Alun

Best way is to mute the unwanted strings with your fretting hand, then you can strum all four (or more) strings and only hear the note you want. It is possible to strum with shorter movements and be more precise but it does look a lot cooler to have wide extravagent strums so muting is the key. Cheers, Alun

I've been thinking about this, and I think the amp makes a certain difference. It dawned on my earlier that I used to use my active EQ a lot more when I had the Hartke amp as I could never get the sound as I wanted - I was after the same sound as I got recording DI'd and was always blaming the room, the cab, etc not realising how much the amp was colouring the sound. Now I have the Markbass head, I'm getting the sound of the bass so don't tend to tweak anywhere near as much. Cheers, Alun

The funny thing with her solo albums is that she didn't play much bass. In fairness though she did get Nathan East so the bass doesn't really suffer

Laugh at his tiny puny strings and the fact he can't hit one string at a time

I've mainly used actives for the past 11 years, but am leaning towards passive these days. I always used had the bass and treble boosted on my Washburn ( as I didn't really know any better!) but these days often run it flat or with only a little boost to keep the volume consistent with my other basses when I switch live. I rarely use the actives on my Curbow other than maybe a little bass or mid boost to cut through when the band gets louder. I also run my amp pretty much flat on most gigs so am giving serious consideration to going down the Anthony Jackson "volume control only" route, or getting a passive pickup and a switch for the EQ ( at the moment my Curbow has an active Bartolini so needs a battery regardless of the EQ). I like having the option of EQing but rarely do, I tend to treat the instrument acoustically and make changes with my playing position, etc ( as per Alex Claber's tip in Bass Player), probably because 99% of my practicing is donw on an unplugged bass so I'm concentrating on trying to get a good tone without the pickups, amp, etc Cheers, Alun

Well, if there's a one man Flecktones tribute anywhere, this could be ideal! Alun

[quote name='ARGH' post='41387' date='Aug 4 2007, 08:35 PM']You ever seen Bowie with Gabrels doing 'Heros'???[/quote] Yeah, I'm about an anorak when it comes to that line up of Bowie's band

I love her playing and voice (and am a huge Bowie fan anyway) but don't think I've seen that clip before so thanks for posting it. And just for SOulfinger, some more Stingray GAS inducing footage of Ms Dorsey with many close ups ( and one of my fave bizarro guitarists, Reeves Gabrels)... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGT9eC04Vg8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGT9eC04Vg8[/url] Cheers, Alun

Very nice! I can't get over how spotless the fretboard looks - did the owner ever play it? Cheers, Alun

I agree that old beat up instruments can look great and there is definitely something about playing an instrument that's been around, both tonally and romantically, but those are genuinely used. My Washburn is decidely battered - had a few dings when I bought it second hand and then got toured around for 10 years, and now does look a bit "relic"-y, but all that damage is real. I just don't get the appeal of something so artificial, to me it's a lot more "illusion" than "allusion", but like I said each to their own - whether it's relics, coffee tables or sparkly painted pointy headstocks. Cheers. Alun

[quote name='neepheid' post='41075' date='Aug 3 2007, 08:45 PM']The "relic-ing" makes me ill [/quote] I must admit, I'm with you on that one. I don't really get it, it's a bit like buying a brand new car with a big dent in the wing. Each to their own, but it's not for me. Cheers, Alun

I'll have to try that - sounds wonderfully bizarre. At the moment, my tunings are quite reserved. Apart from standard, I mainly dabble with the B string on my six string - CEADGC and AEADGC but have written solo pieces in CEACGC and AEACGA. Have tried GCGDAD but didn't really come up with anything that exciting. Cheers, Alun

[quote name='Mikey D' post='39492' date='Jul 31 2007, 01:08 PM']In fact, this man could not slap in time and was making some horrible sounds trying to do so[/quote] I was doing my best!

It's fantastic, really realistic sounding. I do find it takes a little while to load up as it has so many samples but it's the best thing I've tried so far. I used it on [url="http://www.myspace.com/merlinsgavel"]this track[/url]. The drums are soloed after the intro, but I think I still have the wav file of the isolated drum track- if you want to hear it, pm me your email address and I'll dig it out. Cheers, Alun

Hello folks. Apologies if this has already been posted ( I thought it had but couldn't find it on the Search!), but I was just looking round Stuart Clayton's publishing site and found that they're now taking orders for the Stu Hamm book... [url="http://www.basslinepublishing.com/stuhamm.html"]http://www.basslinepublishing.com/stuhamm.html[/url] The first 25 are signed by Mr Hamm so get in quick I really enjoyed Stuart's Ultimate Slap book so can't wait to dive into this one. Cheers, Alun

Hmm, well if you need half a Status bridge and a string retainer..... bleeurgh no, it's no good - I can't be positive about it. Tis horrid.

[quote name='Magical_Max' post='38870' date='Jul 30 2007, 11:42 AM']I've got one, pretty darn good. Like BassManKev said the LED is stupid bright. I bought mine in auction rather than Buy It Now, which meant I got it for £31.99 posted.[/quote] That's what I'm lokking at doing to be honest, the BIN prices are a little steep. Cheers, Alun

As daft as it may sound, don't rule out the Squier Vintage Modified which is amazingly good. You could always check a Retro of other preamp in if you really want actives ( and it's probably still come in cheaper than a "real" Fender) Cheers, Alun

Hello. Just found these while roaming on eBay - anyone tried them? I'm hoping Toasted/Tayste will have encountered them on their never ending search for hand built effect nirvana [url="http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZnapalmpedalsQQhtZ-1"]http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZnapalmpedalsQQhtZ-1[/url] Cheers, Alun

Enjoy! They do a lot of good freebies - the electric piano is equally lovely ( you can hear it on [url="http://www.alunvaughan.com/Chemistry%20mixdownMP3.mp3"]this track [/url] ), and they do a good range of free effect plug ins. Cheers, Alun

It's only a tiny file, if you pm me your email address, I'll send it over. Just put it in your plug in folder and away you go! Cheers, Alun

Cheers Ped. Alas, Weasel's Nook only exists in my fevered mind Gear wise, I used.. Keys, strings and drums scored out in Sibelius and exported as a midifile into Tracktion 2. Then it was played back using- EZ Drummer for the drums Synful Orchestra for the violins Plugsound Free for the pad/piano sound MDA Piano ( free VSTi) for the straight piano Live instruments - crappy Aria Action guitar that needed tuning between each take (plus an eBow for the middle bit) and a cheapy Alden violin bass, both through Amplitube Live using an IK Stealthplug soundcard/lead thingie. Both were recorded clean and "amped" afterwards. And I think that was it. Cheers, Alun

Hello. I was messing about on my laptop last week and found a load of cool 70s synth sounds that I didn't have a use for so I decided to record some prog rock that would allow me to use them. As it turns out the first track I've come up with hardly uses the sounds I was thinking of, but a rough mix is now online at [url="http://www.myspace.com/merlinsgavel"]www.myspace.com/merlinsgavel[/url] The mix needs work ( as does the rhythm guitar track) but I thought I'd put it up for opinions. Cheers, Alun

[quote name='barneythedog' post='37585' date='Jul 26 2007, 11:59 PM']luthier .........???? Oh, you mean in the same way that I'm an astro-physicist [/quote] Fair point. Maybe I should say "the luthier isn't a bassist...or a luthier" Alun

Just stumbled upon this which may be of interest to some ( or may just provoke a long "that's not bass thread )... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQON9fHPJsk"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQON9fHPJsk[/url]