DoesThisBassLookBigOnMe Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Hi basschatter's, I'm a 31yr old hobbyist musician. I grew up in South Africa where my dad was a semi pro / part time / acoustic guitarist / singer / one man band. He bought me my first guitar, an MDF knockoff of a Fender Strat in 1994. I think this was to keep my inexperienced but eagre hands off of his own guitar. I now live in Wiltshire. My parents are originally English anyway so moving here was more like a generational return to England. In 2009 my dad passed away and I started playing the ol' MDF strat hard as a way to see myself through things. At some stage I said to my fiance I'd really like a bass to record some backing tracks for me to jam along to. She decided that for my birthday that year, and as a way to commemorate my dad, we would visit some local music shops to check out the basses. I was just about ready to call it quits when we found one last store and I laid my hands on my one and only bass, a Fender Mexican Standard Jazz in Candy Apple Red. Nothing too special but it really spoke to me. Looking back at the receipt for the bass it is clear that the shop assistant easily recognized my instant love for this bass. I paid perhaps a little too much for it despite making a small, unsuccessful, attempt at negotiating a small discount. These days the bass actually gets played more than my old MDF strat. I have an odd setup in that I play the Jazz bass through a Tech 21 VT bass pedal into some Yamaha studio monitors. I prefer it that way as it's very flexible and allows me to play our keyboard, the strat and the bass through the same set of speakers in preference to having a dedicated noise box for each instrument. I have occasionally searched the net for answers to various bass questions I have had and your forum, alongside the more American focused talkbass, has regularly come up with the goods for me. So I thought I'd sign up today and introduce myself. Cheers for having me, DoesThisBassLookBigOnMe (DTBLBOM) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
farmer61 Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Welcome on board, there's a small band of merry men from Wiltshire on here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daz Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 (edited) How! from Wiltshire ? I thought this thread was going to be about [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Hargreaves"]Jack Hargreaves [/url]and his long running country programmes[i] In country [/i]and O[i]ut of town[/i]. (warning, you have to be of a certain age to know what im on about here). ......... I'll go and get me pac a mac [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cc0lD1HWM4c[/media] Edited December 1, 2011 by daz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoesThisBassLookBigOnMe Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 Hey daz, thanks for the welcome. Made me laugh out loud. Farmer61, thanks to you too. I checked out your band's website. Really like your taste in covers. It's right up my street. Will have see about popping into one of your gigs this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomE Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Welcome mate. I am in Dorset so not so far from you. I played with some guys from SA way back in the 80s. They'd basically escaped the regime and were political exiles. The BBC did a documentary on them, a programme called "Open Space". Anyway i got really excited and when the BBC turned up they didn't want to feature me as i was English Anyway, enjoy the site its informative, funny and annoying all at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PURPOLARIS Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 Greetings from Swindon. I also grew up in Southern Africa (Rhodesia/Zimbabwe 10years and South Africa 10years). My son is currently studying to be a Sound Engineer at The Johannesburg Academy of Music and then he hopes to come over here. Anyway if you ever gig or come to one of our gigs let me know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoesThisBassLookBigOnMe Posted December 1, 2011 Author Share Posted December 1, 2011 Friendly place this is! Thanks for the welcome guys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deaver Posted December 1, 2011 Share Posted December 1, 2011 And hello from Salisbury, welcome aboard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyctes Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 Welcome I'm (also) in Dorset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyctes Posted December 3, 2011 Share Posted December 3, 2011 [quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1322762358' post='1455615'] Welcome mate. I am in Dorset so not so far from you. I played with some guys from SA way back in the 80s. They'd basically escaped the regime and were political exiles. The BBC did a documentary on them, a programme called "Open Space". Anyway i got really excited and when the BBC turned up they didn't want to feature me as i was English Anyway, enjoy the site its informative, funny and annoying all at the same time. [/quote] Was that band called Day One? I saw them in Blandford, they were excellent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul j h Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Hi, I am originally from Avebury then Marlborough, although i live in the Forest of Dean now. Welcome to the forum. Cheers. Paul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomE Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 [quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1322936888' post='1457557'] Was that band called Day One? I saw them in Blandford, they were excellent. [/quote] Yes it was Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alyctes Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 [quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1323027781' post='1458464'] Yes it was [/quote] Okay, let me rephrase that - you guys were excellent Venue was Blandford Corn Exchange, summer of 1980 or '81? The frontman had yellow hair (not blond), really tight-curled. Very, very exotic-looking, in that place and time - at least to me, I was young and innocent. I vaguely remember wondering at the time why the bass player sounded so English, or maybe so not-South-African. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raggy Posted December 4, 2011 Share Posted December 4, 2011 Another hi from Swindon. Good to have you a aboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoesThisBassLookBigOnMe Posted December 5, 2011 Author Share Posted December 5, 2011 Well heck guys The bass must have really rubbed off on you lot because this is one hell of a warm, woolly, fuzzy welcome. Thanks again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BottomE Posted December 5, 2011 Share Posted December 5, 2011 [quote name='alyctes' timestamp='1323032439' post='1458548'] Okay, let me rephrase that - you guys were excellent Venue was Blandford Corn Exchange, summer of 1980 or '81? The frontman had yellow hair (not blond), really tight-curled. Very, very exotic-looking, in that place and time - at least to me, I was young and innocent. I vaguely remember wondering at the time why the bass player sounded so English, or maybe so not-South-African. [/quote] Amazing! I can't remember those days at all. Phil was the afro haired front man who is now an MP back in the new SA. We did some amazing gigs back then driving around in a beat up transit van. We all lived in the same house with a basement that was the rehearsal room. Crazy days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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