LeftyP

The word "Guys" seems to be applied to all genders these days. My wife and I have been called guys when eating at cafes and restaurants. "Hi guys, what would you like?"

We are an oppressed minority - but come the revolution..........! Being left handed, I rule a line from right to left and always flick through a magazine from back to front. When dining out I swap wine glasses and side plates about and turn my dessert spoon round so the handle is on the left; it causes no end of confusion to the other diners on my table! It's nice to be different!

Nice one! I wonder how many piano shops sell them. I also wonder whether there would be a market for electronic keyboards that could be switched to play left handed. You would think in this day and age a simple button on the keyboard would enable the instrument to become left handed.

I wonder if left handed people, who play other instruments, get hung up about having special instruments for them. I don't recall ever seeing a left handed piano or trombone etc. Can you play a flute with it sticking out to your left? Pianos (and keyboards in general) are a good case to look at because the melody is usually played with the right hand and the left hand provides a steady bass section. You would assume that left handed players will not be as nimble over the keys as a right hander. It seems that only guitar players make a thing about being left handed and wanting special instruments made for them. I like being left handed but have no problem in adapting to playing as a right handed person would. Whichever way I play, I'm still rubbish!

Parcelforce tried to deliver a parcel a while ago but, of course, I was out. The card they left told me that I could collect the parcel from the post office. There is a post office less than a two minute walk from my front door and the main sorting office is about a ten minute walk away. They left the parcel at the post office in the centre of town - part of the main WH Smith store. I walked down into town the following day to collect my parcel and, after queuing for many minutes was told that they could not find the package. I was told to ring the Parcelforce office who eventually told me that the package was "out for delivery". I raced back home with visions of another little red card through the door but about half an hour after I got home the package was delivered. Apparently, the driver had filled in his card to tell me where to collect the parcel from but, by the time he got there, WH Smith had closed for the night! He didn't leave it at my local post office because it was difficult to park there - even though there are many delivery vans and lorries dropping stuff off there every day because it is a corner shop that sells milk, bread and stuff as well as being a P.O. You couldn't make it up.

I'm a lefty who plays right handed because that is how I was taught by my guitar teacher when I tried the classical guitar. Despite my dominant hand being the left one I don't have a lot of dexterity in it for fretting the bass. My fingers don't stretch far enough apart to manage one finger per fret and I need to move my hand around much more because of it. Having said that, my right hand is about the same, so I'd be no better off switching to a left handed bass!

I thought I would re-activate this subject as I have just paid a visit to Promenade Music in Morecambe. The Lancashire sea side town is just over an hour's drive south down the M6 from my Cumbrian home and today turned out to be quite mild and sunny for February! I had forgotten what a great music shop Promenade is. You name the musical instrument and they will probably have it tucked away somewhere. There were loads of bass guitars and electric guitars in the basement with keyboards and a huge selection of acoustic guitars upstairs. Brass and woodwind instruments were on display too. I was looking for a gig bag for my Italia Maranello Cavo bass guitar, which is a bit small to fill out a standard bass bag but too large for an electric guitar bag! We tried a few but nothing was suitable. I was blown away by the selection of musical instruments they had, with more bass guitars than to could wish for. It's worth a visit if you fancy a day out.

As a teenager in the '60s, listening to Radio Caroline (North), I was - and still am - a big Beatles fan. But it was their early stuff that I really liked. Album wise I have "Please Please Me" - 1963, "Beatles For Sale" - 1964, "With The Beatles" -1963, "A Hard Day's Night" (my favourite Beatles album) 1964, "Rubber Soul" - 1965, "Help" - 1965 and "Revolver" 1966. After those recordings I felt they wandered away from good old 'pop' music. Sgt. Pepper has never registered with me - I genuinely do not understand the fuss that is made over it. I am also an ABBA fan and love everything the Carpenters ever recorded. I can appreciate most types of music but the old 60s/70s tracks have something about them.

It's difficult to say because they feel so different under the fingers. Some brands may differ too. If they are of a lower tension it will be minimal. All I know is that I like the way they play and they are kind to my fingers! I am a light player so that will affect the sound of them too.

I use Amazon a lot and my sister gives me a shopping list at Christmas for stuff she wants for her sons (she is not on-line!). I have never had a problem with Amazon. They have a huge choice of products at good prices (generally) and can often deliver within 24 hours - even without using Prime. They also provide a shop window for individual retailers who use Amazon to sell their wares. I ordered a cheap watch for when I am out and about; by cheap I mean £2. It came from Hong Kong and I suspect the postage cost more than the watch - the replacement battery certainly did! It keeps better time than a Tag Huer I have. I also bought one of those small bendy camera tripods which should have come with a fitting to hold a smart 'phone. Again it was only about £3 and was shipped from China. It arrived without the smart 'phone fitting so I mentioned this on the Amazon feedback site. I got a full refund, was told to keep the tripod and then they sent me the missing fitting - quids in! I buy all my bass strings and accessories from Amazon as my local guitar shop (we only have one) has a limited choice. I hate "shopping" and avoid the high street if at all possible. I was thinking the other day about which high street shops (excluding where we do our weekly shop) I would miss if they closed. I could not think of one. Amazon plays by the tax rules as they are and it is up to the government of the day to sort that out. As has already been mentioned, retail is a hard business and generally low paid. We've all heard about the working conditions of Sports Direct and other "named" brands so I don't see why Amazon should be targeted for special treatment. City centres suffered from the out of town sites that have sprung up over recent years. We need to bring people back into town centres to live and stop this obsession with shopping.

Well it was a Blues band!

The weight of the Chowny took me by surprise as I had been playing a Tanglewood copy of the Hofner violin bass and that was very light - I still have it. I would not wish to put anyone off buying a Chowny SWB-1 as I really liked it and it played very well - it is a very good bass guitar. My back issues were the problem - not the guitar. I tried flat wound strings on the Italia but have now fitted my favourite tape wounds to it. I like the sound and feel of tape wounds (D'Addario) as they are not "zingy" and prevent the zip-wire sound when sliding across the frets. They provide the bass with more of a thump instead of a piano ring and I prefer that. I can stand with the bass around my neck for much longer than I could with the Chowny and my back is very grateful for that! The Italia is certainly something different from the usual Jazz and Precision basses out there and suits the music I play (in a church service) very well. It's a keeper!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/DAddario-ECB-82-x-5セット-ECB82/dp/B009RIJXA4/ref=sr_1_166?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1548763891&sr=1-166&keywords=d+addario+bass+strings

I was on holiday in Switzerland a few years ago and came across Peter Mafay on a German TV channel. He is huge in Germany.

"Cherish" - The Association (1966) "Cherish" - Kool and the Gang (1984) "Cherish" - Madonna (1989)

You will not be disappointed with a Chowny SWB-1. I had one but had to change to a lighter bass because of back problems. Not that the Chowny is heavy - just my back is delicate! I now have an Italia Cavo short scale bass with D'Addario flat wounds on it and it is a lovely little bass.

https://www.minotaurguitarstraps.com/bass-wide-straps/111-bass-fclef-brown-camel.html I have one of these which is starting to soften nicely and looks pretty good too!

You drummer is ace. She makes Charlie Watts look animated!

Yes, loved the old Hammond sound and have albums by Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff and Richard "Groove" Holmes. Jimmy Smith's rendition of "Who's afraid of Virginia Wolf - parts 1 and 2 is just magic. And don't forget the old Pickwick record label 12" albums with such stunning titles as; "Hammond Goes Latin", "Hammond Party Time" and of course "Hammond Ago-go!"

Two more sisters - they are twins. From a Christian music background but now trying other styles. Interesting studio set up.

You forgot; Kenneth McKellar and Jimmy Shand!

Two talented sisters from Sweden and one plays a Hofner club bass - what's not to like!

I've had my Italia Cavo Bass for a month and am still finding out what it can do. It has a retro look about it and, despite its Italian name, was deigned by an Englishman (Trevor Wilkinson) and built in South Korea! The build quality is very good. It is a short scale bass and features a semi hollow body which makes it pretty light at just over 7lb. There is a central block inside the body to which the bridge and pick-ups are anchored. The weight - or lack of it - is what first attracted me to the Cavo. I was playing a Chowny SWB-1 short scale bass and really liked it but my 68 year old back struggled with the weight of it, even though it was just over 9lb and not very heavy for a bass. Sadly the Chowny had to go and I managed to track down the Cavo bass at Richard's Guitars in Stratford. It took a lot of keyboard time to find a UK dealer who had one available and Richard's were good enough to have it weighed for me. They set the bass up beautifully but it came supplied with round wound strings which I very soon changed for flat wounds. Although the Cavo is "short scale" it needs medium length strings (34") to take into account the bridging system. D'Addario Medium Scale 45/100 flat wounds fit it perfectly. The bass comes in a choice of two colours; green or red, and I chose the red which I hope comes out well in the photographs. I am not a big fan of chrome but the Italia's styling carries off the shiny stuff well and I do like the look of it (even the strings are Chromes!). On the strap there is slight neck dive but nothing to get excited about and the lightness of the bass is very welcome. Controls are; Volume, Tone and "Sweep" which enables the player to blend the bridge and neck pick-ups to order. One thing that has caught me by surprise is how much the tone control alters the sound. The Cavo is a passive bass and usually tone controls on passives have very little affect on the overall sound (the Chowny's tone control was almost just a decorative knob) but turning the control from one extreme to the other produces a noticeable change in the tone of the Cavo. I play in our church band and the bass is plugged into a D.I. box and fed to a mixer at the back of the hall. I have very little control as to how the bass sounds or sits in the mix and I am still experimenting with the tone and pick-up controls to find a sweet spot. All in all, I really like this little bass guitar. It makes a difference from all the Fender look-a-likes, is kind to my ageing back, and I think it will be my playing partner for many years.

Joe's bass playing on The Fifth Dimension's recording of Aquarius/Let The Sunshine is one of the best performances you will hear. Very skillful but controlled. Joe was one of the unsung bass heroes and it's only in recent years that I discovered many of my favourite recordings had Joe laying down the bottom line. Thanks Joe.