josie

I was going to say, Lucas's GMR fretless. But I just bought it.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1475411725' post='3145689'] Don't just use the B string as a thumb rest, that's just totally dumb, in my opinion . [/quote] Stops you being afraid of it though Btw I never did. Used it to play 5ths under everything on the E string to get started.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1475412701' post='3145700'] In life I'd rather set my goals high, I may not ever reach them, but I'd achieve more than if I just settled on being average. That's just me though. [/quote] This.

Beautiful basses! Well done. My first bass was a five. Talked to a few bass players while thinking about it - the best advice I had was "Go for it - use the fifth string as a thumb rest until you're ready to start playing it." Absolutely the right decision. I do sometimes play - and gig - a four now, but only because my Aerodyne is irresistably beautiful. I found the transition in that direction fairly easy.

[quote name='FinnDave' timestamp='1475132924' post='3143235'] I bought my first half decent bass from Dawsons in Stockport, a Framus Jazz bass in 1976 or 7. I don't suppose the Rhythm House on Hillgate is still there? Seemed like a relic from a bygone age 40 years ago! [/quote] Rhythm House is long gone I believe. There is a small independent, Fab Music, on Hilllgate a few doors down, they were efficient and helpful when I went in for headphones for my amp a while back (I shop local not internet whenever possible) but limited stock and I don't know what they'd be like if I'd been looking for a bass. They do seem to promote local bands and venues.

I'm way below any objective standard of "average" but well proud of where I've got to. In that sense I'm happy. But - "encumbered forever by desire and ambition" - I'm determined to go on learning and getting better, and I have no interest in living any longer than I can go on learning. In that sense I will never be happy, and that's as I want it. "If you're any good at all, you know you can be better." (Lindsey Buckingham) ps the first quote is from Pink Floyd, "High Hopes". Which will be played in full at my funeral, the Gilmour Live at Gdansk version. I can't listen to that guitar solo more than once a year, it's too powerfully poignant.

[quote name='ead' timestamp='1475343526' post='3145259'] ...and bloody good it was too. [/quote] Aynsley Lister is superb. I'll be seeing him again at Manchester Academy 17/12. I highly recommend his guitar tuition weekends. There were four of us bass players at the last one, a couple of weeks ago, working with his bassist Steve Amadeo (who is an excellent teacher) and getting a way better share of the jam sessions than the 15 or so guitar players. Go to one if you can. I'll be going back.

We had lots of classical music on a reasonable quality mono record player, and I got taken to lots of classical concerts from an early age, which I did enjoy. But neither parent ever dreamed of touching an instrument - playing music was something professionals did while one listened respectfully. I was given violin lessons for several years around age 8-9-10 but never really got on with it, possibly because they would nag me to practice and then tease me about the awful noise. Still makes no sense to me. When I started taking an interest in "pop" music (Eric Burdon and the Animals, then the Byrds) my mother was horrified, and assured me definitively that I could never be any good as a musician - any more than I could sprout wings and fly to the moon - and I shouldn't even think about it. To be fair, they were brilliant at encouraging and supporting me in things they could identify with - mostly academic - through to getting a PhD and a job as a university lecturer. I think they genuinely believed I couldn't do music or sport, and were trying to be kind to me by discouraging me from trying. My mother still can't get her head around the fact that I ran the London Marathon in 1997 (just under 5 hours, respectable) and I shudder to think how she would react if I told her I'm now playing blues on bass. Mr Josie #1 and I brought our boys up with a piano in the house (he could sort of play a bit) and in a top-flight church choir - they were comfortable singing live Radio 3 broadcasts by the age of 10 - with music in their lives as something they did themselves, as best we could without being musicians ourselves. I'm proud that now in their 30s they both love playing (older son has moved on from full-scale church organ to keyboards and guitar, younger is a fine drummer and now learning bass). My four grandchildren (age 1 - 5) are growing up with instruments lying around the house which they are encouraged to "play", although so far only one is showing a serious interest. My blood runs cold any time I hear anyone tell a child that he or she "can't" do anything (meaning "will never be able to"). Never slam a door in a child's face. I try not to think about the 45 years of bass playing I lost, and just to be grateful for the two years I've had.

Brought up on classical music, I can remember as a small child sitting with my ear to the speaker of our mono record player trying to track the cello line in Mozart string quartets. Later spent years listening to basslines on rock / blues records and watching bass players at gigs never daring to dream I could ever play myself - learned to recognise the sound patterns but had no idea how or why they sounded like that. It wasn't until I found a good teacher that I began to understand how to make my fingers get those sound patterns out of an instrument. The first thing I learned was the root notes for a basic12-bar I-IV-V, which felt pretty cool at the time, but when he showed me how to play a turnaround it was a joyful lightbulb moment. Playing along with your favourite songs is good as long as you don't feel you have to copy every note of some quick ripply bubbly bassline - just get to where you can get the root notes right, and decorate that line gradually as you feel more confident. In some ways it's better to have a drum machine and jam to a beat - less pressure, and you can develop your playing at your own pace. As said, playing with other people is the best, but you have to get to a certain level, and they have to be the right people, who don't criticise or intimidate you. Jamming with the right other people is exhilarating - play as much or as little as you can keep solid, and soak up that amazing feeling of being the backbone of a living collective thing. Best feeling in the world imho, and will give you the motivation to work on your musical knowledge and technique. Motivation is probably more important than any book or video or teacher. If you want it badly enough, it will happen.

Black Stingray 5, I thought - still love the look, but when I had the chance to try one it didn't feel right. Hands-on, love at first touch, my dearly beloved GMR 5. I do now also have two black Jazzes and a black Vintage acoustic bass and a black Faith Venus (my very first ever guitar) so I guess something has stuck Maybe now that I know how to play a bit I should try a Stingray again? I love Victoria Smith's bass (and I'd love to be able to play as well as she does). No, no, stop me, please. I don't need a second mortgage.

A good word for Dawsons. We bought my son's Ibanez acoustic guitar from their Stockport branch (now sadly closed) and the staff were super-patient and helpful, even let him use the staff toilet to change his baby son's nappy in the middle of carefully testing five or six guitars. I pop into their Manchester branch occasionally and the staff are always friendly and knowledgeable. Johnny Roadhouse (now a branch of Hobgoblin) are patchy - a couple of the staff are fine, but there's one who tried to sell me a set of heavyweight nickel-wound bass strings when I asked for bronze-wound strings for an acoustic bass. Promenade Music in Morecambe Bay are awesome. Put a 2nd hand Stingray aside for me for two weeks on spec and no hint of a grumble when I got there and didn't like it. (I bought my GMR instead.) A couple of years later when I phoned about a Jazz Plus 5, they not only put it behind the counter but tuned it up before I got there. (I bought that too.) It's a good thing they're two hours train ride away or Gok how many basses I'd own by now

1992 US Jazz Plus 5, £750 - I was lusting for the Jazz Aerodyne I'd left with my son in Nashville and just lashed out on impulse. Spotted it on the Promenade Music website, phoned up and asked them to hold it, jumped on the next train to Morecambe Bay and it was mine a couple of hours later. How different can two Jazz basses be? The Aerodyne is slimmed down and graceful, the Plus is a heavy chunky beast and hard to play. I really didn't "need" it, and I wouldn't buy it now, now that I've brought the Aerodyne home. I'll still use the Plus as a challenge to improve my playing skills. If I had to let one of my guitars go it would be that one. But I got a huge buzz out of buying it, and I still get a buzz from just looking at it. Putting "indulgence" in perspective - I know plenty of people who spend £750 on Starbucks coffee in 18 months. Or similar casual trivia. I'm not sure a handsome top quality bass, even one I "don't need", is really an indulgence by comparison.

Congratulations, well done, and look forward to many more! Gigging is pretty addictive. Mistakes have to be horrendous for anyone but you to notice. I've twice - starting a fast blues after a slow one - played two bars while everyone else played four, and I don't think anyone else even noticed that.

Interesting programme on Radio 3 i-player and for download: "Why is music addicted to bass? Can you imagine a piece of music without its bass line? Or going out dancing with no bass to move to? Whether it's an epic symphony or a club classic - we love listening to the bass. But what actually is 'bass'? How is it that we can often feel it as much as hear it? And why is it that every genre of music seems to need it?" http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07vwg5w It's mostly about classical music, but there's some very interesting general stuff about the behaviour of low-frequency sound waves and what that means for their effect in music.

Lakland 5 - but it has to be the right one. Spotted a beauty with quilted maple top on Gruhn's (Nashville) website last week for $1800 but when I went in the next morning it was gone. Tried a couple of others there and elsewhere, but they didn't talk to me. No hurry. I go back a couple of times a year to visit my son and his family, he is always up for guitar shopping, and when the time is right the right bass will jump off the wall into my arms. You know what it's like. All my 8 guitars have just told me they were coming home with me, and the next one will too

Still has to be my flame red GMR 5 - my first bass, fit like a detachable body part from the minute I first picked her up, looks and sounds beautiful, and irreplaceable. GMR afIk only made bespoke basses, so someone went in and specified this and then let her go. It's been a hard journey and I would have given up many times in the first 18 months, but she wouldn't let me. It's only fair I can't let her go. My new-to-me black Jazz Aerodyne is now a close second, just feels perfect to play, and drops jaws wherever she goes. I've gigged her a few times in Nashville (where I got her) and last weekend at Aynsley Lister's excellent guitar tuition weekend, and both places had other bass players (and guitarists) almost physically drooling over her. Exceptional. I'd have to be more or less on the streets before I'd part with her. The others (Fender Jazz + 5, Encore P-clone, Vintage acoustic) have their reasons, and I'm glad to have them and enjoy playing them, but I could let them go to a better home for a fair price if I had to.

Beautiful Stingray! Welcome.

Brought this beauty back from Nashville yesterday (Fender Jazz Aerodyne Japan 1992) and taking it to Aynsley Lister's guitar tuition weekend workshop tomorrow. My GMR 5 will remain my first love, but I can't take my hands off this

As said, depends who the previous owner was. I bottled out of buying a Jack Bruce Aria at Sotheby's last year (was last-but-one bidder) and bitterly regret it. Can't think who else I'd pay that much over the odds for. Possibly Carmine Rojas. Gruhns in Nashville have lots of guitars and basses at premium prices certified to previous owners I don't care about. No.

[quote name='josie' timestamp='1472602968' post='3122587'] Four with a fifth in disputed possession: ... The fifth is a Fender Jazz Aerodyne (Japan 1992) which I bought in Nashville on my last visit to my son, which I he claims was for him, and I claim was so I had a good bass to play when I'm there. This is about to be put to the test, as I'm going over tomorrow and fully intend to bring it back with me. I may have to ransom it by getting him a good Fender P [/quote] Now definitely five, the Aerodyne came home with me in the overhead bin on a transatlantic flight last night. And yes, it cost me a US Standard P. Well worth it - when I gigged the Aerodyne in Nashville last week, every bass player in the house wanted to get their hands on her.

Happy to stand corrected - probably showing my age... When I bought my sons their first instruments, 25-ish years ago, one had to spend good money to get good quality. It's relatively recent, and excellent, that better instruments are available at a better price.

I've just flown Nashville - Philadelphia - Manchester on American Airlines with a Jazz in a gig bag as carry-on, and their staff were all completely helpful. The check-in lady gave me free priority boarding (without my asking), and the cabin crew on both flights stowed it carefully in the overhead bins for me. I did de-tune it, but probably didn't need to. My musician friends in Nashville tell me it is probably the most guitar-friendly airport in the world, but the ground staff in Philly were fine too. (It did help at that point that I had just easily stowed the bass on a smaller plane for the first flight.) Naturally I was all politeness and appreciation - completely sincerely, it is at their discretion and they were lovely to deal with.

Some of these look more like sculptures than bass guitars... I've never had a chance to play any of Sanchez' instruments, but he is respected as a luthier, and his craftsmanship is outstanding. http://davidsanchezluthier.blogspot.com.es/p/bajosbass_30.html

It's worth considering one of these - I'm happy with mine: http://www.musicradar.com/reviews/guitars/vintage-vcb-430-26531 I find it hard to play quietly - there's a lot of distinctive growly resonance in that big hollow body. And plugged in it loses that sound, so if I have to amplify it I use a mic in front. If you want to play it on a strap, you'll have to fix the strap end to the headstock, not the body - there's an unavoidable lack of balance between a light hollow body, and a headstock with all its metalwork at the end of a long neck. That's why a lot of them only have one strap pin. I find mine steady and comfortable to sit with, and I'm sort of middle-sized with middle-length arms. See also http://basschat.co.uk/topic/180569-acoustic-basses/ although most of the recommendations there are for a higher budget.

I only ever wanted to play bass - as soon as I found out (age about 14) that there was more music in the world than my parents' taste for Bach and Mozart, I just somehow intuitively [b]knew[/b] that the bass was the base / backbone / most important instrument in the band. A lot of what I've enjoyed doing in other areas of my life has had a similar back room / engine room / mostly invisible / hold everything together role. (Try being Secretary of an Industrial and Provident Society, aka a co-op.) When I finally (age 59) summoned up the courage to get my first guitar, it was a 6-string acoustic - because it seemed obvious and versatile and a safe choice (and because on the day I went in to Johnny Roadhouse in Manchester they had an utterly gorgeous, ridiculously cheap 2nd-hand Faith Venus who jumped off the wall and told me she was coming home with me). After about 6 months of learning chords and struggling to find songs I liked that were simple enough for me to actually play, I reminded myself that I had only ever wanted to play bass - found my wonderful GMR and have barely touched the Faith since. I'm surprised at how many good guitar players tell me they think playing bass must be harder. They have to learn whole chord shapes and deal with the G / B string jag on the fretboard, I play one note at a time and can move any shape anywhere, even on a 5-string. If I get out of my depth in a fast-paced jam I can pare it back to root notes and still maintain the link / foundation role. But the bottom line is just instinct, gut-and-bone-marrow, I love playing bass.