Stub Mandrel

It's OK on a big stage, don't you think the bed is a bit big for pub gigs?

When I started my mate leant me a precision on the condition I learnt to play it one finger per fret. Now I play a mixture, one finger per fret is easier to play faster, and I hate tab that has you flying up and down the neck for no good reason. BUT there are plenty of songs or parts of songs that I play with just the three biggest fingers. I never use my ring and little fingers together (like an upright player) because (IMHO) a bass that needs that much pressure just needs setting up properly! But plenty of people do use this technique. The answer is very much down to what feels comfortable for you, but if you can deploy different techniques as it suits thw song, you will be at an advantage.

And you're still 1 funeral short of a full anecdote...

Up date on this, none of the various supports I tried really cut the mustard. I tried about five different types of bandage, support, neoprene... best was a big green support tube, I tried dying it black but it came out green. Then noticed my brother and his bassist both use ordinary sweatbands. Got a couple of slazenger ones and they are great. Then the killer punchline... noticed this in a photo of me playing in about 1987...

. Jimi Hendrix – $18,000 That's probably $2 for everyone that watched him, most of the crowd had gone home by the time he closed the festival. Most interesting is to see the pecking order. 1 Arlo has parity with a CSNY!

I can't remember exact figures from , but I recall between £20 and up to £40 on a good night in the early 90s, so we were probably getting £100-£200 as a five piece in the Midlands, originals, pubs and small local clubs. I think my first band (covers) used to ask £60-£80, in the late 80s in South Wales. Looks like places were a bit more generous when they didn't have the internet and wide screen TV to compete with.

Don't worry, it's the biter bit. I'm responsible for more thread drift than a tornado in a cotton mill.

Wow. I remember the pointy fish inlays!

Good luck to you. It's not to my taste, but I wouldn't post my thoughts on an actual selling thread.

It's the variety of of how each time round is played, he sticks in little bits that are up an octave, varies the rhythm pattern a lot and sticks in some really nice 'runs'. For me it's pretty much a textbook example of a perfect 'blues rock' bassline, even if it isn't a 12 bar.

I must admit to being puzzled why you are trying to find a use for it. If a use for it isn't immediately apparent, what good is it for you? Good question... It's really fun to play, and feels very different, the fact all my basses feel different is more important to me than them sounding different, as this encourages me to play in different ways and not just hammer out the same riffs. The 5 is the most distinctive of them all, except the fretless. I can just play the same old songs on the fretless (and I have been to a rehearsal and done just that) but it's real appeal is slowing down and letting the notes swell and try to bring out that sound and feeling which is so distinctive. There's loads of music out ether which showcases the fretless as almost a completely different instrument, such as Wherever I lay my Hat or A Remark You Made. The 5 string doesn't seem to broaden musical horizons in the same way. Anyway, I've been trough our setlist looking for opportunities to use it. Most songs have a bit where you can go down instead of up. On Green Day their songs the dynamic of whizzing up and down the E and A strings and letting them ring between notes is a big part of the dynamic. Sunday Afternoon is a prize - the very last note is a D and a low one sounds good. There are also a couple of songs where dropping a tone might help the singer. I think I have to have a try and see what happens. I cam play teenage kicks one-finger per fret up there no trouble - I have hands the size of shovels... or at least long fingers - my one bass playing advantage.

Last rehearsal I got a lot of angst after learning a large bank of riffs that are sorted into something like 32 different sections of this Bad Company song, and got most upset because I got lost a few times. Then I found this, which uses the same bits (mostly) but the order is very different and there are extra repeats and bits missed out so it's pretty much the same length. I need to mellow out, plus I think I'll try and play closer to this version, wot is epic.

Brief flash of a youthful sorry - Mark Ellen isn't it at the beginning? And a hideously chipper Andy Kershaw at the end! On which subject, a bit of 'demographic targeting' going on there...

They had some fun looking ukes, but fortunately when I saw the string configuration I came out in a rash.

It's not a fault, it's a feature!

Well i defeated GAS today. Sort of. Have a vague feeling that an acoustic bass is essential to my well being (guitarists fault, says he wants to go 'unplugged'). Went to brum and folky place Hobgoblin Music. All a bit beyond my budget, but a tried a fretless one but was boggled by dot markers that are between the fret positions not on the fret (like my own fretless). This meant I could only play it in tune by not looking at the fingerboard at all, which was an odd and rather unreliable experience. Fortunately not plugged in. Next tried an Ashbory with rubber strings, but at about 16-18" scale length it was far to small for my fat fingers. Then tried a fretted one, which was actually very nice to play and even got offered a hefty discount (I asked as the heavily tarnished but bright sounding strings suggest (a) they'd been in the shop a long time and (b) they haven't been tried out much... if numbers count they make their money on ukes and mandolins - and cajons). Then walked o PMT, which has moved half a mile up the road... tried an Ibanez, which was very nice and would fit my budget, but a bit lacking in presence and a funny finish that feels more like plastic than wood... Was tuned down to Eb and I was left wondering if it was happier tuned down. Then an Alvarez which was a nicer guitar to play and feel (but not as nice to look at). They made me plug them in and seemed happy for me to give them both an extended thrashing (probably because I didn't slap them...)_ very persuasive and also perceptive about the two guitars good and not so good points. Very relieved I didn't risk asking for a go of the surf-green ("sea foam green") Ibanez Artcore semi-acoustic. Loads of other basses to look at from the gorgeous to the stomach churning - some really ugly basses by Fender and Sandberg (as well as many lovely ones by the same brands...). Even some cheap s/h things including a death metals thing for £100... Fortunately awareness that my latest invoice won't be paid for a few weeks prevailed! I escaped with a fourth Fender strap for my collection.... does that count as a minor GAS attack or a narrow escape?

Wouldn't be so bad if you didn't live in a 2-up 2-down...

Dare I say it looks like a bass conceived by the man who makes dachshunds out of ballons...

Use it or lose it... goes for free speech and Bass Shows.

Unreconstructed, me 🙂

If it's favourite, not best, then Rush. It brings a bigger smile to my face than any of the 'sophisticated' albums. 🙂 If it has to be best, 2112. Every year it was a knock-down, drag-out fight between 2112, Freebird and Stairway to Heaven in the Friday Rock Show poll.

I do (almost), at fourteen I could do with a couple more.... I even have a dedicated strap for each of my mandolins.

My very pretty Chowny Elephant strap I won at the Midlands Bass Bash is very lovely and 2" wide, like all my straps. I have actually made a 4" wide 'spreader' for one of my Fender straps and I will probably make some more. My 'perfect' strap would be a 2" wide one with a padded 'spreader' about 16-18" long that fits on it. Stiffness is possibly more important than width, a wide flexible strap still digs in to your shoulder.

I'll take a photo of my full rig when it comes back from load to Disaster Area 🙂