skej21

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1470557290' post='3106637'] Basschat Heresy! Those are not fashionable brands! Current fashion rating is directly proportional to sound quality. [/quote] I'm suprised he didn't sound dreadful without a Flea bass in hand ;-)

[quote name='karlfer' timestamp='1470563835' post='3106693'] Last night, instead of using the Flea both sets, I used it 1st set and returned to my beloved FSR P/J for the second set. Was quite shocked how much more powerful the Flea pups are . I had to significantly turn up the gain and volume to get back to the sound level I'd had with the Flea in the 1st set. I really was rather surprised. [/quote] So when you sell it on Wednesday, which bass will be used in the first set next Saturday?! ;-)

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1469920690' post='3102076'] I just don't buy this " it's all in there fingers thing". If thats the case all the brilliant bassists in the world would be playing the same bass.Of course they have there own style.but Individual tone is down to electronics. I think there is alot of confusion between how a certain artist plays, and/or the tone they get. Marcus Miller might sound like Marcus on a Hofner or a Ricky because of his style,and the way he plays. but he's not going to have that sound [/quote] I'm sort of with you on this. When people talk about songs that feature slap playing, Flea/RHCP are one of the first names out of the hat and Flea's slap technique is absolutely dreadful! Point is, he gets the tone he has from that awful technique and that is what makes his tone/style distinctive. So whilst players like Mark King, Marcus Miller, Les Claypool etc all have immaculate technique, it think it is 'all in the fingers' but you don't have to have amazing technique to have a distinctive slap style!

Any help? https://www.amazon.com/Player-Magazine-November-Hippest-Palladino/dp/B0036MRK52

Bit of perspective. It might be music you personally dislike but isn't it great to get paid to play music in a band that someone has chosen specifically to entertain their guests at the biggest day of their lives?! Can't hurt to make other people happy and pick up a bit of money at the same time, right?

[quote name='mcnach' timestamp='1469478423' post='3098703'] Two Barefaced BB2 and a Genz Benz Streamliner 900. Well, thankfully there's a very effective volume knob, because this can make some noise! They're great cabs, and so is the amp... but ever since I found the TKS S112 cabs, it's pretty much all I use. They're small, light, and sound fantastic. And I haven't really needed more than what they can do. Those two and a MarkBass LM3, with the Stingray or the Precision... I've never been happier with my sound. Someone more logical would say "great, then you can sell the BB2 cabs and free a bunch of new gear tokens! - keep the amp as backup"... but I can't bring myself to do that. Not yet anyway. How much stuff do we keep that we don't really need, "just in case"? I'm pretty bad at that.. [/quote] My practice rig is 1 x TKS S112, LMIII and a precision. Gig rig is the same with an extra S112. Like you say, it's an unbeatable tone in a small, gig-stairs-friendly package. Couldn't be happier with mine either!

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1468949301' post='3094603'] Man, you might regret it! Andertons have announced USA products are rising in price. [/quote] Fender have as many annual price hikes as the Queen has birthdays! Nowt new there :-)

It would appear the Flea sig is the new Maruszcyk!

This should be entitled "People still discussing relic'd/Road worn instruments - really?"

Jade Pearl Metallic precision with flats. Winner!

[quote name='naxos10' timestamp='1465843586' post='3071530'] Treat yourself to an ACG, plenty of styles to choose from. [/quote] I did that. Last July. Received it a few weeks ago and it's worth every penny and more. The best thing is it means I still have THIS year's purchase left :-D

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1465841311' post='3071495'] Heavens to Murgatroyd man, have you not seen Grease? "Better shape up, 'cos I need a man" etc and so forth. [/quote] Cleared that right up! Thanks ;-)

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1465839420' post='3071479'] I thought his communication was very effective. "Shape up or your out" Blue [/quote] What does 'shape up' mean? I'd much prefer a band leader with the musical intelligence to give specific feedback that is actionable... "Every time you play the seventh over that Cmaj9, it's killing the momentum of the sequence, play a third next time'... Even just "what you're playing in that bar isn't right, try something else next time and I'll tell you when I'm happy with it" etc etc IMO you shouldn't be able to criticise someone unless you can offer at LEAST one genuine solution to the perceived issue.

I'm neither offended or inspired by Buddy in this clip. To me, negativity breeds negativity and Buddy's approach is simply an old-fashioned, out-dated way of communicating. If you're playing at "the highest level" you should be able to communicate EXACTLY what is wrong with what your band mates are doing and explain why you want them to alter it so they can see your justification. What's the point in spending hours practicing and refining your musical abilities and expanding your musical vocabulary if you can't communicate effectively with another musician to improve what you are producing together?

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1465206414' post='3066013'] That's a shame but can retort with: Brought a stock body from them, it arrived damaged and offered to replace it or a full refund. Didn't want to send it back so they gave me a partial refund. Been nothing but helpful with me. [/quote] From the other side of the fence I just view that as 'easy option first' customer service. Can't be bothered to actually provide you with what you ordered (ie an item that isn't damaged and is the spec you asked for) so they offer to give money as it's quicker/easier for them to deal with. Decent customer service would have been to arrange the return for you at zero cost and ensure the correct product arrived with you (in perfect condition) as swiftly and as pain-free as possible IMO. It's easy to throw money at a problem and hope it goes away. Which is fine it that's the outcome you want :-)

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Pino's playing on Erykah Badu's groove-packed album 'Mama's Gun'... One of my favourite albums ever and up there (IMO exceeding) his ideas on the D'Angelo stuff. The groove on "Cleva" and "Penitentiary Philosophy" are incredible. This is the only YouTube example I could find from the album though (and it's not Pino!) http://youtu.be/Np21rH7Ldto

I never used to like Singlecut basses but fell for ACG's Finn R Type body shape after stumbling upon a few photos. Ordered one and it turned out to be incredible 😊

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/hercules-gs422b/107862?gclid=CLHWudvc5swCFbEW0wodVHMAqA "Specially formulated foam - safe for your finish" :-)

[quote name='EvilSmile' timestamp='1463069399' post='3048324'] Thanks again to all the new people for both giving it a go and also to those who've completed it I really appreciated it! Thats a fair point. The end goal is to be able to take a piece of music that has been notated, a detailed transcription or some other detailed annotation of the music and have a computer automatically determine how difficult the piece is to play. Some pieces of music might require you to play beyond the 12th fret or any other the other things i'm asking - i'm just trying my best to be thorough! As for purpose of the study... being able to compare pieces of music based on their difficulty is something I need to be able to do in my PhD, and will likely be useful to other research in music information retrieval and musicological fields It could also help or aid in bass player education contexts, and help in recommending musical pieces that are of a similar difficulty, or are slightly more/less difficult to a given piece/pieces or suitable for someone playing expertise/ability. If you would like more specific (read: technical) information i'm happy to PM you and to answer any other questions [/quote] +1 to what Beedster has said so far. I also think the survey has a few pitfalls in attracting a range of players. If you notate a piece played above the twelfth fret as standard notation but 'octave above' it'll be much easier to play than if you notate it in standard notation but on ledger lines. It's also affect the difficult if the read if you have clef changes, as some players will be more fluent in switching/reading other clefs. So the "difficulty" of notated music is more to do with how easy it is to translate the dots to notes. I'm not sure a computer could tell the difference between those scenarios. It would judge both as "playing beyond the twelfth fret" and deem them as equally difficult when a simple nuance of notation could make one way of reading infinitely easier or more difficult depending on the players reading experience/preference. The same goes for octaves for example. If you notate playing a first fret F on the E and then and octave F and you don't have any positional knowledge or only a vague knowledge of where your notes are (common for beginner players) or hell, you just know that sliding up/down in to that octave SOUNDS better for the style of music you're reading, you might end up jumping from the first fret F to the 13th fret F on the same string. I've seen 'unschooled' (as Beedster put it!) players do this at open mic nights etc and players doing it because it has a very specific style/sound. I've also had had students early on who do it because they don't know the same note is on a different string closer to the original lower octave note and it's simply not knowing otherwise. They know 12th fret is an octave and they never learnt the notes elsewhere or someone who tabbed it out online didn't know better and tabbed it like that, so they play it like they've been told to. Again, a computer wouldn't be able to judge the difference in difficulty between a player who chooses to play their octaves as jumps all on the same string and one who plays it positionally within a two fret space with string jumping. In fact, the computer would not be able to judge any positional/reading decisions made by a player when reading notation and the whole point of understanding positions when reading is to counteract as many of the physical difficulties as possible. Therefore, creating an algorithm for the "difficulty" of a piece can only be judged by the experience of the reader and how many strategies they have to make reading the piece easiest for them IMO.

"Great playing" is judged by the person watching, not the person playing. Every player has weaknesses and issues with their playing. It's how you are as a person/musician dealing with other people/musicians that really counts. Nobody calls the "great player" who turns up with an attitude 30 minutes late because he thinks his 'chops' are good enough to act like a diva :-D

[quote name='eude' timestamp='1462779767' post='3045526'] I've been playing 33" basses for a long ol' time now, and I've not found the low B to be any worse than on any 34" basses I've played. Part of it will be that you can't really get a 33" bass with a low B without getting one made by a proper luthier as a custom bass, so they're likely to always outperform any production line bass, although Ibanez do one now. The only slight issue is that some low B strings are wound a bit longer for long extra long scales and you can end up with a bit of the fully wound string on the tuning post, rather than just the tapered bit. Having said that though, it makes no difference to the playability and sound of the string, it's just a visual thing. I now also have a 31.5" 6 string bass, tuned B to C and the low B on it is ridiculous considering the scale length! It's not going to be as good as a 33", 34" or 35" low B, but it punches well above it's weight and is absolutely useable. Here's a quick sample I recorded just after I got the bass to demo the low B string >> https://soundcloud.com/eudeboy/low-b-noodle I've since swapped the 130 B for a taperwound 120 and the definition is even better, although I may split the difference and try a 125 next for a slightly better feel. Scale length does mate, it's certainly something that can be countered to a certain degree by a talented luthier, but you can't defy physics. The other issue is strings, almost all string manufacturers make strings to suit 34" and 35" basses, certainly when you're talking about low B strings. Not so much of an issue on a 33" bass, but if you go much shorter you can encounter issues. My 31.5" 6 string has strings custom wound by Newtone, to try and get the feel of a 34" scale on the shorter scale, using heavier cores. I have to add though, I have tried some regular strings on the bass and they felt pretty darned good, so if Newtone weren't able to make me strings any more it would not be a deal breaker. Callowhill make short scale 5 and 6 string basses which are incredibly well received and he strings them up with regular scale Dunlops. A lot more luthiers are building shorter scale instruments with extended ranges these days, but I imagine it'll take a VERY long time before it would become mainstream, if ever. Cheers, Eude [/quote] Agreed. Also, I'm pretty sure the Ibanez production 33" scale bass (BTB33) is tuned E-C, so the low B wouldn't be applicable :-) So basically, if you want a nice 33" scale bass with a good low B, custom build is your only option!

Question answered! I'd never considered the 'straight' comments to be describing the lack of twist in the neck. Glad I asked :-)

I've been setting up basses for about 10 years for me and other local players. I still look in disbelief (or misunderstanding?) every time I hear someone say in a sale thread or when discussing their own set up "the neck is straight as an arrow" or "the neck is lovely and straight" etc... I never ever have a straight neck relief on my instruments when setting them up. It's simple physics, right? You don't want a straight neck... A string moves more in the middle than at the fixed points, so you need relief to accommodate it!? Or is this just my assumption based on my technique? I'm quite a light player and even I get fret buzz if the neck is straight because the string clatters off the frets in the middle of the neck. I'd be interested to know from the builders and real set-up experts whether this is just one of those "plays like butter" sayings that is just nonsense subjective term to aid a sales pitch or whether there's actually reasoning behind a neck being "straight"? Thanks in advance!

'Maruszczyk' is the answer to almost 95% of Basschat queries in 2016...