Cairobill

It’s all about context for me but I am certainly not averse to extreme Muso-Dom...I’m pretty easygoing. But I think it’s pretty obvious that extreme chops are not what musicianship is about in the real world e.g Guy Pratt gets bigger gigs than Henrik Linder for a very clear set of reasons. 😁

I'm pretty much with you on being slap-averse except when the slapping is like this...in which case I think it's the best...

On this tip, the legendary Brown Mark (of the Revolution...one of my favourite bassists) is now doing YouTube tutorials on the 'Prince Style'. Being a lot younger than Prince, he was very much a protege and Prince used to teach him the lines to the songs. So these YouTube lessons are a bit like having a bass lesson with Prince. Gold Dust for those of us who loved the sound of the Revolution

Yup - I've had a couple of Nash instruments (a JB and a tele) and Bravewoods (again, JB and a tele). I don't want to be mean about Nash guitars, but Bravewoods are in a different league.

Yep - as a kid in the mid 80s I would 'work the racks' at the Wapping Bass Centre and play the latest offerings from Pangbourne, Wal, Wilkes, Jaydee etc one after the other I used to enjoy the Wilkes 'slap plate' fretless. Feelwise, the Wal wouldn't have screamed 'I'm worth 20X what the Wilkes is' back in the day...which is quite amusing.

I'm Mac based and have been using logic since the EMagic days (it's great but obvs not for PC) but have migrated to Ableton Live over the last 5 yrs. It's amazing but does demand a bit of a reset in how one approaches composition to get the most out of it. It also leans heavily towards electronic music but I've been using it very happily indeed for more guitar/bass/drums stuff as well. Ableton has been absorbing the best things about Logic (take lanes for example) while Logic seemed a bit weird the last time I used it so I can't see myself going back. So, thumbs up from me for Ableton Live if a) you have the time and b) interest in an absorbing learning curve.

Not sure if anyone has shared this yet. Brownmark (legendary Revolution bassist) gets into the Minneapolis style on a great vid here. Start of a series I think. Loads of good stuff here. In my humble opinion, if you’re going to hit a bass with your thumb, you could do worse than do it this way. And you might end up drenching your bandmates in purple chicken grease...

Yes indeed. Lovely bass, but lost to what I have come to describe as the ‘jazz bass churn’.

Seconded - those drills revolving arp inversions of all the main chord structures along the cycle of 5ths are possibly the best bass exercises I've picked up.

They're lovely basses. I had a classic, but I really wanted the update J like this one. Sold it on but if the stars align I'll jump back in on an update if I can find one.

Cheers all - does seem it works better the more expensive an instrument is...

Wonder if anyone knows the VAT/Duty percentage cost on an import from Ishibashi right now? Looking at a bass going for 350 quid. Shipping comes to a hefty 160 (estimated on the page) So if it's 510 for the purchase, what will be whacked on? Cheers, Nick

I had a passive one; the neck was rock solid and needed a tiny truss tweak and was good to go. Solid construction and yup, Matsumoku

I sold mine for about 225.