EssentialTension

I don't know about here but there are quite a few bassists playing like that ... the guy in Doves for example. Some guitarists too e.g. Albert King, 'D**k' Dale. And the guy in Orchestral Manoeuvres plays right handed strung left.

Yes let's not confuse by introducing lydian and mixolydian modes ... when they aren't necessary. Or so it seems to me.

1 Bleeding fingers? ... play more softly and turn the amp volume up ... also play more regularly but for shorter periods ... get some surgical spirit from the chemists ... practice with a plectrum, it's another skill to learn while the bleeding improves. 2 Flats or Tapes? ... only time will tell what you like and what suits the music you play ... there's nothing wrong with the Roto flats if you like them ... what makes you think black tapes would be better? ... Roto black tapes are different to La Bella black tapes and different gain to Pyramids etc. ... it's up to you of course but my advice would be try the Roto flatwounds as you have them and stick with them for a while, get used to them, only then will you know if you like them or not. 3 Gauge & setup & nut? ... when changing strings, one should always check the setup, by which I mean the relief, the action, and the intonation ... it might be fine but who knows if you don't check it ... anyway two sets of strings of different makes even with the same gauges will be constructed differently, the tensions will be different, the compliance will be different ... so there is no substitute for trying things out ... unless you have some strings with a very high gauge, it's unlikely you will need to adjust the nut. I hope that's helpful even if it's not quite what you wanted to hear.

The blues, often, has major triads, A, D, E, but nonethless a flatted third (and seventh) can be and often are used.

That's good practice and with thirds sometimes the major third 'works' but also the flat third 'works' even under a major chord and you'll need to choose which 'works' best in any particular case. I haven't listened to it in some time but for Three Little Birds I'd probably be expecting major thirds.

That's four mistakes.

Apparently the beard comes in a can , so anyone can have one.

Thank you.

He uses a six-pole pickup but why not as there are many basses with six-pole pickups - Fender Musicmaster, Fender Rascal, er ... can't think of any more.

The beard is definitely out of one of his spray cans.

Therefore, I recommend an interesting bit of card which can be guaranteed to amuse oneself or a luthier or another owner when the time comes to re-shim.

Maybe some limited rock guitarists have that attitude but in jazz, soul, and other genres, flat keys including Eb are definitely much more common and any guitarist worth his or her salt would be expected to play them without question. It's only a matter of learning your chords and scales properly.

Not if buyers could be convnced that certain species of wood have magical tonal properties ... even if the emperor actually has no clothes.

I used to work in the school where To Sir With Love was filmed. Never saw Lulu though.

... and next gig on 13th January will be my first as a 66 year old.

I've played the MAC arena at Cannon Hill Park. I think it was 1976. But I've never played the macarena. I have lived briefly in the Macarena barrio of Sevilla. It's confusing.

Yes, and then they get EQ'd.

Well, let's assume a shim might make some difference to resonance (or to tone more generally). But then ask another question. What other factors will make a much greater difference than a shim, even if it made some difference? So many other factors are more relevant that a shim pales into relative insignificance. And I'd be very surprised if anyone in a blind test could accurately tell non-shimmed Fenders from shimmed Fenders or any other bolt-ons. However, as BigRedX said above, one point of the shim is to get the neck angle correct for a good string break angle at the bridge. A good break angle at the bridge might well improve resonance but it's not because there is a shim as such; it's because the neck angle and break angle are improved and so the connection between strings and body is improved. In that case we might try to claim that correct shimming on some Fender style instruments will indirectly improve resonance.

The purpose of shimming a bolt-on neck is to get an appropriate neck angle as cheaply, easily and quickly as possible. It's an early Fender production technique. Recutting pockets was not a financially sensible production technique for Fender's way of doing things. The micro-tilt neck of the 1970s was an attempt to re-engineer the idea of a shim. In my experience, there is no dramatic change to the resonance of the whole bass, nor even an undramatic change.

Stupid.

With some bands it is exactly a cacophony. But of course it needs arranging. That's the point. Not the guitar or whatever instrument noodling all over it while the rest carry on and are expected to fill the gap he left.

In my exerience, with some guitarists in some bands, it can help to encourage the guitarist, or other musicians, to stop calling it a 'solo' and to stop thinking of it as a 'solo'. The 'instrumental interlude' should involve all members of the band - it's not all about one instrument with everyone else doing as they are told.

Yes, I want to play good songs whoever wrote them. Besides which the dividing line between so-called covers and so-called originals is vague to say the least.

The Delights of Parsing the Beatles' Most Nonsensical Song

I'm not at all jealous because I have no idea who he is.