Doddy

I enjoy sitting down on gigs. Obviously, for most of my rock and pop stuff I'll stand because I move around a lot, but on anything more chilled I'll sit if I can.

I pretty much always sit when I practice too. If I'm going to practice seriously for a couple of hours, I want to be comfortable.

I used to have one of those folding stools that's pictured in an earlier post, but I never really liked it. I've been using a Roc n Soc drum stool for a few years now, and it's great. It's low enough that I can put both feet on the floor to put my bass on either leg, and I can easily reach my pedals.

I love Chris Wood's playing. The Wood Brothers are great, but I love his work with Medeski, Martin, and Wood. They're a great trio.

Also, good score on a Clifton Bass. I love mine.

TC Spectracomp and Polytune will sort you out. Not particularly expensive, and even cheaper if you buy secondhand. 

9 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

OK recommend me something with Pino on that you think I will like.

 Take your pick..... 

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/pino-palladino-mn0000292499/credits

And that doesn't include live work.

6 hours ago, Count Bassy said:

Sorry, I didn't realise that you'd asked him.

If you quoted all of what I said, rather than just one line, you wouldn't have had a point.  Will a high level session player use what is right for the gig? Obviously. Will they be using an inexpensive bass because 'the audience can't tell the difference'? No. When a session costing thousands of dollars is at stake, they are going to use quality instruments.

The whole 'Pino would use a (insert inexpensive bass here) if it was the right choice' is mostly bogus. At that level they are going to play quality gear. You want a P Bass? They aren't going to reach for a Harley Benton. They're going to have, at the lowest, a Mexican Fender. More likely something vintage or custom.

17 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 

They why does he play for the most part really boring music?

Such as?

13 minutes ago, Grimalkin said:

 

I don't think Pino cares for what is on the headstock, the bass Pino is playing in the pic above looks like a £90 pawn shop find.  He cares more for how a bass sounds and is it the right sound for the job. Pino has an exceptional pair of ears.

Maybe, but you can guarantee that that £90 pawn shop find will have been worked on by his tech to make sure it is suitable for a gig or session where 1000s of dollars are involved. He's not going to turn up with a fresh out of the box Harley Benton or a just bought, pawn shop Kay.

Bryan Beller used the Interstellar Overdrive on the Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins song 'Why Am I Your Guy', and it's a killer sound.

Great score. I love the old SWR gear.

10 hours ago, iconic said:

So this was originally in Am...tweaked to a major key... 

 

To make this into a major key...

 

Do I transpose to it's relative major? 

 

So Am becomes C, every chord is bumped up by a minor third, three half steps. 

 

Theory isn't my strong point so please be gentle😀

It sounds like it's simply put it in to a major version of the same key, rather than go to the relative major.

In the original the first 2 verse chords are Am and Em, and they have been shifted to A and E.

9 hours ago, iconic said:

I don't know but, if everything is raised a minor third, would it matter?

I feel I should be able get my head around this but, it's boiling my brain🤔

If you just moved everything up a minor third you would really just be changing the key up to C minor. 

Of course, you could go to the relative major, but that is going to make the song quite a bit higher in pitch and change the whole tonal centre.

That's a great book to start with. If you go through it all properly, it will give you a good solid grounding.

I wouldn't wait to finish before looking at songs. Try to find time for both while you are practicing, that way you can enjoy yourself while still getting the work done.

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

 

 I can understand why people don't want to do a pinky stretch, it's using ring and pinky together I struggle to understand, as I find it unnatural/uncomfortable.

 

I can see it's a necessity for double bass with long, taught, high action strings, however.

 

I don't have any agenda to stop others doing it though!

When I fret with my little finger, every other finger behind it is also on the string, whether I'm playing one finger per fret or not. Nothing to do with strength, like when I play upright, but more to do with avoiding flying fingers and keeping things fluid.

It depends on the tempo of the piece. If I was playing a semibreve in a slow ballad tempo, I'll probably drop my thumb on to the E string. If it's uptempo quavers/semiquaver, I'll stay on the pickup. Basically, I'll do whatever is the easiest and most comfortable way to play the note.

On the odd occasion that I've thought that my playing isn't going where it should, I just book a lesson with great player and go and get some new ideas.

There's always more work on.  Can you read? If not, there is plenty to work on there. If you can, there are tons of books (not just bass books) that you can open up and take ideas from. 

There are hundreds of scale and arpeggio exercises that you can do. Just a bit of focussed practice each day on these will make a huge difference to your playing.

9 minutes ago, ped said:

I don’t like it when pedals have ‘bass’ in the name like it’s some poor relation to the primary guitar version. Also not a fan of screen printed graphics (like illustrations) and really clicky foot switches

I don't think it makes them seem like a poor relation. It's generally just an easy way to show that the pedal has been tuned to lose less low end.

On 14/01/2022 at 18:01, Bassfinger said:

Another good reason to either...

 

A) Insist upon cash. Not always possible, but still the bulk go thst way.

 

B) Don't boast about it on Faecesbook, and definitely not with your full name

 

C) Make sure there are enough band members to divide the cash up so you never reach a grand.  Wives and girfriends can take an equal cut by for doing publicity, organising, restringing instruments, anything vaguely legitimate and necessary, and thus my £1000 suddenly becomes £500 yet still remains under my roof. Ditto my band chums and their other halves.

 

So many ways and means, you're just fine if you're cautious and clever.

And then you wonder why musicians get bad reputations.

24 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Serious question. Why use 124 on an electric bass. You don't need two finger strength , and even people with smaller hands should have no trouble covering three frets with 123?

 

It's not really about strength. In lower positions, it can be a bit of stretch to use finger per fret or 123 fingering, especially on a 35" scale bass. 124 gives you a 3 fret reach with a more comfortable hand position. Also, I've found that the vast majority of people who I've taught have more dexterity in their little finger than their ring finger.

14 minutes ago, TheGreek said:

I'm lucky in that I've owned some amazing basses in my life - many "perfect" in their own way....however I was always too precious with them.

 

What I can say is that owning a "perfect" bass can be scary thing - what happens if it is dropped? What if it gets scratched/etc? 

 

I'm not unhappy about the continued search.

I've never worried about that. In fact, I'd had one expensive bass for less than a year when my then 3 year old got hold of it and put a big scratch on the back. Whatever. It's nice, but stuff happens. I've never worried about a bass on a gig.

I was playing a panto a few years ago, and about half way through the 4 week run I had an infection in my middle finger causing it to swell up a lot. After it was drained, it turned out that a couple of tiny pieces of the coating from the Elixir strings I was trying had come off and gone down the side of my nail. Looking at the string you could see where the coating had peeled off where I play.

I bought one of the DeArmond reissues in the early 2000s, when some shops reduced them to around  £100, new.

It looked kind of cool, but it had a lot of neck dive and the first fret felt a mile away. Hardware wasn't great (especially the tuners) and tonally it sounded like a relatively cheap P Bass.

Honestly, it was really just a pretty cheap and unimpressive instrument.  Mine mostly sat in a corner for a while,before being given something like £70 as a part ex.

2 hours ago, TheLowDown said:

@Quatschmacher@paul_5@Boodang

I thought I emphasised the point about the backend of the music. Effects may be useful for things like slap and other circus exhibits that are key part of idle home noodlings, showing off in record shops, and the w#*kery section in some bands, but are much less effective for the rhythm section.

Janek is more known for his solo stuff which is very much in the foreground. 
 

To be fair, there have been players who have been putting effects on their bass for 30/40 years. Just look at players like Pino with his OC2, Anthony Jackson with his phaser, and Neil Jason with his envelope filter.

5 minutes ago, Happy Jack said:

 

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

 

And that's why I have never joined the MU.

I'm not in it either. I think their rates are totally out unless you're a solo artist.

I don't really do many pub gigs anymore, but I do think they should be paying around £100 each. 

Has anyone mentioned the MU rates? They reckon that the fee for a pub band, playing for up to 3 hours, should be £129 each, plus you can add on travel, porterage and a late finish fee. 

It looks to me like his thumb only comes over the neck when he's playing the higher strings. I'd guess that either he's doing it to mute the low E string, or because he's got relatively poor left hand technique and grips the neck like a baseball bat.

2 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

All pedals are "right handed"... Wait! Let me explain. You input on the right side of the pedal, output to the left so the signal flows right to left, the opposite to how you *should* be reading this. It's just wrong. Also, it means I have to do my wah pedal with the wrong foot. Unless o want lengths and lengths of cable to wire it up so I can lay it out in a way that feels right to me. I think this is because I'm left handed, it seems backwards, though right handers may feel the same? I dunno.

The chain running right to left makes sense to me because my cable comes out of the right side so goes straight in to my first pedal (volume pedal) on that side. I can see how that would be a pain for left handed players. 

My first generation EBS Octabass has the in and out the opposite way to most other pedals, and it's a right pain to put in a chain.

2 hours ago, BigRedX said:

Almost all of these "problems" can be fixed by buying a decent multi-effect pedal and using that instead.

But then you're just adding different problems, like having to program patches, not having instant tweaking on stage and,in my opinion,not as good tone (particularly for overdrives and octaves).