Acebassmusic

Hi Timmo, Glad to hear you have taken up bass From your post it sound like you are a complete beginner? If so, what I would do before I changed basses is have a look at the way you are holding the bass, strap height, left hand positioning on the neck etc. This can make a huge difference to the ease of playing. There are a lot of good threads around here on the subject. Don't forget, your pinky isnt used to doing what youre asking it to do. It will come with time and practice. I find practicing lines up the neck where the frets are closer and then gradually moving down towards the nut end helps your fingers to learn to "stretch".

Not me directly but what happened to my daughter.... Years ago she was in the Guides and all over the UK they were doing their own version of X-Factor. She was one of the very few that played in a band, most others were either solo singers or duos. They were a trio - bass, guitar and vocal with the drums being a backing track I prepared. Practices were held in my garage with PA so they could learn the song and also get used to the sound as none had been in bands before. In fact they all started to learn to play specifically for the competition! As part of the practices I would set up the equipment and when they were playing I would switch each of them in and out of the mix. This was to prepare them for the possibility of some on stage "failure" happeining. If it did, they wouldnt be too phased and could carry on regardless. This worked well. The song was getting tight and they were building up their confidence. Local and regional heats were entered, won and they progressed onto the Scottish finals to be held in Glasgows Royal Concert Hall....in front of 2,500 other Guides, Mums, Dads, Aunties etc. Not a bad audience for their 4th outing! The day came and the girls had been told that a backline would be provided - eg equipment they had not used before. Dress rehearsals / soundchecks etc were done in the morning and the competition started early afternoon. There were about 20 acts, mostly solo singers who just needed a mic and someone to press play on their backing CD. Halfway through the event and it was the girls spot in the limelight. Amps were wheeled on stage by the techies, cable plugged in and then it was just them..... on a huge stage...... with 2,500 screaming girls. The band did just as I'd primed them "play a quick note and say Hi to the audience - it will check that everthing is working". Vocals? Check. Bass? Check. Guitar.....silence......All 2,500 pairs of eyes turned to watch the 14 year old girl on guitar with the "rabbit in headlights" stare who was trying to signal to the stage guys that her guitar was er....rather quiet...like DEAD quiet! Seconds passed (which to them seemed like an eternity) whilst the techies 1) eventually noticed something was wrong and 2) frantically started checking / replacing / plugging in / out......nothing. Then minutes passed.....many people stood round the amp scratching heads.......meanwhile I'm sat in the middle of the crowd looking at the Marshall head she was using and frantically trying to convey a message via telepathy to the techs to "press the standby switch ON!" There was no way that my lone voice would have found its way to the stage over the deafening high pitched screams and squeals of the crowd. Eventually after what seemed to be a couple of eternities one of the guys found the switch and guitar life was restored. How 3 very inexperienced and nervous girls who had only just taken up playing managed to handle that and go on to give a great performance that got the biggest cheer of the day I dont know.....well maybe some of it was down to good prep

I use a TC Electronics G-Major 2 which has all my compression, phase, flange, octaver, delay, reverb etc. No overdrive sounds though, which is ok for me as I dont need them.

I'm not quite sure what the negative side is of this..... Option 1) Go and see some of your favourite bands in the British "summer" whilst stood in the middle of some muddy field, eating dodgy food and having to negotiate the "lavatories" and kipping in a damp tent.... OR Option 2) Go and see some of your favourite bands in the sunshine (I needed to check the dictionary for the meaning of this word...lol), eat good food, clean lavs, good sleep and meet the guys up close.... I'm going on holiday soon and will probably have to do some serious searching to find good live music of the non "Agadoooo" variety....lol. The "Muso-Cruiso" option sounds more appealing.

Heres something that may interest you. I've not tried it myself......and its not free [url="http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/store/dvd/bass-guitar-designers-toolkit.html"]http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/store/dvd/bass-guitar-designers-toolkit.html[/url]

[quote name='Ant' timestamp='1365749898' post='2043751'] dont some cabs have a bulb wired into the tweeter? to stop it blowing [/quote] Yes. SWR Goliath cabs have a bulb to act as a "fuse" to save the tweeter. Not sure if Ashdown do.

Owtus Zeds....again imagine it said by Johnny Vegas.

Fit like?

I find we practice better and more productively at lower volumes 'cos its easier to hear what everyone is doing.

Bought a Smith 25th Ann from Harry. Good comms and well packed bass. I'm now off to practice on it (Lord knows I need to!)

Howdy do from Aberdeen!

[quote name='lapolpora' timestamp='1363103914' post='2008544'] Honestly....it was brilliant. The tone, the style, the groove.....just sublime. Yes the bass duet did get a bit excessive, but hey, it was in the moment with both MK an LG really going for it. I've never seen MK sweat so much trying to keep up with LG. It looked like he was on the verge of cardiac arrest! What counts for me is what's played...how it is played doesn't matter so much. The music was great [/quote] Yip...agreed! I was there last night and it was rather good

As others have said, a good set up can change an OK bass into a good bass - both playability and sound. No point in fighting your bass, you might as well make learning etc as easy as possible. Heres a link for instructions on how to do a set up..... [url="http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/store/books/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-perfect-bass-setup.html"]http://www.jerzydrozdbasses.com/store/books/the-ultimate-guide-to-the-perfect-bass-setup.html[/url] Theres no marketing gumph associated with this download so you dont recieve lots of mails afterwards. I've always done my own set-ups for years and I found the book well worth every penny it didnt cost If you're ever near Aberdeen I might be able to help.

How many basses is too many basses? .......always 2 more than you already have....lol