Zenitram

I use Group II Ernie Ball flats on my main bass. And I really like them. Which ones are higher tension?

How do you go about telling someone exactly how you want a fancy-dancey funny-shape scratchplate to be? Do you have to send them a template?

I tell you what, the Prophet 12 looks nice. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ab_Ox7NXDkk&list=UUn2UECRN6iyU_Jcyb6A-1ZQ&index=1

I really like this blog for interesting jazzy funky stuff: http://neverenoughrhodes.blogspot.co.uk/ No idea if that fits in with what you want, but there's lots of lovely stuff. Particularly, er, if you like Rhodes.

Or record to one track, then copy that track several times and remove all but one instrument from each track.

The Clair Brothers also sounds like a camp dating website, so that could be another avenue to explore.

She's a trooper, that American girl.

Then you'll find it very very hard if not impossible to get a permit to work in the States. That's from what I understand, but I may well be wrong. and hope I am, for your sake.

Marry an American.

If you're anything like me I can't stand you already.

The other thing to learn is a light touch. Gently does it, on those hats, on the kick, on the snare. To play lightly but with confidence, knowing that you don't have to make a racket, that you have to suggest the beat rather than bash it out at full whack and 180 bpm. Think of the jazz brushes drummer, sat at the back behind the kit, with a languid, long-haired sultry beauty draped over the microphone in some dark, smoky joint, the double bass player in the corner nodding as he hits the fewest notes possible, and the drummer lazily brushing the snare drum back and forth with that wonderful shuffley background rhythm, confident that the song needs no more, just a light, gentle touch, a mere suggestion of a beat. Your hi-hats get hit more than anything else. Don't pound them; stroke them, vary your accent on them, try not hitting them, like a pulled punch, the faintest glance as your stick hits the off beat. Use your left foot in conjunction to vary what the hi hat does and says. It's the most common sound in modern music, after all. Be nice to it. And other bollocks stuff as well.

Cool! She looks jazz.

[quote name='lowdowner' timestamp='1359148691' post='1950904'] I'm not sure about the 'if it feels tight you're a drummer, if it doesn't then you're a drummer but just need to relax'. [/quote] That was me trying to be encouraging to those who don't quite feel it at the first go, more than anything else.

If you are interested in learning the drums, and want to see how well you might get on, and have the opportunity to practise, take a kick drum, snare and hi-hat (add or exchange a ride cymbal if you're feeling jazzy), and get rid of everything else. No toms, no cymbals, just kick, hat, snare. Forget the rest. Take your sticks and start tapping out a 4/4 on the hat with your right hand, nice and steady, letting your own natural rhythm dictate the accents on the 1st and 3rd, or 2nd and 4th, as you prefer. Your left foot will have the pedal clamped shut. Keep going for as long as you like, feeling groovy. Now start easing the pedal open to hear the difference in sound, and then start thinking about opening it at the end of every bar for a beat, or opening it slightly on your accented beat, or just letting it sit somewhere where you like the chick sound you're getting. Keep grooving with just that simple 4/4 on the hats. How does it sound? Funkily in the pocket, or rigid and stiff? You don't need fancy fills to be a good drummer; you need feel. Now add in the kick pedal on whatever beat you like that feels natural and comfortable, still knocking out that 4/4 on the hi hat with your right hand. If you got rhythm, this should begin to feel pretty groovy. Any musicians around you should be wanting to play a chord or two, or even just a note or three, infectiously. Keep it simple. How does it feel? Feel good, feel tight? You're a drummer. Stiff, out of time, uncomfortable? You're still a drummer; you just need to relax. When it feels right, add the snare beat, anywhere that feels natural. Keep on at it, keep being subtle on the hi hat pedal (timing and a fluid hi hat pedal add so much groove and feeling to the simplest of beats). That's the way to test the waters on a drum kit, I would say. It's both easy and hard, at the same time. (That might all have been blindingly obvious, sorry.)

Also, the original has the very worst keyboard I have ever encountered.

So... they're [i]all[/i] the best amp ever.

Most basses and amps sound the same though, right? They make a loud bassy noise, low frequencies, tie down the bottom end, you sort of hear it in the background, with the drums, it all sounds pretty groovy, gets your toes tapping, and all the other fancy twirly stuff happens on top.

Although the Legacy MS-20 doesn't quite sound like the original; it sounds like a plug in. Which isn't a bad thing; anything that makes a noise can sound amazing in the context of, er, whatever it is that it's doing. Or something. When I play with the original I'm always vaguely worried that the rumbling and trembling is going to blow my speakers and then cause the house foundations to crumble if I tweak something too far the wrong way. Anyway yes it's all very cool.

Aye, all very true. They do look great though, like the flight deck of a small aircraft. Must get mine fixed, along with all the other junk I have lying around.

I wonder if this will devalue my original 1978 one. Also, isn't it great how all these funky, funky instruments are made by very seemingly unfunky people. Yet they carry the funkiness within.

Ooh I'd love this. If you're willing to post it I'll happily pay whatever it amounts to.