kwmlondon

Ace session bassist and all-round nice person Yolanda Charles also said she doesn't use a 24-fret bass for slap work out of choice. However, my slap game is so rubbish it won't make any difference to me. I practise every day but I've got a pretty poor strike rate when it comes to hitting the string!

Fun is mostly for when I'm playing with other musicians, though that's been off recently. When it's just me I like to go into the zone. It's like running or going to the gym - those have never been fun but I've been doing it consistently for the last 25 years because it's satisfying and I miss it when I don't do it.

Must take a moment to say how good the team are in GuitaGuitar in Camden. Really helpful, not pushy. Also, in my experience, Andertons have been great and so have The Bass Gallery and Bass Direct. Been very happy to put money their way over the years.

No, he's done quite a few colabs with them where he has a "go" at their content or something ... so you'd think... then they end up on each other's channels. It's how you make a living through music these days. Have to be a social media content creator and he's playing the game. Good luck to him.

It has but thanks for reminding me - worth a rewatch!

I have to do the hard graft to get to be able to play what I want to. I like being able to play busy basslines, but I'm not going to do them in a half-arsed way. That's not enjoyable to me.

I should but I make more progress on the fretted and for a very long time that's been incredibly rewarding. When I'm doing my drills I usually feel the same way people do when they mediate. I tend to pick up the fretless after I've had a good couple of hours and I want to mess around, you know?

I am just not playing enough with other musicians who push me, musically. Bless the guys in my bands, they're lovely people but the're not looking for the same thing as me.

Nop. It's sitting in the case on the shelf waiting for me to put it on to sell it. I've not picked it up once since I got my Dingwall back. I have occassionally messed around with my fretless and it makes me giggle - it's like driving a car blindfolded! I sound SO bad but it's fun!

I have been listening to that album since I was born. It was one of the records my mum and dad had and it's been burned into my brain. I'm really, really glad you like it.

There is one. Willy Weeks playing with Donny Hathaway - The Voices Inside. The 1972 Recording. Every bass solo since has been a pale imitation IMO, like bad photocopies.

this is very constructive. I feel ungrateful dissing my bandmates musicanship, it seems disloyal and I could not do it to their faces and I am very grateful to them for their time and generosity and freindship. I'm not the best bassist around but I am trying to become a better musician and bass player where they are trying to play songs better and I suspect we're not after the same thing. The confidence thing is a weird one because it's not stopping me from doing anything, it's just tied up with the enjoyment. I think I'm feeling less confident BECAUSE I'm not enjoying myslef.

I don't like playing solos in public. I can't think of anyting I could ever play that anyone in an audience would ever want to listen to, but then I can only name a handful of bass solos I've enjoyed myself and those are such a high bar I think it'd be daft to try and reach it. Now... a tasty fill or a bass break with a bit of almost-indulgent close-to-over-playing for a couple of bars, that I am down with! Hit the audience with it so quickly that by the time they've realised what's happening, it's over... No, what it it's mostly about is that the more I practise something the more I'm familar with it and it gets to the point where I can just about play the notes but they're not fretted todally clean or evenly OR I play it worse than I did yesterday. That's heart-breaking, but mostly down to being tired or distracted but still. Recently it's just driven me a bit mad.

Also, I have a thing about really transparent gear. I play a Dingwall and there is NOWHERE to hide with that and it's forcing me to be really super-accurate which I mostly enjoy. It's just literally in the last couple of weeks, maybe when I'm tired and not at my best, that I try to play and I have looked at the bass and the window and thought "so this is why guitarists throw their expensive guitars at their amps." I'm in two bands. They're lovely people. They are very complementary about my playing and tone and often ask me to turn up, but they don't have any idea what I'm doing! Sometimes they listen, sometimes they get lost in their own worlds. Being fair, the drummers in each band are improving, but it's a rare treat to "click" with a drummer these days.

It is and there are points when I find myself playing the dots on the page and I almost feel giddy that I'm doing it. It's like witchcraft - I don't know the song but I'm playing it! Then, at other times I feel like I'm trying to read a foreign language and they blur into a mess in front of my eyes, but I do keep plugging at it - I can feel my brain gears crunching and try to learn something new. Lessons? I've flirted with them but the teacher I had a few years ago isn't available any longer and we got on really well - constructive, pushed me enough to make me work but encouraged in the right way to make me feel I was getting somewhere. It's so nice to hear that you have a nice tone isn't it? I'd do it again if I found the right tutor, but I'm looking more at performance classes in an adult college at the moment. I'm doing a course at City Lit at the moment and that's been getting better and better. This week we worked on improvising with a melodic minor scale over I-IV cords!!! Scary stuff but very excting!