bassbiscuits

This year it was me and the missus at home sharing a cheeseboard and watching Die Hard. Result.

That is lovely in fairness

My three current basses all cost under £700 (£200, £575 and £660) and that’s about right for me. I once spent over £2k on a bass and found that I preferred the sound of my cheaper ones anyway in a mix, so I sold it. I don’t have enough money to be a collector tho. Just working standard instruments will do me.

Failed spectacularly, having bought a Cali76, Protection Racket case, a new acoustic guitar, and bought and sold a Yamaha five string bass. Also sold my Genz Benz 2x12 cab and a fender valve amp that was gathering dust so I’m going in the right direction overall.

Nowt. A book on trees and a belt for me. Currently laid low with the lurgy so have spent most of the day in bed coughing and wheezing.

Nothing on NYE for me this year unfortunately, tho given that I’ve currently got a hacking cough and ghastly lurgy that’s no bad thing. I may well be playing my acoustic and singing at a surprise birthday party on December 29 tho, lurgy permitting. For those who are playing over Christmas and New Year, hope it goes brilliantly!

A toss up between my Cali76 compressor I got in March, and the Yamaha FG512SJ acoustic I picked up in October for absolutely peanuts. Both immediately became my go-to bits of kit which is always a good sign. (Yammy pictured here with my Crafter electro acoustic).

Here’s mine - a 2013 MIJ Mustang. I swapped the dark tort plate for a plain white one. It’s the first and only short scale I’ve owned. Initially I got it due to a shoulder injury, but it’s got a sound and attitude all of its own which made it a keeper. With flats it has a smooth, almost acoustic bass sound. With rounds it’s got a midrange snarl and punch. I still love my long scale basses (especially for drop D tuning etc) but my Mustang adds a very usable, quite distinct flavour of its own which is well worth having.

Are they very different from the Duff McKagan-era Jazz Bass Special (a name that always confused me given they’re not a jazz bass…)? Either way it looks awesome!

Thumb on top of P pickup most of the time, or if I’m going for a softer tone I put my thumb on the edge of the fretboard at the near end of the neck. Any other deviation from those two positions is largely unintentional.

Yeah I hear you. Rather than being the best of a P and a J pickup together, to me they end up sounding like neither. Feel a bit cramped too with that J pickup right where I play.

P for me. I love the blurry thud and authority of a precision in a band setting. I’ve had a few jazzes too which were nice, and main non-Fender is essentially an active Yamaha jazz bass. But a P just suits me - it’s a B profile 70s neck, nice and lightweight, plenty of thump and fits me like a favourite old pair of slippers.

The answer is the same as with any other bit of gear - if you think you need one, try one and see how you get on. Most of my gear acquisitions are based on wanting to try something I’ve heard about or read about.

I’ve owned a few fender jazzes and Ps over the years, and my main bass is an old precision. Along the way I’ve briefly owned a Sandberg TT4 (jazz) and a Lull PJ4. Both nice basses but they didn’t sound like Fenders. If you want to play a Fender, get a Fender, not something that’s a bit like a Fender.

Loved mine too - it was a Peerless-built Korean gold top JC from about 2007. The neck dive was pretty bad, as the combination of big hollow body, thick neck and big headstock dragged it down. But it played nicely, and the range of sounds was far more versatile than I'd expected. It was a great bass for the alt/acoustic trio I was in at the time, as well as the retro rock covers band I did. I'm not a big bloke (5ft 9ish with shetland pony legs) and I found the JC to be huge! I only sold it really to finance another bass (my Mustang) and occasionally hanker after one still, but not enough for me to find a niche for it.

Two of the bands I play with have really wound down towards the end of this year, so my diary for 2023 currently contains no gigs at all, although I've got a few ideas on the go which will hopefully come to something in the meantime. I'm lucky enough to be able to turn my hand to solo guitar/vocal gigs which have got me out of a tight spot before now. Might have to resurrect that a bit.

I’ve just gone back onto it for the first time since 2018. Oops. I guess as I’m more of a bassist most of the time I’ve probably got less to contribute ti discussion about guitars. Glad to see some familiar BC faces on there tho.

I’m just impressed he can lift it and wear it for an entire song! That’s a lot of wood there.

I started playing acoustic guitar within a year of learning to play bass so I’ve always played both more or less to the same extent. Guitar strings hurt different parts of your fingers compared to bass strings (sharp thin strings vs fat ones) but so many of the skills (timing, phrasing, choice of notes, fretting, picking etc) are the same. No reason you shouldn’t be able to have fun with it. Good luck!

Really cool gig at Lutteral Hall in West Bridgeford, Nottingham, with the Elton John tribute. Place was sold out as far as I could see, and people were up dancing from pretty early on, which is always a good sign. Given me a warm glow for the weekend.

Exactly this. No longer really into Maiden but no hiding where my right hand approach comes from!

Steve Harris first and foremost thanks to Live After Death, but honourable mentions to Gene Simmons and GnR’s Duff McKagan, both of whom I loved and nicked loads of ideas from which still pop up in my playing now. Got me learning both finger style and picking from the start.