dave moffat

Called in at the venue last night but the music had either ended or they hadn't turned up, we were a bit late getting there . Smallish room, so acoustic is entirely feasible. Totally transformed from the sh!thole it was in my youth it's now quite nice with most folk seated. Supposed to be a rocknroll outfit playing tonight and Blues tomorrow so will try again. Got my first pedals set up and working; Vox, Wah and Line 6, Tremelo. Banned from messing around with the Wah at the weekend until I've got the hang of it. Will be interested to see how the Uke bass sounds through them.

Made a start on Peaceful this morning, treating myself to a couple of pedals this afternoon. Missus and I will check out the venue for the first time this evening so I've got some idea what to expect and what I'll need to take. Really hope she'll join us as she's got a beautiful voice (alto I think) and is pretty awesome on keys when she unplugs the cans from the f'kin' thing. Thanks to you folks I'm starting to feel more confident and starting to look forward to it (for now).

The white Ubass strings are probably more nutritious and taste about the same

Must admit it's actively under consideration, gives me the option of acoustic or plugging it in. What strings do you use? Got Aquila thunderblacks on mine at the moment definitely an imorovement on the white and red Aquilas. Passing notion to try Worths. Just swapped the flatwounds on the Ibanez, back to a light set of roundwounds, the flats will go on a fretless,.....when I get one😎.

Just laziness, 😄 I can have my mini acoustic downstairs in front of the TV and just work on a little piece now and again (during the ads/boring bits), whilst I'd have to go upstairs probably unplug the Uke bass, plug in the electric and switch on the amp. And the kettle/coffee is downstairs. I find little and often works best for me when I'm trying to learn.

Don't drink much any more which explains why I don't know the venue (it was sh!thole when I was in my teens, a loong time ago when dinosaurs roamed the earth) and wasn't one of my regular haunts, which are all now closed or f'ing wine bars Thankfully I already know the lyrics to Peaceful and If, so going to work on nailing the bass lines on the acoustic mini before working them up on the electric

At the moment slow and simple is best until I've got more experience under my fingers. Peaceful Easy Feeling is in 1 position frets 5,6 7&9? I've kind of got a bass line worked out for If bit boring and follows the melody but it'll get me started for now. Woman is slow enough for me to get my head/fingers round, love the slides at the start, mostly nice simple progressions. Biggest thing is to get out playing in front of others, I'm incredibly shy even if I can hide away at the back, in the dark AND I'm going to have to do the vocals for If, so keeping it simple is key at this stage. My coordination is going to challenged as it is🤣

Thanks Hiram, that vid of If was spot on. I'll follow up your suggestion. Thanks Teebs that looks pretty much right, just printing it off

please feel free to advise me on my choice and suggest a 3rd number

Thought I'd go slow and simple (Like me) so provisionally Peaceful Easy Feeling (Eagles) and If (Bread), which is why I'm not sure if they'd be ok for open mic. Fortunately my long suffering partner is very musical (mainly keyboard/piano) so we've converted one of the bedrooms into a music room.

Aw thanks folks, knew you'd come through for me👍 I've chosen a couple of tunes but not sure if they're any good for an open mic. It's not something I've ever gone to before so a trip to scout it out is required. Really miserable marriage sucked all the music out of my soul, finally getting it back now though ....and then some😎 Got a bit disillusioned with the tabs books and similar with a lot of the online stuff as well, so looks like printing off a tab, listening to the piece as a start then editing it to what I hear is the way to go.

Help! I know this is old hat to most of you but I'm simultaneously excited and crapping myself. What is the best resource for good tabs? Was visiting a guy to collect some strings, he has just opened music store locally and is rapidly becoming a good mate, . Anyway we got to chatting while I was noodling on an ancient and much scarred fretless Fender and trying to decide whether it was worth the money as a stop gap. Mainly about how I felt my playing was coming on and whether I was ready for an open mike night, without thinking I said that I felt that getting out and playing with other musicians was what I really needed to move forward. Upshot is 2 numbers (and an encore), my choice to be ready before Christmas. Sometimes I should just keep my gob shut🤐

Only been learning seriously for around 10 months, so somewhere in between. 3 very different instruments, Ibanez was my 1st and definitely a keeper, Taylor was bought to work on technique/ theory without having to faff around with cables etc, Excelsior completes (sort of) my range of ukes and is a treat to play. They're all teaching me different things and pointing towards my own preferred kind of sound, next acquisition will be fretless but don't know whether out and out electric or electro-acoustic.

The start of my bass collection 😉

Hi, I have a tenor and a couple of baritone (4 and 8 string) Kala ukes. Recently added a Ubass (Excelsior fretless) to my collection, lovely instrument to play but really struggling to find E and A strings that aren't either tacky (most) or so rough (aquila reds) it sound like I'm sawing timber. Best I've found so far are the Aquila blacks, planning on giving the Worth browns a try.

Really enjoyed that. What a voice that lass has

Only just started learning seriously, (just under a year) have 3 basses at the moment. Ibanez SDGR is my only out and out electric, love it but can't see me ever having the opportunity to play it in anger. Excelsior fretless, electro/acoustic ,U-bass, real treat to play but would get a lot more use if I could find decent E and A strings, will be very handy for when I start jamming. Taylor minibass, got it to learn on, without the hassle of an amp, very nice sound and another one for jams in small spaces. If I get the chance of doing more than jamming I'd add a fretless and probably a back up to the Ibanez.

RoverT, I've got an SDGR800 which gives me a big smile, it just sort of leapt out and wanted to come home with me, bit bling with gold coloured fittings but it's one of my 'for life' buys. Off into the local music shop to see about upgrading my bass amp, need LOUDER!! 👹 With maybe some more knobs and dials.

'stinky poo' how bloody millennial-snowflake.......jeez!

Thanks for the welcomes folks Newfoundfreedom yeah I'm lucky that my fiancee is stinky poo hot on keyboards/piano and is learning/noodling around on guitar, uke and mandolin, because she's already got all the theory stuff nailed she's 'getting' it indecently fast. Thinking of sorting out some Christmas tunes soon. AdChad1987 any link to The League of Ukulele Gentlemen?

No, but thanks for pointing me in the right direction, just taken delivery and fitted some Aquila Thunder Black strings which seem to be the job, slight stickiness on the 'E' but I reckon that will get sorted as they age. DB strings are a no-go, slaps forehead

You're right mostly a matter of confidence and opportunity, the 2 sessions locally are Scottish folk and 50s rock'n'roll neither of which do much for me. Other than that I'd probably have to drive for hours.

Sorry, but I did a search and couldn't find the info I was looking for so here goes. Just added a fretless U-bass to my collection, however although I thought I'd got better strings (Worth reds) I'm still not happy. I like to slide and bend notes, the E and A strings are so rough it sounds like I'm sawing wood no matter what I try. D is acceptable and the G perfect. Are there any nice smooth bass strings out there? Would DB strings work OK on a smaller instrument? Is there any way I can make the strings smoother? Any recommendations? thanks

Old git finally got the time to get stuck in to learning bass. Bought myself what to me is a gorgeous Ibanez electric bass guitar about 6yrs ago but didn't have time to get stuck in to learning it so it sat gathering dust until one of my granddaughter starting learning bass at school, so being a doting granddad I bought her one which she took to straight away. This kicked my backside to dust off mine and get serious, got a bit fed up hiding myself at the furthest corner of the house and plugging into an amp and the pre-amp eats D-cells so got myself a Taylor mini-bass to keep handy to practice and generally noodle. I'm also into Ukes so have just added an Excelsior elecro-acoustic U-bass to the collection. Current level of ability is probably intermediate+ so almost ready to be let loose at jams. Lots of questions and an open mind so please be gentle with this old relic.