Richard R

It sounds like you might have found yourself a decent band to gig with in the future, but will need a new singer. Hope the gig goes OK, and that you and the band enjoy yourselves

How about making an extension to the pickguard to cover the damage? If you could initially have it held in place by the nuts on the pots then you would avoid having to drill holes for screws, and so can try before you commit. Something in tort to match what you have?

Funny and sad in equal parts, but only one TLRT available. 😁😢

Welcome aboard!

True, and I'm sure my friend would agree. Clearly in his case he just wasn't taught improvisation and now struggles.

Think of it like learning to read words. As a four year old you could express most of what you wanted verbally, but learning to read and write came afterwards. As you got older you could express more complex ideas verbally and your reading and writing hopefully kept improving until well into your teens. I suspect that the reason we think of music differently is becuase of the classical world's emphasis on being able to sight-read and play what someone else has scored. So reading has to come before "speaking". (As an aside, a superb classical musician I know, who can play anything but struggles to improvise, described the classical training as " being programmed like an unthinking machine to make noises based on the dots. Frankly computers and synthesisers can do it better now". I think he's being harsh on himself, but I get the point)

Cool. What does it sound like?

It's very true that what you listen to, read, watch, etc. will naturally have an influence on what you think, believe, and do. A catchy phrase in a song or book gets stuck, even if the sentiment is contrary to what you actually believe. For a semon illustration ages ago I once stacked up all the books I had read so far that year into two piles, secular and Christian. The secular pile was at least 10x the height of the Christian (though I did deliberately pick a thin bible). I still read way more secular than Christian, but am conscious of what I read. I practically never listen to worship music outside of practice as it just doesn't move or interest me unless sung live. There are undoubtedly good Christian artists playing music to listen to, though right only Bryn Haworth springs to mind. So as with reading, I listen to a lot of secular stuff, but am conscious of what the words say.

Good point, 👍

Right, lads. We all need to organise a Sunday School trip to Buckinghamshire! Err.... are you sure about that sentence?

Hang on, you have two bass players in your band? A friend and I were only saying yesterday that we could name bands with two guitars, keys, singers, drummers, etc., but had never come across a band with two bassists. Any clips on YT? And as everyone else has said - definitely play!

You can hide behind my pillar 🙂

But it wasn't enough - hence the leather suit with the skeleton on!

I play in church, and while looking like you enjoy it is definitely a good thing, it's not a performance stage. The job of the band is to lead the congregation singing, so running around or windmilling would be frowned upon. In fact the traditional bass spot in my church happens to be tucked behind a pillar. That said, I watched The Blues Brothers last night and would love to play in that church band! ( I also find it great that despite the preaching and shouting, the bass player stands like a statue until 1:25 when the band kicks in, then he gets groovy 🙃)

Hi Ralph, Welcome aboard! Loud gospel is good 👍. I play in a Baptist church and there are a lot of church bassists here, quite a few hanging out on the Playing in Church thread. (Which BTW also doubles as a "safe space" when you occasionally want to moan about the WL/Drummer/choice of songs, but know it's not really important in the grand scheme of things and don't want to bore your significant other, again 😁.)

Welcome aboard! Lots of friendly folk here. Good that you're gigging every week!

I want to buy a '67 Rickenbacker, because obviously it matches my IQ.

I had to look up what a Variax was. This is the Sound On Sound review of the bass. If the same thing really can sound like any of a dozen wildly different bases - and the review says it genuinely does - then that's impressive! https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/line-6-variax-bass-700

Welcome aboard again.

I have to admit, I would down tools and explain to the church elders why. Though that may not be helpful or make finding a solution any easier. Instead, take care and speak softly, even when telling hard truths. I'll pray for you and your church.

I have recently learned the hard way that even if you do your research thoroughly and buy carefully, then you can't predict resale value. I bought a cheap 2006 4.2l Jag XK last year as the market had been flat for some while. Its value promptly droped 20% when some b### started a war and the cost of energy and fuel went through the roof. 😬 By analogy- passive basses should hold their own better than active, as they are cheaper to run.

Welcome aboard

Tormato was the album that started their move away from 100% Prog (or at least that's how I look at it) Try 90125, which is a straight ahead pop-rock album, then take a break. It took me a while to get to like Yes, and even longer for Jethro Tull. In both cases there was something there I liked, but I couldn't quite get a hold on it.