Skol303

Your business card should ideally reflect your 'character' or 'brand', whether you're a business or a musician. So a black, funerial card might be ideal if your genre of music is "Doom Metal", but perhaps not if it's Gospel ;-)

My main tip would be to keep it simple and avoid anything too 'flashy': the purpose of a business card is to pass on your contact details first and foremost. Nobody is going to hire you on the strength of a card, so don't worry about it too much either. Sw***y cards often indicate a particular word that has caused the word 's.w.anky' to get automatically moderated in this post... if you get my gist! So my advice would be to keep you cards plain and simple, and let your music - or your gob - do the talking.

I work for a graphic design company, so if you want to post your proposed design(s) I'd be happy to comment on them, for what it's worth...

PS: if you want to be really flash, a friend of mine once had a bunch of iPods customised with his name engraved on them and a selection of his music ready-loaded. But then he was pitching his services to major bands in the US...!

"Music is an art form whose medium is sound."

^ Wikipedia definition... so it must be true, right?? ;-)

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='1086781' date='Jan 12 2011, 03:10 PM']If i had that though I would be writing orchestral scores... not playing a 4 string fender bass.....[/quote]

^ Ha! Made me laugh; good point too...

I don't think it's so much a case that being a good artist will help you to be a good musician. More that artists and musicians use the same parts of their brain when thinking creatively.

Just like plumbers and computer programmers use the same parts of their brain to do their respective jobs (i.e. logic / problem solving). But that doesn't mean I'd hire a computer programmer to fit a washing machine... ;-)

[quote name='BassMunkee' post='1086714' date='Jan 12 2011, 02:02 PM']It is entirely possible to disappear entirely up one's own arse in any discussion like this.[/quote]

^ Spot on!

In answer to the question: yes, music is art. Hence people who make music are commonly referred to as 'artists' (my job title is "Creative Director" so this kinda bo11ock5 discussion is part of my day job...!).

Does that mean musicians and, for example, painters think the same? Probably... there's science to show that people use certain parts of their brain when thinking creatively - be it writing a poem, playing music, painting a picture, whatever - the same areas of the brain light up when doing any of these activities. Obviously it's (currently) impossible to know for certain, but I'd hazard a guess that all artists use similar parts of their brain when being artistic - so for example, a painter might think about colours, hues and composition in the same way that a musician might think about keys, tones and... well, composition! (again the same term is used in both fields of art).

Short answer: yes!

This might sound bleedin' obvious, but a tip that helped me when I started playing bass was: learn to string your guitar properly!

I used to be very lazy/sloppy at winding strings, which used to cause some 'buzzing', as though the action of my guitar wasn't right. Knowing how to do this properly fixed the issue.

Like I said, not exactly a revelation but something that's easy to miss when you're starting out...

^ Cheers T! Yeah, I'm guessing it's probably just too much too soon, and that my pinky hasn't had chance to adjust.

In answer to your questions:

"Could you outline if that two hours you mentioned is in one period or spread over the course of the day?"
A: it's normally 2 hours straight in the evening; or perhaps two 1 hour sessions with a quick tea break in between.

"You don't mention a rough idea of your age."
A: I'm 36; no previous problems with bones/joints, other than a dodgy knee from hiking...

"In the meantime, if you use the little (5th ?) finger less and see what happens, it should give you some ideas."
^ I've trued playing without using my pinky and the other fingers are able to cope with it fine (i.e. no pain).

"How tight are you gripping the neck ?"
A: hard to say... but probably too tight, as I'm still trying to work on speed and coordination.

"Do you have a tutor or and experienced someone that can watch you play?"
A: no tutor at present, but I'm thinking of taking lessons soon.

I've been playing bass for a couple of months now (I used to play, like, 10+ years ago...so I'm very much a beginner again!).

Been practicing lots of scales to get my left hand stronger and more agile. The only problem is that I think I've overdone it and injured my pinky finger! Not badly so... it just hurts a little in the muscle at the base of the finger, but also around the outside edge of my wrist where I'm assuming the pinky tendon runs.

My technique/posture might be to blame for this, or it might simply be that I haven't used my pinky for anything apart from picking my nose these past 10 years... hence it might just need strengthening. I'm practicising for around 2 hours a day, so maybe I'm just doing too much too soon?

Yeah, I know this ain't "hypochondriacs anonymous" (!), but if anyone has experienced the same and can offer advice then please do.

Cheers!

[quote name='MikanHannille' post='1083616' date='Jan 9 2011, 09:14 PM']I have Vox Amplug Bass.[/quote]

^ Me too, and I love it Especially because it allows me to run FX pedals if I want to (i.e. by plugging the Amplug into the last pedal in the chain). In all honesty, it's a very poorly made piece of kit, in my opinion (i.e. cheap and plasticky) but the sound you get from it is great.

I also use Amplitube/iRig on my iPhone, primarily as a tool for recording ideas when I'm away from my desktop Mac. It's a very versatile piece of software, but the sound isn't as good as the Amplug. Still, not bad for something that runs on a phone!

Both Amplug and Amplitube allow you to play along to a backing track - Amplug needs you to connect a separate CD/MP3 player (via a simple 1/8" AUX socket), whereas Amplitube allows you to load in songs from your iPhone or iPod library. I haven't had the same problem as the poster above - i.e. I'm able to play any song in my iPhone library, without having to convert the MP3 format [Dave: are you sure your version of Amplitube is up to date? Might be worth checking].

Propellerhead Record is the 'dog's balearics' when it comes to home audio recording - even better than Logic in my opinion. But it does cost around £160-£200!

This might be a curve-ball, but if you want a cheap(ish) solution for quick and easy home recording - and assuming you have an iPhone (?) - have a look at Amplitube. It'll cost you around £30 for the app and the necessary adaptor, but I'm finding it a great little product for recording stuff quickly and easily. Though at that price, you might as well shell out for a licensed copy of Reaper!

Best option in terms of freeware is Audacity. I've spent hundreds on audioware over the years, and I STILL use Audacity as part of just about every project. Brilliant piece of software.

[quote name='BassNovice' post='1081060' date='Jan 7 2011, 01:51 PM']Sound nice skol...I'll check them out also!!![/quote]

No probs!

Sennheiser, Behringer, Audio-Technica, AKG...you really can't go wrong with any of those brands. Sennheiser tend to dominate the market and are reliably good quality, but shop around as you often get more for your money with the lesser known manufacturers. £90-£150 or so will bag you a pair of 'phones that should last many years, if not a lifetime! I'd personally avoid using in-ear phones (aka 'ear buds'): call me paranoid, but there's a bunch of studies that show these are more likely to cause permanent ear damage than 'can-style' 'phones; just a quick word of warning there.

Three important things to bear in mind are:

- Closed or open back? Closed headphones fit over your entire ear and cut out much more background noise (e.g. useful if you're ever wanting to record vocals or use them in a noisy environment), but open are actually better if you also want to use the 'phones for mixing/mastering audio (in my humble opinion), because the open back gives a more 'natural' sound. That probably makes no sense at all, but Google it if you're interested.

- Flat or augmented frequency response? No headphones have a truly flat frequency response, and most tend to compress the sound to make it suitable for listening so close to the actual speaker. Some phones do sound 'better' than others because they affect the sound in some way (typically boosting the bass and treble, while dropping the mid-range: the classic EQ 'V' shape). Other phones (like those made by AKG) are designed to consciously transfer the sound with minimal 'interference', so that what you hear is a more accurate representation - albeit more flat or dull sounding in some instances. I personally prefer phones with a flat frequency response, but that's because I also use them for home studio work. Something to think about.

- Comfort... not to be underestimated! (I've tried plenty of top-end phones that sound perfect but start to feel uncomfortable after a short while). If possible, visit a store and try them on for size. Headphone cups (the padded bits that fit on your ears) tend to wear out surprisingly quickly, so it's wise to buy a pair that allow the cups to be easily detached and replaced if possible, rather than glued on (same applies to headphone cables).

Hope that helps! I spent a while researching headphones before investing in a pair of AKGs a couple of years ago, so feel free to pick my limited brain if you want any more advice. I'm a studio geek first and bass player second, so headphones are very important to me

I very recently bought an Ernie Ball leather strap in the new year sales.

Thick leather, stiff as an ironing board but feels as though it could happily pull a 10-ton truck up a cliff-face

In other words: it seems very durable and is comfortable to wear, but please bear in mind it's still early days for me and this strap... I might hate it in a few weeks time, but so far so good.

Sennheisers are great.

I'd also strongly recommend a pair of AKGs - I personally use these for both home recording and 'stealth' bass playing late at night:

[url="http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/akg_k240_mk_2_stereo_studio_headphones.html"]http://www.dawsons.co.uk/acatalog/akg_k240...headphones.html[/url]

^ Superb 'phones for the money. What I particularly like is the fact that they're very 'flat' - what you hear is what you get, if that makes sense? (i.e. they don't affect the sound in any way, which makes them ideal for studio work).

AKG have been making 'phones for ages, so it's a brand you can trust.

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1080311' date='Jan 6 2011, 07:39 PM']My first ever project bass was to all intent and purposes made from crap...[/quote]

^ That honestly made me laugh out loud, nice one I was picturing some 'wattle and daub' bass with flies buzzing round it...

Thanks again for useful feedback here, folks. The bass I'm doing up (Hohner Rockwood LX90B, as mentioned) is a nice little player - I've just converted it to fretless and I'm very happy (surprised in fact) with how well it plays and sounds. The action is a little high, as I've yet to properly adjust the nut after removing the frets, but I've strung it with some lightweight flats (40-90) that sit low in the nut and help to lower the action overall. I've checked the intonation and it seems fine, but I'm no expert on that front! (i.e. the 12 fret on each string harmonises perfectly fine with the open strings.... but I've got no more technical understanding than that). The current pickups looks cheap but the overall sound is ok - great bottom end but lacking in treble.

Generally speaking it's very playable, which is why I'm now set on doing it up as a DIY project. Pickups are now definitely in the pipeline after reading comments here. I'll post again once I've got round to changing them (with pics!) and will no doubt be pestering y'all again for advice if/when things go wrong...

^^ Thanks to the rest of y'all too...

Yeah, I'm thinking that this is a good opportunity to learn some new skills and practice DIY on a bass that wouldn't cause me to weep if I messed it up! And as truckstop says, I'd still have a set of decent pickups at the end of the day... [that's my kind of thinking- i.e. the sort that's used to justify spending money! ]

^ Cheers Mog, that's good advice... those DiMarzio pickups look right up my street

I'm amazed that you used to own a LX90B! There's not much about them on Google and I've yet to meet anyone else who even knows what the hell I'm talking about when I mention it. Not a bad little bass at all - I've just converted mine to fretless and it plays very nicely.

PS: off topic... but just noticed that the word "sw***y" (as in "showy" or expensive) was automatically moderated in my original post. Reminds me of the following UK place-names, which have been known to cause problems:

Penistone (the noise made by one's private parts??)
Clitheroe (a hero of women everywhere...!)

Yeah, this is probably a dumb question, but heh!

I'm just wondering how important pickups are to the overall sound of a bass?

I'm currently working on an old second-hand bass as a DIY "do-er upper", and I'm considering replacing the pickups (once I've learnt how to solder a bit better, that is!). The bass in question is a Hohner Rockwood LX90B - it's a cheap P-bass copy, with split-coil passive pickups.

My limited understanding of such things mean I see pickups as being little more than lumps of magnet wrapped in copper coil - I know there's more to it than that (!), but at the moment I don't understand what I'd be paying for if I invested in a pair of sw***y new pickups (e.g. a pair of P-bass pickups via evilBay or similar). Given this is a cheap bass (less than £100 brand new), is it really worth replacing them or should I stick with what it's already got?

Any info gratefully received as always

^ Cheers folks.

I think it is a plywood body, but can't be 100% sure.

I'll post some picks ASAP so you can give it a better diagnosis

[quote name='daz' post='1077397' date='Jan 4 2011, 03:11 PM']pictures please. You know the rules [/quote]

^ No probs, I'll upload some pics later today or tomorrow (I'm at work at the mo...).

PS: Rocket pants!
[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twkn9cR5Mjk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Twkn9cR5Mjk[/url]

[Yes, that title does sound a wee bit rude...]

Ok, here's my problem. I've just acquired a second-hand (and very cheap) P-bass copy from my brother: it's a Hohner Rockwood LX90B. I've very recently converted it into a fretless and it plays rather nicely, if I do say so myself - see this thread for my ramblings about it: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=117094"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=117094[/url]

It's a fairly tatty old bass, but I want to spruce it up a little as a 'DIY' project.

One thing I want to fix is the upper horn on the body - this was split years ago when my brother fitted it with straplocks (i.e. screwing them in caused the body of the guitar to split). It's been taped up with gaffer tape (aka duct tape) ever since and appears to have held together ok. My plan is to remove the tape and try fixing the split - but before I do so, how should I best go about this?

I've asked my brother about the split and he says it was a hairline crack on the surface of the body (i.e. not too bad). Trouble is, it's been taped up for a good few years so I don't know how bad it's got since - but also, I'm slightly nervous about removing the tape in case this makes it worse (i.e. if it ain't broken, don't fix it!).

So my question is: should I risk the repair or simply leave it be?

[Pics to follow later today or tomorrow]

Mine would be:

1. Cliff Burton (Metallica): he's the reason I first picked up a bass as a teenager.

The rest are in no particular order:

2. Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath)
3. Rob Wright (NoMeansNo)
4. Horace Panter (The Specials)
5. Steve Harris (Iron Maiden)

^ A very metal-heavy line-up! Not strictly what I listen to these days, but that's what got me started in the first place...

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1077298' date='Jan 4 2011, 01:45 PM']I was doing ok until you said the bit about the soldering iron and a hammer and screwdriver. [/quote]

^ Ha ha! Yeah, you're not wrong there... I certainly took the more 'brutal' approach defretting - mainly because I'm an impatient so-and-so! - and there were a few times when I dinted the fretboard with the screwdriver, but these were fixed ok with a bit of filler and/or sanding. The end result ain't too shabby, but I'll definitely know better for next time!

Cheers for advice re: the wood filler - I wasn't sure if it would shrink or expand over time, so I'll keep an eye out for shrinkage over the next couple of weeks. Veneer would definitely a give a better finish, but I needed the filler to help patch over a few chips from my efforts with the hammer and screwdriver - ! - yeah, I know, less haste next time.

I'll post a few pics later today or tomorrow so you can marvel (or chuckle) at my efforts... when you see the bass itself, you'll also realise why I wasn't too precious about it in the first place! Let's just say it's got a certain 'distressed' look about it - I hear people pay good money for that, don't they?!

Next stop is to rip out the original pickups and replace with some second-hand ones from a Fender P or similar. I just need to learn how to solder first...! Ah, the joys of tinkering...

Firstly, happy new year to y'all! (2011... can't be long now till we get jetpacks, surely?).

Anyhow, just wanted to share my recent experience of defretting a bass, DIY-style. My one and only guitar is currently in for repairs, so over the Xmas holiday I decided to dust off and tinker with an old budget bass that my brother was throwing out: a Hohner Rockwood LX90B (a cheap P-Bass copy).

I've always wanted to try a 'DIY defretting' project, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a go. In fact, it was a lot easier than I'd expected and I'm surprisingly pleased with the result!

I'm sure most of you have done this before, but here's a few lessons learned that might be useful for any other first-timers like myself:

1. Use a soldering iron to heat the frets before pulling them - I read about this online and found it makes the process much easier. For the more stubborn frets, I used a screwdriver and hammer to carefully tap them loose (half a dozen taps on each side of the fret). While this works great, I'd be especially careful if you're wanting a more professional finish, as this did leave me with a few shallow scars on the fretboard.

2. Standard wood filler does a fine job of filling in the empty fret slots. Some tutorials recommend using carefully cut strips of veneer, as this would undoubtedly give a neater finish - but I found wood paste to be very quick and convenient, and to be honest, the finish ain't too bad either. I used a standard filler bought from my local B&Q: [url="http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/multi-purpose-wood-filler"]http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/multi-purpose-wood-filler[/url]

3. Remove the neck and sand until perfectly smooth (I used a range of sandpaper grades, something like 60-80-120-180-320) - being careful not to strip the curvature off the neck!

4. Clean thoroughly and apply lacquer/varnish/epoxy as you wish. I opted for approximately 6 coats of a polyurethane-based varnish (clear gloss finish) - this one: [url="http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/diamond-hard-varnish"]http://www.ronseal.co.uk/products/diamond-hard-varnish[/url]

The resulting finish is super-smooth; quite literally not a bump on it, despite my earlier slip-ups with the screwdriver

At first I strung the bass with roundwounds, but soon found that these were starting to eat into the varnish (after just a few hours of playing), so I can see why people recommend using a hard epoxy, rather than a lacquer or varnish, if you want to recreate the 'Jaco' roundwound sound. Instead, I re-strung it with flatwounds and it sounds pretty damn good for a cheap Hohner bass! Nice, upright tone and the neck is very smooth to play.

What's more is I'm really enjoying playing fretless! It's much easier than I'd expected, though that's probably because I still have the wood-filled fretlines on the neck (i.e. cheat lines!) which obviously help a lot.

The whole project took about 2-3 days (including drying time for the varnish) and like I said, was a very easy and satisfying job - even for a klutz like me! If you're toying with the idea of doing the same and converting an old bass, then I say go for it - just take your time and be patient.

Came across this on YouTube:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf56jYDv2fc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf56jYDv2fc[/url]

Firstly: Super Mario Brothers theme tune on the bass... you've gotta love that.

Secondly: OMG, what the hell kind of bass guitar is THAT??! Eleven strings! You could sit on that thing and paddle yourself down river...

[quote name='Bass_Guardian' post='1066360' date='Dec 22 2010, 01:41 AM']...my dedication to my church (I'm not expecting anyone to understand) means I'm taken 4 nights a week....[/quote]

^ It's lines like that which put a smile on my big, stupid face :-)

[quote name='risingson' post='1066128' date='Dec 21 2010, 08:28 PM']I'd just like a piece of the Hacienda floor, forget the bass![/quote]

Oddly enough i actually have a piece of the Hacienda dancefloor! Perhaps enough to make a set of pan pipes, if you're interested?! ;-)

I also have an original (unsigned) Hac membership card, which I'm keeping in the attic for a rainy day.

Shortly after they closed the club, there was a skip outside full of loads of Factory goodies that were being slung out by the builders - I was lucky to get there early and came away with armfulls of stuff, most of which I've since sold.

The place was certainly a landmark for Manchester, but it's reputation is over-hyped in my opinion. I had some good nights there, but much better times elsewhere... at weekends it was generally full of 'townie' a-holes who didn't give a damn about the music, despite the club's reputation. The sound system was shoddy, the bouncers were gangsters and let's not forget that it was grandly opened by Bernard Manning!

Still, I was livid when it got sold off for flats instead of being kept as some kind of public venue. But then Tony Wilson was never precious about it; he seemed quite happy to see the back of the place once it was gone - and I can understand why.

Anyway, £4K for a piece of wood that I probably spilled beer on nearly 20 years ago? No thanks, sling yer Hook! ;-)