u/LukieHeekschmeel

I’m a beginner and have only surfed on holidays in Cornwall and abroad so far, but I’d love to do it more regularly.

I based in Warrington, so the nearest spots are North Wales or the North East, both of which are 2 hours or so away. I’m free most weekends so could make a trip. Just wondering if many in the UK travel so far to surf? And if I’m only able on weekends with some possibly fickle spots would I progress much?

This is a bit of a vent post.

I’m on a trip to Uluwatu, Bali and did a couple lessons over the last days, hiring a private instructor. For background, I’ve done about 4 weeks surfing total so far. The most intense previously were some 1.5m waves in Ericeira last year. That was tough but you felt safe because it was a surf camp with great instructors.

Anyway, first day with this instructor he gives me a big foamie and we just do white water. Its been a year since i last surfed so im rusty and fall off a lot. Yesterday day we went out on a 8/9ft hardtop and go out to the lineup where some people have private lessons but also just some regular surfers.

The waves were stupid intense. Like 6+ft. I managed to catch some waves and ride down the line which was great. But in the beginning I didn’t know how to safely paddle back out after a wipeout. I was so tired and the sets were smashing against me, I felt like I could have drowned if it were any more. Eventually I learned to relax more gauge how to paddle between sets, but damn it scarred me.

Anyway, is this a normal experience or bad instructor? I cancelled today lessons as I’m dreading it and didn’t feel totally safe. I’ve had lessons in the past but rarely pushed so hard. Maybe Ericeira was nearly as intense, but the instructors had the beach to themselves and were top notch so i felt safe there.

Edit: It was Balangan beach I was surfing. I meant “Uluwatu” as in the surrounding area.

I’ve just tried on and returned a pair of the Primus trail knit grounding because they were pinching around the top of the first joint of my big toe whenever the shoe flexed while i walk. Kinda disappointing.

Does anyone know if their other trail models have the same issue? I’ve just ordered one of the trail flows as that doesn’t look like it would suffer the same problem.

I’m a guitarist and want to buy a bass solely to record music. I don’t want it to be expensive and I want it to be easy to play.

I’ve no experience playing bass solely I want to know what to look for. I’d go as low as drop Bb tuning but want flexibility to play in E standard too.

I could buy a 5 string and that should cover all tunings, but is that as easy to play? Also what scale length would be recommended?

I’m just curious what are peoples approach to writing. Is there a process you follow? For example, just jamming to a drum track

I’m interested in the very beginning of making a riff to how that riff develops into more complex ideas and a larger composition.

I feel even if you write a nice riff it can be hard to see how that fits into a wider composition, and if you do develop it how to keep it from being robotic and obvious. Maybe part of this is fatigue due to hearing your own riffs over and over while writing, but it feels like its difficult to know what actually sounds good after a while.