Rich

Admins, ban this... this... HERETIC. Right now.

And antelope in three.

My fingers are gradually succumbing, one by one. My left pinky is useless, any movement in it is painful; right pinky is going the same way; end knuckles in my left index and middle fingers are becoming misshapen, index especially, and quite painful (see pic); same fingers on right hand also heading the same way. I've probably got 10 years playing left if I'm lucky.

There is only one mandolin song. https://youtu.be/qAXzzHM8zLw?t=146

Yup, hence my earlier comment re: quite liking (some of) Phil Collins' solo output. Yes, I really do. And for me, Dancing Queen is THE perfect pop song. Superb bassline too.

Yes, some of it I do (as well as Brand X). See, that's an opinion that's unpopular with you.

Of course, the elephant in the room when it comes to melodic basslines driving the song is McCartney's "Silly Love Songs". Zero cool points but a classic of the type. https://youtu.be/wh15LOppcWQ?t=15 And while we're in a poppy frame of mind, there's this classic from MJ which would be nothing without ol' Thunderthumbs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BfcRjZn6y4

I quite like them too. And Phil Collins.

Well if it's any help, I'd definitely do it if it was mine.

And the punters, bless 'em, don't they just love it? Guaranteed floor filler.

Importing the google calendar etc seems to be an option. I've been prompted to do it but I haven't said yes. I don't plan on doing either.

You obviously haven't met my bandmates... if we all lived together, there would be gruesome murders within a week

Two things spring to mind here... 1.) 'Nothing in his output' is a bit sweeping**... his recorded output is in excess of 39 albums, and I'll be super-impressed if as a non-fan you've listened to absolutely all of it. I certainly haven't, and I like him! 2.) taking Raspberry Beret as representative of 'much' of his output is a bit like judging Napalm Death's entire back catalogue using 'You Suffer' as a yardstick ** Having said that of course, I referred to the Stones as "overrated hackneyed old drivel" but I've certainly not listened to everything they've ever done, so you can probably ignore everything I just said.

I don't know quite what you're getting at, but the band has been together and working quite nicely since 1994, so it's not impossible at all. We've used Doodle just to make logistics and gig-getting easier, not to run the band or play the gigs, and up until recently it's been fine. I'm just after a Doodle-alternative, that's all.

Rolling Stones. Massively overrated hackneyed old drivel. The Greatest Rock'n'Roll Band In The World? My árse. They are the Luckiest Average Pub Band In The World.

Brixton's not North London though?

Something lightweight. I've got Hipshots on two basses and I like them. Those Schaller Da Vincis are really nice.

My band is a big ol' bunch -- 12 or 13 of us at any given time. As you can imagine it is a logistical nightmare getting everybody anywhere at any given time, just getting everybody's availability for gigs is bad enough. We've been using Doodle for ages to do this; if there's a gig offer then we start a poll and everyone answers yes/no/if needed as applicable. It's worked for ages but unfortunately the Doodle people have broken the cardinal rule "if the damn thing works, don't bugger about with it" and they've buggered about with it till it's virtually unusable. So I'm looking for alternatives. One I'm trialling is 'WhenAvailable', so far it seems pretty good. It's free to use as long as there are less than 20 of us, and with our usual deps we sneak in under this. What do you folks use, if anything?

Oi bugger off, I saw it first

We do this in my ska band, it's one of my favourites in the set. I play it with a pick, using an SVT amp model cranked to give a bit of dirt. Love it.

I rather like the black with gold accents on this very lovely instrument.

If only you'd been looking for one a couple of months back when I was trying to sell my Novation K-Station...

Damn right. My pension lump-sum is looming and a 5-string version of this would be right up my street...