LeftyP

I think the way to tackle GAS is to play the bass you have. I used to play the chromatic harmonica (badly) and ended up with drawers full of the things. I tried different makes and tunings in the hope I would find the one. Secretly I was looking for the harmonica that played all the right notes in the right order! I always drifted back to the first one I bought. I like looking at, and reading about, different bass guitars and have been tempted by several models that look "the bizz". Then I pick up my current base, start playing and realise that it serves my purposes very well. I have the same situation with bicycles. I love cycling and follow the racing scene with keen interest. I can spend hours drooling over the latest carbon fibre lightweight bikes that cost many thousands of pounds. Then I pull my old aluminium framed Bianchi out of the shed and ride it up the road. After about 10 minutes I'm in love with it again and realise that it matches my style of riding (slow) perfectly. I've seen many posts on this forum from people who have sold and old bass and replaced it with a shiny new one, only to regret losing the old bass. Enjoy what you have and you may fall in love with it all over again. Oooops! just received an email from Bass Direct.......wow look at that...........................!!!!

This gear abstinence thread would be a lot easier to keep to if Bass Direct would stop sending me weekly emails showing their latest stock!

I play bass in our church band and am on a rota with all the other musicians. I get to play about once or twice a month and the band line-up changes each time. We do not have a rehearsal during the week but get together about an hour before the Sunday service to run through the songs - generally about 4 or 5 - and ensure we are all playing from the same hymn sheet! We play a mix of hymns and more modern worship songs to a mostly young congregation of about 120 people. The church attracts many students and young families and we are blessed with some good musicians. We have three keyboard players, three violinists, two oboe players, several flute players, three semi-acoustic guitarists, a couple of drummers and even a trumpeter/saxophonist when needed, plus several vocalists. We don't all play at the same services so that members have the chance to enjoy the meeting without the pressure of playing every week and it also prevents a clique from forming. At 69 years of age I am the second oldest member of the music group and it is really great to be able to play music and have some fun with the younger people in the group. I would like a mid-week rehearsal but there is so much going on at our church there is not time to fit one in! At our Christmas Carol service I found that two of the carols I had been playing at home were in a different key to the rest of the band. Not only that but we all had variations on the words too. That made things "interesting"! I have no control over my sound as the bass is plugged direct into a DI box and fed through a mixer at the back of the hall. Again, we have a rota of mixer operators and some of them don't understand fold-back. I am squashed into a corner between the keyboard and drums and am also behind the speakers so cannot hear how the bass is sounding. To make up for not getting a mix from the system I use a 'Y' connector to feed my bass into the DI box and also into small street busker's amp at my feet. At least then I can hear myself. As has already been mentioned, the main thing is to enable the congregation to sing and praise. It is not a performance and I always try to hit the root note in every chord change. I am not a brilliant bass player by any means but most church songs tend to concentrate on about three chords - usually Eb Bb and F with the odd C and G thrown it for interest. Root and fifth or an ocassional arpeggio are all that is often needed. There are one or two songs that I have been able to put more in but "Less is more" is often best. When playing in a church band park your ego at the door. Play as well as you can to honour the songs and God but remember it is not a show and you are not the star. I sometimes watch American "super church" bands on YouTube and they look more like rock concerts than church meetings. A different culture I suppose. Enjoy the experience and play well but do it with humility. The attached photo is from our Christmas Carol service which was held in a local secondary school/academy and open to everyone. There were over 200 people there singing carols then eating mince pies and drinking mulled wine (non-alcoholic!). The photo is a 'still' taken from a mobile phone video while we were rehearsing. I took my jumper off for the event itself but I think the picture shows me trying to work out why the chords I'm playing don't match everyone else's!

Well, I've known Richard for years and have never seen him with a bass in his hands!

GAS seems to afflict guitarists and bass players more than most other musicians. My wife has had her oboe for more than 30 years and it wasn't new when she bought it. The other members of her orchestra have violins/cellos and the like which are decades old and they have no intention of replacing them. I once chatted to sax player Snake Davis and his chosen instrument looked as though it had fallen from the back of a lorry and been run over by a following car. He loved it! Why is it that guitarists and bass players are always looking for the next shiny object?

They had a Christmas Album called.................................."Christmas Album"! The song you may be thinking of was "Little Saint Nick" which got some air plays.

If you are feeling a bit soppy this will say it all.

I thought I had posted this before but it has not appeared. The lyrics were written by stand-up comedian Mark Lowry with music by Buddy Greene. It gets me every time.

My wife is a big Barry Manilow Fan - I have offered to pay for therapy. I like the songs of Joni Mitchell. Put the two together and add some festive tinsel and you get this;

This for starters;

Do people still care what song is number one at Christmas these days?

Van driving with glaucoma - head for the hills! Seriously, good luck to the guy. A bit of showmanship is often lacking in performers these days. Yes, there is a balance between self belief and self delusion but if he can make a career in music - good for him.

Some people should not be allowed out as they do not know how to behave in public. I think I may have mentioned these incidences before but just in case; I was chatting to a singer who told me that in the middle of a song a punter came to the front of the stage and asked if he had change for the juke box. Then there was the lovely female singer doing a brilliant version of "The Power Of Love" (Jennifer Rush song) and some guy walked across the front of the audience, stopped and turned back to look at his mates and shouted, "Was it a pint of bitter, Dave?" There are times when I give up with some members of the public!

If you like acapella then this album is a gem.

One of the teams at a recent quiz night came up with "Quiz Team Aguilera" which I thought was clever.

I was once in a Christian band called Revelation. We wanted something Biblical but found someone else had beaten us to the name Genesis!

If they are incognito - how do you know?

Why not look at the type of music you play and choose something from the title or lyrics of your favourite songs. If you play Motown stuff how about "Grapevine" (as in "I heard It Through".....). Fond of the Carpenters catalogue, then how about "White Lace And Promises" - great for a wedding function band! I always thought that "Wave" would be a great name for a Latin American combo - after the Jobim tune. The world is your lobster!

The consumer body 'WHICH' have just stated that many of the Black Friday deals are bogus (love that word) and some products can be bought cheaper either before or after the BF event!

"The Power Of Love" by Jennifer Rush. She had a really powerful voice and I did have a couple of her albums on 12" LP. She recorded some great songs but could not match the big one.

Not wishing to prolong the left handed v right handed debate that seems to have taken over this thread, but I've just tried to play my violin bass as a left hander. I am naturally left handed and do everything, except using a knife and fork, left handed. As I stated earlier in this thread, I was advised to try playing guitar (classical at the time) right handed. I am glad I did and it feels fine to me. However, this line of discussion got me thinking again so I gave it a go as a left handed player. I was all over the place! Allowing for the strings being upside down, I could not even fret notes correctly and the whole experience felt alien to me. I'm not sure that persevering with it would make much improvement as I had very little control over the instrument even without trying to fret some notes. It will be different for each individual, but if you have never played a guitar before (as in my case) then playing right handed eventually just seems normal. I was taught to use my knife and fork in the "conventional" way when I was young and that is normal to me. I do, however, cut bread and spread butter with the knife in the left hand and the soup and dessert spoons also go in the left hand. I move side plates and glasses around in restaurants to accommodate my left handedness and that can cause great confusion for the people sharing my table!

Well, I'm left handed and play right handed. When I first joined this forum I explained that it went back to when I was trying to learn to play the classical guitar. I had never played guitar before and my teacher told me to try right handed as classical guitars are braced to have the strings fitted in that way. He also pointed out that you don't find left handed pianos (although someone did post a photo on here of one!) or trombones etc. Plus, as I had nothing to unlearn, it wouldn't make much difference to how I progressed. I'm glad I took his advice. I cannot even attempt to play a bass as a lefty or even hold it correctly. I do everything else left handed (except using a knife and fork). Playing as a right hander has not affected my playing - I'm just rubbish anyway! Back to the plot about daft things some people say. I was chatting to someone at church on Sunday and I said that I would have to go and check my bass before the service as it was near a radiator and it may need re-tuning. Her amazed reply was, "Do you have to tune a bass?" I'm sure it was a genuine question and not a comment on my playing!

Now that brought back some memories of listening to Radio Sweden in the early 70s. I actually bought this LP!

I'm a lyrics person but they must be held together on a memorable tune. I like good thumping dance stuff (Motown etc.) but I like a song to have some meaning to it. Singer songwriters like James Taylor and Harry Chapin have written some wonderful poetic songs and Jimmy Webb is the past master. I can't stand songs that simply repeat one line over and over. Having said that lyrics are important I was blown away by this performance of Dutch singer Trijntje Oosterhuis I found on YouTube. There is a concert by her on YT where she performs Burt Bacharach songs (in English) and it is superb. I don't understand any of the words in this song (it's in Dutch) but it obviously moved fellow singer Tino Martin to tears. It is from a brilliant TV series in the Netherlands called "Beste Zangers" and the backing combo are really tight.

I'm not sure today's event qualifies as a "gig" but, hey, it was great! I play in our church band and today we had a church "away day". We didn't go far - from Carlisle to Keswick in the English Lake District. Door to door it is less than 30 miles. My drive took me up over the northern fells where sheep graze and wander across the road. I had to stop at one point to let a brood of peacocks wander across! The autumn colours were in full bloom and there was not a breath of wind as I drove along the shores of Bassenthwaite Lake into the small town of Keswick and our venue. Around 50 church members attended the event with just four of us providing the music. Our band leader played semi-acoustic guitar, the drummer just used a cajon, I played bass and we had one female singer. The day started with tea/coffee and pastries. We then played six songs interspersed with Bible teaching and more tea/coffee and cakes! We had all taken packed lunches and after eating some of us went for a walk along the shores of Derwent Water under a canopy of golden leaves. On return there was tea/coffee and more cake! While we were out some people stayed in the hall and watched a re-run of the England v South Africa rugby final. We then retired to another room and watched Toy Story 4 - brilliant. Then it was back to the main hall for a bulk order of fish and chips from a local "chippy", more cake, then home. That is what I call a gig!!