josie

Welcome!

Welcome!

Welcome!

Or in my case my sons and grandchildren win. And a couple of friends who also have specific guitars / basses named to them in my will. They'll never forgive me if I sell anything they're looking forward to inheriting (not that I would, as it's all gear that I use and love). That's one of my excuses and I'm sticking to it 🙂

Saludos!

Welcome! You'll find opinion is divided on learning scales & theory. Imho (and both my excellent teachers) it's essential - it's the only way you'll really understand what you're playing, *why* those are the notes that sound right, and how to improvise beyond the root notes. It will give you confidence in what you're playing and in going further. But, learning styles differ. It's like learning a second language - some peeps want to understand the grammar and others can just listen to the noises and make the right noises. I'm a grammar nerd 🙂 I'm sure others will say the opposite. Just figure out what works for you. And get a good human teacher if you can. All the YouTube videos in the world can't watch you playing, tell you if your left hand is at the best angle or your right hand isn't close enough to the strings to damp them. Or give you the motivation to practice because you'll have to look him/her in the eye next week. Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes!

Good idea though. We're opening for Victor Brox in June and we've already agreed we'll send him our proposed setlist a couple of weeks in advance so we can make sure not to step on each other's toes.

Nice! 🙂

She's awesome, looking forward to seeing her live for the first time at Scarborough Blues Festival on Friday. Nice gig 🙂

Welcome! If it was in a case you cared about it - unlike one I bought on eBay a few years back (for pennies) which was thick with dust and drips because the guy had given the case to this brother! (Cleaned up nicely 🙂 ) It will come back like riding a bicycle, let us know how it goes!

Welcome Robbo! I started at 59, four years ago, long hard battle with confidence to get started, but I'm now in a band with peeps I love and we're starting to get some nice little gigs. It's never too late 🙂 Very best wishes and let us know how it goes.

Welcome and hope you get it sorted out soon!

I bought my son his first guitar from the Stockport branch a few years ago - good selection to choose from and super-helpful staff, they even let him use the staff toilet to change his son's nappy! It closed soon after when the rent and rates went up. Sad loss.

The J+ was a completely different beast. http://www.rexbass.com/2011/02/fender-jazz-bass-plus-v.html

@SpondonBassed sorry I can't help but really hope it works out for you both!

I love my Dragonfly (fretless 5), it ain't going nowhere! Do you prefer the JL? Looking forward to seeing that. I was thinking of bringing my Dragonfly, but don't need to if yours will be there 🙂

I re-strung my Jazz Aerodyne BEAD with the cheapest D'Addario rounds with no problem, not even at the nut, and she sounds good. I'd have been a bit nervous of doing anything irreversible to a rather special bass, but didn't need to. 4 always feels like something's missing, but I'd rather let go of my G-string than my bottom end 😉 Sometimes the Jazz just looks and feels right for a particular gig - and she's too gorgeous not to gig now and then 🙂

Welcome! Hope the new band goes well, let us know... what sort of music?

I went every week to my excellent local om for years - almost all the regulars got up and played, but those of us who didn't were - it seemed - equally members of that community. I admitted to a few that I was learning bass, and they encouraged and then mithered me to get up and play. When I finally did - terrified and badly - it became obvious that I had crossed one of those life-defining lines. It was like having sex for the first time, or flying an aeroplane solo for the first time - even if you do it only once quickly and badly, it changes who you are. So then I was a musician! Then, the first time I played in public with someone else, I thought, *now* I'm a musician! Then, the first time the project that has turned into my band played a gig together, I thought, *now* I'm a musician! Then, the first time my band played a full evening pub gig... Then, the first time in a jam I convincingly blagged a bassline on a song i didn't know... In June when we play our first proper music venue I'll think ... @julietgreen has it exactly right. Years ago I often finished near-last running half-marathons. I was ahead of the many runners who had dropped out, and on a different planet from the vast majority of peeps who had never even tried 🙂

As said above it so much depends on the genre, and also the rest of the mix... I'm drawn high by the high C string on my 6, love using it, but when I do in my band, the others always - rightly - tell me my sound is getting lost and I should stay lower. Otoh my regular duo partner has a superb voice, but plays fairly dull low rhythm guitar, so with him I can put in a lot of high detail - almost lead guitar - and it works really well. (Also - ot, sorry - my 5 is gorgeous to me, but nothing to look at for the average listener. The 6 is seriously eye-catching. I'm happy playing it in my local om, but I feel I'd look pretentious gigging it anywhere my band plays. If/when we want a bass solo in the set that might change 🙂 )

Welcome!

Welcome back!

Fell for it on the spec and reputation and didn't test it out thoroughly enough before buying it. Early days. Lesson learned.

On my first bass, the GMR 5, the B string is as tight and clear as any of the others, so I assumed that was standard, and had a nasty shock when I found out it isn't. Even the Fender Jazz+ 5, which was a well-made top spec bass, has a B string so floppy it's barely playable. (I'm trying, and failing, to sell mine.) As said a good 5 has to be designed as such, sticking a 5th string onto a 4 design as an afterthought isn't going to work. A bit OT, but I dislike 4/1 headstocks because they look as if the 5th string is an afterthought, even if in fact it's a well designed bass and all five strings are good.

My first, suggested by my teacher, who then showed me the minor pentatonic scale it's based on. Lightbulb moment. I've never learned this, but I got dropped into it by the mighty Victor Brox at my birthday jam last month. The first time I've been able to blag a bassline on a song I didn't know and have it sound like I did know it 🙂