elom

Add octave inlay:

We've recently added Dakota by the Stereophonics to our set. It's a great song and it always goes down an absolute storm. I love playing it but also, it's really easy to play. As in, week 1 of bass playing easy! Okay you don't get to show off your chops (not that I have many) but that gives you a chance to enjoy the performance a bit more, interact a bit, smile instead of grimace in concentration...

So what's in your set that you really like to play but is easy peasy lemon squeezy?

As there have been a couple of comments about slow turnaround recently I thought it might be worth restating the 'terms and conditions':

[quote]First up, this is not your book. It's a communal book now. Once you've read it you must post it back on this thread to be passed on to the next person who wants it. Oh and if you've not read it inside a month then pass it on anyway slowcoach.[/quote]

Good to know that it will soon be on its way once again. I bet poor old Mr Pratt is having to exist on cuppa soups because of the royalties we've denied him!

[quote name='edstraker123' post='464645' date='Apr 17 2009, 07:39 AM']I'd buy the Shuker - in fact I already have !
Sorry Kurt, Jon hasn't updated his site and I actually bought this bass about 6 weeks ago.[/quote]

That's a bit bad really. He should really keep the web site up to date. I know that it's not the biggest priority for him but you shouldn't advertise stuff that's not for sale.

Allegedly when he first started playing bass he would often break the G string. His local music shop only sold bass strings as a full set so he soon decided to do without it and has stayed a 3 string bassist ever since.

One of my favourite bands Ash. New material on the way soon apparently and their last album from a couple of years ago 'Twilight of the Innocents' was pretty damn good.

[quote name='aj5string' post='463326' date='Apr 15 2009, 07:22 PM'][url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Squier-Katana-Bass_W0QQitemZ110376077128QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV?hash=item110376077128&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2|65%3A1|39%3A1|240%3A1318"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Squier-Katana-Bass_W...%3A1|240%3A1318[/url]

What about that one?

Other than the paint job of course...[/quote]

Even with that paint job, that's a very good price for a rare Squier. I'm looking for the Fender version though but thanks for flagging this. Wonder why I didn't get an ebay email about it?

So my ebay search for "Fender Katana Bass" normally sits there idle year after year. Then today I get a notification email. Like a twitch on a moribund fisherman's line, I click the link and dive in.

Then I realise a) that it's the Squier version and it's that mad German bloke!

Oh well, maybe next year...

[url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=120406532057"]Ebay Link[/url]

Please tell me that you are going to re-apply the "Ideal with Custard" sticker.

Once you start to get paid then that makes you semi-pro and people expect a certain standard of professionalism. This doesn't just apply to the music but the 'business' side of it too - turning up on time, handling cancellations, sending out posters in advance, talking to both the punters and the people who are paying you, and so on.

The suggestions about set lists are pretty spot on. For me it boils down to, whatever your genre, play stuff that people know. As a covers band that's what you're there for. One of my bandmates keeps suggesting great songs for us to cover but we hardly ever do because, good as they are, almost all the punters will never have heard of them. We used to play Celebrity Skin by Hole, which we thought people would like, but when we'd finish it was like tumbleweed was blowing through the venue - [i]every time[/i].

Also the running of the band takes quite a bit of effort, especially getting gigs and co-ordinating diaries. For this I'd second the suggestion of the gig-getter book, paid for itself a hundred times - honestly. You really do need someone to take on that organiser role, and I think that might be you! Best of luck...

I had the same quest a few months back. I went with [url="http://www.crimsonguitars.com"]Crimson Guitars[/url] in the end and am very glad I did. As well as building fantastic instruments (using Wizard pickups too!), Ben is a top guy with great customer service and posts loads of pictures of the work in progress. Price wise its very reasonable too. I think I'm the first BassChater to commission a bass from him,

Some neck based construction for y'all.











All photos from the [url="http://www.crimsonguitars.com/diary.html"]Crimson Guitars Build Diary[/url]

[quote name='elom' post='451000' date='Apr 1 2009, 12:10 AM'][/quote]

Okay so I guess I was being too subtle. For those who didn't get it, do you just assume that I randomly post pictures of fish?

Still at least it didn't burst the bubble for a while.

[quote name='HeavyJay' post='446881' date='Mar 27 2009, 08:40 AM']I'm pretty sure I'm nowhere near but I read a synopsis of the book (on W*kipedia no less) and it seemed to indicate that to was 10,000 hours of doing a particular activity rather than just practicing. It used the example of the Beatles clocking up more than 10,000 hours of gigging time together in Germany prior to becoming massive back here being the reason that they were such virtuoso performers as a live band. Not specifically their individual musicianship.[/quote]

We're both right I think. 10,000 hours playing as a band is what made the Beatles so good [i]as a band[/i]. It didn't make Ringo the world's greatest drummer! but if Ringo had spent all that time practicing rather than playing he may well have been.

The point he is making here is that born 'talent' is really not that much of a contributing factor. I'm sure it'll be okay in copyright terms to quote a chunk here:

[quote]...they divided the school [Berlin Academy of Music] violinists into 3 groups. In the first group were the stars, the students with potential to become world-class soloists. In the second were those judged to be merely "good". In the third were students who were unlikely ever to play professionally and who intended to be music teachers in the public school system. All of the violinists were then asked the same question: over the course of your entire career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practiced?

Everyone from all three groups started playing at roughly the same age, around 5 years old. In those first few years, everyone practiced roughly the same amount, about 2 or 3 hours a week. But when students were around 8, real differences started to emerge. The students who would end up the best in their class began to practice more than everyone else: six hours a week by age nine, eight hours a week by age twelve, sixteen hours a week by age fourteen, and up and up, until by 20 they were practicing - that is, purposefully and single-mindedly playing their instruments with the intent to get better - well over thirty hours a week. In fact by the age of twenty, the elite performers had each totaled 10,000 hours practice. By contrast the merely good students had totaled 8,000 hours and the future music teachers had totaled just over 4,000 hours.[/quote]

Flicking through this month's BGM this morning I read the interview with Victor Wooten and he said that he first starting playing bass with his brothers at the age of 3...

[url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1846141214/"]Amazon Link[/url] for anyone interested.

I got a book for Xmas, [url="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/book-of-the-week-outliers-by-malcolm-gladwell-1027343.html"]The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell[/url], which I've only just got around to reading. It's about what makes successful people successful. That makes it sound like a really dull business book but it isn't at all.

So what does this have to do with bass? Well one of the elements that gets picked up on is that when you look at virtuosos in almost any field, not just music, a common factor is that they have put in about 10,000 hours practice to get to the top. That is one hell of a lot and goes some way to explaining why I'm still a plodder!

So who here reckons that since they first picked up a bass they've clocked up 10,000 hours practice (that's playing to improve, not just playing)? And if you have, just how good are you? (don't be shy!)

It's a really interesting book that I'd definitely recommend, especially if you want to know why Koreans crash airliners!

Oh this is so nice, and I haven't even heard it!

Still saving hard for my custom so no chance of buying it but someones going to enjoy this.

[quote name='Skywalker83' post='438539' date='Mar 18 2009, 06:28 PM']Can anyone recommend any good luthiers?[/quote]

I'll stick in a mention for [url="http://www.crimsonguitars.com"]Crimson Guitars[/url]

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='427902' date='Mar 7 2009, 11:09 AM']Message - don't starve , sell your body parts or go without a life to buy a bass you probably don't need in order to make your musical ambitions a reality. Save the expensive bass for your mid life crisis rather than wrap yourself round a lamp post on a Harley.

I'd take a Squier played well over a clown with a Shuker any day.[/quote]

Wise words sir.
When I was 15 I got a Westone Thunder because that was what I could afford. (and bought it back off ebay after 19 years a few months ago)
Now that I am having my mid-life crisis [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=30097&hl="]I'm having one built[/url] because I can afford that (well sort of).
Ironically though I still play like a clown!

[quote name='7string' post='428268' date='Mar 7 2009, 10:07 PM']You could always use the cunning trick that's on an NS Bolin bass, where they have an arm which swivels out from the top horn.[/quote]

That's original. I don't like it but you've got to admire innovation!

Having spoken with Ben I'm sure the balance wont be a problem.

You can see the stages in the construction of the blue pin-stripe neck [url="http://www.crimsonguitars.com/article328.html"]here[/url]. This is what it's looking like now



and the pickups have arrived from Andy at [url="http://www.wizardpickups.co.uk/index.asp"]Wizard[/url] (not the distressed ones)

At least you can find them now and again. I've looking for a [i]Fender[/i] Katana for ages...

We have a few simple 'disco' lights and you know what it's like. Rummaging around plugging them in means that the lights start and finish a full minute before/after the music - not exactly slick.

Now we've got one of these:


£20 from [url="http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=222869"]Maplins[/url], remote control power supply. Money well spent. Now when we're doing the extended rock cliche big finish (I love those!) on the final beat, out go the lights. Much more impressive. Only a small thing but it makes a difference.

I also noticed something similar in Lidl this week for about £12

I'd suggest you have a look at [url="http://www.gig-getter.co.uk/"]http://www.gig-getter.co.uk/[/url] and [url="http://www.lemonrock.com/"]http://www.lemonrock.com/[/url] both of which I'd thoroughly recommend.

Treat gig getting as a job and be persistent. It sounds wrong but the music is only one element of being a successful band - you need to work on your sales technique too!

[quote name='chris_b' post='405492' date='Feb 10 2009, 04:45 PM']The strap button isn't going to support the neck very well. Make sure it's not top heavy.[/quote]

I know that les paul shaped basses often suffer from a bit of neck dive. However the spec is for a particularly thin neck and the scale is 33" specifically to try and get a better balance. With a decent strap too I think I'll be fine but now that you've got me thinking about it I'll mention it to Ben!

I like this chunk of wood! Should see one or two developments slowly starting to happen now.