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paul_5

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Posts posted by paul_5

    Where did they all go ?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    [quote name='Quoth'd' post='1147967' date='Mar 3 2011, 07:34 AM']I think I have to hold my hand up and say that I'm guilty of this.

    Way back when . . . I was 16, I decided to treat myself after I passed my GCSEs and decided that I'd like to learn an instrument & wanted it to be something different - so I walked into my local music store and took a look around. I settled on a bass that I liked the look of & after waiting half an hour whilst the owner creamed over a punter who just walked in to play albatros before walking out again, I finally got served.

    I picked my new instrument some metallic blue thing by a company I'd never heard of called Fender, paid my £70 & took it home.

    After playing with it a while I got together with some friends & we started a band - I picked it up fairly quickly & was soon looking for a better instrument as I didn't want to be seen with a bass made by a company called Fender - surely they had something to do with cars & wouldn't know anything about quality musical instruments.

    Oh and the 2 long pickups looked cheap as you could see the metal bits of the poles - whilst all my mates had cool guitars which were all black or looked like BC Rich / Les Paul etc.

    I ended up doing lots of nasty things with that instrument that ranged from numerous resprays to planing a chunk off the body (by accident) to deciding to take it fretless (lets not even talk about nearly frying the pickups when trying to tinker with the electronics).

    I finally took it apart & it was left in my wardrobe for years until finally found a new home at the local tip.


    It wasn't till years later that I actually came across a picture in google, did some research & found out that my first bass was an original, late 60's metallic blue, Fender Jazz bass. The shame :)


    Perhaps there should be a test that you have to pass before your allowed to buy instruments - if your too young or dumb - to prevent you harming innocent instruments lol[/quote]
    :)

    I never bought Fenders as a youngster (with lots more disposable income), as I saw them as an 'old man's' instrument. Wish I'd bought one now, ah well, we live and learn. I went for anything that felt good that specifically wasn't a Fender. What have I ended up with - a very good Jazz copy. Seems that age finally caught up with me ( or should that be taste?).

    I want to complain

    in Bass Guitars

    Posted · Edited by paul_5

    [quote name='Duarte' post='1144099' date='Feb 28 2011, 02:23 AM']C'mon...who voted 'other'? There's always one...[/quote]

    It was me - I use cat gut (I am not a vegetarian...).

    What People Want In Their Bass Player

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    [quote name='BassoRidiculoso' post='1126559' date='Feb 13 2011, 11:31 PM'][url="http://bassoridiculoso.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-people-want-in-their-bass-player.html"]http://bassoridiculoso.blogspot.com/2011/02/what-people-want-in-their-bass-player.html ://http://bassoridiculoso.blogspot.com...ss-player.html ://http://bassoridiculoso.blogspot.com...ss-player.html [/url][/quote]
    This link wound me up a bit. This clearly states what [i]one[/i] person wants in a bass tone. reminds me of a lead guitarist who wanted me to run all bass, no mids or treble, as it got in the way of his soloing. We shan't work together again...

    What Are Your EQ Settings?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Differs for every gig. 'My' sound (for studio stuff, when I'm allowed free reign) is as follows:

    On the Ampeg SVP PRO: LO boost on, Bass at 12 o'clock, Mid Range at 1 or 2 o'clock (band 4 selected) and Treble at 4 o'clock(!) - of course all of this is dependent on the type of tubes in your amp. That's a whole other thread right there... Occasionally I'll add some 'drive' and back off the bridge PUP if I want a bit more 'Precision' sort of sound.

    If I'm using the MXR Bass DI: bass 3 o'clock, Mid 12 o'clock, Treble 3 o'clock (a nice 'Geddy Lee' sprangy tone)

    Live stuff (Hartke LH1000) everything straight up.

    The tone starts with the Blade B15 (Jazz bass-esque).

    That is all.

    Practicing scales

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    I went through a similar thing a while ago. I made it more interesting by making myself play each note in different position going up and coming down. Also ascending and descending in 4ths (GABC, ABCD, BCDE etc). I took it further by adding in some RH techniques too, to keep all my piggies wriggling.

    Now I'm awesome. :)

    Headphones

    in Accessories and Misc

    Posted

    Mix through monitor speakers. Absolutely monitor speakers. Some bass frequencies have a wavelength of a couple of feet. You simply won't be able to appreciate ALL of the sound when the speakers are an inch from your ear canal...

    So to sum up, monitors.

    Would You Play For Nothing?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Generally if I'm doing covers stuff then I'll expect to be paid - if only to compensate me for having to yawn through 'Mustang Sally, Johnny B Goode' et al for the millionth time. I used to be involved in quite a healthy originals band, and we were prepared to play for costs simply to promote our material. I'm in a fortunate position in that I don't have to gig three or four times a week to pay the bills anymore, so can be pretty selective with the jobs I take. I will still do stuff for free if the right musicians ask me and it sounds like a laugh. Charity stuff is free (goes without saying), provided that it's a cause that I don't mind being associated with.

    Famous bassists

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Geddy Lee and Billy Sheehan for the rock side of things.

    John Giblin and Jaco for fretless / melodic loveliness.

    Charles Mingus for just walking effortlessly through great tune after great tune.

    Carol Kaye and James Jamerson for showing me that rhythms could be more than just 8ths

    Les Claypool had a big influence on me too. My moustache is really coming along. :)

    songs you love to play

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Tom Sawyer, YYZ - Rush
    Goodbye Pork Pie Hat - Charles Mingus
    Black Dog, Heartbreaker, Moby Dick - Led Zep
    Anything Primus
    Continuum, Birdland - Jaco
    Hysteria, Time is running out - Muse

    Quite a few others too, can't seem to find the time lately though.

    Just auditioned a drummer Part 2

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    The last band I was in wasted 12 months auditioning 'singers'. We had some conservatoire singers turn up too - and they couldn't carry a tune in a bucket. Bottom line, ask around and see who gets recommended, other than that go see other bands and steal the players that you like the sound of :)

    Which distortion/overdrive/fuzz pedal?

    in Effects

    Posted

    +1 for the MXR. having one of these should negate your GAS for a fuzz pedal (Big Muff etc...) as the torch switch does 'fuzz pedal' really rather well. In my experience it isn't that subtle, so if you're looking for a 'gritty Geddy Lee' sound then this might be too much for that. The Ashdown hyperdrives do that really well, as they're much gentler. I've also had some good results with my MXR M80 DI box, that can go fairly extreme too, but the blend control is pretty good at taming that when it all gets too much. There you go, my 2p worth.

    Hearing your rig played by another bass player

    in Amps and Cabs

    Posted

    Loads of other players use my rig all the time. Mine is 'in situ' at my church, and players plug into that whenever they like. I've had 75 Jazz reissues, new Jazzes, Warwicks and cheaper, copy basses through it, they all sound good. Still think my Blade B15 has a killer sound though. Miked it up for some recordings a while ago and it sings, love it.

    Twin Neck Silliness

    in eBay - Weird and Wonderful

    Posted

    I played one live once (and I realise that this is like telling your mates you slept with 'that fat bird', but I'll press on anyway) a long time ago. I was playing my acoustic fretless (Far more attractive to my way of thinking) and a punter handed it to me in the interval. I played it for the encore (two songs) and pretty much hated every minute. There you go.

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