Where do you put your thumb?

[Grimalkin]

When people try every which way be an apologist for bad technique, I know they can't play for s**t.

[SteveXFR]

7 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

 

Using outliers as justification for poor technique. Many were self educated, that's how they end up with that technique. Lemmy as an accomplished bassist? I don't think so

 

Lemmy made a huge amount of money writing and playing music that millions of people enjoyed and travelled the world playing to enormous crowds and has influenced probably the majority of metal bands who came after. Id consider that to be a fairly accomplished bassist.

Does the actual technique used really matter if the sound that comes out is good? As far as I'm concerned that's the ultimate aim of playing any musical instrument.

I agree, learn the right techniques to start with but maybe later do what works best for you to get the sounds you want. 

[Grimalkin]

2 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Lemmy made a huge amount of money writing and playing music that millions of people enjoyed and travelled the world playing to enormous crowds and has influenced probably the majority of metal bands who came after. Id consider that to be a fairly accomplished bassist.

Does the actual technique used really matter if the sound that comes out is good? As far as I'm concerned that's the ultimate aim of playing any musical instrument.

I agree, learn the right techniques to start with but maybe later do what works best for you to get the sounds you want. 

 

I think the Daily Mail is the highest circulating paper in the UK?...

 

Quantity does not guarantee quality does it. That's been proven time and time again...

[Grimalkin]

I don't mind the character of Lemmy to an extent, he used to frequent the Marquee Club glued to the bandit chewing his teeth flat on amphetamine back in the day, so a couple of colleagues who used to play there mentioned.

 

But as a musical influence, forget it...

[SteveXFR]

Like I said, If you're getting the right sounds, why would it matter how you get them?

Lemmy, like all metal musicians are aiming for a sound which you may not consider quality but many others do. I think Lemmy's bass lines were often pretty much perfect for Motorhead's punk/metal crossover sound so where's the lack of quality? 

 

As for not being influential. Motorhead are listed as influences by nearly every major metal and heavy rock band including Foo Fighters and Metallica 

Edited December 18, 2022 by SteveXFR

[Grimalkin]

2 minutes ago, SteveXFR said:

Like I said, If you're getting the right sounds, why would it matter how you get them?

Lemmy, like all metal musicians are aiming for a sound which you may not consider quality but many others do. I think Lemmy's bass lines were often pretty much perfect for Motorhead's punk/metal crossover sound so where's the lack of quality? 

 

Punk/metal... I don't have any time for that scene whatsoever. More about tribalism than music.

[SteveXFR]

6 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

 

Punk/metal... I don't have any time for that scene whatsoever. More about tribalism than music.

 

Now I understand.  You're one of those people who thinks what doesn't fit your personal taste is just bad.

Punk and metal are definitely about music. Metal in particular is often incredibly technical (nu metal and  hair metal excepted) and a lot of punk, especially ska punk is pretty complex. 

[TimR]

Ha. I had to go back 3 pages to find out what 'thumb over the neck' meant.

 

You wouldn't teach that. 

 

But if you're resting your plucking hand thumb then you can palm mute. 

 

It's a trade off. If you can get the notes you need to while slapping, muting with your fingerings hand thumb becomes pretty useful. If you can't reach the notes then you can't mute. 

 

No one would be doing it all the time. 

[Grimalkin]

1 minute ago, SteveXFR said:

 

Now I understand.  You're one of those people who thinks what doesn't fit your personal taste is just bad.

Punk and metal are definitely about music. Metal in particular is often incredibly technical (nu metal and  hair metal excepted) and a lot of punk, especially ska punk is pretty complex. 

 

I have never met one so-called punk who could tell me what the definition of Anarchy was, not one. They just liked looking the part. Same as the rest of the tribe.

[SteveXFR]

6 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

 

I have never met one so-called punk who could tell me what the definition of Anarchy was, not one. They just liked looking the part. Same as the rest of the tribe.

 

Most punks aren't in to the whole sex pistols anarchy and tartan trousers thing that was just a small part of the genre. Punk existed long before that in America. I don't think Stooges ever mentioned anarchy.

Most punk bands were in it for the music and there's lots of sub genres with different sounds. Something like Rancid is a whole different musical world to Sex Pistols. Have a listen to something like Maxwell Murders by Rancid, it's certainly not the root note, slightly out of time bashing that you'd hear from Sid Vicious. 

[tegs07]

8 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

 

I have never met one so-called punk who could tell me what the definition of Anarchy was, not one. They just liked looking the part. Same as the rest of the tribe.

I was a bit too young to be a Punk but old enough to have been impacted by the social and economic conditions of the 1970s. I doubt if it was just a fashion statement for most. They were tough and bleak times.

[Grimalkin]

5 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

I was a bit too young to be a Punk but old enough to have been impacted by the social and economic conditions of the 1970s. I doubt if it was just a fashion statement for most. They were tough and bleak times.

 

“Punks don’t like to hear it but they and Mrs. Thatcher were both on the coattails of something bigger, which was the rise of individualism where we could be whatever we wanted to be,” he explains. “The Sex Pistols’ song ‘I Wanna Be Me’ came at the same time as a speech by Mrs. Thatcher that had pretty much the same message."

 

https://www.factmag.com/2013/07/11/filmmaker-and-massive-attack-collaborator-adam-curtis-on-why-music-may-be-dying-and-why-need-a-new-radicalism/2/

[Grimalkin]

"Cash from chaos..."

 

Yes indeed.

 

"Ever get the feeling you've been cheated?..."

[tegs07]

10 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

 

“Punks don’t like to hear it but they and Mrs. Thatcher were both on the coattails of something bigger, which was the rise of individualism where we could be whatever we wanted to be,” he explains. “The Sex Pistols’ song ‘I Wanna Be Me’ came at the same time as a speech by Mrs. Thatcher that had pretty much the same message."

 

https://www.factmag.com/2013/07/11/filmmaker-and-massive-attack-collaborator-adam-curtis-on-why-music-may-be-dying-and-why-need-a-new-radicalism/2/

I know you love a quote! I’m no expert on the history of Punk but I doubt that many of the original punk’s thought too deeply about the subject. They were largely bored, broke and a bit angry about the state of their lives. It hadn’t changed all that much by my early teens.

Edited December 18, 2022 by tegs07

[SteveXFR]

Sex Pistols were the manufactured boy band of punk, not really the place to look for what punk was about. For most punk was an escape from a depressing time, a community of like minded people and music which gave an output for built up frustration and anger.

Punk existed in New York quite a long time before it started in London. The name punk was first used in a fanzine in NY. The London scene definitely does not represent the world of punk.

Edited December 18, 2022 by SteveXFR

[Grimalkin]

1 minute ago, tegs07 said:

I know you love a quote! I’m no expert on the history of Punk but I doubt that many of the original punk’s thought too deeply about the subject. They were largely bored, broke and a bit angry about the state of their lives. It hadn’t changed all that much by my early teens:

 

I quote and credit rather than steal, that seems morally right to me. But people here seem terrified of quotes, like scalded cats. It's regarded as some kind of threat to their very being...

[tegs07]

11 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

 

I quote and credit rather than steal, that seems morally right to me. But people here seem terrified of quotes, like scalded cats. It's regarded as some kind of threat to their very being...

Some things don’t need to be overly complicated or intellectualised. If muting with your thumb works for you then do it. If growing up on a working class council estate where there is no work and lots of bored angry youths about is reflected in the music of the time then no middle class intellectual needs to write a thesis on the subject to make sense of it. Chomsky didn’t need to publish a paper on The Specials Ghost Town. I just had to walk into the town centre to understand it.

Edited December 18, 2022 by tegs07

[upside downer]

I use my thumb to cover my eyes when certain people post on here.

 

"Boredom, boredom, be 'dumb, be 'dumb"

 

Boredom by Buzzcocks,  for those that like a quote.

[Grimalkin]

3 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

Some things don’t need to be overly complicated or intellectualised. If muting with your thumb works for you then do it. If growing up on a working class council estate where there is no work and lots of bored angry youths about is reflected in the music of the time then no middle class intellectual needs to write a thesis on the subject to make sense of it. Chomsky didn’t need to publish a paper on The Specials Ghost Town. I just had to walk into the town centre to get it.

 

Is this supposed to be some reply of sorts?

 

Stay in school.

[SteveXFR]

6 minutes ago, tegs07 said:

Some things don’t need to be overly complicated or intellectualised. If muting with your thumb works for you then do it. If growing up on a working class council estate where there is no work and lots of bored angry youths about is reflected in the music of the time then no middle class intellectual needs to write a thesis on the subject to make sense of it. Chomsky didn’t need to publish a paper on The Specials Ghost Town. I just had to walk into the town centre to understand it.

 

Seems like a perfect reply

[BreadBin]

There are certain individuals who keep confusing their opinions with facts. Some of them use quotes to confirm their bias but dismiss anything that doesn't fit their world view as an outlier.

Welcome to the Internet...

 

5 minutes ago, upside downer said:

I use my thumb to cover my eyes when certain people post on here.

 

"Boredom, boredom, be 'dumb, be 'dumb"

 

Boredom by Buzzcocks,  for those that like a quote.

Quite so 👍

Edited December 18, 2022 by BreadBin

[Grimalkin]

"We don't need experts..."

 

Yeah, look how that's worked out...

[Leonard Smalls]

1 hour ago, Grimalkin said:

“Punks don’t like to hear it but they and Mrs. Thatcher were both on the coattails of something bigger, which was the rise of individualism where we could be whatever we wanted to be,” he explains.

I think Mr Curtis may have been over-thinking this somewhat in order to be an "interesting" interviewee...

However, I also think he fundamentally misunderstood the direction of punk; he seems to feel that it promoted self-obsession, a sort of "my-feelings-are-everything-and-are-the-most-important-thing-in-the-world". Whereas, in actual fact it lead to all sorts of protest movements which were about getting rid of injustice, protecting the environment and stuff. 

While the Sex Pistols were largely about nihilism (and product), bands like Crass, Dead Kennedys, even the Exploited, were about fighting a crooked system with variously subtle lyrics, not about selling merchandise. At least not specifically. Though I always found it rather entertaining to see that anarcho-syndicalist-espousing Crass had a fine line in beanies and sew-on patches featuring their instantly recognisable logo! Still, everyone's got to make a living, including Mr Curtis, who no doubt has another series to promote...

 

 

[TimR]

1 hour ago, tegs07 said:

I just had to walk into the town centre to understand it.

 

I lived and worked in Coventry for 2 years in the 90s. Not much had changed by then. 

 

But actually the song wasn't about Coventry per se, it was a commentary on the whole country. 

 

Ha. That's about as intellectual as I'll get. 

[TimR]

There was all sorts of punk. When people think of punk they typically think of the punk music and fashion made famous by the Sex Pistols. 

 

Adam of Adam and the Ants headlined the first Sex Pistols gig in his band Bazooka Joe, along with Suzi and the Banshees. Neither of those bands would be considered punk now. 

 

I'm not sure if Adam palm or thumb muted his bass.