Nail Soup

Aquila Nylgut are pretty well known in the Ukulele world (where non metal strings are the norm of course).

I sometimes forget that 40 years ago not so many people went to uni….. it was more elite then. Mind you , Hugh was one of them!

Enjoying all the klezmer and klezmer inspired stuff. Thanks all!

And just try rolling a J on an MP3

Last week I took my ukulele to a local folk session. I wanted to have a couple of pints, so instead of driving I went by bike. Uke/case on a shoulder strap. That reminded me of the Uke/bike based adventure I treated myself to for my 50th birthday. Hope it's OK to share the memory. My hobbies at the time were open mic nights and a bit of cycling. Basically I put some clothes and toiletries etc in a rucksack, and strapped the uke (in a case) to the back of the rucksack. Then cycled from my home near Dunstable to Portsmouth in 4 legs with overnight stays in hotels. Each of the 5 nights I played the uke at an open mic night. Got lift home. It took a fair amount of planning and preparation. Also had to increase my bike stamina as I was a 10-mile-ride guy prior to this. It only rained once (but absolutely whizzed down for a few hours).... but it was the last leg so didn't seem to matter as much. Here is the itinerary and map (the map still shows a stop at StAlbans which was cancelled by the venue, and replaced by an extra night in London) May 10th – 14th 2015 Sun: Paper Dress, Shoreditch Mon: Bedroom Bar(?), Dalston Tues: Jolly Tanners, Staplefield Weds: Fishbowl, Brighton Thurs: Crown Inn, Portsmouth It was an absolute blast, met some great people - one of my treasured memories.

Works pretty well. I guess he might not get as many wedding gigs though!

I first became aware of klezmer via a documentary program, and thought it was a great sound. I see the occasional clip on YT. Care to suggest a YT vid?

I hope one day to play a gig which has actual rows of people, and as many as 10 or 15!

Closer to the original African sound I guess. Not an expert or nuthin. I've been listening to a few songs from Rhiannon Giddens on her gut string Banjo recently. Fretless too!

Indeed:

The Fall never released a cover for the first 8 years of their existence (77-85)- then they did Gene Vincent's Rollin' Dany. After that covers become a staple part of the output.

I can't say i've really used an alternative to a bass guitar for the bass line - except in a couple of electronic experimental pieces where the bass was programmed synth. I did once decide (well, half-@ssedly think about) I was going to do project of a small set of acoustic recordings where the bass was played by a non-stringed acoustic instrument. I looked at bass recorder and bass harmonica and maybe one or two more. When I saw the price of the bass versions of those instruments compared to the 'normal' ones I didn't take it any further 😕.

Bass saxophone?

The Stranglers - Live X Cert Band stop the song after couple of bars. "Did someone say w*nk3r? Where is he? (pause) Come on then, Isn't he going to own up?" At about 2.40. You can hear the original "w*nk3r" if you listen carefully.

Picture please😀

Most of us are providing the bass in our performance/recording using the one of the usual suspects: Bass guitar Double bass/ EUB Bass Ukulele Is anyone out there actively using anything else to lay down the bass in actual performances or recordings instead of one of the above? Hoping for some unusual ones.

Why am I not surprised?

In my punk covers band we had the following two down pre-covid, but never gigged (I was singing both): Another Girl, Another Planet - The Only Ones Goo Goo Muck - The Cramps Post lockdown the band is defunct and I may never get to play them. AAAGGGGHH!!!

Being in the right venue is a challenge for some!

Had a rare event during the recording of this - breaking a bass string 😕. Ironic that it was in a song about photography that I snapped something 😀.

I never heard firsthand on the album, but I remember a mate at the time liked that comment so much he told us all about it.

I don't know if I can say there is a particular album or something which changed my life. I'm more of a 'music is my life' kind of guy. Many years after first getting into music (and many years ago !) I got his track by CSS which comes closest to summing up my relationship to music. Example lyric: "Music is where I meet my friends". CSS - Music is my Hot Hot Sex

“Last orders half past ten” - The Fall, Totales Turns.

Yes I remember Rockschool on TV. Henry and the other two seemed like decent coves, but a bit straight-laced. Little did we know what was to come in the YT era! Come back Henry, Diedre and Geoff - all is forgiven 👍!

To all those who posted Motorhead - No Sleep till Hammersmith. Now I see your point! They just played Overkill from that album on 6 Music. I thought the studio version was great......but the live version was on another level.