Delberthot

I recently changed from a set of D'addario EXL160BT strings with a combined tension of 114.3kgs to a set of EXL220BT super light gauge strings with a combined tension of 58.96kgs and in total spent about 20 minutes over the course of a few nights adjusting the truss rod, intonation and saddle & pickup heights. I'm by no means an expert and actually find myself checking online to double check which way the truss rod goes relative to where the fret rattle is before touching anything. As long as you take your time and don't make any extreme adjustments then you can't really go wrong. When i was a young lad twice I had my basses set up and on both occasions I had to adjust everything when I got them back as the action had been set too low. There's only one person who truly knows how to set your bass up ( unless you are fortunate enough to be in a big touring band and can afford a bass tech who can study your playing and how your basses are set up ) and that is you. Only you know when it is exactly right so I would never entrust someone I have never met, who doesn't know how I play, regardless of their reputation, to touch my basses as I know that it will never be exactly how I want it. A fret dress, refret, filing the nut or routing the body for a new pickup.electronics are completely different and I would probably go to a pro for that kind of work

I think the younger the better as you'll pick it up quicker the younger you are. I was 11 when I got my first acoustic guitar and 12 when I got my first bass. Plus all you have when you are young is school and friends - there's no job, mortgage, financial considerations and all of the many other distractions that prevent us or at least hinder us from taking up new hobbies the older we get. A real shame is all of the really good musicians I knew from school who didn't continue to play into adulthood. There were loads of us all playing in various bands in school and I think that myself and another girl I knew who was a phenomenal classical guitarist may be the only ones who are still playing

How about one of these? I'm guessing that he didn't want to risk singeing that thick mane of hair 😀

In our case every man and his dog claims to play the drums but trying to find a good one is pretty difficult to the extent that we almost considered a drum machine. Seriously, we even had one guy turn up to an audition and said that if we chose him he'd buy a drum kit as he didn't actually have one. Another guy told us that it was the first time he'd played with a band and another it was the first time he'd played the drums 🙄 Obviously the type of drummer required varies from band to band but we needed someone who could control their volume but it was amazing how many heavy hitters there were, which is great in a rock band but in a wedding/function band in a venue that may have a noise limiter and where we don't want to be deafening the audience it's pretty important

Knowing the material is essential. There's nothing worse than someone shouting the next song and you don't remember how it starts. Before you get on stage, make sure that you are in tune and everything is working so if anything does go wrong then you've done all you can. I would also recommend breathing exercises to calm yourself down, possibly a bit of meditation which doesn't need to last hours, you can do it over the course of a few minutes in a quiet corner / cupboard / changing room / toilet /etc Alternatively - do not get completely bladdered and make a complete fool of yourself. Dutch courage is not recommended for gigs, all you get are rubber fingers and the inability to remember what you're meant to be playing

It depends entirely on what you want to achieve and where you want to be. I taught myself to read when I was 17 because I was offered a gig in a big band and told the band leader that I could read. That lasted 18 months when I decided that I wanted to play in bands with people my own age (these were the original guys playing in big bands since the 40s) I haven't needed to read anything since and never look at the dots when I am learning something new. I've always played by ear. I don't know anything about scales, modes, theory or anything else like that. So for me the answer would be yes for those 18 months that I really enjoyed playing some great big band numbers but it's a skill that I've never needed to use again. I don't believe that reading during those 18 months when I was 17 has changed my playing and I don't feel that I have missed out by not being able to read as I gradually forgot where everything was. A drummer said to me a few years ago that you are only a proper musician if you can read music at which point I said that Phil Collins and Pino Palladino better give it up then being as neither can.

Also: Higher Ground - Stevie Wonder Search & Destroy - Iggy Pop Fire - Jimi Hendrix Subterranean Homesick Blues - Bob Dylan All fantastic covers, but then I would say that being a massive Chilis fan. Not my kind of song but I think that the Stereophonics did a really good version of Handbags & Gladrags by Rod Stewart. GnR did knocking on heaven's door I remember hearing Rod's version of Ruby Tuesday and years later heard the Stones doing the original - I thought the Stones version was a wind up. The vocals are pretty dire

Is it to make it shiny or to clean gunk off it? If the latter then strip the bass and fire all of the chromework into a tub of cola for a few hours. It's amazing how quickly and effectively it cleans chrome. Leaves it looking like new again

In the past I have used an EQ pedal to balance between the two styles but these days I seem to the same level whether fingers or plectrum so I've maybe just balanced both styles out during the years

My first Gk head was also the 800RB and a great amp it was too. I completely agree about the differences between the 700 & 1001. I preferred the 700 as you could get the GK growl without having to crank it really high. Conversely if you wanted clean then you would go for the 1001 but the growl was where it was at for me. I've had an MB200 and have been using an MB500 for the past couple of years. I don't think the MB500 is exactly the same as the 700 but it's close enough that I don't feel the need to carry the extra weight of the 700. I've had both ABM and MAG heads and I preferred the MAG. It just sounded clearer to me. I actually prefer the MAG cabs over the ABM as well. I had a pair of MAG 4x10"s when I had my GK 1001RB and you could get a ridiculous amount of volume out of them

I believe that you should do whatever makes you happy but you did say that you felt sorry for people who play covers. I play covers, many of us play covers, many of us play originals, many of us play both. There's room for both. I never wanted to write or play my own material - it does nothing for me but without other people writing and recording music I would have nothing to play. Many great artists began with and continued to play and record covers of other bands songs. The Chilis have an album that is just covers of songs that they have performed and recorded over the years. Some bands do it just because they like the song, others do it to honour a great band or musician that may no longer be with us When Jimi Hendrix found out that Cream were splitting up he and the band played an instrumental version of Sunshine of You Love

140+ basses, 40+ amps and 60+ cabs later I'm finally there.

Every coloured stained wood Warwick I've seen has worn horribly and usually accompanied by several gouges in the body. It might just be me, I might just be seeing the bad examples but I've never seen a bad natural or solid poly finish one

Slightly OT but if you happen to not realise that you are signed up to the Ebay Global Shipping program which they kindly did without telling us, the maximum length is 120cm which is nigh on impossible when posting a bass and still manage to get enough padding on top and tail. I sent something a couple of weeks ago in a hard case and managed to get it down to 123cm and it still made it to it's final destination. Plus as above, no one insures you if the instrument is not in a hard case even if it is the insurance can be 2 or 3 times the actual cost to send it in the first place. Something I've never fully understood - I'm paying someone to send something for me but I have to insure it against cack handed employees throwing stuff about.

I'm thinking about getting another one of these but there's also the £20.52 VAT plus Royal Fail's ransom fee of £7 which takes it to about £131 but still cheaper than the £450 that it would cost to get the full SIMS treatment. I think that the red are the brightest of all of them. The green was pretty bright and the blue, to me at least, was the best balance. That was back when you could get them from the US and slip under the radar for about £70 delivered

absolutely but if the seller doesn't at least package the bass then you have a stalemate and a bass that isn't going anywhere

I've never understood the "arrange your own courier" thing. They clearly don't understand how couriers work - unless you take it to one of those places like Mailboxes etc where they will pack and send it for you, the seller has to pack it up or the courier won't touch it. Plus it's much easier to arrange collection yourself at a time and address to suit you

It would depend what it was packed in - small or large hard case, gig bag with loads of packing or wrapped in a bin bag. And yes I've received a bass "packed " in the latter It could be somewhere between 125x16x40cm to 140x30x60cm At that size it usually goes by volumetric weight rather than actual weight so I usually say around 9kg just in case they actually weigh it

Utter pish - I play what I want because I enjoy it and don't feel sad in the slightest. I've enjoyed playing a lot of good music over the past 31 years - other people's music. So to reiterate; utter pish

I bought my first Musicman Stingray in 1999 - it was a 5 string and the reason I got it was I had the money, was heavily into the Chili Peppers and saw Flea use one to record Funky Monks. I also had the matching Gallien Krueger 800RB amp Sold it after 7 years and went through a revolving door of basses including about 10+ stingrays but never found what I wanted until a couple of years ago when I had a shoulder injury. My SR5 at the time was too heavy for long gigs so I decided to get a US EBMM Sterling and that ended my search for the perfect bass. A few basses have come and gone in that time but the Sterling remains and I can't see me ever parting with it. Great sound, the smaller body & narrower neck suits me plus it has the Stingray sound I always wanted despite not being a Stingray. The build quality is excellent- - there are no good years or bad years, they're generally consistently good from one year to the next.