Leaderboard

And that is fine, we are all entitled to our own opinions. Personally I don't like showboating when it is terrible, indulgent drivel (like many bass solos I've seen live over the past 40 years!), but when it is musical, when it has groove etc, yes, I really like that sort of thing. A bass player that I really enjoy is Charles Berthoud, he plays solo stuff on Youtube etc, and he has a mindblowing level of technique, but he keeps musicality at the centre, and gets a great groove going. To that end I really enjoyed this cover of Uptown funk. If you don't want his preamble, playing starts at 40 seconds.

So, new bass day for me, a Fender Precision in black/black/maple. So what’s new I hear you say? Well it’s a five-string Precision, that’s what’s new. I’d seen this on here for a while and although never had a fiver before it’s my preferred brand/model/colour scheme, and as I’m not in a gigging band at present should I join one and then need a fiver it made sense to be prepared. Plus it would have really irritated me if that happened and I’d passed on this one and had to get a fiver that didn’t match the rest of my basses (CDO is a terrible thing, I even have to arrange the letters properly/alphabetically). Here it is, currently strung with flats and they just really work, more than likely I’ll keep them.

PSA - due to an admin error, subscriptions to this thread got deleted. If you want to follow the thread, please re-subscribe by clicking “follow”. @SICbass, @CameronJ, @HazBeen, @Dood, @mxm, @bartelby, @Richard R, @MacDaddy, @GisserD, @Al Krow, @Leonard Smalls, @andybassdoyle, @MrTea, @lee650, @Bass-Face, @Andras Szalay, @AxelF, @reesource, @Dubs, @krispn, @toneknob, @owen, @cosmicevan, @Higgie, @AinsleyWalker, @Kiwi, @prowla, @burno70, @Illinformed, @itu, @dodge_bass, @hiram.k.hackenbacker, @stewblack, @Ruck, @ped, @Gradenko, @Rustybass Belgium, @Cuzzie, @Barsky, @Paul Sale, @PurpleBert, @gorandelac, @knicknack, @MOXYBASS

Bought new from Bass Direct, it arrived this evening. I did not expect it to be so good - I don't why I thought that - but it is really an incredible bass for the money: £1300. I swapped the steel strings for La Bella Deep Talking black nylon tapes, and they fit perfectly. Everything about this bass reeks of quality. The hardware is all very good, and the setup could not be bettered. Superb fingerboard, best I've had on a fretless. I did wonder if a 30" string length would provide a good fretless sound, but it most certainly does. One dislike: described as "faded red", but turns out be more pink-red. I might consider changing that, though it's a big hassle to do so. But I'll definitely be keeping it. Full name: Sandberg California II V84 Lionel Candy Apple Red "Soft Core Aged" - quite a mouthful. Pictured next to my theorbo...😎

So boards changed again,as I've got rid of a few pedals, to buy another bass (as you do) had a change around of some and have a slightly different layout. EBS Microbass 2 - this is the third one of these I've had, and I'd forgotten how brilliant they are. Works as an A/B box for 2 basses, or two channels for one, and an OD, DI, headphone amp it also has a loop with a control for parallel to series operation. I've put all my effects into the loop, so I can use them with the headphone amp and set the dial to 100% effect as I don't need any clean blended in. first in the loop Cali76 CB - I've tried most of them and love this for versatility while still being intuitive to use. It has fantastic natural tone,which just makes you sound better. (Although I've seriously got my eye on an FEA optifet 🤣) This then goes into the main input of a Boss LS2,so all channels are massaged by the Cali76. This then goes back to the EBS, this is my main clean sound, I can switch effects in/out using the Ls2 Ls2 Loop A - Analog Channel Cog T70 triple Octave - 3 channel octaves with its own loop. Two separated T65 octaves which ive set 1 for a clean smooth octave and another for a synthy octave up sound, utilising the filters. It has a third "sub" channel which has no clean just octave. The filters can get this fairly close to the OC2 sound. The loop on this enables "parallel" octave so any effects used have the octave clean underneath, in this loop I have Zvex Mastatron fuzz- gated spitty funky fuzz! An absolute fuzzy classic and is must on any board. It adds to the synthy channel on the T70 to create an massive fuzzed octave. In series to The T70 MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe - fantastic warm chorus/Flanger. I have it set to affect only the high end,so subtle but a lovely sound. I particularly love the Flanger setting. EBS Dphaser - fabulously funky multi stage phaser, with lots of control and sounds very deep and cool Ls2 Loop B - digital Synth Channel Source Audio C4 synth- this has so many sounds and I'm finding it's able to replace more and more of my board. Loads of octaves/filters/phasers/bit crushers/fuzzes and synths. I have the Disaster Area Micro DMC so I can access 128 sounds from the C4. So versatile. These to channels can be mixed via the LS2 (the most useful pedal in existance)

You are of course entitled to your opinion, and your feelings are valid. For me, I don't really believe Elton John thinks it's alright to fight on a Saturday night, or that The Proclaimers really would walk 1,000 miles, or that Sting really thought every little thing she did was magic. I think it's possible for a lyricist/author/screenwriter to write a story about characters, without necessarily sharing the opinions of those characters. I don't think it's necessary to agree with the sentiment of a song to perform it. Musical theatre is on my side here 🙂

Pearl Blue Sterling which I picked up today. Been ten years since I last had one but enjoying the neck on this which was what I always liked so much about these basses.

A couple of incidental shots from Alan's workshop blog, control and battery cavities being routed.

What have I always said about preamps? Stay at least a field away from them! Good luck Jack and well done Gary!

I am definitely the least talented member in my band, the other members have been playing since they were kids totalling around 150 years between them, they are all very good musicians with plenty of experience, and when they talk in musical terms, I struggle to know what they are on about sometimes because I am self-taught and only starting playing about ten years ago, but when it comes to rehearsals, they turn to me to lead them through any new songs because I know the arrangements and structures because I put the work in, whereas, they don't. Yes, they are much better musicians than me, but I think that I am probably a better team player, and it sounds like you are too!

My goodness.. if that's how you feel, don't ever join a folk band. The lyrics to half of those tunes will give you nightmares.

And neck done. While @Matt P 's final whisper coats of Tru-oil were drying I go back to this. The brass nut needed slimming down and thinning down: Then the fret recrowning and polishing: And finally a last tidy up of the rosewood: So all ready to return to @AndyTravis

If you've never heard the song before, it's a bit much to suggest the OP is overthinking it. It's a classic bassline and if I was learning how to play it I'd want to get it right for me, not for anyone else. Listen to the song.

Onboard FX are a bit silly. Have to stop playing to make a change. That's what my feet are for!

A lot of those 70s Kiss basslines are really good. I know it's Paul Stanley / Ace Frehley on a couple but Gene generally was really on it back when he was still interested.

Play it at half speed. Repeat until it's perfect. Then increase a little, rinse and repeat. Soon you'll be playing it at slightly faster than the original; you can then play it perfectly at the normal speed. It can't fail.

Season 1 review: short on character expansion, predictable set up for season 2. If this gets cancelled i’m shutting my Disney+ account!

I only use flats, but have done this on rounds also - before fitting new strings soak a cotton wool pad in IPA or Surgical Spirit or Methylated spirit and scrub the new strings down until clean. It's amazing how much black shyte comes off them - machining oil mostly. I would never use steel wool of any grade, especially not while on a bass, imagine bits of steel wool all over your pick-up magnets 😃

Some breaks/fills from the Master ...

The problem is, they don’t and they won’t. It’s all changed. Almost every casual punter I talk to these days just does not get that that’s how it should be. They think music should be free, or as near as.

I think the means of consumption, measures of success, and routes to get there have shifted massively. In the 90s, you had BBC radio stations, and a limited number of commercial stations. You had the early days of satellite/cable with a handful of music channels. You had NME, the chart on a Sunday, Top Of The Pops. The majority of the public consumed music through a very small number of sources, and they tuned in to them regularly. When an artist broke big enough to hit these platforms, they were in front of everyone. Our eyes and ears are no longer pointed en masse at such a small number of sources. Everything is way more fragmented, the big music publications have nowhere near the power and influence they held, there are a million more distractions, and music audiences are fragmented. You can be huge within a niche genre, have a rabid fanbase, and fill large venues in a way that would have put you in all the big spots a few decades ago and pushed you to wider prominence, but doesn't register in the same way now - you can still do well, but it'll be in a bubble. There are still arena-filling, Radio 1 playlisted rock bands from the last couple of decades that have made a big impact through bold fashioned hard graft. A fair few have been mentioned already. Really though, there's not that many that have made it to that level and sustained it long term, even looking back to the days of RHCP.

Good shout on Jacques Dutronc above, too

I’d reckon that most drunk people in the pub will care less about the lyrical content and just sing along if you play them well. Until this thread I had no idea what Delilah was about and suspect that will be the case for many punters. I’m with the @MacDaddy school of thought on this, especially as I’ve played Last Caress by The Misfits and didn’t really mean what we were singing.

JR Robinson's iconic intro must be worth a mention.

Ashley's Roachclip by Chuck Brown and the SoulSearchers Soul II Soul, Enigma and host of others built their career on that 10 second break

Why? He DID play bass on a good 80+% of tracks. Sometimes he was happy for the person who'd written the song to play the bassline on the recording as they had come up with a cool line. I'd say that shows a good bit of unselfishness and doing what is best/most efficient for the track recording....

I think I’d prefer to have the option of studio than in front of thousands of fans, although I can play it easy enough remembering which bit is where flummoxes me when playing it with the band. I play all the right parts but I’m sure they’re not necessarily in the right places.

I've transcribe which is pretty decent as well

I take it you have your bass tuned down a half step?

Which probably translates into £3499 🙄

More evidence that Gene Simmons is an underrated bassist.

Thanks for the video lesson last night Andy .. even after 6 pints and a curry you can still bring the funk!

Great fun bassline. Here's a quick youtube vid I uploaded a while back, may help? As with anything it's about playing it over and over again and building up speed. Good luck!

Definitely not, you would never get rid of the tiny metal fibres , I wouldn’t put wire wool anywhere near any of my basses

-

You must be joking!

Oui, un énorme pantalon, mais il a oublié sa chemise!

Some good points @mike257 Personally I think the major stumbling blocks for bands now is financial. Lack of venues willing to book new music, “pay to play”, revenue streams lost like selling tapes and CD’s at gigs and little in the way of squats and affordable accommodation being some factors. Even when bands are signed and getting some recognition revenue from streaming and physical sales is fairly paltry compared with the cost of living. Surviving long enough to break through must be very tricky for a band compared to a solo artist.

I've deleted Ebay's direct debit and my bank details via online banking. Since i've decided to no longer sell on there, they no longer need access to my bank. I'm a buyer only from now on

My old metal band from a few years ago with a song wot I wrote. During the studio sesh, I foolishly left the bass solo until last meaning my fingers were shot, so it's not exactly how I played it live. I never had a problem getting 'attack' being a finger player. Basses, always one of my Shukers. Live, depended on the gig, but usually a tuner > distortion > BDI21 > PA.

Of the two I actually liked the sound of the Wonderlove better. Both filters sounded pretty subtle in that demo. I wonder if the Wonderlove or the Chromatron get any wilder than that? I like my envelope filters pretty unruly 🤣.