Mornats

[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1378235816' post='2197547'] One of the good things (of which there are many) about Basschat is that it's a very honest community, and you can check sellers' feedback if you can't try something out before you buy. I bought a US Standard Precision blind that had been owned by Clarky and Old Horse Murphy that was exactly as described, excellent condition and the whole sale was completed in about 2 days. I actually sold it back to Nick (OHM), one day I think I'd like to buy it back if it's still in these parts. [/quote] My Rockbass Corvette has gone around loads of Basschat members. The guy I bought it off bought it off Waynepunkdude whom I believe bought it from someone else on here. It gets around a bit

If you're going to try out a few Fenders then try out the Squiers too. You may well save yourself almost a grand. I recently tested out a MIA Fender Jazz, a MIM Fender Jazz and a Squier VM 77 Jazz and the Squier was the nicest one out of the lot to play. The MIA felt big and clunky (may not be a bad thing for some) and sounded better - it had custom shop pickups in though. The MIM was just horrible, just like every MIM I've played so far and the Squier played much better than both and sounded much better than the MIM. I'm tempted to go back in, buy the Squier and grab whatever pups I want (could afford Nordstrands with the savings I'd make) and have the best bass in the shop. And still have around £700 left over... In short, at least try a Squier to compare.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1377980753' post='2194425'] Believe it or not that's a classic sales technique that retail people are trained in. If they are fairly sure you are unlikely to buy the more expensive item then the aim is to close the sale on the cheaper one by making negative comments about the expensive one. Conversely if you're leaning towards the more expensive one then they are taught to say just how much nicer that one is compared to the lower priced one. I'm not sure how often this happens in guitar shops but it's pretty standard car sales stuff (and I'm sure lots of other markets as well). [/quote] Nah, the cheap bass was in another shop. The only one he was selling was the expensive one. Oh and as Pinball said, he advised me to keep looking and mod my existing basses. I can never work the guy out lol. I think he just likes to talk

Next time he/she practices you should mimic what they play so they think they've got some delay unit plugged in somewhere. It'll drive them nuts.

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1377902494' post='2193571'] Sounds like he was just trying to make a sale and randomly spewing out any old crap to clinch the deal [/quote] I'd have thought the same but I was playing the MIA Fender in his shop and was telling him about the Squier being a better bass and he agreed then said the MIAs weren't made for players. So he was guiding me more into buying a Squier from the other shop. Strange.

To put it in context I'd just told him that I'd played a Squire VM 77 Jazz, a MiM Fender Jazz and a MIA Fender Jazz with Custom Shop pickups. The Squier was the best one out of the lot by far. The MIA Jazz had a slightly better sound due to the pickups but those pickups ain't worth £900... So his response was that the US models weren't made for players. My opinion is that MIA Fenders are lacklustrely made as they can sell them on the strength of the brand name and the Squiers have to be good to compete in a very crowded and competitive market. Or to put it another way, Squier has to try harder whilst MIAs don't. His opinion was that they deliberately make MIA basses with flaws to put players off from buying them. Then he started whittering on about them being made for investors (despite very few, if any, that have been made in the last 10 years increasing in value at all). Very strange bloke.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAZdiJGWdfI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAZdiJGWdfI[/url] Look closely, two are 'em are basses

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1377870067' post='2193043'] Maybe it's the definition of 'investment' that's in question [/quote] Nope, the guy in the shop was pretty clear that the American made Fenders were made by Fender for the investment market and not for players.

Yep, well the whole point is one finger per fret so the number refers to both the frets and which fingers you should be using to fret them. However even though it says finger 1, fret 1 in the chart above, you can start the fretting on any fret. It's the fingers in order bit that's important. Does that make sense? So in my chart you quoted that would be quite a stretch on a 5 string but that's the point The idea is to keep your fingers positioned above the fret (and hte string) they're meant to be playing, or have just played so you shouldn't be moving your hand forwards and back. It's about finger movement, stretching your muscles a little and getting used to being in those positions. It's all muscle memory exercise.

Also, another good piece of advice is to learn where the notes on the fretboard are. Then, even if you're learning from tab* (but much easier if you're learning from notation) you can play the notes in any location you like. It'll be much easier to step between notes if you have more options open. As an example, I play a song that goes from E minor to C. In tab (best used to illustrate the fingering) I would have played the progression from the E minor to the C like this: [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]G ---------------- [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]D ----------------[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]A 7--10-3-------- [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]E ----------------[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]That's a bit of a stretch and leaves a little audible gap in between the G (the minor 3rd of the E chord - fret 10) and the C. However, if you know that you want to play the C, instead of knowing that you want to play fret 3 on the A string then you'll know that there's an easier C - fret 9 of the E string - all playable without moving your hand at all if you're fretting with one finger per string. Once you start developing walking basslines this knowledge becomes invaluable! [/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]* But only if you learn that when the tab says fret 5 on the A string it means play a D. This is why tab doesn't help in the long term, it shows you how to play a song but teaches you nothing. You'll end up like one of those little music boxes that goes round playing just the one song and not a player and composer of music. [/font][/color]

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1377762987' post='2191365'] First things first: bass is quite a physical instrument, and it takes time to train your body, so don't beat yourself up too much. Also don't worry too much about speed---speed is the result of good technique and lots of practice. Left hand technique is really important and I personally found that one or two lessons with a good teacher to correct what I was doing with my left hand made a world of difference. The positioning of your hand and wrist are just as important as what fingers you use. Good exercise for the problem you describe: G -- - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8- 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - D -- - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - A - - - - - - - - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 - - - - - - - - E 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - - - - - -- - - - - -- - - - - -- - - - - -- - - - - -- - - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 8 - 7 - 6 - 5 Play this with one finger per fret, and do it slowly, you're aiming to sound each note cleanly and clearly, not to race through the notes. To make it harder you can move down the fretboard (1 -2 -3 -4) is a nice stretch or moving it higher up the fretboard makes it easier. For a bit of variety you can vary the pattern eg (5 - 7 - 6 - 8) on each string, just keep doing it one finger per fret. Do this for five minutes every day for a few weeks and you'll definitely notice a difference. If you are still finding it hard at that point its likely that your left hand/wrist position isn't quite right---which I'd recommend seeing a teacher for, but there's lots of stuff online for this too. [/quote] The exercises in the Bass Fitness book I mentioned are very much like this but with more variants to tackle, for example, stretching from the E to the G string. Also, my tutor advises people to start on fret 10 or so as they're closer together and is a gentler initial stretch. You can then move down the fretboard to fret 5, then to fret 1 eventually. [quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1377764047' post='2191388'] That book looks quite interesting, but I play a five string. Would the exercises still be useful? [/quote] Yep, you can just add in the extra string yourself. It's not about the notes you're hitting but the order of the fretting and on which string you're fretting it. An example of a later exercise that's designed to help skipping strings would be: G -- - - - - -1 - - 3 - D -- -2 - 4 - -- - - - - A - - - - - - - 2 - - 4 E 1 - - 3 - - - - - - - - On a 5 string you could swap the E string for your B or just do the exercise twice, once starting on the B string and the second time starting on the E string.

The best bit of advice my tutor gives me is to always practice slowly. This allows for the build up of muscle memory, makes sure you're focusing on every aspect of fretting, positioning, plucking, etc. and gets you thinking about timing. (It's hard to play well to 60 beats per minute.) It took me a few days over a Christmas period to practice my fretting technique and I had people point out to me later that they could see and hear the difference when I played. Practice every day and it gets better and better. A good book to get is Bass Fitness ([url="http://www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/09/details.html"]http://www.musicroom.com/se/id_no/09/details.html[/url] - sorry, I won't link to Amazon!) and pick an exercise or two per day to practice. Start slowly and only increase tempo by around 3-5 BPM at a time. The value of having a tutor watch you do it and point out where you're going wrong and how to fix it is invaluable though.

Hi Kev, welcome to Basschat! You've come to the right place I was in a very similar position to yourself, I didn't know any theory and my technique consisted of using just two fingers on my left hand. I found a very good bass tutor who sorted out my technique and is teaching me theory by the bucketload. It's making a massive difference in how I play. Where are you based? I'm sure we can recommend a good tutor for you in your local area.

Is that price including the UK customs charges too? I was looking at this [url="http://www.bassmods.com/K5--Spalted-Maple-Top-3-Band-preamp-Gold--Choose-pickups-and-Pickguard-_p_380.html"]http://www.bassmods.com/K5--Spalted-Maple-Top-3-Band-preamp-Gold--Choose-pickups-and-Pickguard-_p_380.html[/url] and thinking that's a damn good price for a lovely looking exotic wood bass. Would have to a be a 4 string for me but still, they're very well priced.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1377585248' post='2188941'] How about a Fender Jazz? See my sig... [/quote] Sorry, I've never played a good Mexican Fender, the Squiers have always beaten them hands-down so I'd really have to play it first. I don't like pickup covers either! I'm a fussy bugger [quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1377591324' post='2189000'] Indeed, like that choice Is this thread helping you choose Mornats or confusing you further [/quote] It's actually helping be think outside the range of basses I'd been thinking about. My plan is try everything so that when I buy one I'll know that there isn't anything more suitable for me as I'd have played and compared them. I think this is a long term project!

I know what you mean, that neck's more playable than it should be. It's a very bright sounding bass, maybe a little too bright. My red Overwater sounds dull and bland in comparison (could be the utterly dead strings though).

Pinball kindly (well, I say kindly I think he wants me to buy it!) lent me his Esh Various. I tried it out for a little while and thought it was ok but not for me but I picked up up about an hour ago and I can't put it down. The sound is incredible. It's not ultra light or compact and the neck is a bit of a plank but I do just really like it. Hmmm, I hope he doesn't read this!

[quote name='jaydentaku' timestamp='1377259058' post='2185408'] Windows fan boys will argue the toss until they are blue screen of death in the face, but the long and short of it is, a mac has a much greater chance of not letting you down. [/quote] Hmm, I've been running Win 7 at home and OSX at work for about the same amount of time (3.5 years) and Win 7 is the more stable of the two. The MacbookPro is terrible, great hardware but rubbish software. It crashes more times per month than the Windows machine has since I installed Win 7. Your mileage may vary of course I used to do all my recording on the Mac using GarageBand then Apple released an update to OSX and GarageBand that rendered it unable to record via my interface. The only fix was to pay for an upgrade to Mountain Lion. Reaper on the Mac was fine, Reaper on the PC was fine so I moved everything over to the PC and haven't looked back. [quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1377332495' post='2186248'] I've used Windows and Apple machines for music production for years. Imy experience. A Mac will do exactly the same as a Pc and vice versa. The Mac will do it in a fraction of the time though, as you don't need to allow for reinstalling drivers or removing and refitting and reconfiguring hardware etc... I seem to remember doing this A LOT on Windows machines. [/quote] My homebuilt PC has always been quicker than my MacbookPro despite both having a Core 2 Duo processor, SSD for main hard drive (Crucial M4 in both) and 8GB ram. I've never ever had to mess about with drivers on the PC ever, yet see my point above about Apple failing to get their own product to run on their own operating system. I think all of this, without a shadow of a doubt points to a PC/Windows combination being the absolute best computer for metal. \m/ As for general music production though, and after having read all of the above comments, people have mixed experiences. Hard to recommend one over the other subjectively I think. In the end, it may be your wallet that decides.

Oh was that the one with the bloody awful neck? Like someone had glued some strings onto a bit of 2 by 4?

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1377515250' post='2188293'] Dingwall ABZ 4 or 5. Passive and awesome. Super light weight and easy to play. [/quote] They look lovely! This is what I found online: [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/ABZ4_Nat.html"]http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/ABZ4_Nat.html[/url]. Even though that's new it's over £1000 out of my budget and most likely at least £500 out of my budget used I can't comment on the fanned frets until I've tried them, could go either way! So, still to try:[list] [*]Squier VM Jaguar [*]Fender Modern Player Jaguar [*]G&L SB2 [*]Several Yamahas, Ibanez's and Peaveys (T-40 if poss) [*]Warwick Streamer Stage 1 (even if it's out of my price range I just really wanna play one) [/list]

[quote name='Pinball' timestamp='1377185927' post='2184517'] Agreed love those high end BB's and a goodrange of tones on this Schecter and good quality for the price, see vid here [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NVj6u5reiX8"]http://www.youtube.c...8;v=NVj6u5reiX8[/url] [/quote] Why do they always demo basses by slapping them? They all sound the bloody same when slapped - like they've been thrown down the stairs and recorded.

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1377512116' post='2188234'] [/quote] A band never auditions a drummer. If the drummer turns up and doesn't kill anyone they've got the job. And even then, it depends on which band member they kill...

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1377447306' post='2187639'] why don't I try converting my Rockbass Corvette into a passive bass... so I'm gonna look into that too. [/quote] Turns out my tiny-looking Corvette weighs the same as my Overwater and is just as big! I'd never have thought that until I had them side-by-side. It sounds fairly similar too despite being active. Hmm.

I don't mind switching or panning between pickups. I tend to go full on anyway.