deepbass5

Yes Chris-b i believe you are right, how your brain is wired is what marks us out between Technicians and gifted artists.

It is comforting to hear many of you feel as I do. Bass does not come easy to me, I would not class myself as a natural, I have to work at it. I am in love with the Bass as an instrument and in its ability to move people and transform a piece of music. That’s what drives me on, to be part of that. There is a lot to personal discipline and hard work; I have the attention span of a nat. Most pro bass players and I refer to session type guys rather those who have grown up in one successful band. Are totally focused and disciplined and do a huge amount of home practice, never rest on their laurels. We don't see all this we just see the YouTube videos of the end results and it comforts us to dismiss it as they are naturally gifted and that’s why I can't achieve that standard. They have to maintain that and you will find they organise their day around that, they will practice what they need to just stand still and have other allotted times developing new techniques and working on particular projects they are booked for. Music for me started in Brass Bands, Orchestras and then Big bands before taking up the Bass and I know that a contesting brass band practicing the same number for weeks and months takes a great leap forward. I used to hate it but it works. Just wish I had that discipline in my Bass practice. If we all practiced for the time we spent here we could all improve. One Tip Don't practice what you know

Yep agree with Doddy and Co. It will not improve your playing but hamper it somewhat. I find a 5 a necessity in today’s modern music. When I made the jump I did what others have suggested, use it as a four damping the B string with your thumb until you get comfortable with the width of the neck. You will soon instinctively start using the lower string on little skips and fills as you would on a 4 string. And that’s where it comes into its own. You have a couple of octaves under your hand without zooming around the neck. But the trade off is the width and greater discipline required when slapping etc. When I changed I made myself play it without changing back every gig, my playing suffered a little to start with but now I’m hooked. Only real advice is buy a top quality bass, try as many as you can, even the ones you cannot afford so you realise a 5 string is a different instrument than a 4 string bass. Most low cost 4's are playable but a low end 5 is a dog. Go for it

[b]No don't do it[/b] is the answer these mass produced cabs are made from fairly cheap light weight stuff anyway; it is the speakers that make up the weight. I would suggest changing the drivers to neo's but that would cost as much as a good second-hand cab with Neos in. Don’t mess around building something buy a quality second hand one so all the design calcs are right. You will end up with a Dogs dinner and have spent a lot of time and money and still not be happy. probably change the sound too

Really pleased with mine, bought it from Homer three months ago, and have played it extensively since, in fact tonight. He modified it with Wizard pickups and an East Deluxe which I can recommend. I paid a grand second-hand and I know the original owner who commissioned it must have paid twice that. I bought it on a whim from feedback on here and I am very impressed, enough to consider ordering one myself. This bass was ordered with 21 frets and not what is the norm now 24. This I feel is better allows more room on the body to alternate your plucking position, I played a Fender P for years and this feels right again. Just a thought. Any new bass will lose half its value just like a new Car.

I used to get the same, it is a common problem which is why I now use a two channel amp LMK, so I can set up the right amount of mid cut and boost on bass and treble. I also have an EBS comp this should help keep things tight. Without all this set up to jump on, you are going to need time to tweak bass and amps I guess. And you will not know until you start playing whether it is the sound you want. So you do need to sound check the sound then have it ready when you need it. Mid flight is always going to be difficult.

I've decided. If I get offered another gig on a different bass, I'll just give the gig to Doddy, then call Johnston and have a night on the town, he's looking good lately.

Yep happened to me, we did a wine festival in Switzerland a few years back, Brass players took their instruments and the rhythm section got agreement to use the local bands kit. I was using a 5 string Schack bass as my main instrument at the time, and got word that the bass player in the Swiss band had a Fender jazz, so at least knew what I was going to get. We did three gigs over the weekend, and fumbled a couple of times forgetting how many strings I had. He was a really nice guy and on chatting after the last gig he asked me what bass I played, and it turned out he had a 5 string Schack at home he could have brought along. What were the chances of that?

A Bump so more catch this tread Great Band hope they get the break

A reputation helps that takes time and care to build, so the only thing I would suggest is pool a gig and get your own PA and drop your price We have realised over the years that People do not differentiate over numbers of musicians in the band must = X bucks. They will take your quote and the trio down the road and the committee will choose the trio.

Hello from south of the border. I was born in Berkshire, then you Oxford folk went and stole Wantage and Abingdon from us, anyway nice to see a real Girl on Basschat!!! You’ll need a handsome young guy as an AVATAR to confuse these guys with beautiful young girls on theirs. This site is addictive but very informative. All the best have fun

Have a look on the back the sticker will tell you My LMK has a 4 amp fuse, so thats the max, it probably will not draw more than two amps but just tell them 4Amps and what jonthebass said.

This is something you will get better and quicker at. I find it depends on the song, it is far better to learn it parrot fashion verse by verse chorus by chorus start to finish. Be aware of that guitarist they have a tendency to learn one verse and one chorus scribble an intro and a bridge and bobs your uncle. Many songs have some quirky alterations as they go on. So I always learn them. Top to bottom as a check. Down load for free ( [b]Best Practice [/b]) you can download your track into it and slow it down without changing key. Or use it to learn something in a different key, say to suit the singer. Really good for those tricky numbers with loads going on, where picking out the bass line is pretty hard. Our guitarist wanted to play Sweet child of mine in C, crazy I thought but I just used Best Practice. I need crib sheets and I use all three of these methods in an evening. Remember the worst handwriting is better than the best memory. 1. Just Learn it so you can engage with the audience and move about a bit 2. My own short hand which comprises of A4 sheet with basic root chord notes per bar in big felt pen, maybe with some written bits or runs where things need to be spot on and I may forget. 3. As a reader I occasionally write the whole thing out, usually on more moving lines that do not seem to follow a pattern and again need to be exact Good luck

Here Goes I think it was Feb 80 but could be a year either side. Point is it was bl--dy cold. Got a gig in a circus tent in Milton Keynes shopping centre car park. It was one of those days where it never got above freezing, when we got there the other band had already set up in the Circus ring, and we were asked to set up in the Lions cage. Ya that’s what we thought. We wasted 20 min arguing the toss and eventually they decided that was the best place. We could hear the big cats growling and fighting in the truck outside so we were naturally nervous of just having a steel hooped tunnel with a trap door between us. The sick Roman joke did not materialise but the temperature was just dropping away, we could hardly hold our instruments we unprofessionally played in coats with our 'Four Tops' style cat suits and silk blouses underneath. This was an Adult party night with blue comic and stripper. Brandy De Frank the reason I remember her name after all this time was her nipples. Well you would. She appeared on an episode of Minder later, she was a stripper or hooker on that. Never forget a face The other thing I would rather forget was the Singer now the wife put her hand bag down by the drums and on retrieving it, felled the hi-hat which fell and dug itself into the neck of John East’s 60's Precision like an axe. He was our bass player at the time I was on Trombone. It was a really bad end to a thoroughly miserable night. We shivered all the way home. Ahhh The 70's

I started out on Rotosound, 15 years then went to Elites 5-10 years with a few jump backs to Roto solo bass now use GHS boomers nickle, love them they feel warm and have a lived in feel, no clanky zingy suprizes to EQ out. (Fingerstyle pop covers).

all green or all blue, would get my vote but not both so Red on this occasion

'Hey that ain't working' Thanks Ian I've just had a movement

Guess you are all referring to the Shadows little walk round in circles, nice!! Nope can’t do it In fact I can't even step on a pedal without playing a bum note, let alone listen to someone tell me a car number plate that needs moving in the car park. I know I should be using my left brain for this Bass playing lark but can't get into it since my electric shock therapy. Anyway what’s wrong with two sets of Bill Wyman impressions?

Picking up on Doddy's technique suggestion. It is normal when someone is soloing, guitar or horns to drop back to a simpler line, longer notes so not to distract from the solo. Part respect and support. check you are not cutting the notes short, 4 beats/bar = 4 beats no fag papers in between. roll the treble off cut the middle n boost the bass for a more dub sound. That approach alone may do the trick without a pedal. You may need to just knock out 4 to the bar root notes and follow the chord sequence, if you mean thin chord wise rather than volume, then if it seems to improve rework this basic verse to make it a little more interesting to complement the solo. sorry if you are already doing this and just need a pedal

APHEX 1402 Bass Xciter pedal You get enhancer and exciter in one unit, you get tons of girth in the bottem end and can bring out the harmonics with the exciter top end. a new model is out now as well

Doctor J, Is on the mark, I bought my Warwick Streamer second hand, with broken JANII so needed replacing. I looked up on the Warwick site down loaded the info. And the JAN III is better but never had to adjust it. Much prefer a zero fret and a nut as a string guide. My opinion is you are after good solid contact why have a nut that is pivoting on two Allen keys? And falls off when you take your strings off. Any good fixed nut is better Bone or brass. Thomann.de were the cheapest i found if you do go ahead. but i bought other things to make up postage

Just want to add another pause for thought Dingwalls do one string size I assume to provide a balanced set across the fan fret system. Because the G string is shorter than normal he keeps it 45, as the string length increases he drops the gauge so to prevent the tension required for a larger gauge from affecting the neck adversely say on the B string. At 37" I think. Thats my reasoning behind it? This is because you need greater tension for large gauges - V- light gauges for same pitch and anchor points? My view being that it is best to have low action so the neck is in compression length ways which must be more stable with all the benefits mentioned above(less hand strain, fretted note not bending out of tune). As opposed to a high action due to forward bow where it becomes like a long bow and adjustments in tension are in part taken up by neck bend. I would think extreme examples of this set up would be hard to stay in tune. Praps that’s for another discussion thread. Its an extreme example but i believe thats what is happening. Any thoughts,