What's on your desk/table/work station?

Just a bit of fun...

In detail (what else?), what do you have on your desk - or wherever it is you sit to do your work?

Here goes for me:

* Pot of pens and pencils (seashore design on the pot)

* 'Wine-glass' tealight holder

* Tall carved wooden candle stick with candle, standing on crocheted doily

* Mini teddy bear wearing a jumper with a snowman design

* LED desk lamp

* Phones - landline and mobile (Sony Xperia)

* Photo of mum, aged about 20 Heart

* VW Campervan mug of coffee, on a rose-design coaster

* Headphones (JVC)

* Asus 27" monitor

* Microsoft mouse on recycled tyre mouse-mat (from the Alternative Technology Centre in Wales)

* TalkTalk internet router

* HP Envy 5540 all-in-one printer

* 2 memory sticks

* Gas lighter for candles

* Day-glo yellow highlighter pen

* Packet of salmon Dreamies treats for Daisy

* Microsoft keyboard (photo of Daisy on-screen)

* Shadows

...and here it is, minus the mobile - which I needed to take the photo!

Parents
  • This is a much better view of my lair.  I'm learning to play my beautiful bass guitar, only been a few months so I'm pretty hopeless, but getting better.  Not expecting miracles. 

  • Hello Spotty Tortoise, another four stringer here. Very nice instrument you have, sort of a MM Stingray. On the point of being "hopeless", some of the greatest bass lines ever recorded just articulate on a very few notes, in some instances no more than 2 or 3 (sometimes even 1...). Imo, bass is rather about knowing when and where playing that special note which will bring the piece alive instead of focusing on excessive technique and demonstrativeness, as it is often the case today, with, for example,  the myriad of YouTube supersonic typewriters sort of players. 

    Link for you (but maybe you already know about the site) : http://www.activebass.com/ 

    Tons of things to do and learn and plenty of resources for beginners Wink

  • Hello Gadzooks, I like your avatar!  Very happy to find a fellow bass person here, obviously you know a lot more than I do, but I'm enthusiastic... You are spot on, it is a Sterling Sub Ray 4, I did a lot of research and ultimately decided on aesthetics, my logic being that if I didn't love it I wouldn't play it.

    I like your point about putting the right note in the right place, all those uTube videos are impressive and intimidating (love your supersonic typewriter analogy) and remind me of a lot of recent female singers, just because you can sing all those amazing notes doesn't mean you have to get them all into every song.  I'm happy with less is more but am still very much in 'find the note' land though I can find them quite a bit without looking from the fifth fret down which I never thought would be possible, yay!

    Thank you for the link, haven't heard of that one and will have a look soon. Do you play in a band, how long have you been playing?  Questions questions.  Thanks for the encouragement, much appreciated. Relaxed

Reply
  • Hello Gadzooks, I like your avatar!  Very happy to find a fellow bass person here, obviously you know a lot more than I do, but I'm enthusiastic... You are spot on, it is a Sterling Sub Ray 4, I did a lot of research and ultimately decided on aesthetics, my logic being that if I didn't love it I wouldn't play it.

    I like your point about putting the right note in the right place, all those uTube videos are impressive and intimidating (love your supersonic typewriter analogy) and remind me of a lot of recent female singers, just because you can sing all those amazing notes doesn't mean you have to get them all into every song.  I'm happy with less is more but am still very much in 'find the note' land though I can find them quite a bit without looking from the fifth fret down which I never thought would be possible, yay!

    Thank you for the link, haven't heard of that one and will have a look soon. Do you play in a band, how long have you been playing?  Questions questions.  Thanks for the encouragement, much appreciated. Relaxed

Children
  • Hello Spotty Tortoise, you're welcome. Ah, the avatar resumes well enough my chaotic life so far and all the rather strange aspects of 'it never happens as it should' that constantly gravitate around it. But let's pass on this. Good choice for the bass. Not only they look good but also sound great (Stingray heritage... once played one of those but was quite pricey so went for another bass). You're spot on to the fact that you need to love your instrument or you wouldn't play it. I like to think it's one of the keys of becoming a decent player. Your post brought me to the idea of making a quick parallel on your reference to singers and bass playing : a very constructive way of making fast progress in your playing is to get the habit of singing every note you play. This is of course valid for whatever music you may happen to hear, even the one you don't like... Ear is your best friend when it comes to both play and listen to music (sorry if I sound a bit patronising or worse). Regarding the 'less is more' point of view, I won't lie to you by saying it takes a bit of experience before reaching that stage ; hence it is often the reason why new players jump onto technique per se instead of taking the time of developing their own voice... You certainly guessed I only value what is deeply personal in music (and the rest as well) ; I can't relate neither be passionate about the plethora of clones who seem to flourish in our time and age, whichever the discipline they choose to express themselves, so to speak. To answer your question regarding if I play in a band at the moment, it's no. For evident reasons, it is quite difficult for me to accommodate with others when it comes of doing something... Cooperation is not my forte, I must admit. I have been playing bass since 1984 but with long periods when I wasn't playing at all (sometimes as long as 20 years ; just took up the instrument a year ago, once again). I used to play a lot, tons of covers until I was fed up with them : today, I don't play covers at all if the rendition would have to be like the original. If I happen to play one, I'd keep the skeleton more or less as it is but would infuse different flesh and blood into the piece ; no other way for me to be stimulated in that order. Last thing, try your best to play at least 15 minutes a day : practice being another key to make progress Wink

    All the best.

    PS: I also would suggest for you to get either a metronome or a drum machine. Essential when you play bass. Music creation software is also great to practice (I use garageband, millions of different drum patterns and a breeze to use). Otherwise, you can eventually find what you may need online. 

    Happy playing!