Leonard Smalls

Personally I think the best way forward would be to buy no bass at all - you can be Victor Wooten by purchasing AmpleSound Bass YinYang for $149. That way you can produce your own music without having to go anywhere near actual musicians. There'll be no-one spilling beer on your kit, no annoying punters asking if they can have a go, no heavy gear to lug past gaggles of stag and hen parties. That's what I'd do if I wasn't a masochist. Anyway, here's the cheaty programme example:

So far it's looking like Ample Sound or Orange Tree for full featured or Session Guitar for less effort option... I've only got free Kontakt - not willing to pay £350 for the full version so Ilya and Pettinhouse are out. And annoyingly, the sensual sax too. Though Vienna Orchestra sax looks good. Anyone tried Session Guitarist? Is it any use for solo stuff rather than mainly strum patterns?

I always use this on everything, especially vocals! Shall look into the others - ta!

I've decided I may need a guitar... And I realise it's heresy but as I'm reasonable on keys but have never played an actual guitar in my life, I thought I may get better (or at least quicker!) results using a virtual instrument. So does anyone use one? Which are best in terms of playability, sound, believeable-ness and versatility? I've done a trial of Music Labs Les Paul and found that I could get some good results with it, but it was not at all intuitive and had virtually no amp sim/presets etc. Shreddage or Orange Tree better? Heavier 7? Ample Sound? Bearing in mind I don't really want to get into buying an actual guitar and amp and effects and learning how to use and record them all, would I be better just biting the bullet and doing this? And if anyone's got any ideas for good jazzy sax VSTs, what are they? I've got Iowa University free one, which is clunky but can sound OK with loads of midi editing!

Liking the early 80s new wave feel!

Mine arrived yesterday... looks like they'll be going on the Wal.

It's amazing what you can do with Mr Clyde Stubblefield, Mr Jabbo Starks and a talented medium... Knock once, a-twice, a once twice thrice whatever 4 is (quatice?)

I've got an actual melody now... Only briefly though as tunes are for wusses. 😄 Next some proper drums and a chromatic sax solo...

I've got a bass line... And it might be jazzy, though 140bpm is pumpin' it a bit for elevator jazz! I'll break out the atonal guitars and whole-tone sax which should keep Doug happy 😁

Should I have received a confirmation email after ordering? All I got was a payment authorisation from PayPal... Wouldn't expect the strings yet as I only ordered at 2030 on the 30th. Edit: Oops - confirmation was hiding in my spam folder 😊

I like that! I've got a number of similar albums...

Excellent work! Now where's the pic for next month? I'll need some displacement activity to stop me having to go and strim me convulvulus!

Not sure WB is the best for contemporary music - country or 70s pastiche perhaps! But new music doesn't exist on TV as far as I can tell - occasional very mainstream stuff at the end of One Show or Graham Norton perhaps but nothing at all interesting. Even if it's only Top of the Pops it's better than nowt; I remember watching with bated breath when I was a kid just in case something I liked came on - the joy of seeing the Ruts, or Siouxsie, or the UK Subs was indescribable! And during the 80s there was all sorts; Rock Goes to College, the Tube, those BBC2 shows at tea time with Magenta Devine looking down her nose at those less cool than her. Now there's just YouTube - which has the disadvantage of keeping obscure stuff obscure!

I've ordered 2 sets of Groove medium 4 strings...

Just discovered this lot today. Tuneful, odd...

I suspect that: a) it wasn't the Charlie that made the album b) if all music made while under the influence of, erm, a Groove (*) was destroyed there wouldn't be much left! * gratuitous PFunk reference! 😎

Having seen Stanley play it on a number of occasions, and having needs that are funky, 2 is "We Supply".

Flop it out! Go for crazy jazz next month!!!

It's a 3* classic E1 5b called Aviation... And my songs are rarely anything to do with the picture! I look at it, then record the 1st bass line that comes to mind. Usually it's only one take of everything, which I do as an excuse not to have coherent structure or anywhere near perfect playing 😁

That's cos I'm not a conformist... 😁 However, from what I understand the "proper" pic is taken from the cliff in my pic. And the cliff is the best thing in the area, bar the "Hound of the Basket Meals" food van in the car park!

Not sure if you could say Kraftwerk are over-rated; after all they're responsible (directly and indirectly) for a number of musical genres - not something you can say about many individual bands! And they could have churned out tons of Kraftwerk-by-numbers songs but I think I respect them more for not doing that! And live (if you can say that!) they're about the best band I ever saw... Still, each to their own! Still, if it's going to be a list of bands you don't like - possibly just because you don't like 'em or possibly because everybody goes on about them to such an extent that you're sick of them - I'd say over-rated: Beatles. Fleetwood Mac. 😁 And to continue the list with bands you do like, but they haven't managed world domination - Under-rated: Monochrome Set Stump - though I can understand their lack of mass appeal!

Boots, Stevie Salas and Buddy Miles...

9 entries and only 11 members voted! Maybe everybody's busy preparing themselves to enter next month's compo compo? 😆

RIP Hamilton!

RIP Hamilton!