Doddy

There is a reason why Will Lee often uses a Yamaha in the studio. There are loads of photos floating around of him playing a purpleburst with gold hardware Yamaha in favour of his Sadowsky.

O......K.... I've not heard of them before,but from watching them videos I gather that they are a bass and drum duo who play incredibly sloppily and with no strict tempo and with no discernible melody?

[quote name='ThomBassmonkey' post='1194137' date='Apr 9 2011, 11:03 PM']Flea's another that pops into my head for example. The guy used a 'ray into GK for a long time and that was his trademark sound, then he seemed to get bored and start swapping about basses on whims. It must be incredibly frustrating for a company like Modulus to make a bass that they even name after an endorsee, then they jump ship soon after.[/quote] I don't think the Stingray was ever really his trademark sound. Obviously he is associated with that bass because of it's live use,but a lot of his most well known stuff was not played on a Stingray.In the studio he used all kinds of instruments-notably Spector,Wal and Alembic. The Modulus signature bass was basically a rebranded Sonic Hammer model,so it wasn't like they went all out on a brand new design for him.

The first big concert I went to was Wet Wet Wet when I was about 12 or 13. It was a great night. I only really went because we got free tickets,but I loved it and went and got all their albums.....on tape. They've got some brilliant tunes.

[quote name='epoxyjazzbass' post='1193530' date='Apr 9 2011, 08:37 AM']I was told that the gauge of rotosound strings have changed during the time passed. The 45-65-80-105 is now the closest you can buy from rotosound; but not the same as jaco used.[/quote] That's exactly what he used. The only difference was he had different coloured silk windings on each string. This is what Martin Howe said in The Bass Handbook..... "Jaco wanted a different colour silk wrap on the end of each string because he felt each string represented a different 'colour'. We did that for him and later adopted the same idea on our Spacer string set as a tribute to Jaco. The colours he went for were blue, red, yellow, and green, and he used our regular 66L sets:.045",.065",.080", and a .105" on the bottom E".

Octaves are cool,but it's easy to fall in the trap of most slap players and get stuck there. Try playing scales using different combinations of slaps and pops. You can separate the strings so you thumb the E and A and pluck the D and G,but you should also use your thumb on every string and pull every string too. You don't necessarily need to point your thumb up,you can keep it level with the string-either way you will find that it is more accurate than playing thumb down,especially when thumping the higher strings.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1193262' date='Apr 8 2011, 08:26 PM']IIRC, he also said that on that video that he practised on a fretted Precision rather than a Jazz.[/quote] On that video he used a Jazz with fretted Precision neck. I'm not sure about him using a Precision for practising though.

[quote name='mart' post='1193236' date='Apr 8 2011, 08:01 PM']Actually, I remember reading a quote from him that suggested he was worried about it. I can't remember exactly what it said, but I think the gist was that he used flats for practising, because the rounds chewed up the fingerboard so he only used rounds for recording and for gigs. Unfortunately I can't remember where I read it, so can't find the exact quote. Anybody else read it?[/quote] On the 'Modern Electric Bass' video he says hat he never practised on a fretless because the strings would eat the neck up.

[quote name='danny-79' post='1193110' date='Apr 8 2011, 05:42 PM']Sorry, Standard 440 EADG was what i ment [/quote] I know...I'm just being pedantic. You mean standard tuning not concert pitch.....Even in BEAD or drop D or whatever A is still 440 hz

Have you got a link to the specific video. It's kind of hard to say otherwise. Edit......could it have been his Windmill?

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1192470' date='Apr 8 2011, 01:04 AM']Just checking to see how many Steve Bailey cds I have, hang on a sec................................................................................................. .................................................................................................... . .................................................................................................... . ............................................, oh, none![/quote] That you know of He used to do a lot of 'ghosting' sessions,so chances are you've heard him somewhere. I don't have any albums by pretty much the majority of the rock and metal players that have signature basses,so that's not the best argument to use. Yeah,that Stu Hamm model is pretty ugly,but in fairness he's used a Washburn acoustic bass for ages now so it kind of makes sense that he looked at them for an electric bass after Fender made an odd decision.

[quote name='SteveK' post='1192400' date='Apr 7 2011, 11:10 PM']Let me get this straight... you've checked in a bass, its only protection - a gig bag??? And you collected it the other end unscathed??? Good grief, man! You have seen baggage handlers at work? Not to be recommended.[/quote] Yep. In fairness though,they never went on the carousel or anything,but they still went in the hold-basically I gate checked it. It's a good job I have a great gig bag.

I didn't realise it was that price. You'd be better off with a Classic Vibe or a Vintage Modified.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1192278' date='Apr 7 2011, 09:16 PM']But what do you do if you turn up with only a gig bag for your bass and they won't let you bring it into the cabin?[/quote] Then it gets put in the hold. Like I said,it's happened to me a couple of times and it was fine.

[quote name='skej21' post='1192185' date='Apr 7 2011, 08:00 PM']Also (Doddy), I'm glad I wasn't the only one with a pedantic twinge whilst reading through [/quote] Phew....I thought it was just me

[quote name='danny-79' post='1192154' date='Apr 7 2011, 07:37 PM']Apart from the obvious choice an just using a fiver, just want some advice from people who have/do use the tuning . Apart from the obvious set up (intonation,nut etc) got all that covered. I'm just in a situation ware I'm needing to tune down (i.e past concert pitch) so I'm thinking go the whole hog on second bass an BEAD it. Just never done it before (never needed to) so any tips, suggestions I'm all ears to. Either going to use a five string set or would an easier option be to try a set of DR Drop tune strings first see how i get on with them, do they even drop that low in standard gage ? All tips an suggestions please ! [/quote] Personally I'd just get a five string,but using the bottom 4 strings of a 5 string set and getting a proper set up is all that you really need to do and you'll be fine. Just out of interest (pedantic?),even though you're tuning down,you are still in concert pitch-A is still an A,it's just in a different place.

Yeah,that's his Fodera. It's 5 string though,not 4.

I'm not sure because I don't know which video you're on about,but I'm guessing is it his Fodera,

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1191837' date='Apr 7 2011, 03:31 PM']WHy does Jeff Berlin, the 'greatest bass player in the world', only ever get cheap and nasty basses made for him? Is it because he is not a household name? I think so [/quote] ......And Steve Bailey is? That'll explain why he is in the new Warwick ads then. I've got to be honest-I prefer the Fender,looks-wise.

I'm sure someone will be interested in this [url="http://www.squierguitars.com/products/search.php?partno=0301080"]http://www.squierguitars.com/products/sear...?partno=0301080[/url]

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1192027' date='Apr 7 2011, 05:33 PM']Also the need to slacken the strings is a myth. It would only have any benefit if you also slackened off the truss rod by the same amount.[/quote] Yep. I remember reading something in an old issue of Bass Player from some manufacturer,and they reckoned that it if you slacken the strings off there is more chance of damage when you tune it back up to pith than if you kept the instrument tuned throughout the journey. I've never slackened the strings off and I've never had a problem. The first time I flew with my bass I used a bog standard Freestyle hardcase that went in the hold.It was only a short flight,but other than a couple of knocks to the case everything was fine. Every other time,I take my bass in a gig bag as my hand luggage.Usually there is no problem at all. Sometimes the stewardess will check to see if it will fit in the overhead locker and it always does. It's really up to the discretion of whoever is on the check in desk. On one short flight a passenger in front of me took his guitar on as hand luggage while I was told that I couldn't-same flight,same steward.I ended up having to put my bass-in a gig bag-in the hold. I had to do the same on a trip to the US as well-I had the bass in a gig bag as hand luggage on the UK to US flight,but when I had to change over to an internal flight,it was a smaller plane and I had to put the bass in the hold as the overheads weren't big enough. Luckily,both times I had to do this the bass has been absolutely fine,with no marks to either the case or the instrument.

I got into jazz pretty gradually. I'd always been into Big Bands-Buddy Rich,Basie,Maynard,all that stuff,but when I started playing I got into Weather Report and of from there. I bought a Miles and a Mingus compilation and they didn't really do much for me.I was more into the Headhunters/Billy Cobham kind of stuff. Because I was digging the fusion stuff I went and bought a copy of Bitches Brew and really didn't like it.A bit later I bought a magazine that had a CD of various Miles tunes on it and the first tune was Milestones....and I loved it.Footprints was also on it and I loved that too. I revisited Bitches Brew a few years later and loved it. The biggest thing though,was seeing a regular Jazz gig every Monday. I started to really get into the whole vibe and started to recognise the tunes and buy more albums featuring the ones that I recognised.I started sitting in,which lead to depping every few weeks until I was offered the gig. That was when I really started to get what was going on and appreciate it on a whole other level.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1191490' date='Apr 7 2011, 10:34 AM']I would hazard a guess that the people who play more than just bass are also songwriters? It would be interesting to know how many of the people who are strictly bassists only are also writers, in that they come up with the initial ideas that start of the song writing process.[/quote] Nope. The few tunes (not songs because I don't write words) I've written have been done using a six string bass and a looper. I actually find chordal playing easier on the bass than the guitar.

[quote name='Toasted' post='1191487' date='Apr 7 2011, 10:30 AM']Jim Bergantino disagrees with you [/quote] And,as he helped design cabs for other manufacturers, I would have to agree with him I think that horn was/is an important factor in the sound of the Bergantino cabs. Apparently, Bergantino was the only person that B&C made that particular horn for.

I've only ever done a couple of gigs on guitar-and I haven't done that for years.