Fat Rich

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1327171879' post='1507455'] ... and here's another Jazz bass: [/quote] I would say historically the PJ configuration came about more from people adding a Jazz pickup to their Precision basses than people changing the neck pickup in a Jazz bass to a split P bass pickup..... so it's more of a Precision than a Jazz Although the now the PJ configuration has been adopted by so many other manufacturers it's probably irrelevant. As far as best examples, for [u]me[/u] there are three types of Jazz bass: '62 pre CBS spec - slim neck, no frills, light body, nitro finish - made by anyone, Fender, Tokai, Squier, etc Mid 70s CBS - chubby neck, heavier ash body, maple neck and slab markers (I'd maybe allow a Badass II bridge on these, but no fancy electrics) Super Jazz - Any Jazz with a high mass bridge or fancy pickups or active preamps whether they're made by Fender, or by Sadowsky, Sandberg, or anyone. As long as they still have a trace of that Jazz bass sound. I would like to say there was a high tech innovative fourth option brought out by Fender at some time that moved bass design forward, sounded great and still retained the Jazz bass vibe. Maybe the closest we've got is the Dingwall fanned fret super Jazz. Or maybe a retrofit Status / Modulus / Moses graphite neck?

I have four Fender Jazz basses, they all sound and feel very different. For me when you start adding high mass bridges or active pickups or tone controls they become "Super Jazzes". Ditto for other manufacturers improvements on the Jazz like Sadowsky, Sandberg, etc. Great basses but they start to get away from that classic sound. For me a Fender bass should be nice and agricultural, made out of a couple of cheap planks of wood and some bent tin for that classic sound.

All of the above, plus learn the names of the notes on the fretboard. Learning music theory while hunting around your bass for the notes makes everything ten times harder. Plus if you're in a band and someone shouts out the chords then immediately counts the band off at 150bpm it's nice to at least be able to find the root notes before the song finishes Ear training is important, there are various apps and webpages that will help with this. If you can easily hear the difference between major and minor, and start to identify intervals it'll make it easier to work out what other people are playing. More importantly it'll help you to get the notes you hear in your head out of your bass.

[quote name='skampino' timestamp='1327111706' post='1506692'] I've looked at youtube vids but can't seem to get the slapping technique. Most don't tell you where you should rest your arm and whether the hand should hover or rest on the body. It seems everyone plays slightly different with some teaching you to directly hit the string and others saying you should hit the bottom part of the string and end up with thumb on next string down. then there's those who say your thumb should be pointing upwards and others saying it should be perpendicular. It confused me as whatever method I tried either my fingers hit the body or my palm touched the strings. I decided to have lessons so a tutor could tell me what I'm missing or doing wrong. Last thing I want is to develop bad habits. It's harder to unlearn something than learn from scratch. I doubt I will play slap much but I'd like to have the option of doing so and welcome a new challenge. [/quote] Everyone does it differently, I think with slap any of the approaches you mention are valid but it can be difficult to find out what suits you. My starting point is the height of your bass, plenty of people say your strap length should put the bass in the same position whether your standing or sitting. This also seems to make slapping easier in my experience. However I wear my bass quite low as I play very little slap and a lower bass is more comfortable for me to play fingerstyle. If you're going to do that it's important to practice standing up otherwise all the angles change and most of your practice sitting down will be wasted.... unless you intend to gig sitting down. I try to keep my thumb parallel with the strings so I'm less likely to hit two strings at once. When sitting (bass higher) my thumb is also parallel with my hand, but standing my thumb has to go to a more "thumbs up" position to still be parallel to the strings. I generally rest my forearm on the bass with most of the slap motion coming from twisting the forearm. Later on as you gain accuracy and confidence you'll find anchoring your forearm becomes less important and you can start showboating a bit. Mostly I keep my palm off the strings but it can sometimes be useful for muting, however I'd suggest not worrying too much about right hand muting in the early stages of learning, you'll probably find yourself doing it automatically if you need to. As mentioned in the Flea video above it's important either to bounce off the string or follow through to rest on the next string otherwise you'll mute the note. The follow through approach is useful as it can lead to the "double thumb" technique to get some serious speed. But I'm old skool and not interested in speed so I usually bounce, if you've got fast hands you can still play pretty fast with this method. Once you've got your arm fairly well anchored and keep your bass at a suitable height for you it's just about practicing the basics. You'll soon improve your aim and get less bum notes and speed will follow, and a big part of slap is note length and muting on the fretting hand. It needs to be tight and accurate. Good luck! Edit: Also you might be surprised at how few of the notes are slapped or popped, hammer-ons and pull-offs are a great way to sound fast.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' timestamp='1327041235' post='1505496'] The problem is that even if there was, the only room I have left to live in is my bedroom (see pic below) and it's crammed with stuff that couldn't be boxed up and stored outside in the garden so having even a cheap bass would not be any help. I can't swing a cat in there!! Thanks for the suggestion anyway. Well no that won't happen, I have sufficient funds for these works and some... [/quote] Nah, that's not crammed. When I was in a similar position last year I didn't let it stop me playing bass. Top tip: find two large sturdy old wardrobes, lay them on their back where your bed usually goes. Fill them full of stuff, shut the doors and then put the bed on top. Add to that I had two mattresses so I needed a 4x10 cab as a step to get into bed.

The only different problem it sometimes causes is on passages that need strictly 1 finger per fret low down the neck, sometimes it puts your fingers at a slightly wonky angle. I just bring my thumb up the neck for the pivot as required and then slide it up towards the headstock again at the first opportunity. Basically it's all about getting your fretting hand as relaxed as possible and straightening your wrist out if you can. It definitely helped me along, I rarely get any twinges although I'm not playing as much as I did. Worth a try I reckon.

It may have more to do with where you're placing your thumb on the back of the neck. I saw someone demonstrating this on youtube, basically if you have your thumb in the natural relaxed position when your hand is open and waggle your fingers they feel nice and free and relaxed. Now if you move your thumb into the position taught by most guitar teachers so that it acts as a pivot behind your second finger, now waggle your fingers and the back of your hand will feel tight and less free. Combine that with gripping a clubby old neck like the one Warwick seem to favour and it's a recipe for disaster. If instead of placing your thumb like a pivot but move it so it points up the neck towards the headstock you should feel more relaxed plus it'll tend to bring your wrist upwards and ease the angle of your hand in relation to your arm. You might need to adjust your finger positions a little on the board but it should result in a more relaxed left hand. Hope that makes some kind of sense!

[quote name='louisthebass' timestamp='1326666027' post='1500306'] I normally use Index (Root), third (5th) & fourth fingers (Octave) for R-5-Octave. Takes a little bit of work, but it's a lot easier (to me anyway) to play that pattern. [/quote] I generally do this as I find it easier to mute the individual strings, but sometimes I'm a bit lazy and barre across although usually with my third finger. Unless I'm playing high up the neck in which case I seem to tuck my little finger behind the neck like a fool

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1326830558' post='1502568'] That was a f***ing belter, the proper 30th Anniversary bass. The S2 should be overhauled completely in line with the 'new' model. [/quote] That was what I was expecting when I clicked on this thread, I'm beginning to wonder if Rob's forgotten to build any!

If the rest of the bass feels good I'd be tempted to fix the problem myself, even if it needs a new pickup there are some good ones available for about £30 to £40 that'll probably allow you to customise the sound. It might work out easier than sending it back and risk getting a bass with a worse problem! No harm in asking for a discount though, although if you bought it online it might be difficult to prove to the retailer it doesn't work.

Forgot to mention I've tried several Squier jazz basses recently and was very impressed with the sound and build quality, much better than they used to be. With any Fender or Squier I'd suggest you play it before buying as they've always been a bit variable, even if it means paying a little more from a shop.

I don't particularly like the preamp in the Marcus Miller bass, it sounds better with it bypassed and I'm actually going to remove it from mine when I get round to it. Otherwise it's a great bass. I play my Fenders through an old Sadowsky outboard preamp, sounds warm and fat but with plenty of clarity if you want it. You can get onboard ones too if you prefer. Pretty much any Fender will sound great through one of these, and probably your old Ibanez too!

[quote name='fender73' timestamp='1326726889' post='1501065'] There's always one ..... [/quote] Yup, and it's usually me!

Sorry to be pedantic but that's a Level 42 30th Anniversary Kingbass The Status 30th Anniversary is a headless S2 shape although they don't seem to be any around other than the one Rob showed at last years London Bass show. But that's a very nice bass you have there though.

It's also possible that the intonation isn't set quite correctly on the bridge of your bass, usually the bridge saddles on fretless basses seem to end up a bit further away from the neck (making the string a bit longer) compared their positions on fretted basses. Play the harmonic on the 12th fret and then play the note on the fingerboard in the place you'd expect to find it, if the fretted note is much sharper than the harmonic you may want to move the bridge saddle back a bit. Similarly compare the harmonic to the note at the 24th fret. I found my intonation was really awful as I played higher up the neck on one of my basses no matter how hard I tried, I adjusted the bridge and it made a huge difference. Now my intonation is just pretty awful

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1326530675' post='1498387'] Why not? Some people lack imagination... [/quote] Plus your average non musician punter isn't going to know the difference between a £6500 Ritter and a £65 Stagg beginner instrument. Even some proper musicians will probably ask why you can't afford a proper instrument like a Squier or a Fender

Remove the batteries if it has any, they'll probably leak if you don't. Otherwise kept in it's case in a heated room it should be fine.

I don't usually like the shape of Ritters and I hate the shape of most singlecuts (except Telecasters and Les Paul types) but those look alright. I think it's because I really hate the scroll type thing on the standard Ritter. Be interesting to try one at the Bass show and see (or rather hear) what all the fuss is about.

[quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1325960975' post='1490497'] I expect this sort of thing from Flea. I like the way the guitarist is sort of rocking out for the solo but is kind of bad at it, like its a bit new to him. Rock seizure. [/quote] I've seen that guitarist before, he always does that and it always annoys me! Was expecting to hate this cover version but actually quite liked it.

Good stuff! There's already some interesting posts in there

Started to learn keyboards as a kid but didn't stick with it, but hoping to get back into it again this year and take some lessons. Can bash out a few chords on guitar and a few riffs, again hoping to improve and take some lessons. Making progress with the drums, need to work on my rudiments to make everything flow a bit better. I own a saxophone but soon after I got it I moved to a terraced house and couldn't practice it without disturbing the neighbours. Hope to get back into that again this year too now I've moved house. I have this stupid urge to buy a cheap trumpet and trombone, would love to be able to record my own little brass section. But I think I'd better focus on keys and guitar first.

And while we're at it, quite a few Basschatters play drums so maybe we need a drum subsection too?

[quote name='mike257' timestamp='1325765895' post='1487220'] But that's the point of making it a subforum that's only visible to members - it's not going to attract lots of guitarists because they won't know it's there! Off Topic is currently not visible to non-members - you can't see it when you are not logged in, and therefore it's not picked up on by search engines either, so doesn't appear in Google search results etc. If a guitar subforum was set up the same way, it's not going to attract hordes of guitarists because only registered BC members would see it existed! [/quote] Fair enough, if it's not visible to the outside world then it becomes like a furtive activity that no one should ever speak about. Which with my guitar skills seems appropriate.

String muting becomes a bit interesting, look at ways of muting with your left hand which will probably mean playing with your fingers a bit flatter on the fingerboard. This will particularly help you if you play slap or with a pick. Then there's various muting techniques with your right hand when plying fingerstyle including the Floating thumb technique, [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PPVMBPmrblU[/media] I use a mixture of techniques including floating thumb, hooking my ring and middle finger on the strings I'm not playing plus plenty of left hand muting. If you're new to a low B don't get too carried away and throw it into every song at every opportunity, it can feel like the bottom has dropped out of the song if there's too much space between your low note and what the rest of the band is doing. Good luck!