actively support local music and local musicians at the grass roots, the highs will never happen.

I played a Warwick Thumb briefly - good at thump and growl but not sustain, which was a good part of why I'm now trying to sell it (that and it was too heavy for me and the shape of the back of the body didn't fit comfortably). My GMR (solid bubinga neck) will hold a note on an open string for two bars while I develop the line on another string. Exceptional. And it has a bolt-on neck - through-necks are said to be usually better for sustain. Might be worth looking for a second-hand through-neck Ibanez, they don't seem to hold their value second-hand, not sure why, so very good vfm if you find one you like. If you're lucky enough to find a GMR, grab it (little-known, so go for 1/2 to 1/3rd of a comparable quality bass from a well known make) but they're scarcer than hens' teeth. Not sure this helps...

Welcome! It's impressive how good a U-bass can sound.

Welcome!

This is helpful:

Welcome! Important that you have a good way to carry on your Dad's legacy and know that he would have been proud of you. Porcupine Tree is an interesting and unusual choice 🙂 Not many singer / bass players but it's not impossible, don't give up hope. Imho keep the bassline as simple as you can while you're singing, and develop it in instrumental breaks between the verses. (Even guitar players do that, if you listen closely.) Prog often works well with long sustained single notes, which works with that. Try to find a bass with good sustain - definitely not a P (whatever you may read elsewhere on BC!) Best wishes and please let us know how it goes.

Welcome!

Welcome! You'll find lots of good advice on builds here.

Welcome to the low end! There's no going back... 🙂

Five years ago (maybe more) if you'd put "The Cadillac Three" in a search engine you'd have struggled to find the band. Now you can't find anything else.

Sticking to things money can buy: Soundproof the house. Turn the ground floor into well-fitted recording studio and practice rooms. Soundproof my son's garage and turn it into a well-fitted practice room for him. Free music lessons for every child in Greater Manchester. (Or anywhere, if it's really no limits.) Decent accommodation and support for everyone who is homeless. Good, quick support for everyone with a mental health problem. And some TimberTones titanium and abalone /mother-of-pearl picks as a stocking filler: https://www.timber-tones.co.uk/inlay-tones-mixed-tin-of-4-guitar-picks-4770-p.asp

Mine sounds like two completely different basses - quite light and clear with the boost off, and massive thump and growl with it on.

Last night (Monday) - The Cadillac Three at Manchester Arena. Capacity 21,000, less than half full so maybe 8-9,000 there? Mcr loves these guys, and there was a really strong audience vibe, singing along and beaming a huge collective energy back to the band. I was lucky enough to be watching from the side of the stage - the sound quality there was rubbish, but to see it and feel it so close to the band was a very special experience. I'll never get that as a musician (I know there are BC peeps who have) so it was all the more of a privilege. A memory to be cherished. Tonight (Tuesday) - Kyla Brox, probably the best blues singer in Europe if not the world, at my local om 5 minutes walk from home, singing and playing guitar ( which she only does once a year, here) for about 25 people, which was enough for the venue to feel comfortably full. Ended the night with "I'd Rather Go Blind" which had me in open unashamed floods of tears. Another memory to be cherished.

Actually when I feel most like an impostor is when I'm sitting at home alone trying to work out a bassline for a new song and it just doesn't make sense, nothing I play sounds right. Especially when it's a song that should be easy. That's when I look at my beautiful bass guitars and think I should stop kidding myself and give them all away to *real* musicians.

Jazz I only get live - apart from a few easy standards, it only really works for me live with an appreciative audience. Same is true of other genres I've been privileged to hear in their native habitats, such as Canarian secessionist folk music. (Canarian acoustic reggae is something else again - I was lucky enough to see this guy live, and play this often: https://abelcordovez.bandcamp.com/album/tilelli

Isn't it 🙂 Don't know what it is, but GMR specialise (or did) in lavish use of luxury exotic woods. My fretted Bassforce 5 has a solid bubinga neck where most luthiers would have used a veneer.

As per the op, it's "What the h3ll am I doing here playing with these awesome musicians?" Just over a year ago I got to play the jam at Carlisle Blues Festival, with Matt Long from Catfish - imho by far the best young blues-rock guitar player in the UK - on lead guitar, and Connie Lush and Kaz Hawkins - two of the very best UK female blues singers, and both total thunderstorms of voice and personality. Utterly intimidated. Connie physically dragged me from my safe space back in a corner to centre front stage and I almost totally lost it. Matt dragged me back and muttered the chords into my ear until I got the groove back. Ok, so this might not be exactly as per the op. I wasn't pretending to be anything I wasn't, it was terrifying at the time and exhilarating in hindsight. Totally out of my depth but in context that was ok. Perhaps ironically, Impostor Syndrome kicks in much more when I play a jam with musicians who aren't that much better than I am. Like I might be expected to be at their level, whereas with those guys I clearly couldn't, so no expectations.

I'm trying to sell two basses (a Warwick Thumb 6 and a 1992 Fender Jazz+V - both high-spec fairly specialised beasts). I've given them to a good little local independent music shop (Grove Music in Hazel Grove) to sell on 20% commission. The owner is a bass player, and more likely to sell them through personal contacts than by advertising. Very unlikely anyone living there is going to walk in off the street on spec and buy either! I don't have to worry about dodgy buyers, payment mechanisms, or packing and shipping. They'll be sold to musicians who will play them, not to a chancer hoping to turn some quick £ by re-selling. And I'd much rather he had 20% than that Fleabay and PayPal had 13.4% between them.

GMR Bassforce. Surprisingly heavy for such a small body. Wonderful sustain.

This. When I started, I was the worst musician in the room, but - I was a musician! Our om community was truly appreciative of the people who came every week just to listen, but as soon as I crossed that line it became completely different. I'm usually still the worst musician in the room, but that's because I keep pushing myself, and trying to play with better musicians, because it's the only way I'll get better myself. Many years ago a sprinter who came last in the Olympic 100m final was asked how he felt about coming last. His answer: "Being the 8th fastest man in the world ain't bad."