JohnSlade07

Thanks for that, that explains a lot. I'll have to remortgage the house and take the plunge with a set of TIs then.

I've tried fitting flatwounds to my Fender MIM P, however, I could have driven a bus through the action after I'd fitted them. They were Rotosounds incidently.

If changing to flatwounds do you need to adjust the neck on most basses, or does it depend on the bass and brand of strings?

I put some Wizard Thumpers in my Fender MIM Precision. They've made a big difference to the sound. The bass manages to sound both deeper and more focused. Recommend them.

Unfortunately, the neck, body, tuners, bridge and my playing are still crap.

Yeah good luck mate. It's always good to push yourself. Sure you will be great.

Great advice and ideas guys. Keep it coming.

Thanks

I'm starting to teach bass to a 14 yr old lad who's a complete beginner. It's a favour for a friend so should be fairly relaxed. Just wondering what you think I should try and cover in the lessons? It's trying to strike a balance between songs, theory, technique etc I suppose. Obviously I've also got to keep a 14 yr old motivated and interested. Any tips and ideas greatly appreciated therefore.

Cheers.

Don't worry Bilbo I've got no intention of performing this stuff in public, purely for my own entertainment. I'd be far too scared to try and play with proper jazz musicians, unless they've got a strange desire to play Daydream Believer or Brown Eyed Girl that is!

Once you start scratching even the surface of this the variations seem endless. At the moment I've been listening to players such as Sam Jones and Doug Watkins who seemed/seem to have a lot of feel and bounce in their playing. Great stuff.

Thanks again for all the advice and input.

You're quite right. Ooops missed that one!!

I'd start by doing a lot of listening to the "greats" e.g. the 3 Kings, Chicago, Texas legends etc. I'd also invest in a decent blues bass book e.g. the one by Ed Friedland. This will give you a good overview of the main types of lines and riffs, as well as chord progressions and arrangements e.g. 8 bar blues, slow blues, Stormy Monday etc. I'd then apply the ideas from the books and play along to the CDs and try to pick up fresh ideas along the way from your listening.

I'm no expert obvioulsy, but I did used to play in a blues band and play it a lot as a means of escape from my function band.

4,5 and 6 certainly give me some other ideas. I assume that double bass players use a lot of open strings to move around the neck and shift position. That's something I'm very poor at.

Cheers.

Has anyone got any good tips for approaching walking bass lines? I'm aware of the following ideas (although I've only touched on the first few so far):

1. Root.
2. Root and fifth.
3. Root, 3rd, fifth.
4. Arpeggios.
5. Chromatic approach notes.
6. Mixture of the above obviously.

Apart from these I realise the swing and feel is foremost, just looking for a few more ideas to get my teeth into.

I'm odd admittedly, but I find all this stuff fascinating (God I feel ashamed saying that!).

Cheers

John.

Thanks for the advice guys. I've tried fiddling with the EQ and seem to have lessened the "clunk" quite a bit. Acid test will be when I try gigging with it on Friday.

Would nickel strings remove some of the clang and brightness?

Has anyone got any useful tips on how to tame an aggressive, twangy, "midrangy" bass? Great neck and brilliant to play, but too in your face for my liking. It's a Dean Edge Pro btw. Any suggestions gratefully received as I'm a complete woodentop when it comes to technology!

Cheers

John.

Fair point 51mOn, but I'd still be playing the same lines, licks etc I reckon. Playing in a function band doesn't always give me a huge amount of room to experiment, or improvise. Perhaps a boutique bass would inspire me to study more and learn a new style.

I'me made the mistake in the past of spending hours in the past working on scales, arpeggios etc, learning "demanding" basslines and fretting about gear. I've then turned up to a gig and forgotten how to play Make Me Smile, despite having played if for years. Then again I'm dim.

I'me made the mistake in the past of spending hours in the past working on scales, arpeggios etc, learning "demanding" basslines and fretting about gear. I've then turned up to a gig and forgotten how to play Make Me Smile, despite having played if for years. Then again I'm dim.

I've never got a really great sound out of any of the gear I've used, however, it's always been functional and (largely) reliable. Frankly as long as the people watching my band are having a good time then I'm happy. If I'm playing well (in my own admitedly modest way) that's also a bonus. I could obsesses about my gear but noone in the audience will care or notice the chances are and neither will my bandmates I suspect.

I currently play a Yamaha BB414 through a Hartke Kickback 12 into the band PA. The sound varies from gig to gig anyway and as we have to set up within the hour on average I haven't got time to worry and fine tune the sound too much anyway. Ultimately a more expensive bass is very unlikely to make me a better player and a boutique bass is no subsitute for a great gig crowd wise.

The again I may be easily pleased, odd or both.

EQ hooligan I like that!

Thanks for the advice guys. I try a few different things that you've suggested. Would be great if I can get more out of it as it's got a lovely neck that I find really comfortable to play.

Technically speaking it's actually a 3D Active Preamp. Is that different from a 3-band EQ? This is great I'm having a conversation with myself.

Sorry that should be a Pro Edge obviously, although Prod Edge does have a certain ring.

I've got a Dean Prod Edge (one built on a Friday afternoon after a particularly heavy lunchtime session given the build quality) that has a 3 band EQ, as well as 2 controls for the pickups. Being a "passive" man more used to 2 maybe 3 controls I find it all a bit baffling.

I was wondering therefore if anyone had any top tips for getting the best out a 3-band EQ. I can get a wide range of sounds out of it, however, none of them are very good.

Cheers

John.

Lots of good advice already. I've spent the last four years playing in a covers band around Kent, Sussex and very occasionally London. It's been a lot of hard work, but largely good fun. We mainly play weddings, corporate dos, masons gigs etc but also a few pub gigs. It takes a long time to build a decent setlist and a fair bit of investment in gear (e.g. PA etc if you haven't already got one) and organising gigs etc can also be time consuming. You may also have to play a few tunes that you personally loathe.

On the plus side you may get to make some good mates, a bit of money and you will probably improve enormously as a player. In my experience it's very rare to be treated badly, ignored etc, although I may just have been lucky of course. As long as people are responding - i.e. dancing, singing etc - then it's a good way to spend a Friday/Saturday night. You get the occasional lame gig, but you learn to not take it too personaly and it can be a useful learning tool. I spent far too many years playing in hopeless original bands and indulging the egos of various singer songwriters and regret not having got involved in a covers band earlier.

Good luck and go for it. Just keep the originals project going if you can as it's a nice counterbalance to then covers world.

I especially like the band members that try to play in several bands at once, but can never quite keep you up to date with which dates they are free and not,. That hardly make any contact between gigs and then are incredibly fussy about when they rehearse. Make no contribution to writing setlists yet spend half the night complaining about song choices and telling the rest of the band that the next number is going to "kill it" without ever offering anything constructive in its place. Who's opening conversational gambit normally consists of "I'm not in the mood for this tonight". Who obsess about their kit and let the rest of the band carry it to their car without ever lifitng a finger to help anyone else carry anything. Who spend the first hour of any rehearsal setting their gear up. To top it all I particularly like the ones who text during the bits in songs their not required to play.