Bass Guitar Magazine

[BigBeefChief]

[quote name='OldGit' post='451450' date='Apr 1 2009, 01:20 PM']What's an lp?[/quote]


Half of 2p?

[Rich]

[quote name='OldGit' post='451450' date='Apr 1 2009, 01:20 PM']What's an lp?[/quote]
The bit where a leg is joined to a body.

[waynepunkdude]

[quote name='OldGit' post='451450' date='Apr 1 2009, 01:20 PM']What's an lp?[/quote]

[OldGit]

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='451452' date='Apr 1 2009, 12:22 PM']Half of 2p?[/quote]

Oh I thought it was LP rather than 1P
I guess he want's us to half listen to his 2p worth?

Edited April 1, 2009 by OldGit

[Bass-ic]

If every issue of BGM was as good as the 'punk' issue last year, it would be a diffferent story.
Im not so sure that just having basses that are not everyday instruments other wise us new players wouldnt get any info at all. Still, i guess good editing would keep an even spread.

The mag should really try and be much better, or someone will come along and start a new mag that will bury BGM.

Hmmm

Matt

[OldGit]

[quote name='ARGH' post='450891' date='Mar 31 2009, 08:38 PM']I have on good authority that inside the BBC TG office,there's a sticky wall,that has car company logo's and its divided into "WHO LIKES US,WHO DOES NOT LIKE US"


I just find it fun that the guy that owns/is Bristol cars has publicly banned James May from the forecourt because he knows Clarkson.[/quote]


These comparisons with Top Gear and its amusing style and unfettered approach to criticism is missing a few serious points.
They don't depend on advertisers and they have huge viewing figures .... Combine those two things and you get a different kind of "publication"

They have had readers letters but the editing was terrible - actually it seems to be missing entirely.

So, as they are listening. I'd like to see a few things revisited
- a valve amp head review that says something about how the things sound . The last one just listed the features and valves - well derrr we can all read the websites. What are the real differences between these things?

- How about European players? There's loads of great players in our very own EU that seems to get no space whilst the US ones come around on a fairly regular basis.

- +1 on the UK luthier scene. It's like the UK motor industry is actually in the hands of successful small manufacturers and the F1, etc racing construction scene. In the UK you can get a brilliant hand made bass for the same price as a production line Musicman ..
One luthier per issue and you'd have enough for at least year.. Why review another Fender (Ford) when you can review a GB (Koenigsegg) and get an insight into the mind and incredible skills of the guy that built it. Leave the Fenders to the guitar mags and their little bits of "bass for guitarists ..."

- +1 on the "bass notes" style last page where real players have a soapbox.

- +1 on the history of individual basses owned by celeb bass players...

- in the left field department, there are lots of other topics that come up regularly on here - performance questions, band relationship stuff, marketing questions - how about getting a music psychologist from teh orchestral side of things in to talk about team work? What about features on preventing back ache (a recent discussion topic on here), RSI, bleeding wrists, finger failure and Alexander Technique for bass players? Ear plugs come up fairly regularly but there's a lot more that a Young/beginner bassist can do to ensure their playing life is not cut short by induced premature physical decay.

I'd find all of those interesting, especially if surrounded by pictures of nice basses to look at and tuition, lessons and transcriptions (I wondered why "the Real Me" didn't look right .. )

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Absolute-beginner' post='451470' date='Apr 1 2009, 01:37 PM']If every issue of BGM was as good as the 'punk' issue last year, it would be a diffferent story.
Im not so sure that just having basses that are not everyday instruments other wise us new players wouldnt get any info at all. Still, i guess good editing would keep an even spread.

The mag should really try and be much better, or someone will come along and start a new mag that will bury BGM.

Hmmm

Matt[/quote]

I don't get the whole fixation on the beginners aspect of bass playing. The beginners market is small compared to the established players out there. Yes, it's important to keep things interesting for new players... but not to the point where you end up with, to the majority of the audience, a bit of a dull magazine.

It's like targeting cars at 17 year old new drivers... when in fact the market to maximise the sales (and secure the ongoing business) focus should be on everybody but the 17 year old driver. If a car magazine was targetted at beginner drivers, I would hazard a guess that it wouldn't be sticking around for very long.

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='OldGit' post='451494' date='Apr 1 2009, 02:01 PM']- how about getting a music psychologist from teh orchestral side of things in to talk about team work?[/quote]

I'm doing a masters in Music Psychology. It wouldn't be a problem to put BGM in touch with relevant people

[Huge Hands]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='451499' date='Apr 1 2009, 02:07 PM']I don't get the whole fixation on the beginners aspect of bass playing. The beginners market is small compared to the established players out there. Yes, it's important to keep things interesting for new players... but not to the point where you end up with, to the majority of the audience, a bit of a dull magazine.[/quote]

I think you may be misunderstanding people, as I felt you did me yesterday.

I don't believe Absolute Beginner is asking for it to purely be for beginners, but to cater for them as well.

Yesterday, I was trying to example looking at reader's custom builts as an extra to the expensive stuff.

The more niche the magazine, the more niche the market, whether its beginners or experienced.

If I was s**t hot, I'd be happy to flick past the "How to play Michael Row the Boat Ashore" as long as I knew there'd be some stuff in there to interest me at my level.

I'm not, and therefore I look forward to the tutorial.

Edited April 1, 2009 by Huge Hands

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='OldGit' post='451494' date='Apr 1 2009, 02:01 PM']These comparisons with Top Gear and its amusing style and unfettered approach to criticism is missing a few serious points.
They don't depend on advertisers and they have huge viewing figures .... Combine those two things and you get a different kind of "publication"[/quote]

True.... and Top Gear has an immense budget to make things happen. BGM is a very targetted audience whereas as I mentioned before, Top Gear really isn't a car show any more. It's a comedy show that appeals to a much wider audience. In essence, you don't even have to like cars to appreciate the humour of Top Gear. Clever thinking by the Beebs marketing guys.

[quote]- How about European players? There's loads of great players in our very own EU that seems to get no space whilst the US ones come around on a fairly regular basis.[/quote]

Come on then people, lets name some and give the BGM crew something to go on.

[quote]- +1 on the UK luthier scene. It's like the UK motor industry is actually in the hands of successful small manufacturers and the F1, etc racing construction scene. In the UK you can get a brilliant hand made bass for the same price as a production line Musicman ..

One luthier per issue and you'd have enough for at least year.. Why review another Fender (Ford) when you can review a GB (Koenigsegg) and get an insight into the mind and incredible skills of the guy that built it. Leave the Fenders to the guitar mags and their little bits of "bass for guitarists ..."[/quote]

Yup - profiles about the guys that actually make the basses would be good. I saw that Adrian spoke with Martin Simms about Enfield. I found this fairly amusing. If chucking out CNC basses counts as being a luthier these days, I'm very disappointed. If it's that custom, why can't I get anything but a bog standard neck?! BGM - ask some really gritty questions...!

I'm sure that Martin Petersen, Bernie Goodfellow, Chris May, Rob Greene etc would make for fantastic interviews as these people who have shaped the bass world as we know it. Even the young guns who are currently making their name, including Jon Shuker, Jim Fleeting (especially for you ARGH!), Robbie et all the other great luthiers out there would be great people to put under the spotlight and I'm assure they would enjoy the exposure. To me, these guys are our national bass treasures and we should celebrate them.

There are few luthiers out there who have such fan high profile users as Martin, Bernie has pioneered many standards and is constantly trying to push the new technologies where he can and of course, Rob Greene has pretty much single handedly taken graphite to the mainsteam. We have our own bass innovators in the UK. It would be good to see BGM work with these guys. Maybe some of these guys could write a guest column from time to time?

Talking of columns, how about tracking down Mark Denby (some may know him as the guy from Universal who talks at bass day) and ask him about advice for making bands succesful. I always found a similar column in Guitarist a good read... not just filler material... which seems to be increasing at BGM.

Just some more ideas. Come on guys... lets throw some ideas into the melting pot.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Huge Hands' post='451522' date='Apr 1 2009, 02:21 PM']I think you may be misunderstanding people, as I felt you did me yesterday.

I don't believe Absolute Beginner is asking for it to purely be for beginners, but to cater for them as well.

Yesterday, I was trying to example looking at reader's custom builts as an extra to the expensive stuff.

The more niche the magazine, the more niche the market, whether its beginners or experienced.

If I was s**t hot, I'd be happy to flick past the "How to play Michael Row the Boat Ashore" as long as I knew there'd be some stuff in there to interest me at my level.

I'm not, and therefore I look forward to the tutorial. [/quote]

Fair point. Sorry if it came across that I misunderstood - I shall go back through the thread and reread the posts.

From what you are saying in the above post, you are correct - I think we are all delusional if we think that we are going to get a magazine that 100% appeals to all of us. It just isn't going to happen. For everybody who is into punk playing, there are going to be those people who just can't stand it. I think that a target of say 75% of the magazine should appeal to all and the remainder 25% is the content that changes monthly to suit the more targetted audience... e.g. the tech heads, the punk guys, the slap guys, the vintage guys etc... In that way, the majority of the magazine appeals to the audience at which it is being targetted.

Apologies if this isn't making sense. I never read my posts back... I just brain dump on here.

Talking of Micheal Row the Boat ashore... it's a short song... why not have a number of versions? One for beginners... a fretless/harmonic jaco thing, a slap version, a double handed tapping exercise... could be quite entertaining. Hmm. OK. Maybe. Maybe not. Again, just ideas... it may appeal to some.

[Jase]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='451536' date='Apr 1 2009, 02:32 PM']Come on then people, lets name some and give the BGM crew something to go on.[/quote]

Here's some Euro players:
[url="http://www.myspace.com/europeanbassday"]Euro[/url]

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='451536' date='Apr 1 2009, 02:32 PM']Even the young guns who are currently making their name, including Jon Shuker,[/quote]

I'm sure Jon will be delighted to know he was referred to as a [i]young [/i]gun

[Bass-ic]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='451499' date='Apr 1 2009, 02:07 PM']I don't get the whole fixation on the beginners aspect of bass playing. The beginners market is small compared to the established players out there. Yes, it's important to keep things interesting for new players... but not to the point where you end up with, to the majority of the audience, a bit of a dull magazine.

It's like targeting cars at 17 year old new drivers... when in fact the market to maximise the sales (and secure the ongoing business) focus should be on everybody but the 17 year old driver. If a car magazine was targetted at beginner drivers, I would hazard a guess that it wouldn't be sticking around for very long.[/quote]

I wasnt asking for A BEGINNERS HAND BOOK, just some good ideas.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='451665' date='Apr 1 2009, 04:23 PM']I'm sure Jon will be delighted to know he was referred to as a [i]young [/i]gun [/quote]

Age is only a number

I was talking about the Shuker brand as opposed to Shuker the man!

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='Absolute-beginner' post='451677' date='Apr 1 2009, 04:33 PM']I wasnt asking for A BEGINNERS HAND BOOK, just some good ideas.[/quote]

Chill dude!

[BigRedX]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='451536' date='Apr 1 2009, 02:32 PM']I'm sure that Martin Petersen, Bernie Goodfellow, Chris May, Rob Greene etc would make for fantastic interviews as these people who have shaped the bass world as we know it. Even the young guns who are currently making their name, including Jon Shuker, Jim Fleeting (especially for you ARGH!), Robbie et all the other great luthiers out there would be great people to put under the spotlight and I'm assure they would enjoy the exposure. To me, these guys are our national bass treasures and we should celebrate them.

There are few luthiers out there who have such fan high profile users as Martin, Bernie has pioneered many standards and is constantly trying to push the new technologies where he can and of course, Rob Greene has pretty much single handedly taken graphite to the mainsteam. We have our own bass innovators in the UK. It would be good to see BGM work with these guys. Maybe some of these guys could write a guest column from time to time?

Talking of columns, how about tracking down Mark Denby (some may know him as the guy from Universal who talks at bass day) and ask him about advice for making bands succesful. I always found a similar column in Guitarist a good read... not just filler material... which seems to be increasing at BGM.[/quote]

You missed Simon Farmer (Gus), John Diggins and Chris Eccleshall from the list of 'must feature' luthiers...

As for Mark Denby, if he was the guy doing the Q&A feature that I caught at last year's Bass day then I think he's more likely to be a liability rather than an asset. IMO he's still living in the world of record companies 15 years ago and desperately hoping it will stay like that despite all the evidence to the contrary.

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='451703' date='Apr 1 2009, 04:53 PM']You missed Simon Farmer (Gus), John Diggins and Chris Eccleshall from the list of 'must feature' luthiers...[/quote]

and Mike Walsh of Zoot bass.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='451703' date='Apr 1 2009, 04:53 PM']You missed Simon Farmer (Gus), John Diggins and Chris Eccleshall from the list of 'must feature' luthiers...

As for Mark Denby, if he was the guy doing the Q&A feature that I caught at last year's Bass day then I think he's more likely to be a liability rather than an asset. IMO he's still living in the world of record companies 15 years ago and desperately hoping it will stay like that despite all the evidence to the contrary.[/quote]

Apologies. I thought that this may open up a can of worms with regards to missed luthiers... but you get the point I was making. Of course the luthiers you mention are certainly worth inclusion into what ever list may or may not be drawn up. They ones are cited were just a sample of potential candidates.

Again, Mark Denby was just a random name picked up as somebody who may be open to the idea of getting involved with the magazine because he is/was involved with bassday and has some experience of a bass centric market... he may not be the "ideal" candidate but certainly somebody from his line of work...etc.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='451713' date='Apr 1 2009, 05:03 PM']and Mike Walsh of Zoot bass.[/quote]

...and anybdoy else I may have missed. I suspect there is a fair few. (See post above).

[BigRedX]

Knew I'd forget someone.

Probably ought to include John Birch in there as well, although the instruments currently being built don't have the same quality and innovation as they did in the 70s.

[BigRedX]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='451725' date='Apr 1 2009, 05:14 PM']Again, Mark Denby was just a random name picked up as somebody who may be open to the idea of getting involved with the magazine because he is/was involved with bassday and has some experience of a bass centric market... he may not be the "ideal" candidate but certainly somebody from his line of work...etc.[/quote]

I think in this day and age it may be far more useful to run a series of articles about how to try and make a living playing original music without having to deal with a record company.

[ARGH]

[quote name='OldGit' post='451450' date='Apr 1 2009, 01:20 PM']What's an lp?[/quote]

Like what you put on your grammaphone and boogie too!


Failing that,come watch us...we melt grannys,its a bitch of a H&S paperwork mountain...but I feel we are doing our bit against society and its junta against the norm*


(* its not Norms fault,he was in the wrong place at the wrong time)

[ARGH]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='451734' date='Apr 1 2009, 05:21 PM']I think in this day and age it may be far more useful to run a series of articles about how to try and make a living playing original music without having to deal with a record company.[/quote]
Hense my point about an interview about a proper WMC,wedding,Camp working stiff....

Hell an article on self employed Tax form fillout,accountants and such would be a good idea!

Insurance......is it what its cracked up to be?...same with the MU..Im not looking for the mag to be bloody 'Which',but its a BIG thing,both commitmentwise and financially speaking..I reckon theres a TON of horror/love stories.

Gigging in other countries,ship gigs.....you rarely hear from those guys!

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='451730' date='Apr 1 2009, 05:18 PM']Knew I'd forget someone.

Probably ought to include John Birch in there as well, although the instruments currently being built don't have the same quality and innovation as they did in the 70s.[/quote]

The Super Yob. Classic instrument.

(attached - this is a replica)

Edited April 1, 2009 by EBS_freak