solo4652

Set up has been an ongoing process with mine. I was getting fret buzz at the body end of the neck. Lifting the saddles meant the strings were too far from the fretboard in the main playing area. I gradually straightened the neck and lifted the saddles. Because I use full floating thumb, I'm often resting the side of my thumb on the E,A and D strings, which tends to push them downwards towards the body-end frets, and the pickups. That's why I tend to end up with a pretty straight neck and high-ish saddles. Also, for me, 45 - 105 gauge strings helped. The D'Addario black nylons that work so well on my Lakland hollowbody are too stretchy on the Fallout. Status half-wounds work well for me on the G&L.

I like flats or halves on my basses. I've been trying different strings on my Fallout Tribute. Best so far seem to be Labella black tapewounds, followed by Status halves. What do you have on yours, please? Any intonation issues?

I have a G&L Fallout Tribute. It has a belly contour and a pretty deep forearm contour. I'm in Stockport of you'd like to try it.

Having seen others' suggestions for the bassline, I've listened to the track again, and realised just how wrong my tab was. I'd not appreciated that the same run-up on the E string repeats throughout the song. So, I've re-jigged my suggested bass tab. I normally try to avoid open strings, but you could play the A on the open string as opposed to 5th fret on E string. This might make the fingering a little easier: First finger on F, then quickly slide the first finger up to F#, then second or third finger on G, then open string A, allowing for a little time to get your little finger up to 5th fret on A string. Or not. Whatever suits you, of course. I'll shut up now. Hope everybody has a happy, restful and safe Christmas. Steve Intro |-------------------| |-------------------| |-55---------------| X 4 |----------1-2-3-5-| Verse "After Midnight..." |-------------------|------------------|------------------|--------------------| |-------------------|-33-------55--5-|------------------|--------------------| |-55---------------|-------3----------|-55--------------|-55----------------| X 2 |----------1-2-3-5-|------------------|---------1-2-3-5-|-----------1-2-3-5-| "We're gonna cause.." |-------------------|------------------|-----------------|-------------5-7--| |-------------------|-33--------------|-55-------------|--7--------7-------| |-55---------------|------------------|-----------------|-------------------| X 1 |----------1-2-3-5-|---------1-2-3-5-|--------1-2-3-5-|-------------------| "After Midnight..." |-------------------|------------------|------------------|--------------------| |-------------------|-33-------55--5-|------------------|--------------------| |-55---------------|-------3----------|-55--------------|-55----------------| X 1 |----------1-2-3-5-|------------------|---------1-2-3-5-|-----------1-2-3-5-| Then repeat the whole lot twice. The last time, the first 8 bars of the "Verse" are the guitar solo.

Me too. I bought Naturally way back in the late 1970's, and it may well be my most-played album. After Midnight has an immediately identifiable bassline that, to me, underpins the whole song. Recently, I got the chance to become involved in a start-up band playing cool, wine/coffee/beach bar vibes. J J Cale immediately came to my mind. We've rehearsed After Midnight, but we haven't gigged it yet. My attempt at writing out a bass tab really helped me to get inside the song. I've really appreciated reading through others' comments about the bassline and I now realise that what I heard and what I play isn't correct. But, it fits, and it works. So, that's good enough for me. We're also rehearsing Don't go to Strangers, and I'm using a bassline that I adapted from something I found on the net. If anybody wants to have a look at it (and I'd welcome constructive feedback), just let me know. Steve

Folks, I had a go at this tab. This is what I came up with, but It's a long way from the tabs I subsequently found online. Mine seems to fit reasonably well, but I'm certain it's far from the original. When you've stopped laughing, let me know how it sounds to you. I've written the tab in a way that makes sense to me, and that's not really how the online tabs look. Which merely adds to the confusion... Intro |-------------------| |-------------------| |-55-------------3-| X 4 |---------3-4-5----| Verse "After Midnight..." |-------------------|------------------|------------------|--------------------| |-------------------|-33-------55--5-|------------------|--------------------| |-55------------3--|-------3----------|-55------------3-|-55-------------3-| X 2 |--------3-4-5-----|------------------|--------3-4-5----|----------3-4-5---| "We're gonna cause.." |-------------------|------------------|-----------------|--------------5-7--| |-------------------|-33------------3-|-55-----------5-|-77--------7-------| |-55------------3--|--------3-4-5----|--------5-6-7---|--------------------| X 1 |--------3-4-5-----|------------------|-----------------|--------------------| "After Midnight..." |-------------------|------------------|------------------|--------------------| |-------------------|-33-------55--5-|------------------|--------------------| |-55------------3--|------3-----------|-55------------3-|-55-------------3-| X 1 |--------3-4-5-----|------------------|--------3-4-5----|----------3-4-5---| Then repeat the whole lot twice. The last time, the first 8 bars of the "Verse" are the guitar solo.

Yes it does. Thank you.

Looking for ideas for a half-decent, busking combo to amplify my cajon when busking. 20w to 30w should suffice, with 4 inputs to accommodate; acoustic guitar, two vocal mics, and my cajon mic. All recommendations gratefully received.

Do these belong here? https://www.facebook.com/rachel.m.lasham/videos/1569887960027440 https://www.facebook.com/rachel.m.lasham/videos/575375983610112

How about this? Does this count as Soul, Funk, Groove? Not sure.... 😁

Thanks for all the replies so far. Pretty unanimous set of suggestions, really.

As lockdown freedom approaches, I've been jamming/auditioning with three local covers bands. One has invited me to join them. I've only played with them twice - audition, plus first full rehearsal. The first full rehearsal was recorded, and I've been listening to our efforts. It's pretty clear to me that the singer isn't especially good. She sounds flat most of the time to me - my partner describes the singer's voice as "unmusical". I thought this when the band sent me their pre-audition recordings, and I thought it at my first jam/audition. The recordings of the first full rehearsal strengthens my view. What to do? Key points: I have a feeling - could well be completely wrong - that the singer and one of the guitarists may be an item. I'm very much the new boy and certainly wouldn't want to upset anybody. "Carry on in quiet desperation is the English way..." I'm keen to get back out there playing with real people again, but not if I'm always inwardly wincing at the singer's voice. What's the best approach here, folks?

Because of a sporting injury to my neck and shoulder, I switched from 34" to short scale a few years ago. Echoing Osiris' point, it's the reduced distance to the first fret that makes the big difference for me, rather than the reduced distance between frets. To try out short scale, I bought a Harley Benton Shorty from Thomann. £63. Bonkers. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbp90bk_shortscale_ebass.htm?sid=419559fd6d8232d3ab920710b6280f0e I've had a few shortscales since then, but the shorty, with some new strings and some Wilkinson pickups for about £30 took a lot of beating - seriously. The Shorty has a P width neck which works for me, and I've struggled to find a good shortscale with a wide neck since. Shortscale + Jazz neck can get a bit cramped. Fishfacefour: Don't know where you're based. I'm in Stockport. If you want to come over and try out my two short scale basses (Lakland Hollowbody, G&L Fallout Tribute) - just let me know

Thank you very much.

I've just joined a covers band, and I need to learn the bass part to Dead Boys by Sam Fender. I have the chord chart, but I can't find any tabs or YouTube videos for the bassline. Anybody out there playing this, please?

I'm feeling much better about the bass now. I put a new set of Status Nylons on it, and they would not stay in tune, let alone intonate. The E string was especially bad. After two days of frustration, I threw them away and replaced them with some Status half-rounds. These have been instantly better, in that they stay in tune (!) Switched from Kustom Hybrid bass head to a GK MB500 too, and that has also helped. The bass pickup is hot, and the "purer" output of the MB500 seems to calm things down a bit. Most probably a keeper - certainly as No.2 bass. Photo of fretboard figuring:

After a slightly bumpy start, we're definitely getting there now. Did a basic set up, now just tweaking to take account of neck and string settling. E string intonation is proving troublesome, but I suspect that's because I'm using cut-down medium scale strings which may not suit the nut grooves. Proper short-scales on order. Played it through my rehearsal rig yesterday - Deep End 1200 hybrid head with a 12" 350w Techamp speaker. Ooof! Huge, rich tones, needing a bit of mids boost from the amp. Of course, virtually impossible to get a clear idea of gig tone with the rig just about ticking over in the dining room. Neck is the probably the widest short-scale I've played but is fairly thin front-to-back, so not too clumsy at all. Would love to play it a full band session, but that's not going to happen any time soon, dammit.