Stub Mandrel

So you strike harmonics then press down onto the fingerboard? Sorry if I seem thick, I'd imagined fingering two notes then striking harmonics with my middle hand while plucking with my right (which obviously requires an excess of hands...) [Under threat of death if I plug my amp in at the moment 🤬 but despite being surprisingly easy to finger I'm guessing from the feeble amount of volume I'm getting with my technique this might not work for me...]

I bought a second-hand bass in G/G Edinburgh. It was silly cheap because someone had paid a deposit many months before and never returned and they just wanted shot of it. £130(!) with slightly chewed hard case, strap, straplocks and even a lead... Must admit my opinion of G/G has gone up a lot since a poor experience a number of years go.

Possibly they had a request from another store but the buyer backed out.

Who would have thought a crudely finished plywood box for transporting dried leaves could deliver so much?

Pretty please can you explain how he does that, the nearest I can get is just playing the D and G string hsrmonics at the fifth fret. 🙂

Horses for courses for me. I find the fretless sound better suited to relatively slower playing where the way the tone changes can come through, on faster passages you can't dig in the same way and some stuff starts to sound indistinct.

True, but you can say the same about mandolin and mandolele

Is it good for metal? Well, someone had to...

I'd get teh brickies to sign a disclaimer first, before starting the tatoos.

PMT are a pretty good place for trying things out. You know your playing is improving when they turn the piped music down... 🙂

I say they sound different, technique is different, feel different and the difference is pretty profound.

True of so many bands that it undermines the 'original member' argument pretty squarely.

On an unrelated note... your avatar always make me feel the need to do a wee.

Well the Landlord wouldn't let them play a third set despite all the punters wanting it...

So 'classic rock' = "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet" and, err, umm... not a lot else?

A year ago I went to see my brother's band play at their 'home' venue on NYE. To everyone's horror the licence meant no live music after 12:00!!!!!!!!!!

Jeff Lynne's ELO were pretty convincing... more convincing than 'The Move' with both Bev and Trevor Burton... In complete contrast... Heaven and Hell with the lineup of Iommi, Butler, Dio and Appice - arguably the most accomplished lineup of Black Sabbath (sorry Ozzy!) and indisputably awesome but not using the same moniker!

I wonder if the sound was partly down to the bass I was using - it had flats on and with the best will in the world these don't flatter an amp. When I have the moolah ready to make a purchase I'll find somewhere that lets me do a proper A/B test on as many different amps as possible. As I am genuinely looking for something I don't feel guilty about trying out gear - or saying no if it doesn't suit. The Ashdown and Rumble are both much lighter than the Crush, plus although I love my Crush 25 as a practice amp, I think the distortion on the bigger models is horrible and fizzy.

Tried out the Ashdown Studio 12 today. Sound was pretty meh until I put the preshape on. Then ok but not as 'solid' sounding as the Rumble and not very loud either IMHO. wIth a an American Player fretless Jazz .

Lifting is more about technique than strength, if you know how to lift safely, you are at relatively low risk.

I've been sent a list of ten songs. I haven't even met the singer yet,one practice then two gigs a week later. Most are pretty straightforward, but the list includes Wherever I Lay My Hat so now I'm trying to learn more than just the twiddly bit at the beginning...

It becomes classic rock when its what your parents listened too. Bear in mind In The Mood is closer in time to me as a teenager than Stormzy.

The sweetest thing to do would be to play the gig, but just push the timing out whenever and wherever you can so the drummer (who sounds like he plays to himself and assumes you will follow) ends up sounding looser than an elephant on sennakot. And for each song that ends on a big thump, play your 'twaaaang' half a beat early so it looks like he's lost...