Doddy

[quote name='Truckstop' timestamp='1333447432' post='1601705'] Although I personally down like Ashdown (havent tried the MiBass yet though so willing to be proved a fool!) [/quote] You won't be proved fool...the MiBass is a fantastic amp.

[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1333456573' post='1601912'] . Playing in E Standard, Drop D, D Standard and Drop C is a ballache and a half, glad we don't anymore. [/quote] But,all the lower notes in all those tunings are available on a standard tuned 5 string?

Go secondhand rather than new and you can get a lot of bass for well under your budget. Like I've said before I've got 5 strings by Shuker,Roscoe and Warwick and a Tobias 6 string, all for well under your budget and none of them cost £1000. Lately I've seen basses by Musicman,Warwick,Sandberg,Lakland and even Warrior for under a grand.

[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1333454105' post='1601835'] Snapping a string whilst tuning, on stage, infront of about 300 people, just before we started our set.... Thankfully, i didn't actually NEED that bass, i just used it to make my life a little easier, and could just throw it in a corner and grab my 5 string and singers capo. Liam [/quote] Why would you need to borrow a capo,especially if you are using a five string? I've snapped a bunch of strings when only using one bass.....It's no problem to readjust and play on 3 or 4strings until the break,when I can put a new one on-it just needs a little more thinking and a few more shifts.

I was on the way to a local gig once when my then-girlfriend asked..... "Where's your Bass?" "It's on the backseat" "No it's not" "sh*t!" Luckily it was only about 10 miles or so from home,so it wasn't a big deal to turn around and go get it.

[quote name='JellyKnees' timestamp='1333363419' post='1600479'] Ok, I know it doesn't actually have any bass guitar on it, but it's a great example of a pop song that manages to be slightly subversive and use non-standard time signatures [/quote] Non-standard time signatures? I'd say that 3/4 is pretty standard and common.The only other bit is the instrumental line that is simply 3 bars of 3/4 and a bar of 4. As you were.

I agree that counting subdivisions is the way to go.I don't know how you read rhythms currently but try going from crotchets (1,2,3,4) to quavers (1&,2&,3&,4&) to semi quavers (1e&a,2e&a,3e&a,4e&a). That way you can play or rest on any of the subdivisions..so for example,if there was a quaver rest on beat 2 and the '&' of 3,you can simple count it as 1&,(2)&,3(&),4&, with the bracketed notes being rests...you can do the same with semi quavers.

The way that I look at it,is that for the price you are looking at paying you can buy pretty much anything you want. You've tried a couple of Alembics and weren't blown away...to me that says a lot.Maybe they just aren't for you. You'll always get people saying that xxxx is the 'best' or 'sh*t' or whatever,but none of that matters if you personally like or dislike an instrument.

There are a lot of good books about....my personal favourites that I use a lot are Serious Electric Bass, Chord Studies for Electric Bass and The Evolving Bassist. You can really check out any book about scales and chords,it doesn't have to be bass specific. Books like The Improvisers Bass Method and Building/Expanding Walking Basslines are very good too. None of these books have any tablature,so you would need at least a basic grasp on reading-a book like Simplified Sight Reading for Bass would help here. You're best bet though,is to look for a good teacher so that you can ask questions and have everything explained to you...it helps so much.

I like driving to gigs on my own,so everyone taking their own car is fine-especially if you don't live close to each other,as it means that someone is always going out of their way,which is no fun at 2 am. Having said that,if the gigs are quite a long way away it makes sense to hire a van and all go together or at least streamline into 2 cars.If you're playing fairly local though,everyone should just make their own way. As you are responsible for the PA,if you can fit it in your car just take it yourself.If you can't,see if one of the other guys will help to carry it. The way I look at it is I'm responsible for getting myself and my gear to the gig-whether it's just my bass rig or my PA as well.

Any number of songs by the legend that is Barry Manilow.

[quote name='hiram.k.hackenbacker' timestamp='1333276538' post='1599414'] I would imagine playing that way would also be quite limiting for certain techniques, like slapping for example. Not that that's the end of the world of course. Everyone I've seen playing "upside down" though always looks a bit awkward. I've yet to see any challenging bass lines being played like that. [/quote] Once again.......Jimmy Haslip and Keith Horne. Both play exteremely challenging basslines on upside down strung instruments.Horne has got a crazy slap technique,and as far as I'm concerned Haslip is one of the greatest electric bass players.

First job...learn to read,then you can take advantage of all the study material that is available. There is no point recommending any books if you don't know how to read the exercises in them.Otherwise you need a teacher to explain it all to you-and any good teacher should be writing down what they teach you so that you can continue to study when the lesson is over. I think understanding chord tones is very important,as generally you will use them more than scales-although you should also know scales so you can see where the chords are derived from. You can look at things like scales and chord tones as fingering patterns(as a lot of people do),but I find this limiting. If you know what notes are in,say, a C major chord,you can then play those notes anywhere on the neck....assuming that you know where all the notes are.If you don't,you should really rectify this pretty quickly. It's all well and good being 'intuitive',but it doesn't matter much if you can't execute the ideas for whatever reason.

I've been saying this for ages...and at times been argued with,but it's true. The fact is this stuff is fun and interesting and it [i]will [/i]improve your playing. If you are even half way serious about playing music,I don't know why you wouldn't want to learn all of this stuff.

I find the best thing to play in that is dead simple...let the guitar play the riff and let the bass pump solid quavers on the root. I think it sounds better than doubling the riff.

They probably started by picking up a right hander and just flipped it over,so got used to playing that way. I'm sure that if you start that way then it becomes as 'natural' as playing in standard tuning.

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1333185914' post='1598446'] . Its a bit too robotic to be truly funky and the fat bass synth sound is a bit of a grind after a while. The composition is great - just wish that it was played with some more "traditional" sounding instruments. [/quote] I wouldn't call it robotic...I think it really grooves and that the synth bass(with electric bass in the bridge) sounds perfect for the track. It's one of my favourite lines to play on synth. When you say 'traditional' instruments....what,like double bass,banjo,acoustic guitar?

If you want to hear some killer upside down playing,check out Jimmy Haslip and Keith Horne.

[quote name='blamelouis' timestamp='1333129827' post='1597930'] Your only one note away from a correct note - victor . [/quote] This will be the same Victor who says on his DVD that he embraces playing wrong notes, yet visibly winces and grimaces when he actually does it live?

[quote name='Walker' timestamp='1333022038' post='1596261'] After Doddy's advice, I'm now the proud owner of BigJim's Roscoe Century 5, so I'm going to see how I get on with that [/quote] Good call....Roscoe make stunning instruments. I love mine.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1332969295' post='1595781'] Honestly, it just takes a bit of work and you start to get there. I don't think its really much more daunting than a beginner bassist asking "do you experienced guys really know all the notes to the 50 songs you do for your wedding setlist?" [/quote] Pretty much this. I can only speak for myself,but when I'm playing I'm not thinking "A7...A,C#,E,G" or whatever. I've spent enough time studying and playing that I know how the chords are constructed and how to recognise II-V-I and that kind of thing so I can just get on with playing without consciously thinking about every detail. Of course there are times,usually when I'm soloing,where I might think "Oooh,I can play this really cool Lydian lick I've been practising",but generally I don't want to be thinking about every little detail.

[quote name='SteveK' timestamp='1332944841' post='1595258'] But to be serious, even when, to all intents and purposes, there are no drums, how many times have we heard the drummer still keep a simple hats part going? [/quote] I believe that this is because a lot of people feel that the responsibility of time comes from the drummer, and therefor end up all over the place if he drops out,because they aren't good time keepers themselves and rely on someone else to do it for them. I wonder how some people would go on if the drummer was to deliberately turn the beat around or displace the accents? If you don't have your time solid you'll end up with a train wreck.

I believe that the whole band is responsible for the time. If the drummers time is solid then great, you can just get on with playing...but there are times when I will(need to) take the lead and lay down where the time is.Likewise with the other band members.There are times when the drummer may start to drag and I(or someone else) will try to shift the tempo back but the drummer won't shift...this to me generally proves that the drummer isn't listening.The ones who do listen will hear where they should be and will go with it. Time isn't just the job of the drummer. With regards to Toms point above,if the bass player is playing on the back of the beat the drummer shouldn't be slowing down. We're talking about the difference between time and feel. Laying back on or pushing the beat will change the feel and groove but the time can still be the same.If I was laying back on a groove and the drummer slows it down,then there is a problem somewhere,regardless of if you are using a click or not.

[quote name='EskimoBassist' timestamp='1332875758' post='1594381'] So to keep going off topic, but are you running your Repeater at 9v? (also this question goes to pantherairsoft re: Nova Delay). I know that both CAN be run at 9v but that input clipping can happen if you're running much boosted into it, which is why 12v is recommended for extra headroom. [/quote] I just use the plug that came with it.

[quote name='stevie' timestamp='1332787573' post='1593148'] The TC is very quiet. You really can't tell that the fan is on. The MIBass is noisy. [/quote] Really? My MiBass is dead quiet.