AndyBass

Okay this has been doing my head in for weeks (on and off). Ed Friedland's "Building Walking Basslines" says the following: "when the root motion between two chords is dominant, the 5th of the first chord acts as an upper scale approach to the next chord". He then uses a transition from F7 to Bb7 as an example.

Please help me understand this! I'm fine with more complex concepts in the book but this just doesn't make sense to me. What is "dominant root motion"? (Ed helpfully throws in such terms without any prior mention). It can't mean transitioning from the tonic chord to the root of its dominant as the example shows a I-IV not a I-V. The statement seems to suggest that as long as you're moving from one chord to the chord a 4th above it, then the 5th of the first chord is an upper scale approach to the next. Well that's pretty obvious, but where does "dominant" come into that, aside from using the 5th as an approach?

Is it just a very confusing way of stating a very obvious concept, or am I missing the key to understanding this properly? Please help it's driving me nuts.

As with lefty bass guitars, some convert easier than others dependent on their symmetry. I have a converted Stagg that cost me £200 and £60 for all the conversion work. Which I think is pretty good for what I needed. However, this was only ever meant to be a practice instrument for me - an approximation of my acoustic basses to play on where it wasn't practical to use the bigger, noisier fellas. If you're aiming for this to be your main instrument, I'd buy a true lefty. Even a well converted righty will most likely have a few drawbacks in terms of shape, location of rests, jack input etc.

Here's a couple of pics of my new addition. A little bit darker than "in the flesh" for some reason.
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Re: your bass, I got £450 for a strunal-made B&H 400 with Innovation Rockabillies and an adjustable bridge and no other mods or extras. That's not as good as a 50/4 to start with. In your shoes I'd ask for what you'd be happy with and what you think its worth, then be prepared to negotiate a bit dependent on how quickly you need to sell it.

I may be in the same boat if I need to sell my 50/4. Bearing in mind it looks a bit different as was built to my spec AND is left handed, I can't imagine it would be a quick sale!! That's my excuse for having two basses anyway.

At the minute I'm still in that honeymoon period where I'm beyond realistic comparison. A quick summary of the obvious stuff though:

The Duke is noticeably lighter. The 50/4 is solid as a rock but is arguably a little unrefined
The kit on the Duke is noticeably better, end pin particularly but also tuners etc.
I'm currently using the Gut-a-like strings that came fitted (which have a wrapped E). And I may actually keep them on rather than switch for my Lamberts as they work with the bass for a great old school "thunk" when slapped
And of course it looks extremely sexy, which shouldn't matter but totally does

So basically it does the same as a 50/4, which is a great bass, but with a bit more polish and pizzazz.

In terms of tone it's tough to AB them as I have steels on the Strunal which have a very different sound anyway. Likewise I've yet to have a proper setup on the Duke, so differences may become more pronounced after that.

Just to add to your GAS, my Duke turned up last week and it's proper lovely...

I'd stick it on it's back, either well wedged in place or held there with bungees. IMHO the Hidersine bags are really good for the money. I've had mine about 2 years and the ample padding has saved the bass from many a dent.

If you're after a luthier in Nottingham, you've got Kai Dase on Mansfield Road, or I think there's still Turner Violins in Beeston (where Kai used to work). I'm sure either place will do a good job for a fair price.

Yeah, Thomas is a really good guy. He sends his basses to a company caled Bassico to ship, that's how mine's coming over and I believe how Rabbie's was sent as well (based on aprevious thread somewhere). Shipping to the UK is costing me 150 euro.

I really struggled with the decision because of the lack of Duke owners in this country to get opinions from. But I'm lucky (in a weird way) to have much less choice than right-handed folks, and a left-handed Duke was really one of the only possible upgrades from my beloved Strunal 50/4 (without spending £000s more). As such once mine's here, I'll make a point of doing a post about it and maybe posting some sound samples if my playing isn't too shameful.

As my previous slap-friendly strings were sounding pretty nasty when I bowed them, I tried out Jargar Dolces. I believe Martyn Savage uses Jargar Mediums, but I went with Dolces because a lot of forums suggested they were pretty close to Innovation Rockabillys in tension.

I've found the Dolces to have a nice bowed and pizz tone, the slap is obviously very different to Innovations and such but not in a bad way, as long as you're not going for that more organic tone Rabbie describes ("Boom" over "Ding"!). I have found them a lot harder to play than my old Innovations, both due to tension and thickness, but have lowered my string height and that helped some.

If you look at Duke Bass' facebook page, Thomas put some photos up yesterday of a dark brown left-handed 2-tone that's going to be heading my way very shortly. So I'll gladly tell you all about it once its here!

I'm another Strunal 50/4 owner, which as mentioned above is one of the European Thomann-badged basses.

Its a great bass, and you'll find a lot of positive stuff said about them across all the DB forums. They're extremely robust and give a good sound with a variety of different strings in my experience.

I bought mine from Strunal direct as I was having a few custom bits done, so I changed out the bridge and strings at point of production, but it seems pretty consistent feedback that you'd want to do that. I opted for an adjustable bridge, which I also had on my previous and first DB - a Strunal-built Boosey & Hawkes 400 - and would totally recommend if you're new to DB and are therefore unsure of the height you'll want for your evolving playing style. I'd also suggest that eventually you'd want to change the endpin as its a bit like balancing a tank on a toothpick, but that said the stock one has yet to fail me.

If you're getting a bass from outside the UK you're likely to want to have the soundpost adjusted as a minimum. To my knowledge they tend to be shipped slightly longer than optimally to ensure they hold their place in transit (based on experience of 2 basses purchased from mainland Europe).

In terms of pickups and preamps, I've been using the same K&K RAB system for about 2 and a half years now, which I picked up for about £80 second hand. So just remember you can get perfectly servicable kit second hand, and if you buy it from one of the forums then its probably also been well looked after.

Good luck, have fun and let us know what you go for.

He certainly typically uses guts, with a wound E if I remember rightly

Joe Fick is amazing. Saw him play (and probably bored him to tears with endless bass chat) in Nashville with The Tennessee Tone Boys. He makes it all look so damn effortless! And, random trivia time, he played Bill Black in Walk The Line too

My thoughts for what it's worth:

1 and 2: Yes it's probably a technique thing and will come with time and practice - I found the slightly greater lack of control over a slapped open note to be problematic to begin with. Less so but still prefer to avoid them now
3. I think you might mean the E string in the context of your post? If so it may be the strings, some sets the E can feel very loose and flabby. I ditched my Golden Slap E and A for Rockabillys (slightly higher tension) for exactly that reason
4. I have a Stagg EUB which I find much easier to slap and do cool fancy multi slap stuff on than my DB (partly down to strings and setup as my DB is set for other things at the minute). Technique-wise EUBs are fine to slap in my experience

Hope that's some help.

Yeah sounds sensible, good to know there are potentially good deals to be had anyway. Will put an ad in the wanted section for some used ones as well. Cheers!

Anyone got any experience of the cheap gut strings from Nottinghammusicshop on eBay? Whilst I'm sure you get what you pay for, I just want to get a feel for a D and G paired with some Lamberts or Innovations on my bass (played that setup on someone else's and sounded/played really good) and don't have cash to throw around on better quality strings.

So are they worth a go as an entry to guts or are they figuratively, and possibly literally, dogs? Just to reiterate I know they won't be great, but I don't have money for better just now.

Alternatively if anyone has a gut d and g they'd part with for a reasonably modest sum, please let me know!

Can't imagine you would but if you'd be willing to part with just the D & G let me know!!

+1 again! Merry Xmas one and all. Had a great year gigging my DB, talked myself into buying an EUB thanks to various forum posts (which has proven great for 3am practice sat up with the baby) and thanks to the forum again I also found my bass teacher who got me through my (straight faces please) grade 2 practical and grade 3 theory, so at 35 I'm now as advanced as most 8 year olds...!

Just an update on this for anyone ever trying to do the same thing. I got my "leftified" Stagg back today, with flipped bridge, nut replaced with properly-filed ebony nut and new holes drilled on for the main rest (the one against the body), and generally tinkered and tidied (I have no talent for the practical, so got a local luthier onto it).

Gotta be honest, I really like it. The fingerboard feels weird and a bit rubbery, but that aside it plays well and sounds pretty cool for slap and pizz. Gonna give some arco a go tomorrow. I actually like the stock strings. I can do slap stuff on them I can't get near on my Jargars, they're ridiculously low tension for steels.

Am I an EUB convert? Nah, I doubt I'll be using it for gigs (though I am played the smallest pub ever on Friday, so maybe I should...), but at £280 for a fully lefted EUB I can use for practice when the bairns asleep, taking on holiday etc, I'm pretty pleased. Totally recommend Staggs for ease of conversion should anyone else ever want to try.

Yes it will. Neck between the front seats, back seats down, and you can still fit at least one passenger in.

So I'm intrigued to know what bands all you fellow bassists play in, not least so I can check you out if you pass by Sheffield but I always wonder how many of the class bassists I've seen at gigs are actually also people I've met on here unknowingly. So how about a thread saying what bands you're in if that doesn't already exist?

So a constant thorn in my proverbial side when it comes to slapping is playing fast notes. I can double, triple and drag slap between quarter notes til the cows come home, but if I'm playing a lot of eighth notes (with or without slaps between), my hand claws up, my fingers tap the fingerboard and my slaps go off time as it just sounds rushed.

I've found a way around this, which involves changing my usual hand position to only using the index finger, sort of hooking under the string and slapping with the inside edge of that knuckle. I can do pretty rapid fire slap like that, but need to change back to do most other stuff.

So my question is does anyone change hand position between "fast" and "fancy" slap, between the body of the bassline and eighth note runs? And if so does the position I mention above sound familiar? Trying to establish if I've just created a new bad habit to get into or found a solution to my problem. Not helped by a lot of bassists I've seen not changing position at all, other changing but to entirely different ones to me, etc. Appreciate there's no rules, but there are things that work much better than other things!

When I wanted to try one out I booked a lesson with a local teacher. I figured that way I'd get to have a go, but also learn some of the (very) basics right from the off. There's plenty of teachers in Sheffield if you're ever round this way, don't know about Huddersfield I'm afraid.

Bought a Stagg EUB from Mike - nice bass in great condition at a good price, met up with him at his work as was more convenient for me, quick to respond to mails and stuff - couldn't ask for more really.

I'm in a hired Astra at the minute and its fine with the bass in. I have the neck come through between the front seats, just needs a little adjustment to how you change gears. But that gives you the front seats with plenty of room.

If I had a choice I wouldn't hire an Astra anyway for non-bass reasons, so I'd go for the Golf of the two (which would also be fine on the same basis as above).

Or an estate if you don't want to have the neck poking through...