Graham

Was he the original bassist, the one who played the Thumb?

I find that a very odd position, most fretless players in metal also play fretted, therefore fretless players in metal are irrelevant? there are bands and players who play fretless exlusively within the project, sure they probably own fretted basses but are known as fretless players. Steve DiGiorgio is again the obvious candidate - there's a video of him on YouTube recording with a Ric, presumably because that's what the bandleader/producer wanted, but that doesn't change the fact that he's known as a fretless player or the huge body of work he's compiled on a fretless.

I don't quite understand that, old chap

I'm really digging fretless players in metal at the moment, so I thought I'd share a few tacks To start with the obvious, Steve DiGiorgio and his work with Chuck Schuldiner - Death and Control Denied Then one of my favourite players Sean Malone of Cynic Here's the man himself playing through one of their classics They've dropped the death metal influences these days, but are still making brilliant music I'm really enjoing Obscura's new record at the moment, it channels the spirit of both Death and Cynic. It looks like he's playing a fretted bass in this video, but it sounds fretless, particularly in the middle section. This is from Ihsahn's second solo album and features Lars k Norberg of Spiral Architect and Satyricon on bass, and guest vocals from Opeth's Mikael Akerfeldt On the back of looking up who played bass for Ihsahn, I came across Spiral Architect Anyone got some cool fretless metal to share?

Love playing that

I've always loved Thumbs, and that looks brilliant in white 😀

A bit ropey last night, but then the singer was suffering from a cold and this band don't play often. Second half was definetely better and the punters and bar staff were happy, so can't have been all bad. I used my recently re-strung Yamaha TRB for almost the entire set and it sounded great, I think it'll be getting a fair bit more use until I can afford new strings for the Lakland.

We normally medley-fy: I wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day / Rocking Around The Christmas Tree / All I Want For Christmas Is You / Merry Xmas Everyone / Last Christmas / Do They Know It's Christmas We also try and do whatever the John Lewis Christmas add music is as well

Hi-fi speakers however, are anything but flat - studio reference monitors should be - but a hi-fi speaker will have an inherent (often mid-scooped) sound

I wish I'd spotted they were doing this in Bexhill before the event, would have really liked to have seen it

Saturday was Damnation Festival in Leeds, I saw Napalm Death, Ihsahn, Batushka, Anaal Nathrakh, Ne Obliviscaris, OHHMS, Cancer, Fukpig and Vola Most of the bands were great, I work the festival so it was good that other than a fire alarm going off and one arsey band the day went really well. Every year, whilst moving them first thing in the morning, I do curse 8x10s as pointless, obsolete, 1960s technology in a venue that has modern PA and monitoring technology. Aye, they look cool, but no-one in the audience will hear this stupidly heavy box we're trying to get down stairs. From a bass playing perspective, Ne Obliviscaris and Vola were both superb, I was surprised Ihsahn had no bassist, just 8 string guitars and keys. I can see why he didn't feel the need to hire a bassist as well in those circumstances, but it was a shame he wasn't playing anything from the first couple of solo albums as a result.

What makes you say it's in Cm? I'd have said the key was Ab maj, where the verse progression is I VII VI II III (I was typing from memory earlier and should have said I end the verse on C phrygian as to my mind it ends of the III not the IV) If it were C minor, the progression would be VI, V, IV, VII, I but I don't get what makes it a minor key rather than a major? Because of the chord it resolves to? Cheers

Used a lot in metal, Slayer and Metallica have both made liberal use of it - all those flattened 3rds and 5ths

I use them all the time when embellishing basslines, to make sure what I'm playing is in tune with the rest of the song For instance, in Treasure by Bruno Mars, at the end of the verse phrase I'll play notes in the Lydian mode as the verse ends on the fourth of the Ab major

Is that via Paypal? As you often have the option of "Pay after delivery" with Paypal, which takes the money two weeks later

Bluewine? Now there's a hoopy frood who really knows where his towl is

Not great last night, it was in the function room of a hotel we've done before and it's an awful sounding room, really hard to get a decent tone in there. Then, whilst setting up, the singer's mixer dies, which is not ideal, particularly as I go ampless with a DI. He has a backup 4 input/ 2 mic pre job to get us out of trouble, so we get going but the monitors are so quiet I can't hear myself through them, just through bleed from the FOH, didn't make for much fun. Still, the punters liked it, particularly the birthday boy, for whom this was a surprise, so coukd have been a lot worse. The singer's messaged me this morning to say he's just bought a Behringer XR12, which looking closely at the photo, only has 4 mic inputs.......I think he'a going to end up returning that

True, I guess it's what makes him happy and gives him the onstage sound he likes..............of course it'll turn out he's on in-ears and can only hear the monitor feed anyway

I saw a photo on their Facebook page recently, I've never been wild about black P basses, but that one with the pearloid plate looked awesome, bet it sounded epic too

Thought this was cool - Martin Kemp from Spandau Ballet's GK rig, as used with a pair of Wals

Interesting idea, I like it

From the blind test at the recent SE Bass Bash, it's clear that most basses sound similar and I'd say the easiest thing to identify was if it was strung with rounds or flats I think the nuances in tone - this bass has a bit more mids, that one a little less treble, benefits us as players a lot more than the audience. They probably hear bass as inaudible, boomy/muddy or good; where good means a lot of different things to different people, mostly down to the context of the band in question. So, a bass that sounds good to us, is likely to help us play better, as if we like the tone, we're generally happier and more relaxed with the playing. That's got to be the reason for the endless quest that is GAS, find the bass that fits your hand perfectly and where the tone at the point you hear it, makes you happy. These are things that make an instrument inspiring.

Matt Pike releasing a new Sleep and High On Fire record in the same year is quite impressive

Ooh mama