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kendall

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Posts posted by kendall

  1. Hi there, I'm currently learning a few new songs, some of which require a lot of double stops in the playing.

    I play predominantly with fingers. My problem arises when I am playing these on two strings that are not adjacent. For example 12 fret on D string and 9th fret on E string. Should I be plucking all three strings or do I just pluck the two fretted strings and ignore the middle string.

    Despite a fair bit of practice, I am struggling to get these clean especially with legato slides up and down the neck.

    Not sure if there are any tips you can give me, or if its just a case of practice, practice and more practice!

    Thought I'd check anyway.

    Cheers

    Steve

  2. I recently bought a 5 string fender jazz. Never played a 5 string before, it was a bit of a shot in the dark purchase. gotta say, I had no trouble playing it. It has opened new possibilities for me and (I may be imaginining it) but it has made me much more disciplined on my finger placement. When I pick up my regular four string, I find that my playing speed has improved vastly.

    Really enjoy playing the fiver, nice tonal palette and as the neck is quite slim, the extra width is not a real issue even with my small hobbit like hands.

  3. [quote name='bartelby' timestamp='1339133864' post='1684089']
    I bought my Steve Harris sig new and untried. As far as I can tell it's fine. It is a Japanese made Fender though, not sure I'd buy an American or Mexican made one unplayed.
    [/quote]

    I tried on of these recently, wasn;t looking to buy it as I was just testing a pedal, however, it was a lovely bass, very playable and after 5 mins it felt as comfortable to play as my regular basses. It was also a very quality finish and set up.

  4. I ordered a bass from GAK and it arrived very promptly. No issues there.

    I went into Guitarguitar in Edgebaston on the weekend to buy a new pedal. i was given the bass of my choice and amp to try it out, plenty of time and space to play around, good advice and not at all pushy. The guys were friendly, knowledgeable and it was like dealing with a friend rather than a sales person. I compared this to an experience I had in Back Alley Music Chester where I found the staff disinterested and a bit patronising.

  5. Hi there - I started back on the bass after a long break. I bought and Ibanez GSR200, it was great to get me going again. Easy to play, good range of sounds for the price. It's currently for sale on ebay pm me if you're interested.

    The Ibanez SR models are good quality and will do pretty much what you want - they are not restricted to metal, I think this comes from the fact that they are slim necked and easy to play at speed. In my experience, a lot of your tone will come from whether you use fingers, or pick, the settings on your amp and your choice of strings. Get yourself something that's easy to play, and experiment with strings and the EQ on your amp. Best bet is to get into a shop and try a few before you commit. I always said I couldn't play a five string bass as it would be too big for my smallish hands. I tried a few out in a shop and was surprised that I could play them with no issues - it really is all about getting out there and trying stuff out.

    Good luck.

  6. Many many years ago, a band that I was friendly with asked me if I wanted to sit in on their audition for a bass player. I had never bothered auditioning as I had only been playing for a few months and had zero confidence. Anyway this dude rocks up with a fender p bass, marshall amp and leather trousers. Typical rock god (in my eyes). They started to jam Rain by the Cult. He couldn't get it, so I showed him and he tried again. Nope, still no idea. No probs, they tried Wildflower - a dead easy one.....still he couldn't get it despite me playing it for him once. "I'm not used to The Cult" he says., "no worries dude" says the singer, "what do you know?" - "Uh, Welcome to the Jungle" comes the response. He managed to do the intro before flinging his bass down and declaring that "The vibe didn't work for him". At this point, I asked if he needed some pointers as he nearly had it then....he told me to "f*ck off" and packed up his gear and stormed off, declaring that The Cult covers aren't rock n roll enough for him.

    We sat there and had a beer - I ended up playing bass for them for 2 years before my rock star dreams died and I became an Insurance Broker and joined corporate hell.

  7. Hello there - I'm a corporate man by day (bass demon!?!) maybe not! by night. I live down the road from you, Not far from Wolves. Even though I'm a metal head, I love John Taylors bass lines. I play an Aria but not the SB unfortunately. What do you think of the Big Muff? I've been considering investing in one.

    Cheers

    K.

  8. I recently filed down the nut on my bass and overdid it a little. Whilst waiting for a replacement, I was suggested using a mix of superglue and baking powder to fill in the filed down nut. I did this, and then refiled it. It worked a treat. The replacement nut arrived 3 months ago, but this repair is still holding firm, so I haven't bothered fitting the new nut.

    Thought I'd share this as a useful way of a temp repair in an emergency.

    Cheers

    K.

  9. Hi everyone - I'm Steve. 39 yo took up the bass again after a 15 year break about a year ago. Used to play in a band in my teens, influences were The Cult, Zodiac Mindwarp, Crazyhead, Nephilim, Cure and Metallica. Gave it up to get a 'proper job' ha!

    I recently got hold of a 1980's Aria Pro 2 which I used to play back in the day, its been my project over the last few months, upgrading wiring, pick ups etc. After playing an Ibanez Soundgear for the last year - its great to have the old beast up and running.

    Recently adventures in my bass playing have been Metallica, Tool, Cannibal Corpse and revisiting some of my old favourites from the Cult's back catalogue as well as starting to compose again.

    My main influences on bass are probably, Cliff Burton/Jason Newsted, Jamie Stewart, Glenn Hughes and Justin Chancellor. Recently i've been studying Jaco's style and techniques and while his music was not my cup of tea, the techniques are fun as hell and really challenging.

    By day, I'm a corporate warrior, by night and on weekends, I'm back in the groove and really enjoying exploring the world of bass playing.

    It's good to be here.

    S.

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