Paul S

MIJ for Japanese consumption - all black, no pickguard, very handsome beast. I asked about weight - 3.8kg (perfect) and neck width at nut - 42mm. Too wide for me so I won't be buying it but it looks a cracker. [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231002180809?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1438.l2649"]http://www.ebay.co.u...984.m1438.l2649[/url]

Got mine - middle of the balcony front row! I have no point of reference from past gigs so looking forward to it immensely, I must say. Chris Squire and Steve Howe playing locally for £40 and I'll be back home 20 mins after it is all finished. Can't go wrong.

I never quite got around to seeing Yes in their heyday - at the time I was into the much more, erm, straightforward music of the likes of Sabbath and Purple - so imagine this is the nearest I am ever going to get to a Yes gig even if it is more like a Yes tribute band but with some original folks in it. Gotta be worth the cover price to see Chris Squire and Steve Howe!

Got an advance booking alert for a Yes tour April onwards next year playing 'Yes Album', 'Close To The Edge' and 'Going For The One' all the way through. They are actually coming to the Cliff's Pavilion in Westcliff - under 2000 souls if seated - so I guess smaller venues all over the rest of the country too. No Jon Anderson but Chris Squire, Steve Howe, Alan White. Not dear, either, at around £40. Jon Davison on vocal - anyone know of him? Tickets on sale this coming Friday. Hard to turn that one down, really!!

The bass that trips me up occasionally is my Hohner B2A. It has a 34" scale and 24 frets which, in itself, is not problem. But the lack of a headstock does things to my brain subliminally and also the way it hangs throws the lower frets out a bit. Nevertheless with practice I get used to it.

One of my bands plays half a step down - like yours, for the singer - so I keep a couple of basses tuned like that all the time. Never really noticed an issue over the string tension, and we play a couple of tracks that have a drop D in them, too. I learn stuff by ear so play along to it on a bass tuned normally then it is simple to replicate the playing position on a detuned bass. Not very technical but it works ok for me. A lot tunes might use, say, an open E a lot and I think that would not only be more difficult to play if you have a 5er strung normally but also change the timbre of the note, too.

How about a baptism by fire? There is a sports club in Hullbridge that is increas9ingly becoming a decent music venue called Touchline Music. They hold a jam night every other Wednesday that is arranged by Phil Mitchell, no less (current bass player with Dr Feelgood - has been for the last 30 years, in fact). Just turn up and play - be interesting to see how you get on there!!

Westone Thunder Jet on eBay - probably go for a song as it is collection only from Liverpool. Makes a great starter bass for pimping - the neck is superb and it is lightweight, too. I have a P-retro and Seymour Duncan SPB-3 in mine and it is a monster. And of course satin black with black hardware is so cool... [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200932902510?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200932902510?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649[/url]

I broke a string once and have always carried a spare bass since. If we are playing somewhere small I take my Hohner B2A as it takes up a ridiculously small amount of space. If I have a little more space available to me I take two normal sized basses that are similar to each other.

Thanks for having a look. I appreciate the feedback - some of which will be taken on board when it comes to giving it a tweak. I've just landed a big pile of work to do so it will all have to wait a while now.

Thank you. I just had another look and that *&^#ing video appears on each page now over the top of other stuff. Maybe it is just on my browser.

Thanks for that - confirms that I changed it ok for Chrome. With IE10 it is now off to the right somewhere but at least not obscuring text any more. I know what you mean about the vid. Unfortunately, that is the most useable bit of film we have. They filmed it from the sound desk at the venue but it went 'wrong', apparently. Nor do we have many pictures of the band, either. As you say, room for improvement! Ta.

[quote name='Paul S' timestamp='1370955994' post='2107890'] Anyone got a clue how to pin the vid in place? Looks like MoonFruit FAQ is less then helpful on this. [/quote] I can answer this myself - I had a trawl through the Moonfruit FAQs and forums and it would appear it is tough luck - the embedded YouTube will end up where it wants to be, not where I want it, depending upon which browser is being used. Which is fairly annoying. I have changed the layout a bit so at least the video doesn't cover any text. At least, I don't think so. If the band decide we can't live with this compromise I guess we'll move to somewhere else and give Moonfruit a miss. Thanks for highlighting this - I would never have noticed! Other links are fixed now. Thanks again.

Bought some strings from Clarky, they arrived almost immediately. Cheers!! Paul

Thanks again. No, the links aren't on there - they were, earlier but I managed to delete them when fiddling about with the *&%ing video, which I am still trying to get pinned so it is the same place in each browser. But I can fix the links soon enough. The whole Scrabble thing was a bit of odd idea sparked off by seeing something else. Not brilliant, but DIY-do-able. I do like the idea of the play on Xerocks/Xerox (we copy rock, you see...) and would, ideally, have some sw***y graphics with album sleeves going into a copy machine or similar. But, until or unless we get rich and famous, that will have to wait a bit. Anyone got a clue how to pin the vid in place? Looks like MoonFruit FAQ is less then helpful on this.

Hmm, can't seem to find an easy cure to pin the video. Any clues, anyone? Flash Splash? Que es, por favour?

Thanks HJ. I wondered if different browsers might show different things. Scrabble thing - a conscious effort to not do the usual macho rock n roll thing, really. Probably run with the idea for a while but see how it goes. A selection of Mp3s will be up there.... just as soon as we have them! We would rather live than studio/rehearsal stuff and our problem is lack of gigs. And set list rather than an overview - probably worth doing. Ta!

Basschatters! I have just put together an extremely basic website for my band. Disclaimer is that I have no firm idea what I am doing and used a simple site builder thing to put it together. But I know what I wanted to do - my aim was to make it basic and no frills, just a place for people to get the bare facts without loads of extraneous twaddle about where each of the band members gets our shopping etc. We only have the one bit of live film/recording, so that is what is up there. And we don't have many pictures to choose from, so I have put the best of a bad bunch on there. [url="http://www.xerocks.co.uk"]http://www.xerocks.co.uk[/url] Does it work? Can it be seen ok on a variety of browsers? Should I add/delete anything? What might I consider for the future? Appreciate any/all comments.

[quote name='iconic' timestamp='1370879631' post='2106784'] The guy who related this tale came from Basildon area, don't know anymore than that. ....Norfolk inbreds...how dare you, just because I call my wife sis' sometimes [/quote] Basildon, eh. So we change the joke from Q - what is the definition of a virgin in Norfolk? A - A girl who can run faster than her father. To Q - what is the definition of a virgin in Basildon? A - A girl who can run faster than her step-father. Not a lot of difference, perhaps. The biggest question of all is why the heck anyone in their right mind was doing a gig in Basildon.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1370860086' post='2106311'] She was also on Later with Jools Holland recently, probably still on iplayer if you missed it. I guess it was the same backing band, bass player did EUB and normal electric from what I recall, sounded nice. [/quote] I saw that this morning on the iplayer - I think only the guitarist was from her band, the others were house band I guess. Thanks for the name - yes, just looked him up - Hutch Hutchinson. And those U Basses are the ones - both sold and acoustic. Great player.

I saw Bonnie Raitt at the Cliff's Pavilion in Westcliff last night. For some reason I had no great expectations about the gig, so was delighted to experience one of the most sensitive and emotional performances I have ever heard. What a voice! Bassist was unbelievably good with such a light touch you would barely notice him. Everything he played seemed *exactly* right for the song, from acoustic blues through Jazz to soulful ballads and even reggae. And on an assortment of instruments - Jazz, Jaguar, EUB, acoustic fretless (upon which he excelled) - even some strange little thing that looked like a ukulele but sounded like a bass. One of the best gigs I have seen for an age. If you get a chance to catch her this time around try to make the effort.

Ditto. Played our 4th gig together at what is one of the best little rock venues locally (Riga Music Bar, Westcliff). Turned in an energetic and powerful performance of some classic rock belters, all things considered, to some 10 or so door paying customers - who had seen us before and came back to see us again. We were invited back, which is great news. It is the age old paradox - takes gigs to get a following, but unless you have a following you can't get gigs. Not sure of the solution.

Definitely worth doing. I find it interesting to see how changing the various changeable bits affects the playability/sound and am gradually inching towards my ideal bass as a result. If you aren't in a rush it is worth keeping an eye on the classifieds here - generally most things you might want turn up at some point. You can pick stuff up cheaply second-hand and, if it doesn't work out, move to on again without taking much of a hit. Or, like me, keep getting more shoeboxes to keep it all in 'just in case'. My starting point was a scruffy MIJ P-Bass I bought on here that was very lightweight with a vintage tint maple Mighty Mite Jazz neck on it. I swapped the vintage tint neck for a natural one on here then, over time, most of the rest has been changed since as well. It has become my main gigging bass now. Note - that little toggle thingy on the left does work for being able to type in IE10!