chris_b

A few years back I played with a guitarist who could make his 112 combo and pedal board sound like a stack of Marshall’s, even at a very low volume. You just need a guitarist with brains, will power and talent. . . . oh, wait!!

If it's half as good as mine it will be the last bass you buy.

Wow, I did not know that. A very good reason for a complete ban on Teslas.

You will only play music you are interested in? OK. Personally I don't see any benefit in a player placing such restrictions on themselves.

Which car used to regularly burst into flames, and invariably kill the occupants, when in rear impact accidents? The car company kept making them after working out that they'd still make money because the cost of the court cases would be less than the sales figures!!!

I taught myself to read music in my school band. We were a prototype Blues Brothers, and that started me off slowly. I progressed and my "peak" was being asked to do some proper commercial reading sessions. All simple pop stuff but it's a great feeling to create music from a few dots on a paper.

My band had a gig in Leeds, and the trumpet player dropped out on the day of the gig. We phoned the Leeds School of Music and got a young student to sit in. We had a partial run through at sound check. He read the parts without a hitch, but it was a Soul band so ABC stuff compared to what he was used to. Reading music is like reading a book. You can be at "Janet and John" level or "Hamlet" level. Depends on the requirements of the gig and your ability. Ideally you want to be reading stuff that's below your maximum level, but I've seen interviews with Laurence Cottle and Chuck Rainey relating stories about sessions where they couldn't read what was put in front of them. Cottle said the arranger told him afterwards, "That's not what I wrote, but I like it, so we'll keep it." Very few people are going to need to play a piece at first sight, even in the West End they get practice and rehearsal time, as do symphony orchestras, but reading, at any level, is a great skill for a player to have.

IMO multiscale isn't a solution to anything, but, like jazz basses, roundwound strings, active, 5 and 6 strings, humbuckers etc it's a good evolution.

In the old days, beer crates borrowed from the bar staff used to work for me. If I couldn't hear my cabs standing right in front of them, I'd be questioning why I'm using those cabs. I use 2 Barefaced 112 cabs which have such good dispersion that while they are pointing at the lower half of my body, I can hear every note perfectly.

I bought a new tin hat. . . . and a backup.

I used to visit when in Brighton. Always a good experience. This is sad news.

It was like that in the 60's and 70's. Sheet music was written out by piano players, who were paid by the song, so the bass parts were an afterthought, about 20% correct, if that!

When you've got started, try some of the various Bach for bass YouTube videos. Bach is very good. Rhythmically it's simple, mostly multiples of 4 in the bar. There are a lot of notes to read, so Bach is very useful for recognising the notes on the stave and translating where they are on the bass. Also you won't recognise the tunes so you'll have to be reading the dots.

I learnt scale shapes, the names of the notes, where they were on the neck and where they were on the clef, and played along, with sheet music, to various simple pop songs at the time. That was in pre computer age. These days all you need to do is search for "Reading bass clef on youtube". There are a lot of choices. I just looked at the first few on the list and the introductions look pretty good.

Thanks Steve.

Are they rough enough to cause wear to the frets?

There are only blank sheets in that book.

If I won the lotto I'd keep most of my gear. Top of the list would be an Aston Martin DB12 Volante.

I've bought basses and cabs on the way to gigs and played them that night. If the bass is as good as you say, play it. No reason to delay.

Even though he came from Detroit, Bob Seger was Southern Rock. Thin Lizzy was more top 40.

Maybe a high mass bridge will change the tone on your bass, and maybe it won't, and maybe it does and you can't hear it. All possibilities.

If this bass feels right, sounds right and you want to pick it up and play it, why would there be another bass?

Of course. MAGA wants to destroy anyone who challenges them. They want the whole country to be scared into inaction, which will eliminate all opposition. Then their power grab will be complete. The Republican party, mainstream media (TV, radio,papers), lawyers, civil service and law enforcement have all been cowed. That leaves independent media (MAGA is working on those guys) and the court system, which is now under direct attack from Trump. After the chaos of many Republican Town Halls, Congressmen have been advised to stop doing them! So the public will not be able to meet the people who are supposed to serve them! If there is another election, and I think that's very unlikely, Trump is in trouble, so we will see the completion of Project 2025, and full dictatorship, within the next 2 years.

I think you'll like it.