leonshelley01

Good news that you are okay. I shall be investing in an RCD today!

For £1500 I would want it to be perfect right of the bat! Wait until you find your perfect model, don't let the cash burn a hole in your pocket so you end up buying a bass you end up selling in 12 months.

Try 'em both, it's the only way to find out what suits you personally. I went in to buy an MIA Jazz but came home with a MIM. It just felt nicer to play, and as I already knew I was going to change the bridge and pickups, knew I would get the tone I wanted. And as someone else has mentioned, both the Vintage Modified and Classic Vibe Squier Jazz basses have a really good reputation too (I have the CV 60's Precision which is great). But you need to try them yourself.

I hope it sorts itself out for you, but when you are up and running, think of all the fun (and frustration) you'll have putting some tunes together.

I use a Line 6 GX Toneport as a USB device, which is then run through Line 6 Gearbox (free with the Toneport) for bass, guitar and vocals and finally into Cubase 4 Essential, and I've had some very good results. For the drums, I use GuitarPro (with RSE packs) to program and then record the drums as a wav file and then import it into Cubase. For noodles, demos and even semi-pro sounding stuff, it does the job more than adequately and all for less than £150.

Oddly, I miss my old Ibanez GSR200. Cheap as chips but had something about it.

Good: Timekeeping Fingerstyle/plectrum playing Learn new tunes quickly Happy to play other peoples choice of song Play guitar as well Bad: Get bored easily Don't know enough theory (pentatonic/major/minor scales only, don't understand modes) Poor practise routines (keep on doing the same old stuff/songs at home) Quick to loose patience with less experienced musicians (even though I know we were all beginners once) Spend to much time gassing about what to buy next rather than practising with what I've got After doing these lists, it's a wonder anyone wants me in their band!

I noted a real improvement in tone and sustain on my MIM Jazz after replacing the original bridge with a 201. And it's not ugly like a Badass!

This is my backup for my MIM Jazz. Needless to say, the stickers have now been removed!

Very happy with my current gear and the available tones. Now I just need to play better.....

As someone else has mentioned, try to lock in with the bass drum pattern. If the guitars stay "chugging" on a single chord for a whole bar, I often put bass "fill-ins" at that point. It's also quite nice to change root notes under a riff, for example it the guitar riff is based in E pentatonic repeated 4 times, try playing E first time round, B the second, C and D in the third and back to the E for the final run through. Also try listen to lots of source material with good metal bass players, such as Steve Harris, Cliff Burton, Geezer Butler etc. for ideas. The pick or fingers thing is a matter of choice. I play fingerstyle, but many good metal players use picks, so whatever feels right to you.

The Day That Never Comes - Metallica I couldn't believe someone had already tabbed it!

I have the 60's Classic Vibe P Bass and the pickups are actually pretty good, so I won't be changing them. It would be better to wait and try it through your rig before deciding on the expense of changing them.

More than happy with my Marshall MB amp. Gives me the headroom I need and the tone I want, plus being 2 channel with a blend facility, very versatile as well.

Breed - Nirvana - Nice and simple, learnt in five minutes. Sweet Leaf - Black Sabbath - Majority of the song in about ten minutes, but the bloody middle section has me pulling my hair out!

[quote name='neepheid' post='269305' date='Aug 25 2008, 09:27 AM']Unless you can get the official word from whoever made it, it would be very difficult to tell what the finish is. To be honest, I'd remove all the hardware, sand down the face of the headstock to the bare wood and start from scratch.[/quote] Thats the way I've done it in the past as it just looks better in the long run.

I saw them last year with Rob and was pretty impressed. He fills the role well, a nice mix of Cliff style histronics and Jason's rock steady playing. My real fear is that he will not be allowed to contribute to the writing, which is where Metallica have been lacking in recent years. Cliff was the musically knowledgable one who allowed Hetfields great riffs to flow into each other. Once the songs simplified on the Black Album, Jason kept them tight (lets face it, there probably isn't a looser drummer than Lars!). But the lack of a decent bass player or bass line on St Anger made it a mess, coupled with the fact the guy producing the album was involved in the writing and bass playing didn't help. There wasn't anyone with a little distance between themselves and the band saying "hold on, that just doesn't work/it's too long/sort that f**king snare drum out!" St Anger came across as a mish-mash of ideas not fully thought out bolted together. Load and Reload were not thrash, or even heavy metal, but at least the majority of songs flowed and were fully realised. Metallica are between a rock and a hard place at the moment. Older fans like myself want a Ride/Master/Justice style album with the old complexity, speed, and tightness again. A lot of the younger audience will want a straight ahead metal album like the Black Album. Some people actually liked St Anger! So where do the band pitch the new stuff? Either way someone is going to be disappointed. I just hope it won't be me!

I mostly stick to major and minor pentatonics, but understanding scales even if you don't play/practice them is imprtant in order to understand chords and more importantly for bassists, the triads under those chords. To make life easier however, most guitarists only ever write songs in E or A min!

For bedroom practise a metronome is invaluable. Personally, I use a Zoom B2 as it has built in drum patterns so it is easier to practise emphasis on certain beats and different styles. I agree practising with other musicians would be better, but unfortunately, I can't fit a drummer in my room!

I sort of miss the Satellite P Bass I started on. I changed the pickup for a DiMarzio, and it sounded great but the neck was like a bargepole, so I let it go. My sister has now had it for the last 16 years and has still not changed the strings. Sounds quite Jameson now! (I think I'll phone her to see if she's still using it).

The reason I bought a Jazz!

As long as you know your material, you'll be fine. The most important thing is to enjoy it!

The man himself!

Sounds like a really good course. Might have to consider it myself for next year!