funkypenguin

+1 to seeing a teacher. I saw Scott Devine and its completely re-invigorated my playing. On the composition front, if all your grooves/riffs are turning out to be in minor pentatonic, force yourself not to use Minor pentatonic, maybe use modal or diminished flavours?

My band has a similar setup (minus the bass bins) and we can get the drum kit, backline and PA set up, cables run and soundchecked in an hour....your guys need to up their game, especially if your client is being kept waiting to cut the cake...

Ok, I would recommend heavy gauge roundwounds, either D'Addario Prosteels or Warwick black labels. Go for a 100 or 105 E set

Beautiful playing Mike im not usually much of a fretless fan but that sounds lovely

what sort of band/music do you play? what sound are you going for? whats your playing style like? answer these and we can start recommending brands/gauges/winds(round/flat)

my bands are either 3 or 5 3 - Kit/Percussion, Guitar/keys, Bass. vocals covered by these 5 - Kit/percussion, keys, guitar, bass, vocals or 5 - Kit/Percussion, keys, vocals/guitar, trumpet, sax

I use a 6 string on pretty much every gig i play, from pubs to theatres. I get the occassional idiotic comment about the number of strings but by and large people are cool with it im really lucky in that all my bandmembers are open minded and like what i do playing wise

I usually get asked the old favourite "I thought basses only had 4 strings" rather than anything to do with my playing... My gear is relatively expensive but i use it every gig i play

[quote name='BigAlonBass' post='1277181' date='Jun 21 2011, 03:30 PM']Everyone seems to want to 'pigeonhole' everyone else these days, so here's my two penn'orth. I don't get out too often, so when I go to see a Band or other Musical entertainment, I want to enjoy myself. The above picture gives me three separate reasons to walk out of the Gig before the Band even strikes a note. 1) He's [i]staring[/i] at the neck. This, to me, equates to self-indulgence, and to heck with the audience. 2) He's playing a single-cut Bass. Nobody has [i]ever[/i] played any music that appeals to me, whilst wielding an SC. 3) He's hitching a lift. As soon as I see the 'slapper's thumb' come out - I'm long gone. Naturally, this is only my opinion, but I find most SC players tend towards the 'highbrow' end of the Musical Spectrum, and that kind of stuff just doesn't appeal to me. I'm not alone in this though, having heard comments on the lines of "Single-Cut Bass? That f*cker's really up himself!" and on one occasion "He came to the audition, pulled a Single-Cut Bass out of it's case, and we told him to p*ss off before he even plugged in!". Pigeonholed maybe, but I can't see anyone in a Punk or Rock Band wanting to use an SC, so the 'divide' becomes really evident. Perhaps there's a hint of "I'm better than you, because I use one of these" in there somewhere? (Quick aside to cytania's comment -"Accept you're playing Bass" Most people who buy these seem not to want to accept this. They get them to 'widdle' on.) Once again-My opinion and conception of the usual owners of these clumsy-looking things. [/quote] You're missing out on one of the true greats of the instrument then...and thats pretty daft really, to turn someone away based on what bass theyre slinging before theyve played a note.....

[quote name='urb' post='1262488' date='Jun 9 2011, 11:47 AM']I've played Dave Swift's recently acquired one - see pics link below - and it is very nice - but it's an absolute beast, I honestly don't know how AJ gets around the neck without major muscle strain - and since he's such a monster on the low B - no one plays a low B like AJ, he's the king of the low end, end of IMO - but the 36" scale is crazy huge, he must be wiped by the end of a gig... I'm more of a wussy Matt Garrison 33" scale man myself [url="http://www.daveswiftbass.com/pages/basses/Fodera-Anthony-Jackson.html"]http://www.daveswiftbass.com/pages/basses/...ny-Jackson.html[/url] M[/quote] 36" does sounds huge indeed! how does Dave Swift get on with it? i know his dingwall is his main bass, does the fodera come out to play much? anyway, my personal favourite AJ track with Michel Camilo is From Within. Started playing this in my trio recently

Horses for courses as always........im really looking forward to what they've produced with Mike Mangini as their drummer, so long as he's been 'Mangini' and not 'Portnoy'....

I play trumpet too so im fluent in bass and treble clef. It really helps if you're reading leadsheets since most are in treble clef (already been said i think) and i use it for transcribing anything in the upper register, such as solos, chordal passages etc. (John Patitucci does the same thing), mainly because with the number of ledger lines at the very top end, the manuscript can get really congested and hard to read

If you're thinking of ordering custom, Shuker if one of the very best ive seen, up there with Sei, Alembic and Fodera, i'll be comissioning him to build me something at some point in the next year or two. I wouldnt be taking resale value into consideration though, as a general rule their resale value will be terrible in comparison to mainstream instruments. Custom instruments should be for a lifetime IMHO. If you're going down this route, check out some of shukers basses for yourself, then make a decision. He usually has some in various stages of construction at his workshop so maybe arrange a visit?

For a bass to be great for me, its all about playability, sound, versatility, projection, materials and cosmetic details. My main bass is worth around £1300, and with all things considered, for me it blows any fender ive played out of the water. The better construction, wood choices, electronics, playability and cosmetic touches make it worth the money in my eyes.

+1 for Salford, Studying with Ollie Collins has improved my bass playing out of all recognition. The performance oppertunities in the uni and round manchester are endless, if you put the work in, you WILL get the rewards/work. Salford doesnt seem to have the best rep at the moment but there are some really incredible musicians here.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='1110637' date='Feb 1 2011, 09:05 AM']Attack and fretnoise tends to be most heavily influenced by the fingerboard in my experience. I don't think the refret would solve much. The pickups are already passive, unless you mean dispense with a preamp which I'd be reluctant to do. If I was going to design the bass again, I'd put as much mahogany in as I could before the neck lost stiffness. That way the bass would sound warmer and growlier. Update: I had a discussion with Klaus over some improvements to his parametric preamp and he's made me a couple of custom jobbies with passive bypass. I'll do a full review once I've fitted them. But in brief the changes were: passive bypass gain trimpot so I can match output to other basses adjusted freqency bands so the 250hz sweet spot is accessible by the mid sweep control The four MEC concentric pots are deeper than most pots but the active/passive bypass push pull concentric vol/pan pot requires a particularly deep control cavity. OK for both Spectors but not so OK for the Shuker so I'll fit the original preamp instead which is currently in the natural spector. I'll have to get a control plate arrangement or deep insert socket for the backup Spector too.[/quote] yeah i was thinking take out the preamp and revert to all passive. Its a shame its not worked out quite as you had hoped, especially after the long wait for it. you gonna go ahead with a replacement fingerboard?

I dont own basses im not happy gigging. Instruments are supposed to be gigged, not kept in the house IMO, so all my basses have a little wear and tear from being played in public alot. Nothing serious, just cosmetic stuff. Its unavoidable so im not too fussed about it i do keep a very close eye on my gear while im out on a gig though

I find it interesting that people recommend Jaco when it comes to jazz...hes never a player that comes to mind for me, its always John Patitucci, Paul Chambers, Charles Mingus, Matt Garrison etc.... Current favourites John Patitucci - Best jazz bassist ive ever heard IMO, on electric or upright Tony Grey - Love his solo work and his playing with the Hiromi Trio. one of the most melodic soloists out there Matt Garrison - Mind bending technique and one of the more unique compositional voices Stuart Zender - Groove. The end Mick Karn - got into his playing recently and hes quickly become my favourite fretless player

Bought a Hartke A100 from Sean Absolutely top bloke to deal with, prompt replies and really smooth transaction. Would happily do business again recommended! cheers mate Ben

[quote name='silddx' post='1105586' date='Jan 27 2011, 09:14 PM']Both of them actually. There is a Jap Fender Jazz that I MUST have.[/quote] I cant imagine any fender to be worth getting rid of your warwicks! :S

You're flogging your Warwick to get a Fender?!?!?! for the love of all thats good in the world, dont do it!!!!

We've had a thread on which Guitarists you would like to play with/back in a jam. Same sort of thing....which drummers would you love to jam with?? 3 of my favourites Martin Valihora Horacio "El Negro" Hernandez Brian Blade

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='1101402' date='Jan 24 2011, 09:19 PM']I've changed the pickups, because the stainless steel frets and maple board are extremely bright to the point of sounding brittle. I hoped that a set of wizards that were the same as fitted to my spectors would tone the sizzle down compared to the Delanos that were fitted originally but unfortunately this hasn't worked. I didn't anticipate how clean the ceramic magnets were in the custom pickups fitted to the spector. The Noll 3 band parametric eq does a pretty good job in taming the super highs but the degree of intervention still bugs me. I may end up just getting the fingerboard replaced with something darker sounding like rosewood or bubinga and use brass based frets rather than stainless as used on Warwicks.[/quote] ah right :S still not happy with the sound. would a refret and passive pickups perhaps help OOI?