mcnach

ugh... I hate that... You have the earplugs all through a gig/rehearsal... and when everything is safe a cymbal drops right by my ear. I hope your tinnitus will go away soon.

I haven't tried the Pro 10s, I have the 17s and I can hear the hi hats, that's for sure. After going to the trouble of getting custom moulds etc, I found I actually prefer the Isolate plugs... they're just a bit of some soft pliable black foam and a metal core. No hi-tech by any means... and I dismissed them for a long time because they just could not possibly work and the response graphs I had seen were not promising (and tellingly they 'disappeared' from their site very quickly to be substituted by some bs marketing blurb). One of my guitarists loved them, and I decided to give them a try, if anything they'll be handy when I have to share room with another guitarist in out of town gigs (snores like a tractor) To my surprise... I prefer the low tech isolates. They reduce sound quite a bit more than the Pro 17s, but for some reason I find them very clear even in the worst muddiest stages, I can hear everything but I feel as though there may be a bit of a bump in the low mids that suit my bass a lot, which means that it's as if I get a stage mix with "a little more of me" without needing to turn up higher onstage. They're only about £25 and very comfy... so I thought they could be a backup or just to help me against snoring bandmates while travelling... but now the ACS Pro17s are my back up.

Oh, so this is always in the context of a given song? That's why I could not find it. I expected to find it as a training exercise or something. I'll check it out when I get home, thanks!

Indeed. Many years ago I went for an audition with a local band... I had heard nothing, they said just come along and you'll pick it up fast... I showed up, they put a stand in front of me with lyrics and chords roughly written above, and said "let's go, 1,2, 3..." At that stage, I was not aware of knowing where the notes were. If I wanted a B, I'd need time to count slowly the notes from an open string up. Until that moment, I had been happy playing guitar by myself at home, recording basic stuff with a drum machine, and I had a bass to go dum dum dum along, that's pretty much it (ok, a bit more than that, but not much more). Rabbit in the headlights moment... fortunately, the 1,2,3,4 was delayed a bit as they talked about something... I scanned the sheet for chords, found there were just 5 chords in the whole thing, identified the root notes... and away we went. The second song went a bit better. After 40 minutes of that I felt pretty confident (even if limited to a few notes per chord) and I was able to start 'exploring' a bit further as the bases were covered and I could now be a bit more creative. It was pretty interesting that I already had realised that there were a bunch of 'patterns' that worked well in certain contexts, I just had never stopped to think that I was just playing notes in the relevant scale... now I did and felt pretty silly for having ignored all that as "too difficult, I just want to have a little fun and don't have teh time to invest on the kind of time that this would require". The audition ended, and I went home thinking "notes, huh... I must get those in my brain, they seem pretty useful when playing with others", and that's what made me want to learn a bit. I used to be in awe of people who could just show up and play... then I knew "ah, so they're not mind readers! They learnt the language of music! Maybe I can learn a little too" :D (of course, on top of that you get each individual's creativity, and that's when you get really interesting players, but that's another chapter). Having a practical appl;ication for the things you learn helps you stay motivated.

You are right: knowing what to do with them rather than just knowing where they are is an important part of making it fun. In the case of my girlfriend, I was using some slow/midtempo basic ska and reggae rhythms to show her how if you know you have an Am chord coming, and you know where A is, there is a simple 'pattern' that gives you the basic 1-3-5 scale notes that will form the chord, and if it's minor you get another easy pattern, and both patterns share the 1 and 5. When I was showing her that it was a bit of a revelation to her, and seemed to make her realise that learning *some* form of theory, even as superbasic as that, can come handy... and of course, as you progress and learn more complicated things they will also have useful applications straight away. That was what prompted me to look for an app to learn where the notes are. My initial plan was to just start with maybe 4 notes... and I can play a rhythm on my guitar and just shout what chord will come next and for her to just play root notes... and little by little expand adding more (a bit like how Ed Friedland starts on his BUilding Walking Bass Lines - a fantastic book)... but what she can do by herself effectively is play a game that helps her remember/visualise the notes on her bass. I guess both parts can be combined, but she can work on the note recognition by herself easily and she said a 'game' like that would help her not get bored.

That looks interesting too, unfortunately iOS only, so that's out for us... (windows/linux & android here)

Interesting. I read about it and thought it would do what I wanted... but I downloaded the app and didn't see how to. It seemed geared towards pre-determined lessons. I gave up on it. I'll try again and see if I find how to do that.

Those are actually pretty useful exercises! Now if I could find an app to use as a 'soundboard' while doing that, I can see her learning this stuff pretty quickly (simply because she would keep at it, rather than seeing the exercises as a chore and giving up after a week)

That's one approach. It's just not the approach I was asking for I would like to make it as 'fun' as possible for her so that she sticks with it. Your approach worked for me. Actually I didn't even do that, I just hammered the notes down in my head until I could 'see' them... But I know she'd probably just not persevere with that approach and I know the 'interactive game' approach will have a much more chance of success.

Mine are not wearing, neither the Labella whites or various other black types I've used over the years. I guess they will one day but they likely last a LONG time. I find them different to halfwounds. They feel different to the touch... very very soft... The labella whites, which are my favourites, are roundwounds with a nylon cover... so yes, they do mellow the roundwound sound, but it's not simply "the sound of a used roundwound". The copper Labella white nylons in particular have very nice prominent low mids, all the growl I want, fat but with great definition... they can sound bright if I want them to, but tame if not... Some sound a little too thumpy with too big lows (I find many flats like that), but these are not that way, they just seem very balanced across the spectrum. They don't get as bright as roundwounds if you're after a Marcus Miller kind of sound... but they will do pretty much anything else. I find the passive tone control is really responsive when using these strings.

The strings are so flexible that you won't find them harder to play with a higher action, I don't think, so that's a good possibility too.

I needed to turn the truss rod nut a bit after fitting mine (on two different basses). They vibrate a bit more wildly than other less compliant strings and that can make a rattle sound unless you're very gentle. Once adjusted they're fine unless you have the lowest of the lowest of the actions.

Try the Labella White Nylons... they're a little different from most others. I love the standard white nylons and their 'copper' version... They're pretty low tension, which can be pretty cool too if you like bending strings. They're a lot brighter and with strong mids presence, which makes them very versatile for me: turn down tone control a bit for more 'vintage' tones, or keep it open for other stuff. Beautiful slap sound on a Precision...

How's your hearing normally? Have you lost top end or is your hearing normal? Because I can hear cymbals, hi-hats etc just fine with plugs. Only quieter. I would not be happy with plugs that made me miss hi-hats in particular.

You get used to it. I was on/off about earplugs years ago for the same reason... but realising just how many people I met with bad hearing due to years of playing without protection made me switch, and bought my girlfriend some too, as she often mentioned ringing in her ears after gigs and going out to bars... It did take a little to get used to them, but now it's natural and I hear everything much better every time. No enjoyment lost, and my ears are a lot happier. Yesterday we were playing at an open air fest and while getting ready, something went wrong and there was this loud screech... my experienced yet non-plug-wearing bandmates looked like they had been shot with an invisible weapon and winced and covered their ears (late). I was just fine. Protect your ears. It may be a bit less fun while you get used to them, but it'll be a lot more fun than it'll be when your hearing is permanently damaged.

Not metal enough?

and it allows you to easily and quickly switch between muted and unmuted sounds. I can remove a sponge pretty fast, but I can't put it back on quite as quickly...

But that only mutes open strings, right?

Same here. I look at it from time to time since I first discovered it... I'd love one, but I don't really need it that much. There's lots of things I could spend £100 on that would be more useful to me. To those who say they use their palm for that... yes, I do that too, but there's no denying that freeing your hand to move anywhere makes much better use of your fingers. I would find it very useful.

Yup, can't fault it. I was a little concerned before I bought it because having not had the chance to go play one in a shop, I relied on reviews and some were not that great although it was not clear sometimes what model exactly they were talking about. In any case... I thought the built quality was excellent. Let's face it, it's not exactly a cheap bass so I was hoping it would at least be decent... and I was very pleased when it arrived. It's not heavy either (8.4 lbs) which was another concern...

My girlfriend has been learning to play bass and I'm convincing her of the usefulness of learning at least the names of the notes on the fretboard and how it can be very handy etc... I thought it would make things 'easier' (or less boring?) if there were an app that would ask for notes (whether random, or within certain scales or whatever) and you could play them on your own bass, and the app would 'listen' and say whether it's right or wrong... that sort of thing. Does anybody know of such thing? I have found many that do something like that but using a 'virtual fretboad' on screen. That has its uses, but I think it would be far more useful if you play your own instrument, as it involves moving your hand to the right place etc... Anything out there? Free is great, obviously, but I'd pay for the right one. I think she's much more likely to make the effort if she can 'play a game' rather than using a more academic approach.

Mike sold me my old Shine tele style bass back and I could not be happier. Actually, I'd be happier if I had played the bass... but he sold it to my girlfriend who is keeping it hostage until my birthday but she played it and likes it... I just hope she doesn't like it TOO much Excellent communication, great guy... and generous too. Thank you Mike, you've been fantastic.

Julian bought my VT-Bass pedal... a pleasure to deal with I hope you enjoyed the pedal as much as I did, thank you!