Shedua511

Considering he is a zombie, it ain't that bad

You got to separate the man and the artist. A an example, James Brown was a misogynist a-hole, Miles Davis was a pimp in the true sense of the word at one point, I proably wouldn't want to meet either of them, but I love the music!!!

Thank you for making me aware of this! wow, do I miss Mick Karn... he does an amazing rendition of sledgehammer (among other highlights), he really ownes that great bassline!

A picture from a few years ago of my little girl getting it down on my P-bass. Her twin brother is arguably more musical, but the other day she tried bowing the upright bass for the first time and after one stroke decided that this was her instrument. A steep hill, as she is only a few centimeters taller then the bow, but I'm a proud father

This is mine... at the moment only a slab of concrete, but in the next few months it will be a studio! For the moment, everything is crammed up in a smallish room

I really like mine: I like to check the tuning before going on stage and I normally don't leave my bass or stick on stage, had one too many encounters with drunken fools... I used to have a Pandora for that purpose, but the clip is so much more convenient! I don't leave it on the headstock though, hate the look of clip-n tuners on stage... as soon as I'm on stage I will put ti in my pocket and use the polytune pedal in my pedalboard. I found the clip also very convenient for practicing intonation on upright bass, I just clip it to the bridge (yes, that does alter the tone very slightly).

I love a good electronic drum kit: the really good one sound great, take up less space, are very easy to move, soundcheck takes a minute and volume is never a problem. OK, an acoustic kit looks cooler, but so does an upright bass

I submit my Grove Guitars bass (www.groveguitars.com): the top is made from a vintage Moosehead beer crate, the neck is by Status Graphite.

The happy graphite family [attachment=196828:Statii.jpg]

I have four basses with Status necks (two J 4 string and two MM 5 string, both couples fretted and fretless), a Moses made Chapman Stick and a Steinberger L-2. Living in Norway, I favor graphite for its stability with temperature changes: going from -25 Celsius snow storm outside to +40 under the stage light can be punishing for a wooden neck, while graphite necks don't move at all. I also like the sound: very precise, punchy and with a very defined bottom end. I find it cuts through very well both live and in the studio. You can hear what the fretless MM clone and the Stick sound like here: https://vimeo.com/125635683 The opening and closing track are not me (its fellow stick player Filippo De Laura), but the live track are all graphite

That was quite possibly the worst version I've ever heard of bohemian rhapsody, including a very drunk guy I saw once in Japan. How somebody that tone deaf can call himself a musical genius is completely incomprehensible for me...

Since nobody has done so yet, I'd like to chime in with the answer to the question: the correct amount is zero.

so a frustrated guitarist would take an electric bass (I prefer that to bass guitar) and go... lower?!? Honestly... One of my favourite bassists is Tony Levin: for a beautiful bassline with chords, listen to "Don't give up" then tell me TL is a frustrated guitarist

I've been playing 5-string almost exclusively since 1996: the only time I use a four string is when I need my fur strings (so much better then gut! ) or an instrument that has a unique sound and doesn't exist with 5-strings, namely a pre-EB Stingray. I don't really understand the controversy over the number of strings: even the most conservative musical genre in the world, classical music, has embraced the 5-strings upright bass. You will find two or more in most orchestras. For a practical example, to answer to that particular challenge, look up "Diavolo in me" by Zucchero: the bassline is played on the B string only, for range and timbre. Some instruments do have a floppy, undefined B-string (I have tried some Fenders that were truly bad!), but others have a very well integrated low register. I also have a 36" 6-string bass, the definition of the low end on the B string is amazing! I haven't tried a Dingwall with a 37" low B, I'm sure it's even better sounding. I find the Eb and D very useful, Db, C and B less so, but still useful when used in the right spot, in my personal experience. When working out arrangements with artists, most of the time they will prefer low D and Eb to their octave up equivalents, because they fill up more the bottom end and there is no range conflict with other instruments. I also dig playing up the neck on the B string, it's a very interesting alternate sound to the same notes on the first frets, exactly like the same register on the E string. Besides, it's nice to give my fretting hand a rest at long rehearsals by playing where the frets are closer together. Another obvious advantage is that I can play chords that simply aren't playable on a 4-string. The only downside is that you have to be more careful with muting: I put my thumb perpendicular over the strings to stop the B and E from resonating, something I didn't have to do before I played a 5... but it's a good thing, because it has freed me from playing only over the pickups, where I used to anchor my right thumb! I have nothing against people who prefer to play 4-string, but denying the musical validity of a member of the bass family does seem a bit silly...

I find the six string a very different animal, while the fiver required minimal adaptation from fur strings. It is true that they are not fashionable nowadays, at least you would get that impression watching tv: old, beat up four string is the required accessory this minute

[quote name='MarkW' timestamp='1427600557' post='2732201'] I couldn't get on with it at all, so I ripped the foam off [/quote] wouldn't it have been enough to tighten the screws that adjust the height of the mutes to avoid them touching the strings? Just wondering, that's what I do on my vintage stingray...

Only issue with roundwounds on a fretless bass is that they will chew up your fingerboard... I love the sound, so I live with that.

A mentioned, one good thing came out of this: publicity for a true artist, Beck. He also came through the whole thing as a class act. I cringe when I hear Kanye refer to himself as a "musician", that is a long stretch, not to mention how pathetic anyone referring to himself in the third person looks like... please tell me the "biggest rock star" comment was sarcastic, please tell me that! I can't honestely think of one single memorable song. Hs protégée on the other side, that guy with the acoustic guitar looking very uneasy in the video, he shows some promise! I must admit I'm developing some respect for Kanye as a talent scout.

I what is arguably the best moment of his presidency, Barak Obama found the perfect adjective for Kanye West: jackass. And again with Beyoncè?!? Is it a secret crush? No matter the size of your old lady's bottom, it's always fatter on the other side of the fence?!? Get over it already, you jackass!!!

I wouldn't be surprised at all if the bass in the video was just a non-functioning prop...

That's the video I was thinking about. I really wonder why AJ choose to ignore the use of a Stingray bass altogether in his lengthy interviews. Perhaps it was just a one-off occasion, a case of broken string and a loaner instrument... I'm no AJ, but there are photos of me with instruments I have no recollection of ever playing Sounds good though, no doubt about that!

[quote name='miles'tone' timestamp='1419154026' post='2636957']He's known for classic P bass playing (totally my thing) right up to developing the 6 string[/quote] As far as I know from interviews with AJ, he never played a P bass. His first professional instrument was the J with the stripped finish in Sadao Watanabes video, which the eventually tuned BEAD. He then had Carl Thompson build a first and second contrabass guitar prototype (the first unsuccessful, the second never meant to be played, only as a build test for an extra long scale) before starting the still ongoing collaboration with Fodera. I did see once a video of him with a Stingray, a bass he never has talked about, so I wouldn't be too surprised if a video with a P bass did emerge. Incidentally, the Stingray video would be my personal favourite sound, it was amazing!

Color me lazy, but I recently wrote about the very same subject on Talkbass, so I'm just going to copy that here I used to have no interest whatsoever in rap and hip hop, but a few years ago I started working. The musical director of a youth club in Oslo. Most kids there were interested in urban music and I just had to embrace it: I asked for CDs to listen to, borrowed a lot of stuff from the library and immersed in it...and, surprise! there's a lot of cool stuff there! An old dog can and will learn new tricks, if it chooses to keep an open mind I ended up recording a lot of stuff and composing beats (keeping samples to a minimum, a lot of real instruments and fake samples, that is original music treated to sound like a lift from an old LP). Now that I have a pretty good grasp of the genre, I can tell that I dig authenticity and genuine flow. Some themes I really don't care for, but as long as it is real I can at live with it. Hearing Norwegian kids spitting about shoot-outs is just plain silly and I would always make a point of telling posers to get real or get out. Give me your life, not the life of a kid in the USA. Some of the guys I worked with were truly amazing, especially YoRhymes, who now goes by the name of Fabe. An EP we recorded at the club is available for free download: lots of real bass in there, including fretless. There's even some Chapman Stick: if that's not a first I guess it's really close!!! And, first and foremost, Fabe çan rap. He's got skills, he's got flow and (most important for me) his lyrics are amazing! enjoy: http://www.datpiff.com/YoRhymes-Feat-Francesco-P-Anonymous-Reply-mixtape.170358.html

You are probably referring to the Ernie Ball official forum: I believe this kind of mechanism happens very easily in fora that are moderated by the company whose products are being discussed. Since the creators of the instruments are reading and moderating, users have a need to show themselves as "loyal customers" and supporters. My feeling is that, more or less subconsciously, there's a hope in the fan boys that their loyalty will be rewarded in some form, verbal or (keep dreaming) materially. I see a bit of the same thing with Apple. I do own and play an EB Stingray Classic 5 (though I prefer the sound of my 3 pre-EBs) and I love Apple products, but you won't see me wearing a tattoo with either logos anytime soon

I love them: expensive and definitely worth it! I got a Vertigo, an M-80 and a Dual M-80. My favourite would be the M-80, the Vertigo is great, but the neck support is a bit narrow for some basses and the pockets are just a bit too tight. They also make THE strap, as far as I'm concerned.