Conan

[quote name='bassbiscuits' timestamp='1488294401' post='3247595'] I'm weighing up getting some quarter pounders [/quote] I see what you did there...

[quote name='kodiakblair' timestamp='1488390032' post='3248567'] Mate of mine has the J&D jazz bass. Said it had cheap hardware and a lousy fretjob. Once he'd sorted that out it was a nice bass. [/quote] There are a few slightly sharp fret ends, but I think it's a bit harsh to criticise the quality of the electronics and hardware in a bass costing just over a hundred quid. What exactly was he expecting?

I would say that £200 would be right at the top end of the range you would expect to pay. Not exactly a rip-off, but £150-180 might be more realistic. Second-hand TE gear is one of the best bargains out there!

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1488412404' post='3248820']I need to be in the right frame of mind as I know it will generate lots of ill-informed flack. [/quote] Ill-informed flak? On Basschat?!?! Surely not....

[quote name='uk_lefty' timestamp='1488380136' post='3248434'] You don't seem to have a fretless jazz on there. Get yourself to your favourite bass retailer and solve this problem! [/quote] I know! These people who call themselves "completists"...

[quote name='mingsta' timestamp='1487982716' post='3244893'] Overture 1928 by Dream Theatre. I learnt it fot my friends prog metal side project. There were more notes to learn in that one song than about ten of the regular verse-chorus-verse type songs in my pop covers band. I never really nailed some of the insanely fast runs that myung does. Anyway, certainly made me appreciate the technicality of the peops who play this genre of music. I also find that I have trouble really committing to really learning a song well unless I know that it's going to be gigged. [/quote] Yeah. One of the few songs that I've ever given up on learning in full was their Pull me Under. Most of the song is fine, but the ascending/descending runs in the bridge sections are just impenetrable to me. Someone far more technically minded than me will probably wade in and say "Oh, it's just a myxolydian-locrian heptatonic minor Armenian scale, played [i]andante con moto[/i]" or some such - which will only make me feel worse. The other one I gave up on recently was Rush's YYZ. Not just coz it's hard (which it is) but because I just couldn't be arsed and knew i would never be gigging it!

The video is a bear necessity! C'mon Blue, get it posted man!

Keep 'em all! At one point I had five J basses (now I'm down to three) and they were all different in terms of neck dimensions, pickup sounds (not placing obviously), body weight and balance, fingerboard material, body wood - and not to mention tone and volume!! If it was me, I would look for a Mark King sig to cancel out the Flea model. Then you're back down to three. You're welcome

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1487716044' post='3242190'] Probably Phil Lynott just for the lines he came up with and the way his bass lines fitted within the song - plus he was suhc a great singer, writer and front man. However, others who would be up there vying for position... Geddy Lee, Chris Squire, Abe Laboriel, Davey Paton, John Wetton, Neil Murray and a host of others. [/quote] This just about nails it for me too - with the additions of Mark King (I know...), Colin Moulding, Bobby Vega, Bruce Foxton, JJB, John Giblin, Jonas Reingold, David Margen, Leigh Gorman, Carol Kaye... This thread should be made a sticky for every beginner (or interested player) who wants a "who's who" list of influential and cool bass players!

My J&D is my main bass and has been since i got it. I made a few mods (nothing major) but I gigged it the day it arrived. OK, there are a few minor niggles, but at this price point it would be churlish to mention them! Great bass, not just "for the money" but I play mine in preference to my MIM Geddy Lee Jazz! I have no experience with the HB basses though, so sorry - I can't comment on those.

[quote name='Left Foot' timestamp='1487681812' post='3241751'] Eureka! Silly me, I was responding to peoples adds for a bassist but I've put an add out that I'm an available bassist and three existing bands came through. One which I am totally excited by. [/quote] Result! I hope at least one of them works out for you!

Oh yeah, the Adventures! This is an awesome track... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN2m15xg920

[quote name='NickD' timestamp='1487256859' post='3238432'] A wristworn device that tells you why you're chubby. [/quote] I don't need a device to tell me that...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f8JI9R5Suo

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1487246060' post='3238315'] Ah right. Well if you'd said that you were only interested in your own opinion, we wouldn't have bothered. Sorry. [/quote] Excellent response! I only use flats (LaBellas) on my fretless, but have often thought of giving them a try on one of my J basses. I might give these N sets a look...

I have two that are not well known, but were actually pretty mainstream (in their heyday at least). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0_Qa3uYhzg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uhhb3I6gYAk

[quote name='Monkey Steve' timestamp='1487169632' post='3237730']And if you're doing nothing else, then just doing something, even if it's not your ideal scenario, isn't a complete waste of time. Maybe the guitarist you find knows a drummer you could ask if it works out, maybe you join a covers band and find that everybody actually wants to be doing originals. If you're getting frustrated at not doing anything then at least do something even if it's not exactly what you want [/quote] Excellent point! In other news... my fledgling project, which already included the drummer and rhythm guitarist from my last band (both of whom I have known for decades), have now added a vocalist (friend of the drummer and an ex-colleague of mine) and a lead guitarist from... wait for it..... JOIN MY BAND!!!! So I guess we are actually a "band" now"! Is it sad that I'm a bit excited? I've never actually formed a band before

^

Lovely thread title!

[quote name='rushbo' timestamp='1487027783' post='3236472'] This is the great Tina Weymouth being great. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LftzRjilTEI[/media] [/quote] Not heard that one before. Nice! Sounds very like XTC to me....

People in good, happy, settled bands should be grateful. Once it is over it can be very hard finding or starting another. I know this from current and past experience! Sometime the planets just align and everything falls into place. Not very often though... There are a lot of unreliable time-wasters and dreamers out there (particularly on Join my Band, but that's another story!).

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1487075596' post='3236759'] But why did you need to know the time while you were playing on stage? [/quote] [quote name='rushbo' timestamp='1487076750' post='3236775'] Very useful to check how close you are to breaks, curfew, next band onstage, blah blah. [/quote] I think this should answer the question Why would anyone [b][i]not[/i][/b] want to know the time whilst onstage?

What's the serial number? Looks eerily like my old 1986 series II which was SN #263... Lovely basses, and nowhere near as "hi-fi/sterile" as some folk make out

[quote name='AdamWoodBass' timestamp='1486999229' post='3236141'] "Give yourself permission to write garbage". [/quote] I like that. I might pinch it! Would you mind?