It's not Sunday.

 No need to go to mass today because it's not Sunday. No mortal sins will be incurred by staying home. Actually, no sins at all will be incurred and there is no need to go to confession. Not unless you want to be felt up by one of our priests. Ha, ha, old Catholic joke!

This is just a short post because I have nothing else to tell you.

If you don't like it, that's your problem.

Bye and rot in Hell.

Non lo so. It's called that for a reason.

 

I did check out Robert's video on the 'Non lo so' LINK on Richard's Bass Bag.* 

All I can really say about it is, "Non lo so."

Okay, Bebop is not the most popular music in Heaven, but neither are Haydn cello concertos. Mozart's Requiem goes down pretty well with older people like Mr. Linford. Funnily enough Rap is quite popular too.

"I tell you to sit back tight, no need to swear or bite.

I tell you to open your ears and listen to Gsus."

Yes, I'm getting called that quite a bit lately. It seems to have caught on with younger people. They also think it's funny to ask, "What's Gsus4?" (What's Jesus for?)

I have sent a few of the most annoying ones down to Hell. Let Satan deal with them!

Everyone, well, Catholics mostly, seems to be talking about sin these days. Does sin apply in Heaven? No. It's more about when you make a nuisance of yourself with things like overdoing saying, "Gsus4." Especially when I'm a bit tired. 

My mother Mary has been going on about rosary beads lately. It gets a bit annoying after a while. I want to tell her to shut up, but that would only upset dad. Hey, if you're one of those rosary bead users down on Earth, just try to give it a break for a while. Find something else to do. Maybe learn some Bebop tunes?

See you, and hopefully not in Hell.

* the original bass bagging site

R(of RBB) practising with an A7b9.

 Got to keep that bass going! It may not get you into Heaven though.

Welcome to our new host!

 Hey, we are now hosted by that iconic figure

ANGRY JESUS!

"Things are about to hot up around here, and I'm not referring to Hell!"

Make sure you pop by regularly!

Good Morning!

 Welcome back to Richard's Bass Bag 2*.

On this blog you'll hear all about the double bass - you'll learn finer points on how to get better at playing the double bass. Hey, but you'll learn about lots of other things too! Don't worry about that! We'll also work in conjunction with RBB & RBB3 at times. It'll be like one big family.

You'll notice that TC's blog is on our list. Hey, it'll be just like old times! The raccoon lives on!

We'll also be giving advice from Gloria.

She's the one who said, "I don't think I want to go to Heaven if Mr. Linford is going to be there."

She is a lady of wise sayings and I'm sure she can help with any silly religious beliefs. Who needs Robert?** Hey, Gloria only turned up at church when she had a new hat to show off. Cool lady.

Okay, okay, I hear you ask, "Who was Mr. Linford?"

Mr. Linford was our neighbour at Garden Road, Northland. Along with the O'Sullivans and the Frasers. He lived down at the front of our property with his wife (and sometimes a son). He was one of the men involved with our church (St. Vincent de Paul) and often used to collect the money from the congregation. He was often helped by Mr. Taber. Gloria didn't like the way Mr. Linford treated his wife. He used to send her up our steep steps to get some sugar (of something). She was not a well lady and she struggled with this task.

Well, there you go. That's a pretty good reintroduction to Richard's Bass Bag 2.

See you again soon.

* putting the number '2' back into bass bagging

** Oh, you probably don't remember him now!

Back in action!

 

Hey, if you're looking at the links on RBB, you're going to find that Akish, RBB2 & RBB3 are all going to be posting regularly. Hey, that's plenty for you to read! Go for it and enjoy!

I'm Bach.

 Okay, three famous action stars were asked to be in a movie about famous composers. Clint Eastwood said, "I want to play Mozart." Sylvester Stallone said that his preference was to play Beethoven.

What did Arnold Schwarzenegger say?

Okay, it's obvious that our little blogging community is going through hard times, what with Rob often deleting his blog and Peter often being away. 

No need to worry!

Richard's Bass Bag 2 and Richard's Bass Bag 3 are back in action!

For your reading pleasure.

Your worries are over!

Keep an eye out for more posts.

You can find us on Richard's Bass Bag* - just use the LINKS service.

Don't forget that you've got three blogs to check now!

* the original bass bagging site

What are those blogging boys up to?

 Peter (that very old guy who calls himself The Curmudgeon) got up through the night to watch a football final. I don't expect we'll be hearing much from him today. I think he's trying to relive the days when he played for a crack cracked football team at school. In those days, at Catholic schools in this country, you were expected to play rugby and you needed a medical certificate to play 'soccer'. Okay, Peter was half blind, but I think he was the only kid in the team with two working legs and arms who didn't have an extreme weight problem. He was the star of the team.

He was also quite a cyclist.

Robert the quite a few different things has been practising improvising over on his blog (you can use the LINKS service over on Richard's Bass Bag* to find the blogs of Robert and The Curmudgeon, if you're really bored). He likes to call it 'making up shit'. The next step for him is to move to 'making up nice stuff'.

Robert the quite a few different things

His next step is to think about phrasing and the use of harmonic approximation. What is harmonic approximation, I hear you say? Well, let's say the piece you are playing is in C major. You use the notes from the C major scale to play over all the chords in the piece. If a 'funny' chord pops up, you might get some interesting sounds but just move to the next note. You might want to try adding other notes that are not in the scale. This might sound good, or not so good. Hey, but you have to take a few risks. Remember that good phrasing will be your friend in this type of improvising. Try using the rhythm from the tune, or another similar tune. Buona fortuna Rob.

To finish here's an interesting little blast from the past.

Have a good week.

* the original bass bagging site

Home is the sailor...

 We've returned to Nuova Lazio.

Though it was nice to spend a night in Wellington.

It's good to see Peter and Robert (two little known bloggers) enjoying this blog in my absence.

Yesterday I watched a couple of videos about playing the violin without a shoulder rest. The first featured Yehudi Menuhin and the other featured another much younger bloke. 

There are lots of different views on how to approach the violin. There are those who hold it up with the thumb and those who use a shoulder rest and hold it with the chin. There is also the problem of which way the violin should point. I've decided to stay with the approach I have been using - no shoulder rest and violin basically facing straight ahead.

There are also violinists who spend their lives playing music written by other people and playing it virtually note for note. The other group of violinists like to make shit up.

Of course, the people who like to make shit up often use the tunes that other people have written. These violinists might be folk musicians, or bluegrass musicians, or rock musicians, or musicians from another culture or jazz musicians. Their 'rules' for making shit up might differ considerably between different groups. A lot of folk musicians like to use what Jerry Coker called Harmonic Approximation. Jazz musicians, on the other hand, explore lots of different note combinations - for example, the #11 is a very popular note. Though obviously there is a lot more to it than that. Bluegrass musicians have developed some unique ways of playing and some neat bowing styles - Hokum bowing and the Nashville shuffle are two.

Well, that's enough for today. I'll pop across and see if The Music Curmudgeon has written anything*.

Bye.

* Spoiler Alert: I've already looked.

A long time between posts.

 You'll all be pleased to hear that both RBB2 and RBB3 are now back in action.

Christmas is just around the corner.

Christmas gets celebrated for different reasons. For some it's a time to get family together, for others it's a big piss up with lots of food. Christians will celebrate the 2022nd birthday of Jesus. Hey, that's old! 

"I don't like Christmas."

Well, it's great to be back posting on this blog. Don't forget to pop over to RBB3.

Christmas Approaches.

Firstly, sorry for the quiet over the last year, but we're back for your reading pleasure.

Christmas, what does it mean for you?

In this country we like to do things with snow.

That's a little bit weird because I can't remember it ever snowing here at Christmas.
It doesn't snow in Australia either at Christmas time.

Australia

I don't think it snowed at the manger either on that supposed birth 2019 years ago.

Is the guy in the middle holding a 

soprano saxophone or a cornet?

In actual fact, at Christmas there are probably more places where is doesn't snow than there are places where it does.

Maybe we should live up to what we know was probably in the manger on that day and start celebrating soprano saxophones.

Unless, of course, it was actually a cornet that the guy in the manger was holding.

Whatever he was holding, it was actually a silver one so sorry for the inaccurate pictures.

Hey, it's good to be back blogging and bringing you the important issues.

Gig coming up!

Jonathon Harper is a very respected classical guitarist who has spent much of his life playing (and singing) Spanish influenced music with a pacific flavour. He speaks fluent Spanish and a bit of Italian. When he emails me, he uses a combination of these two languages. Sometimes a bit of deduction is needed to see when and where the next practice is. I'll be playing double bass, violin and a bit of guitar. It should be fun. Jonathon is a guy with a unique style - this gig promises to be fun. 

Christmas approaches.

It'll be a small affair this year.
Both kids have stuff on, so it'll be Uncle Steve, Uncle Rod, Annie and Shelley and me.
Makes cooking easier.
I won't go to church. Robert will take care of that for us.
The Curmudgeon will carefully pick his music but me and Rod will probably have a jam.

Not this sort of jam.

I wonder what the guys over at RBB3 have planned?

While we like to create our own particular style that sits very well with our readers...

...you probably won't want to miss THE RICHARD'S BASS BAG* CHRISTMAS SPECIAL over on the original bass bagging site!

"And, move over Jesus, it's going

to be all about me!"

Meanwhile we'll be presenting you with a less entropic Christmas on RBB2*.






* putting the number '2' back into bass bagging

A scoop for RBB2!

Robert's blog has deleted Richard's Bass Bag* from his links list and replaced him with us!

HERE

This is a great honour and we feel that we're finally blogging among the big boys.
So, make sure that you're reading us regularly.



* the original bass bagging site.

New Name.

Okay, so now we're The 6 Strings.

Like on a guitar

See HERE.

Oh well, I guess it works for me.

DARKEST HOUR.

I've seen a few good movies lately, including The Post and Darkest Hour. Okay, both of these movies lacked a shoot out at the end and the hero walking away and not looking back while everything blows up, but they were good movies. Except for one thing - they seem to like making movies long these days. That means I have to sit for two hours and my right knee gets sore. Maybe film makers need to make slightly shorter versions for pensioners.

Actually, when I named this post DARKEST HOUR, I wasn't thinking about the film but the state of blogging in our little community. There are three main blogs around here:

• The Bass Bagging Hexagram
• The Curmudgeonly Old Men's Club
• Robert.

Let's take a look at what each group offers.

1) The Bass Bagging Hexagram:

Richard's Bass Bag* was the first blog in our little community (though Man of Errors was already in existence, but that is more like a satallite blog) and was followed by two blogs - The Curmudgeon and a blog by Robert that has appeared under many different names.

Richard's Bass Bag* set up the now famous LINKS service,which made it easy for other bloggers to navigate their way around blogs. Many bloggers have gained readership and ease of travel from this service. A little later The Wine Guy came along. He lost a bit of popularity by insulting a pregnant waitress who tried to give him a beer, in a wine bar, when he was trying to show off that he only bought expensive wines. There is no truth in the rumour that the waitress was planted there by Richard's Bass Bag.* Many top class bloggers came along and joined the community. Stand out bloggers, who are still with us, are Bin Hire (who runs a bass bagging site), Akish The Philistine and the ever popular Angry Jesus. Richard's Bass Bag* became so popular that it expanded out into two new blogs - RBB2 and RBB3. Eventually, after coming together as The Bass Bagging Confederation, the six most successful blogs that this community has seen became The Bass Bagging Hexagram. The present policy is to feature each blog, so Richard's Bass Bag* is in a resting spell as these other five blogs spread their wings. Richard's Bass Bag* is managing the Hexagram.

The Bass Bagging Hexagram

2) The Curmudgeon Inc.

This group of blogs gets referred to by several names - The Elderly Curmudgeons' Tea Party, The Old Chaps, The Past It Guys, etc.

It was started by The Curmudgeon in a sad attempt to compete with Richard's Bass Bag* and his team mates who soon formed The Bass Bagging Confederation. Basically this group of blogs is just The Curmudgeon, The Wine Guy and another Curmudgeon for every topic you can think of.

They all pop up on The Curmudgeon's blog though, because he invented so many Curmudgeons, most have fallen by the wayside and never really post. Posts tend to be about obscure singers, wine, storms up north, windows, wine, paintings in TC's house, arty films, wine, swimming, wine. You get the idea.

Interpret this as you see fit but, to me, it always looks like

five buttocks and a poo.

3) Robert:

Robert's blog has had many names and is famous for disappearing, then restarting. Posts are often deleted. He likes to write poems, talk about his daily life and attack evolution. At the time of writing he also exhibits a second blog called A composer's journey. There's a nice little tune on the blog that he has started to write. I'm impressed. I must say that this new blog overshadows his main blog that is presently titled Send feedback. Okay then. My feedback would be write something interesting.

An aging Paganini

* * *

I named this post DARKEST HOUR because I think that describes where this blogging community is at present.
Full marks must go to Richard's Bass Bag* for introducing the circulation policy with The Bass Bagging Hexagram. It just needs other people to get on board and travel around these great blogs.
Full marks too to Robert's A composer's journey. I'd seen a few earlier posts on this blog that didn't do it at all (whatever it is). Then I read his latest offering today and I was impressed!

Far less marks to all those Curmudgeons. We don't really want to read about your leader wallowing around in the water like a distressed whale that has come in too close to shore. There was a time when you brought us more interesting posts like the drama of an outside chair blowing over in a storm and The Wine Guy's fight with a pregnant waitress (mentioned above - what a famous post). These days it's just a circulation of different Curmudgeons who all seem to write in the same style.
Robert, I never thought I'd say this but, Send feedback has got to go! My advice - bring back a simple name like Robert, lose the poems, get that contraversial streak back. Bring back the dinosaurs! You're at your best when you're upsetting The Curmudgeon.


There you have my thoughts. May the sun come up soon.

* the original bass bagging site

Fear of flying.

Hard to believe that we're so far into January. The big Italy trip is closing in slowly (set for mid to late September). That means I'll be spending a lot of time in one of these.

To get to Italy requires a 1 hour flight to Auckland, a 12 hour flight to somewhere like San Francisco and a 12 hour flight to Milano.
I don't really have a fear of flying, more a fear of crashing.
People say that flying is one of the safest modes of transport in the world so my fear is a bit unreasonable. The thing is too, if I want to get to Italy, this is what I need to do.
Unless I go by canoe.

It's certainly a long way to water ski.

So, flying it is.

There will be a lot of people on those planes and not much room. The trick will be to get my head into a good space and keep it there.

We're all going to die in the end. Better to die on a grand adventure than to wither away in an old folks' home. I've seen enough people do that.

"It's always now." That's a good thing to remember. When one lives in the moment everything else becomes secondary. The past and the future (ie. crashing) are no longer relevant.
Bring it on.*
I don't think there will be any cows on the plane.*



* a cool saying

* that one was for The Curmudgeon

It's so easy to get around!

These LINK connections between The Bass Bagging Hexagram blogs makes life so easy!

Here's mine...

Thanks heaps to Richard's Bass Bag!*

* the original bass bagging site

It's here!

THE BASS BAGGING HEXAGRAM!

Beauty in balance.

Six great blogs working together.