lowdowner

So, my 'muso' friends all seem to play the 'instrument player stereotype game' where they try to identify stereotypes based on the instruments we play. So, french horn players are all heavy smokers (go figure!) who are always late because they're too cool to be on time. Violinists are all prima-donnas who blame the position of the stars, or the shade of the lighting, for any mistakes or problems in playing. Flute players are all highly strung and excitable. Bass guitar players are (according to the stereotype) intelligent, introverted, deep thinkers, that don't make eye contact and prefer the dark to the light (night to the day). What do you reckon - do you fit this stereotype. Do you think there *are* any common behaviours/character-traits for bass players or is it all bunkum?

Had to drive halfway across the country for work today and knew I wouldn't be up to playing this evening so squeezed 45 mins in first thing this morning playing some jazz as best as I could - found out that early playing suits me as I was full of energy... Next...?

[quote name='rogerstodge' timestamp='1348601488' post='1815896'] Does it go if you roll the tone off? I had an old aria pro II and the earth wire had broken which was the cause, but doubt its that on a 2011 warwick? [/quote] No - it's constant

Cream - Sunshine of Your Love... just after the first 4 bars of intro. *really* fuzzy and distorted to the extent that it's not clear it's a bass! Nice though

[quote name='KingBollock' timestamp='1348601133' post='1815883'] This might sound strange, but I'm curious... Does this happen no matter what orientation you are in to your amp? As in, if it happens when you are facing your amp, or the amp is right behind you, does it stop, or get quieter, when you turn so you are at a right angle to your amp? [/quote] Ah, now, that's interesting. Are you thinking some kind of electro-magnetic feedback of some kind? The answer is - I don't know! I will check it out in the morning and report back... funnily enough, I didn't think to experiment with that....

warwick thumb 4 string bolt on (2011 model)

It's very minor, but when I 'damp' my strings with the palm of my hand the 'hum' I can hear through the amp stops. This makes the hum when i'm *not* damping the strings seem very loud. It happens with either of my amps so it's definitely something to do with the guitar (i've tried two cables)... It happens wherever I play i.e. it's not my earthing in my home. Is this normal? Should I just ignore it and play on?

[quote name='3below' timestamp='1348517228' post='1814737'] There are other notes? I am worried, what have I been missing.... [/quote] Secret, special, notes that are only known to the few... You have to join 'the club' before you're told where they are.

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1348516369' post='1814718'] The only way to do this is to educate, and use, your ears. No amount of theory will help you. [/quote] I agree with this 99%, but sometimes theory can give you hints and ideas that you might not have found for a *long* time - a classic example is the 'blue note' in a blues scale which you probably wouldn't find through experimenting for a long time, but the theory guides you what to experiment with. A *little* theory is a good thing I think.

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1348515395' post='1814691'] That my dear chap is why I now have an EUB (I thank you....) [/quote] boom-crash...

God, what a huge question. It depends (helpful huh?) Often the approach notes (flattened 7ths for maj7 or 7th for maj chords) just at the end of the bar before the root works, and the 2nd sometimes works well on 2nd beat if it's syncopated a bit (push it a semi-quaver off the second beat?)... you can often walk up an octave of major (or minor if that's the current bar chord) pentatonic on the 8 quavers of a 4/4 bar, or even every second except for the 8th quaver when you can approach the root from a tone below... Gawd... experiment with it a bit I guess?

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1348513085' post='1814644'] Here on Basschat members ( myself included) put far more energy and enthusiasm into discussing equipment than they do discussing learning scales, modes and arpegios . A lot of the very best players don't use very fancy equipment- players like Jeff Berlin or even Marcus Miller spring to mind- because it's just not that important to them for one reason or another. Their focus is far more on their musicality than their equipment. [/quote] Oh god - having just recently escaped years and years of 'traditional' classical music theory, not to have to concentrate on modes, arpegios and the like is really refreshing. The last thing I want to do is return to discussing non-equal tempered scales on fretless necks. Light hearted chat about which wood looks the nicest is fine by me

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1348094104' post='1809370'] thumbs not a fancy bass in my book. It's a design classic! [/quote] Obviously you are now my favorite BC poster of the week for this comment

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1348494929' post='1814287'] If you are unable to play naked in public without being arrested for indecent exposure then your strap is at the wrong height. (I do have gorilla arms btw) [/quote] surely this doesn't just depend on the length of your strap but the length of your *cough* as well ...?

warwick thumb - beautiful natural bubinga small body, long neck, and that fantastic concave body - once you've seen one from the side, you wonder why more basses aren't shaped to the body like that

[quote name='tonyf' timestamp='1348418861' post='1813402'] That 0.0001% of expression and feeling comes in handy with the 0.0001% of talent I've got. [/quote] you... funny man!

Alanis Morrisette - MTV Unplugged... really liking it again after overplaying it the first time

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1348397701' post='1813057'] Mine have always been set so that the lower heel of the bass is at "tackle height". in my single days I gained great kudos from a woman in a pub who wanted to know why I had a hole rubbed in my jeans at the top of my right leg & I said it was from my bass............ so it does happen .............. occasionally............... rarely................ sometimes. [/quote] May i respectfully suggest that was more of a 'come on' line than a genuine enquiry about how your jeans were wearing?

[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1348399189' post='1813088'] Whilst not meaning to sound like a disrespectful old git, exactly how much experience can you have at the age of 19? [/quote] How do you judge quality and not just quantity though? 1 year of spending every moment at the knee of marcus millar may be worth 20 years of shuffling around in your bedroom pretending to be someone you're not. Most of us are probably somewhere in the middle, but it's hard to put a measure on 'experience'. How 'experienced' was Yahudi Mehenuin (or however it's spelt!) at 19? Could still blow the socks off you with his Beethoven's Violin Concerto!

As a small businessman (the business is small by the way!) I totally get this, but most people don't have any experience of how a business works, and how the figures are arrived at. They assume that if you charge £3K for a bass - that's all instant profit into your pocket for some reason (or a good proportion). I'm constantly amazed at the price of a hand-made bass being so low to be honest: we are prepared to pay £10K-£30K for a mass produced sh*tty, rust in 10 years if you're lucky - car, but asked to pay £4-6K for a piece of skilled hand made perfection that will last longer than the owner probably will and we complain. It's mad! Of course, a sh*tty car is 'useful' and is marketed well so we eat it up... I hope you don't stop, there aren't enough craftsmen around as it is and it would be depressing to keep losing them because many people don't understand the value of craft. Oh, and I am well aware that there are a *lot* of people who *do* understand the value, but don't have the money, it's just ironic that those of us in that position are most likely the ones without the means and the one's that can afford quality choose to buy mass-produced cheapo rubbish...

[quote name='tonyf' timestamp='1348336624' post='1812563'] It's probably something I'll live to regret admitting but I tend to change my strap height several times during a set. I've got Comfort Strapps on my basses which allow me to easily and quickly alter the height. There's some tunes we cover where it's much more practical to have the bass higher just under my ribcage, as i use finger style or slap. Other tunes, where I'm giving it some with a pick and standing with my legs splayed trying to look cool, it feels more natural to have the guitar slung quite low. [/quote] If I saw a bassist changing strap height throughout a set i'd be in absolute awe - i'd assume he was an expert and needed to get that last 0.0001% of expression and feeling out of his playing. Top trumps to you today me thinks

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1348298346' post='1811954'] forget fashion.. !! play where it feels comfortable and forget about everything else.. respect and admiration comes from your playing, not where you wear your bass.. [/quote] are you completely mad?? Of *course* it matters where you wear your bass... looks are everything!

You have to face the fact that you live in a pretty mediocre world where *most* people aren't that sophisticated or smart. In general they follow stereotypes and simplistic models of the way the world and its people work. To them you're just an average 19 year old - and not even that as the media continues to portray 19 year olds as infantile 'yoofs' to ease cultural digestion by the mindless masses. That's the way it is. Just continue being professional and smile to yourself until you eventually reach an age when you are treated as an 'old fogey' (probably at about 50 - though by the time you get there, more like 40 the way the mass media is going) and you can worry about your old-age stereotype with a degree of calm. You live in an ignorant world and you're probably not going to change it I'm afraid.

I've never owned any other cabs so i don't know what's heavy and what's not... I can litt them into and out of my landy, so that's all I think about I guess... Are the Vanderkley's not only unbelievable sounding, but light as a feather too? Pah... I may have made a wrong choice here!

This is the source of all the frustration - and motivation - of my music making... I can *hear* what I want... well, not so much 'hear' as feel I guess, but I then have to translate that to the real world and it's a real challenge. when you are as new to an instrument as me... this is a killer. I have to have faith that it will happen with plenty of practice