lozkerr

Don't encourage the poor guy. He'll catch GAS quick enough once he finds the Marketplace!

+1 for this. Also, if you rely on tabs, you may find yourself playing the five like a four, using the B string as a thumb rest. The big advantage of the five is that you get two full octaves over five frets everywhere on the fretboard, and to make best use of that and minimise shifting, you often have to use different fingering to that indicated in the tab. If you can read the dots, you'll have a massive advantage.

I'm glad it's not just me, although that doesn't help you any. It does sound like something's broken recently, as up until the last few weeks I'd been getting stuff regularly off Amazon. Mainly DVDs, CDs and music books, plus a few wee bits and pieces for our lighting rig. Up until the business with the EUB case, it was working really well. I'm a bit concerned, as I need to sort out my kids' Christmas presents in the next few weeks.

Anyone else had strange experiences with Amazon tracking? I'm beginning to wonder if Amazon and Parcelforce are having a bit of a handbag moment. Twice in the last few weeks, I've had some weird and self-contradictory notifications from Amazon. The first was when I bought a Stagg EUB case from Germany. The delivery dates kept changing - first it was in the UK, then it wasn't, then it was going to be delivered on a Saturday, then it didn't turn up, then radio silence and then it eventually arrived the following week. No delivery notification from Amazon. A similar thing's happened today. I bought a couple of bits off Amazon last week - nothing hugely valuable, just a multi-region DVD player and XLR to 1/4" jack adapter - and after the initial emailed order notification, nothing. Tracking it on Amazon showed it was out for delivery for collection from my local post office and should arrive by 8pm last night. When I checked this morning, it was showing as having been delivered on Saturday. Clicking 'track package' brought up a notification that delivery had failed, Parcelforce were hanging onto it and could I please phone them. Well, the Parcelforce depot is miles away and the post office is just round the corner so I wandered down there. And there it was - arrived on Saturday. Has anyone else encountered this? It sounds like something's broken, or they've outsourced IT support to Track and Trace.

Welcome aboard! I'm in Edinburgh as well.

Bought MrTea's Stagg EUB and really pleased with it. Great transaction, bass well packed and exactly as described. Highly recommended! 👍👍

Howlround Feedback for me 🙂

The Drugs Don't Work - the Verve.

Looks nice! I'm tempted to bid, but I'd be scared of damaging it - I've always been a bit accident prone...

Plenty, but I'm not a big fan of Hollywood films and never have been. I recognised one or two of the other names, but if you'd asked me what they were famous for, I genuinely would not have known.

I got 1/10. At least I know who Homer Simpson is!

Oh Lord. I'm so sorry to read this. I can't think of a worse place to be. Are you any good at DIY? That's not in any way meant to be a flippant comment - there is a lot you can do yourself if you put your mind to it. Over the years, I've retiled a roof, re-plumbed a house and flat, done plastering, wallpapering, laid flooring and carpet, installed fireplaces and curtain rails, replaced wiring including light fittings, switches and power points, installed kitchen units, replaced doors, laid carpets and slapped paint everywhere. It can be done. There are some things you can't realistically or safely do yourself without experience and/or qualifications, such as structural work, messing around with gas fittings or certifying wiring installations, but you can certainly do a heck of a lot of the spadework yourself. The secrets are - break big jobs, such as a room refurb, into lots of little ones, think about the order in which things need to be done, don't be afraid to have a go, practise techniques you're not sure about, learn from your mistakes, buy good-quality tools and know when you must get the professionals in. For example, once you've mastered making watertight soldered joints - Yorkshire ring fittings and a good blowtorch are your friends there - you can fit an entire gas-fired central heating system yourself except for the boiler - that is most definitely a pro job unless you're a Gas Safe engineer. Fitting a boiler is going to be a lot cheaper than paying someone to do the whole system from scratch. And you can work as a pace that suits you and your finances. It's a bit like becoming a musician, really. Also, and this is crucial to maintaining your morale - keep one room spotless and used for living only. It sounds like you already have that, so keep it that way. No tools or materials in there, no filthy work clothes, no effing nowt. Not even overnight. Because when you start to feel overwhelmed - and I can promise you, you will - you need to be able to shut the door on the carnage outside and retreat to your own space for some R&R.

I've been very lucky - like @knirirr, I'm working in research IT. Currently slogging away on covid-19 work, as it happens. When I was offered the gig, I had to pay my own travel between Leeds, where I lived at the time, and London. When lockdown came, we switched overnight from traipsing into central London to fully remote working. I should have a nice wee nest egg now after six months of WFH, but inevitably I've spent it on Patreon subs, singing lessons and buying gear for the band even though it's anyone's guess when a bunch of superannuated weekend warriors will take to the stage again. But at least we'll be fully tooled-up and good to go when that day finally dawns. I know I'm very lucky. Some of the full-time musos I know are really struggling and even though we're not exactly besties, I worry about them and feel very guilty for being more secure than they are.

I do wish you hadn't mentioned that. My credit card's itching now...

I'm out. Snapped up a cheap EUB from the marketplace. I'd been toying with trying an EUB for a while, but couldn't justify the price and didn't really want the hassle of moving it on if I didn't take to it. But £140 isn't going to break the bank. Still, at least I made it to the end of September! (I've also bought a PA, camcorder and lighting rig but was going to claim a pass for those on the basis that they're for the whole band, not just me.)

Me too, Silvia. An online show is nothing like the buzz o the real thing. I'm just hoping it'll be back next year.

If you find it, any chance I could have a copy too?

That is sadly true. I was just lucky to find myself on the right side of the fence.

Yes, very much so, but not in the bass department. I went to a provincial grammar school, which thought of itself as a public school, except it had all of the pretensions and none of the class. It was big on sport, which I absolutely hated and resigned myself to years of misery. Then I started music lessons. The music teacher was a real character - a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists no less, with a famously short fuse leading to a fiery conductor's temper. Most of the kids, and many of the staff - including the headmaster - were sh|t-scared of him. But he and I got on famously after he discovered I had a good singing voice. I found myself in the music crowd, where you could get away with a hell of a lot as long as you were delivering the musical goods. The school was big on music thanks to him - I had a part in an opera directed by the Master of the Queen's Music, took part in choir recitals broadcast on Radio 3... it was great. Sadly, it didn't last. We moved away and my confidence went with it. It took a while for it to come back - changing schools half-way through O-levels had a horrible effect on my psyche. I bounced back a bit by mastering the marching snare drum and rising to become Leading Bugler in the school Corps of Drums, but my musical ability, such as it was, took a back seat for far too long. I've recently started lessons in singing while playing bass, and quite a bit of what I learnt way back when is starting to return. Thank you, Mr Tickner. And may you rest in peace.

You say that like it's a bad thing 😉

Just stumbled across this old thread... I've recently started lessons in singing while playing bass. I'd tried off my own bat a few times and not made much progress, but having a teacher who both talks the talk and walks the walk has made all the difference. We started with a simple Wilburys number - End of the Line - but finding I could sing, play and crucially, stay in time was a massive confidence boost. I think it'll be a wee while before I can front a band and do Won't Get Fooled Again though!

Uh-oh, polly ticks. IBTL! 😉