Franticsmurf

Given that you say you were absolutely smitten on playing it, you'll always think about the Tokai, either with a warm "this is the one" as you play it, or "I wonder if that was the one" if you let it pass by.

If you're starting to play bass from scratch, i.e. no previous fretboard experience, then you'll be able to more easily develop a style of playing that suits you and your circumstances than if you were re-learning. As has been said above, borrow a bass if you can, or get a cheap one, to try things out for feel. Once you have tried the bass, you'll know what you like and don't like and there are plenty of people here who can advise you further based on what you've found out. If you go down the cheap bass route, you could restring it to try it left handed. Good luck.

I use a camping table/stool from Go Outdoors. Table top will take a claimed 30kg (I've had about 20kg of speakers and amp on it). With the table top off, the stool has a canvass seat and this combination is good for 90kg (and personally tested to 70kg with me sitting on it). The unit height is abut 19"/48cm. Folds flat and even has a little carrying bag. I got it on sale in Go Outdoors for something like £10.

The future if the bass guitar as an instrument is, of course, the 'iBass 4'. With model variations such as 'iJazz', 'iPrecision' and 'iHeadless'. But as with all such things, the strings will stop working after a year and will not be user replaceable, so you'll have to get the upgrade to the 'iBass 5', slightly larger and with a camera. 😀

... was. 😬

It's nuts. Er.. 😆

My Steinberger Spirit. It's been my go to bass for many years and despite my main bass now being a Stingray, I use this as the back-up bass or for gigs where the space is limited. It has the drop D tuner and it's fitted with a GK3B pickup for a Vbass.

I wish I'd read this before... you know... I mean, who'd have thought? 😀

If you are familiar with the 'Rockonteurs' podcast (with Guy Pratt and Gary Kemp), they have interviewed both Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford.

In the past there was an effort involved in obtaining a piece of music you liked. You heard it on the radio, then had to save up to buy the single, which involved a physical trip to the record shop where they might not actually have it. Certainly for me, I had to really like something to spend my pocket money on the bus fare into town and a single. Now you hear it and can download it almost instantly for a price that, relatively speaking, is much cheaper. As I see it, that instant cheap access devalues the music. I guess the equivalent in my day was taping songs off the radio - I'd record far more than I would buy, some on a whim, some because I liked them at the time. But with a few exceptions, those tapes were usually re-used and the songs erased because I'd lost interest in them. So I'm not sure Nile's comment about 'speaking to the soul' is quite right. It may have a quick chat with the soul for a few moments after initially hearing the track, but it would be the equivalent of a passing comment on the weather (here in the UK, anyway). I guess we have to take into account that a lot of modern pop is designed for the very purpose of short term attraction and triggering a download and in that respect, it works. While I wouldn't use the phrase 'great composition' I begrudgingly have to admit that there is some skill involved.

Hi BH, welcome to the site. A reformed guitarist here. 😀 I occasionally dabble but my bass collection now outnumbers my guitar collection by more than 2/1.

We had a 'fight' with one of the HW roadies who was setting up at Newport, many years ago. He had a plastic pellet gun (Nerf?) and as we'd blagged our way in early (to use the toilets, where I 'met' Dave Brock in a perfectly respectable and innocent way) he was shooting at us and we were hurling the pellets back at him. Hawkwind's road crew, eh? 🙄

One of the reasons I love live music is the atmosphere that a combination of great performer and receptive audience bring. I used to see Hawkwind quite a lot - 'clean' of course 😉 - and their live shows were an audio visual event that went far beyond the music itself. But their studio albums? Meh. Even the live albums lack that element that you're talking about.

One thing to remember is the range of styles of music contained within their history. I'd be surprised if you didn't find something in there you could get in to, but equally I'd be surprised if there were tracks or even whole albums that defy entry (as it were) on first listening. Try the albums 'Yes' and 'Fragile' for a taste of their moving forward, 'Close to the Edge' for their longer, more involved stuff, 'Going for the One' for some classy classic rock, 'Drama' for their quirky Buggles era stuff, then 90125 for the reinvented 80's Yes. If you can get some of the later live albums ('Keys to Ascension' or 'Live from the House of Blues'), you'll get a compilation of modern takes on the older stuff. I'm not familiar enough with the post Anderson line up to recommend albums but I am currently listening to the Anderson Rabin Wakeman live album ('Live at the Apollo') and I like the new arrangements they've brought to the classic tracks, too. I'm not saying these are the best albums (everyone will have their own opinion) or my personal favourites. But they'll give you a fair representation of Yes output over 45 years.

The fact that we now know that a large proportion of the mass of the universe is made up of dark bass cabs? 😀

Hi Stew.

I feel your pain. Me too. One day I'll sneak some bass synth in when no one is looking. 😀

My Hardly Bent One fretless. Great sound and playability straight out of the box. I wanted to try fretless bass without breaking the bank. As has been mentioned above, this one is heavy. Crafted, I believe, from a single piece of neutron star.

I agree with that to a certain extent - one of the things I love about watching any band is the interaction between band members and with the audience. A band having fun is far more entertaining than a band taking themselves too seriously and I've seen Yes in full blown 'serious' mode several times, usually at bigger venues. But I saw them in a smaller venue in Cardiff at the end of one of their tours and they were all having fun on stage. I'd count it as the best Yes gig I've seen for sheer entertainment, particularly with Rick in good form and Chris joining in the onstage ribbing.

First of all, well done for trying. If people didn't try things wouldn't happen. I don't think I would have the energy to form a band and arrange and promote a regular gig night. And that might be the issue here - working on all three at the same time. In my experience (just left a band, working to put a new project together) it's hard enough getting all the band elements in place, weaving practice and rehearsal into work and family schedules, agreeing on a set etc. I'm fortunate in that two thirds of the current project were in the last band so the set is pretty much agreed and I know their abilities and levels of commitment. But they both work and so far we've only managed one marathon set building session and a couple of rough run throughs of songs. We have one legacy gig lined up but I wouldn't be looking to get new gigs until we've rehearsed a few times, just so we're all comfortable that its working. Add to that the role of promoter and sound engineer and it becomes a lot of work for little extra return. Maybe you should get the band together first and get a couple of gigs under your belt with that line-up, generate a bit of interest etc? Look for like-minded bands to share a bill (and costs) and to bring extra punters in to the venue. They could also share to workload. At that point see about organising a venue. And if you're covering venue hire and backline costs then they need to be factored in to the fees for the bands - yours included. The danger with you as band member also being band manager and promoter is that the three roles do not get recognised properly and you end up out of pocket. Music should be fun (even if the rehearsals are sweaty, noisy and occasionally tense 😀). Wherever you go from here, good luck.

I never really got into Genesis when I was growing up although my mate was as big a fan of them as I was of Yes. But I was persuaded to go and see them live in the early 90's and I was smitten. I prefer their Peter Gabriel era output now and through that I got into his stuff.

Just an hour? Oh wait, radio edit. 😀

That's quite a playlist. I'm familiar with about half the songs so I'll be getting hold of the other half and making a playlist of my own. I grew up listening to Yesshows, which opens with the closing bars of 'Firebird Suite' so when I first saw Yes live and those bars were played just before the band came on, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up.

Hi Jvanoort.

Yesshows was my introduction to Yes proper (after hearing Wondrous Stories on the radio). Squire's bass solo in Ritual was something I'd never heard the like of before (and for quite a while I thought is was being played on guitar). I started with the Steve Howe era and for years the classic line up of Howe, Wakeman, White, Squire and Anderson was the only one that counted for me. When it happened, the music of the 90125 line up didn't do it for me and I preferred ABWH to the other lot when both bands were touring. But lately, I have grown to love the pre Howe stuff (I have Yesterdays and the BBC sessions CD). Particular favourites include 'No Opportunity' and their cover of 'Every Little Thing'. I recently bought the Anderson/Rabin/Wakeman live CD and I really like the interpretations they've put on the classic Yes songs. I haven't really been that impressed with the current line-up touring as Yes.