Jump to content
Why become a member? ×

Max Normal

Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    189

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by Max Normal

    Traded - Bogart

    in Basses For Sale

    Posted

    Maybe take the tape off and show the damage so that people can see what they are buying?

     It's a lot of money for a project when you don't know the extent of the damage and how to get it repaired. Maybe get it repaired and then sell it?

     

    • Like 2

    I don't practice - enough is enough

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    20 minutes ago, AntLockyer said:

    I'm not learning Wooton or Jaco lines. In terms of stuff I'd like to play there are loads and loads of things that I've never bothered to work out or have tried and failed. I'm mostly interested in being able to express myself in the genres that I like funk, rock, motown, blues, soul etc. to get there I think I need a general level of technical skill and knowledge in the areas set out in the original post

    • Technique, facility and articulation
    • Time and groove
    • Fingerboard visualisation
    • Genre based studies
    • Language of music (phrases and harmony)

     

    Sorry I was using this as an example of how it panned out for me, I am (attempting) to finally learn that crazy stuff.

    My previously badly worded point is, if you want to learn to play a genre, just learn the basslines that already exist from key players. Playing them in your band if you can will give you the impetus to do that. Start with the easier grooves and work your way up and try to learn them by ear if you can. This is how I learned to play bass and learned my chops, I never had a teacher or a book or used TAB, I just played basslines. Obviously the theory of modes, pentatonics and diatonics helps with that, but you can learn that stuff pretty quickly.

    • Like 1

    I don't practice - enough is enough

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Practice is a strange concept for me. As a teenager I moved from 6-string guitar to bass and immediately went out gigging, so practice was learning songs and rehearsing. A few years of rock and metal bands later I went "pro" in a function/party band which was often my only source of income for 5 years.  I then did a stint doing original session work on tour for a singer/songwriter who was releasing an album and then went into the tribute band scene.

    Never learned a Victor Wooton slap line or how to play "Portrait of Tracey" once in that time because frankly, 99.99% of audiences don't want to listen to that sort of stuff and I didn't have the time to learn them to impress my peers or gain personal satisfaction.

    Now I'm a bit older and I only gig a couple of times a month, learning that sort of intricate technical stuff is what I finally do. Just for myself though, Noone will ever hear it though except my girlfriend who just says "that's nice dear" and my cat, who scarpers whenever I pick up my bass. I might just as well be making a model of HMS Victory out of matchsticks.

    When I do gig, I'm pretty much still playing stuff at a level I could do perfectly well 20 years ago.

    So I guess it's horses for courses, you need to focus your efforts on what is needed at the time. If you are a busy gigging covers bassist, learning your set properly to perfomance level is all the practice you need. If you play original stuff, learn your theory and how to put it into practice. If you want to be a virtuoso, grind away but be prepared to never have anyone listen to your perfect Jaco runs and harmonic chords, because nobody really cares.

     

     

     

    • Like 1

    Best Wood for bass guitar

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Alder, swamp ash and mahogany are the most common.  They have different weights, workabilities and argaubly, tone.

     

    Mahagany can be heavy with a tight grain and a dark tone. Often used with a maple top for figuring and to add brightness.

    Alder has little grain so is best painted. A good balance of bright and dark tone.

    Swamp ash has a wide, open grain. Difficult to finish as it needs grain filler for high gloss if that's your sort of thing. but looks good with a clearcoat or oil. Light weight (don't get normal ash as it's heavy). Resonant and used for bright sounding basses.

    To tonewood deniers, please don't flame me! I'm just offering the general consensus.

     

    • Like 2

    Best OD/Fuzz for synth sound?

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Max Normal

    18 hours ago, musicbassman said:

    Oh dear.....:sad:

    WRT filters?

    LP filters?

    BP?

    YMMV?

    4-pole LP design?

    This is high level tech-talk to me.

    I'm a simple soul - I just use a Spectracomp and my PJ and that's it.

    I'm not a luddite or a fully paid up member of the "it's all in the fingers" camp, but maybe someone can explain.

    Same here usually, but you know, sometimes it's fun to experiment....

    Best OD/Fuzz for synth sound?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    17 hours ago, GisserD said:

    Octaver first, then the gated fuzz. filter last. this is the most conventional way to produce the sounds your after.

    some octavers will allow you to run fuzz first, but most wont as they need a pure tone to track well.

     

    You might get better response if you post over in the effects forum. There is a recent synth bass FX thread where we discuss this sorta stuff...

    Thanks for the heads up! I'll check it out.

    Best OD/Fuzz for synth sound?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    20 minutes ago, musicbassman said:

    No expert here, but I would have thought some sort of shaper is what you need to help create that sort of sound, rather than distortion ??

    Oh, and assuming you're playing finger style, a super clipped bass technique, using left hand or right hand/or a combination of these. (Not to be confused with muting or damping, of course)

    I'm sure some BC'er much more knowledgeable than me on here can assist further.

    I did wonder. The closest I got was octaver and a bit of chorus so far. No probs with the tehcnique, I have the lines and technique off pat, it's just the sound i'm after now.  Some people on here advocate an Octaver>Filter>Fuzz chain for a synthy sound, but it's not working for me. Maybe I'm approaching it wrong for this type of sound.

    Your Worst Gig Ever

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Just after Princess Di got killed, we are playing in a pub in Folkestone (never a good idea). It was a ZZ-Top number from what i recall.  Two brothers are right at the front and they start arguing about her death. One of them doesn't give a stinky poo, the other was obviously a fan. Suddenly one of them punches both front teeth out of the other one and the teeth landed at our feet.  The now toothless brother gets on his hands and knees looking for them (it was a loud carpet, it was dark and we had a lighting rig so it wasn't so easy). Guitarist sidles up, nudges me and says "just keep playing". We did.

    • Like 3

    Your Worst Gig Ever

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Max Normal

    Packed pub, New years eve 1999 11:30pm. We have played 2 sets and are having a half hour break for a rest and a pint before we go on to do our rocked up version of Auld Lang Syne and some up tempo numbers for the new year when an extremely drunken bloke falls onto the mixing desk severing three essential cables at the plugs where they enter the desk.

    Luckily we have a toolkit. I spend the next 25 minutes in a packed dark sweaty pub desparately trying to strip and resolder the leads. We make it with about 2 minutes to spare.

    • Like 1

    Best OD/Fuzz for synth sound?

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On my board is an MXR filter, a Bass Big Muff Pi and a Micro Pog. Pog tracks great for the sub bass, but perhaps sounds a bit metallic so that's probably getting replaced with an EBS Octabass. MXR filter is great, so no probs there, but I just can't get on with the Big Muff, it's just so harsh and over the top. I tried it with the onboard blend mode and also with an X-otic X-blender but I still hate the sound.

    So right now I'm looking for a classic Stevie Wonder clavia bass synth type sound. Any experience of this? What distortion did you use, overdrive or fuzz, and which pedal?

    Cheers! M

     

    Highway 1 Jazz Bass £400

    in eBay - Weird and Wonderful

    Posted

    9 hours ago, Max Normal said:

    I always assumed it was because some of the components are Mexican and they were shipped up the road to California for assembly and to get the USA serial number. 

     

    I had a Highway One precision and an American Standard precision at the same time. The USA standard certainly had way better finish and a much slimmer more modern feeling neck, but the Highway one sounded much better (after I switched out the greasebucket tone circuit and added proper P-bass wiring) , it had lots of natural resonance and harmonics that the USA standard lacked. I swapped the standard and kept the Highway one.

    Checked it out. The main road from Fender Corona to Fender Baja is the CA-1.

    Highway 1 Jazz Bass £400

    in eBay - Weird and Wonderful

    Posted · Edited by Max Normal

    36 minutes ago, fleabag said:

    I've often wondered why they were called "  Highway "   and i still don't know

    I always assumed it was because some of the components are Mexican and they were shipped up the road to California for assembly and to get the USA serial number. 

     

    I had a Highway One precision and an American Standard precision at the same time. The USA standard certainly had way better finish and a much slimmer more modern feeling neck, but the Highway one sounded much better (after I switched out the greasebucket tone circuit and added proper P-bass wiring) , it had lots of natural resonance and harmonics that the USA standard lacked. I swapped the standard and kept the Highway one.

×
×
  • Create New...