bass_dinger

"Since I got this bass, I have been unable to put it down....".

Did you get a bum deal?

I played a two-manual Kawai organ with a one octave pedal board. The chord book that I had showed not only the fingerings, but the degrees of the chord and the suggested bass notes. So F minor 7th showed that the 3rd was flattened, that the notes were the same as A flat 6 (but different bass notes). That taught me scales and some music theory. When I see a chord, I still convert the spelling to a piano keyboard format, and "see" the bass notes and chord tones.

Please Sir.... what is the ramp for?

Those of us who do not use our fourth finger, have a role model...

Tutorials tell beginners to use the little finger, because many players do not. As you can see, many musicians manage without, with no real detriment. As for us being artists, that is kind of you to think of us in that way ...

It took me 25 years to properly use my left hand little finger - and even now, I sometimes look at with surprise to see it getting involved in playing... I used to use my right hand ring and middle finger to pluck. I managed to break the bone in my hand attached to my ring finger, and over the week I relearnt the bass using my index finger. The other two fingers were straped to each other to aid healing. I never returned to using my ring finger, as, after the bone healed, the finger was 1/2cm shorter, and kept missing the string due to the lack of reach! So, one can adapt.

Proficient Japanese girl band playing technically difficult maths rock.

Is that not still importing an item, though? Surely the fact that it is in bits, and hidden underneath your socks, does not remove the liability to pay tax and duty?

If you tune her bass guitar in 5ths, then the cellist will be playing a fretted pizzicato horizontal cello. A bass, tuned in 4ths, will be different from the cello, and it is that difference that opens up the new possibilities. Grade 7 at 14 tells me that she has the capability of learning the new layout, and if she wants something different with an extended range, offer a 5 string.

I want to create a walking bassline for Dance Monkey. Chords are F#m, D, E, C#m. So, is the key A, or C#m? I know to play a leading note (one tone or semitone?) below or above the root note of the next chord - so, F#m D F#, E, D, C#, D. However, what would work for the D to E? Chromatic notes?

What a palaver! It seems to me that you are very much having to make things happen yourself, with those instruments - your own loops, your own frets, your own string care regime.

A wife who is 30 years younger? Very Rock and Roll!

Odd - I would have thought that a violinist would be the best way of stepping out to mandolin. It has the same scale length, the same narrow neck (which encourages single notes or double stops rather than chords), and the same tuning (which means that relative note positions are already known). Thank you for your kind words! Yes, they can be loud, especially with double strings (which are intended to help increase the volume). I use a red Jazz III xl pick, which is more mellow than the black version. I have also used a wooden plectrum (too dull). Generally, I think of the mandolin as a melody instrument, rather than a chordal instrument. I think of it as a plucked fretted violin, rather than a smaller guitar. For me, it is that different tuning, and the difficulties of playing chords, which make for the new possibilities.

I have started to play the mandolin again. Mandolessons.com is a great resource. The website has the facility to sort tunes by key, and difficulty. From that, I found easy tunes in G, with sheet music and tablature. Each tune is recorded with mandolin, or guitar or both, normal speed and half speed. So, I am learning stuff in G, reading the music - effectively learning scales and note positions by learning tunes. After sight reading in G becomes second nature, I will move to C, which will involve changing the F# to F - one new note. Then onto F (the B of the C scale will be flattened to the B flat of the F scale). So, I will learn to read music properly on an new instrument. For me, I won't be learning chord shapes - I have a capo and a Lowden that covers the high register, and my £40 German Democratic Republic instrument cannot compete, tonewise. Instead, I find that the tuning in 5ths is more logical than the 4ths and a 3rd of the guitar, and teaches me the fingerboard, ready for a better instrument. Who else here plays bass and mandolin?

That is a question worthy of a whole new thread. (See what I did there?)

Fruit boxes are what I use - that. and PVA glue to stick the parts together. Two joined lengthways made a good box for a banjo (and the section on the middle was cut to make a neck rest). As for the amplifier, insert puns below about Orange amps, Apple Music, or a Pear of speakers...

A pedant writes: "I think that you will find that it is a Singer Chamois - the next model up from the Imp". A shame, because Pimp my Imp has a certain ring to it! However, not as good as the strap-line of the car club for owners of Mini-based Rileys, which referenced classic minis, Rileys, and the Italian Job theme song: "We are the Elf Preservation Society."

Stairway to Heaven. Thank you. I'm here all week... I think of it as musical exercise - if I can play Led Zeppelin, ABBA, Stevie Wonder, Chic, and Bach, then I will be able to manage whatever else I am asked to play. However, if all that I can play is Hillsong 4-chord songs, then the music will sound very samey.

I feel a bit silly now, remembering the time that I mentioned to them that they had not included a jack adapter in my order. Simply huge!

Over the weekend, one of the drummers wanted to work on his rhythmic chops. He had heard Toto's Roseanna shuffle, and had found out that it was based on John Bonham's Fool in the Rain. I rather like it too, so, that is our homework for the next few weeks.

For £120 a set, you should not be attaching the strings to the instrument - you should be framing them! Fascinating post - I look forward to seeing the photos of the instrument.

In church? An amp, a cable. . . . And I have a Boss TU2 tuner, used as a mute switch. Anything more complex would be too difficult when a different band play in the following week.

It's made worse when one knew the person in the çasket. It is very much more personal.

How was it?