LeftyP

My wife and I did our first go at playing/singing our parts and recording them on a smart phone last week, to be knitted together for our Sunday streaming service. It's very strange listening to a backing track through small headphones and trying to keep in time. Last week was "It's A Light And A Hammer" (kid's song) but this week it's the Getty's "By Faith" with me on bass and my wife on oboe. We've decided to record our contributions separately! I'm currently getting the hang of playing along to a piano and cajon track and don't know who else will be taking part. I usually follow a chord chart with the root notes placed above the appropriate words, but as no-one is singing on the guide track, it is making life interesting. All good fun and a great lesson in concentration and patience!

I mentioned this on the cycling thread but if you don't cycle...................... I am spending time on a turbo trainer rather than venturing out on my bike during lock down. Sitting on the bike spinning the cranks in my back yard is mind numbing so I've been listening to some classic Motown/Stax and Atlantic soul through headphones. I'm now realising what a great bass player James Jamerson was. Trying to keep up with his bass riffs on the Motown tracks has inflicted great pain on my poor old legs! The Four Tops, Supremes, Stevie Wonder etc. are great tracks to keep fit to - or in my case collapse to!

One of Willie's great comments went along the lines of; "I don't know why everyone is criticizing Lance Armstrong for taking drugs while riding his bike. When I was taking drugs, I couldn't even find my bike!"

We would have been going to the Montreux Jazz Festival but that has been cancelled and I can't see our holiday taking place either. We were also looking to book for a Barry Manilow concert (Mrs. LeftyP is a fan) but that won't be happening anytime soon!

I may have posted this video on another thread so sorry if it is a repeat. I don't understand the words but the emotion Trijntje puts into the song reduced fellow singer, Tino Martin, to bits! All the people in the video are huge stars in the Netherlands and can sell out stadiums at the drop of a hat.

"Tin Man" by America. I'm going through it slowly, writing down the name of the notes and working our the fingering for it. Then I shall put it into notation-al form on manuscript paper. By doing this I'm improving my Ear Training, music reading and finger dexterity all at the same time! I need a cup of tea!

I've had La Bella flat wounds (.039 - .096) on my bass for about six months and the E string does lack a bit of sparkle with the A string not far behind. I've just changed to Dunlop Stainless Steel flat wounds with a slightly heavier gauge (.045 - .105) and I cannot believe the difference! The Dunlops are much brighter, to the point where I have had to roll off some treble, and feel really good under the fingers. Even without the bass plugged in they project really well. I think I've just found my "go to" flat wounds.

I'm not sure my choice is 'Cool' or 'Uncool' but I've just been listening to an album by the trio America. They had a hit with "A Horse With No Name" - or as I like to call it "A Song With No Tune". Their track "Tin Man" has a great bass line, simply credited to America. Their song "Ventura Highway had drummer Hal Blaine on board and the legend that was Joe Osborne on bass. Some nice easy listening country rock.

There was a web site - "menwholooklikekennyrogers.com" which contained photo's of - men who look like Kenny Rogers! Sad to hear of his death, he had a voice that could only belong to him.

You are John Shuttleworth and I claim my prize!

That's not a bass, it's a harp!

Hollow body neck dive is noticeable on both my basses. I installed Hipshot Ultralight tuners on my Italia which has helped a little but you are right it is still a bit neck heavy. As to playing as a right hander when being left handed; It goes back to when I tried, unsuccessfully, to learn classical guitar. Having never played a guitar before my teacher suggested trying the right hand method. I have posted about this elsewhere on the forum. The result is, I can't even hold a guitar in the left hand position very well. I am a very basic (bass -ic) player in our church band and don't need to be flashy at all so playing "back to front", as it were, hasn't been a problem.

Yours are positively palatial compared to the "shed" we had barely enough room to get changed into our wedding togs!

You make Shepherd Huts - was this one of yours? My wife and I stayed in it for a night when our daughter got married last August near Stoke-on-Trent. Interesting, and all part of life's big adventure!

I'm supposed to be retired at 69 but I'm still presenting programmes on BBC local radio which I have done for over 40 years. I told the station manager that I would keep going until I got it right and he said I would have a long career ahead of me! Just about to go and present my usual Sunday evening show.

Hofner manage to avoid weight with their violin basses and other makers of hollow body basses don't appear to have bending issues. Both of my basses are hollow body and so far they have not folded in half. My point was really that the weight of a bass may only have a marginal affect on the sound once the amplification, pick-ups and strings have had their say. That being the case (if it is) then there should be no need to make basses heavy.

That is the reason I'm glad I learned to play right handed even though I'm very left handed. I can try out any make of bass in a shop. I still can't play them very well but at least I can try! Getting back to weight; Why are bass guitars so heavy in the first place? I've seen the arguments that a certain type of wood gives an instrument a characteristic sound, but with electric bass guitars there is so much going on between the strings and speakers I do wonder if the wood has a significant affect. Let's face it, the type and gauge of strings, the quality of pick-ups, the instrument's tone controls, the amplification and EQ, plus the size and quality of speakers will all colour the sound somewhat. Not to mention that some players feed their bass signals through more pedals than you'll find in a Tour de France peloton! I suspect that we all pluck or pick the strings differently too so will anyone really notice much change from an ash bodied bass to a mahogany one? I can understand that purely acoustic guitars will be affected by the type of wood and how individual timbers resonate but solid bodied, electric instruments, have so many other things thrown into the mix that the type and weight of wood must only have a minimal affect on the sound reaching the punters' ears on a crowded dance floor.

I don't worry about it, I just don't like being in pain and possibly causing more damage to my spine. There are genuine reasons for wanting a lighter bass and they have nothing to do with GAS.

I "did my back in" a few years ago when learning to snowboard and have had back issues ever since. Most of the time I don't notice it but every so often I get a real pain in the lower back for no particular reason. I like short scale basses and tried a Chowny SWB-1. As bass guitars go, it was not overly heavy but it did aggravate my back when used for a while. A great little bass which I was sad to see go - don't let my issues put you off trying one. My current two basses are; Italia Maranello Cavo, hollow body, short scale, which weighs in at 7.2lb and a Tanglewood version of the Hofner violin bass at a svelte 5.7lb. I would not consider anything heavier than my Italia. I have tried all manner of straps to spread the load. One well padded leather strap was nice but added just under a pound to the overall weight! In reply to an earlier post about flat wound strings for a short scale; I use LaBella Deep Talking Bass 760FX. They are medium scale and fit the Italia perfectly.

I don't have a problem with people doing their own versions of well known songs but I don't see the point of trying to do a carbon copy of the original. Give the song your own twist, like Joe Cocker did with the Beatles song "With A Little Help From My Friends". Having said that, it would be a very brave person who tried to match Karen Carpenter.

No.1 - Has to be The Beatles, especially their early stuff - never did get the fuss over Sgt. Pepper. No.2 - Probably the Beach Boys for that West Coast summer sound also echoed by The Association. No.3 - Then Spanky & Our Gang who were very much of their time but I still love their albums.

I like the look of my Italia bass - even though it has lots of chrome on it and I am not a fan of things shiny. I am sure P and J basses are excellent instruments but when you've seen one you've seen them all really because that shape is everywhere. If I had to pick one bass design it would be the Hofner violin (Beatles) bass. I have a Tanglewood copy and I just like the look of it!

I was a teenager in the 1960s when Radio Caroline changed my world, along with the Beatles (and a cute little blonde girl I used to walk home from school!). There are countless songs I could list but I'll go with "River Deep, Mountain High" by Ike & Tina Turner. When that blasted out of my small transistor radio it stopped me in my tracks. Aretha Franklin and "I Ain't Never Loved A Man" was another show stopper.

It was mentioned in their last news letter a couple of days ago.

I hadn't played for about 12 years until a chance conversation at church found me on the worship team rota. I dug out my old Tanglewood violin bass and began playing along to MP3 tracks of the church songs. After a couple of sessions with the band I bought a better bass and now enjoy playing once or twice a month. I practice at home to backing tracks and always seem to have a song we haven't done before. We only play 4 or 5 songs on a Sunday but that is enough to keep me plucking the strings. I hit the big 7-Oh!! this year so I don't fancy hitting the road in a band, but my church 'gig' satisfies my desire to play and learn more. Try playing music you wouldn't normally listen to - it will keep the old grey matter working and give you a reason to pick the bass up again.