LeftyP

I've had my Italia short scale bass for eight years. It took some finding but I eventually tracked one down at Richard's Guitars in Stratford-upon-Avon. Since then they have not been advertised anywhere. I did see a used one on the Bass Direct site last year costing just shy of £1000 - about £350 more than I paid new! I'm not sure if they are still being made or imported. I recently had the bass set up by Overwater (I live a ten minute walk from their studios in Carlisle) and it plays a treat - even in my hands!

La Bella generally say on the packaging whether the strings are suitable for through bass stringing.

I'm left handed but play right handed. Interestingly, the young lady playing the flute is also left handed but plays her instrument the conventional (right handed) way. I don't think it's possible to play a flute on the left side because of its mouth piece and key layout. We have several lefties in our church band pool; some guitarists and a drummer. The other lefties do play their guitars in the left handed way and the drummer swaps the kit about so he can play it.

We had a multi-church event this week called Living Word. Thursday night was our church band's turn to lead. I think the attached photo of me is the most flattering one I've seen. That's me (or my legs) hidden behind the right hand PA speaker! No-one notices the bass player.

I ordered a set of LaBella flat wounds from BD and they came the next day at £10 cheaper than Amazon!

I think I may have posted about this before, but if you need ideas for a band name pop into B&Q and go to the Valspar paint counter. They have colour cards covering the full spectrum of shades (there's a name for you!) with all sorts of creative names. Our bathroom is painted "Harp Strings"!

A local country music act was called Ken and Doug but they were a trio! I'm still trying to work out which one was called And.

Funny that Ewan Maccoll, who wrote "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" hated every version of it! He wrote it for Peggy Seeger who became his third wife and she told me the tale which is confirmed on Wikipedia. MacColl made no secret of the fact that he disliked all of the cover versions of the song. His daughter-in-law wrote: "He hated all of them. He had a special section in his record collection for them, entitled 'The Chamber of Horrors'. He said that the Elvis version was like Romeo at the bottom of the Post Office Tower singing up to Juliet. The other versions, he thought, were travesties: bludgeoning, histrionic, and lacking in grace."[6]

It varies from band to band but generally; keyboard, acoustic/electric guitar, drums, violin, mandolin, flute, oboe, bass and vocals of course. We didn't have drums as our drummer was on his honeymoon in the Philippines (he's from there). Not all the instruments are available every week so it can be mix and match.

My church cannot accommodate the number of people who attend every Sunday so we are planning to move to a larger building. In the meantime we have gone to two morning services - 9.15 and 11.15am. Both services are getting pretty full! We now have four bands to cater for the increase in services. There are two bands who take turns to play at the early meeting and two more at the later gathering. I now play every other week at the 11.15 service and we need to have a mid-week rehearsal because it is impossible on a Sunday morning as the people of the first meeting mingle with the later arrivals and chat over tea and cake! I must say I'm enjoying playing more often and can already feel my ability increasing. Our band does not have a drummer at the moment (he is on honeymoon) so it is up to me to keep everyone in time. That means hitting the root notes and providing a good foundation for the other band members to build on. The mid-week rehearsal (Friday evening) is also a good time to socialise with the rest of the band and try out new arrangements. The only problem with playing at the second meeting is that I can enjoy some tea and cake at the start and the end - not good for the figure!

It's funny, when I started reading this subject I couldn't remember whether my bass had side dots or not! I had to check. It does have them but they are very small and black. I suppose I must use them for reference without really noticing them!

Apologies if this has been covered before but, is there such a thing as a short scale, lightweight, 5 string bass? I play a short scale 4 string which does the job very well but we do some songs at church where I need to drop down to Eb. I normally just play up the octave but would like to try a 5 string. One of the other bass players was using a full scale 5 string this weekend and I struggled to pick it up! Why are these things so heavy? Any suggestions would be welcomed.

I don't normally receive or expect compliments for playing in the church band but this morning I received one! A very attractive young lady, who has been coming to our church over the last few weeks, came and told me how much she enjoyed my bass playing. I thanked her but said that no-one really notices the bass but she was insistent that I had done a good job. She was in the early to mid 20s and was working at a local veterinary practise. This 74 year old grandad now feels very encouraged!

Hope this link works!

It's a bit long and wordy but highlights what playing in church is all about. Have a brew and enjoy.