JamesBass

The new PRS Gary Grainger signature is a beautiful bass, also brand new for 2013! And of course can't not mention a Rickenbacker 4001/4003! I've also been a lover of the simplistic P bass shape! http://prsguitars.com/grainger4/

Looking to upgrade and customise my cheapy Squire P Bass. It's an affinity series and I fancy giving it a bit of a face lift, thinking of doing a refinish from metallic blue to a surf green colour maybe, replacing the current neck with a maple fretboard as currently it's rosewood, thinking block inlays like the 75 Jazz. Any idea of how to get hold of a neck? Then I reckon I might change out the current pick ups, thinking either some SD's or maybe some Fender ones, this will be my number 2 bass as I'm in the process of saving for a Rickenbacker and am very close to having the full funds! This is gonna be a long project might take me up to a year just take it nice and slow I'm thinking. Advice and thoughts most welcome.

I'm doing the exact same thing, saving up for a Ric, it's been a bass I've always wanted to own so now I'm playing a lot more and starting to earn some money from playing, I thought why not start to build up my rig to a very good standard, slowly of course but the first thing I'm gonna get is my Ric! I played one of my friends Dad's 4001 and my god what a bass! Then played a 4003 about 3 weeks ago and that was just so perfect apart from the action was high for my liking, plus it wasn't the finish I was after, not a massive fan of the MapleGlo, looked too light and just wasn't stunning in my opinion, I'm rather liking the WalnutBurst/Glo they have, if not it will be the Ruby I think, something a bit different from what I've owned thus far in terms of colour

I like this thread, it's an interesting look at music and people. Personally I'd say everyone across the world has a musician inside of them, anyone can learn to play and learn the theory behind it, it's not like Rocket science although it can be just as boring sometimes! Studying music as a degree like I'm currently doing opens your mind to many different genres of music and different levels of musicians, for instance the guy down the pub who does a regular yet slightly below par set weekly right up to the most incredible Jazz musicians and the Professors of Theory who continually still argue over wether we have the best frequencies for pitch within modern music! Yet also my students who I teach are all beginners and can just about hold the bass yet I'd class them as musicians as they create and play music. We are all musicians and all have different levels of experience, different styles and different levels of theory. We all play and create music. Take what you want from this.

I know someone who was on the 2011 XFactor backing band as a guitarist, he didn't even plug in ever and actually couldn't play many chords either... Was just your typical bedroom guitarist that was a pretty boy! Actual session work is probably among the hardest form of playing as a musician. My lecturers do it often and are often rung up and offered an audition within 48 hours of phone call and have to know the set list backwards, massively demanding work! Plus often you'll find you aren't the first choice so will hear the "We tried everyone else abut no ones diary fits" In other words you're the last choice! Must make you feel like sh*t!

How good are your ears? Do you work most songs out by listening to them? As above, try working it out in chunks, get that down and as you go perhaps note it down if your memory isn't the best? It works for me, I like to be able to visually see what it is I am playing, helps me get the groove and feel down especially if it's in notation as opposed to tab!

Check out the Rock School grade books, they combine fun songs with the all the basic yet very necessary boring work such as; Scales, Arpeggios, Sight Reading and Notation. I started on a few of the Hal Leonard books when I first started learning, I didn't make any noteworthy progress till I worked on my grades, combination of boring stuff for 15/20 minutes and then 45/40 on the "Fun stuff" If you can do an hour that is. If not then split it 50/50 for a half hour lesson. Hope that helps!

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1356640354' post='1911994'] I get a pretty similar experience in there which is why I try to avoid them. They were always rude in the old north end shop years ago too. If I really must use them, I'll buy on their webpage and then go and collect it as they're next to my house. Jamesbass - you're better off going and speaking to george at PJ's guitar on Highland road in Southsea. They've looked after me for years and he had a Ricky quite recently too. [/quote] Yeah same here Jim, even resulted to buying my latest batch of leads from Amazon of all places and at a few quid cheaper than in store too! I was in PJ's about 3 weeks ago and had a long chat with George about the Ric he had in, it was a 74 4001 but the pick ups were really worn out and needed repair work on them, the wires in the bridge pick up were shot to bits! Even with the repair work needed doing on it he wanted £1250+ I might as well buy a new one and forge it's own history aha

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1356628846' post='1911814'] You don't at any point mention what you actually said to him, such as instead of [i]letting it slide[/i], saying "Yeah, if I like it, but not in that colour"? Or did you say that when you handed it back? I've had good bad and indifferent service in many kind of shop, but it's a two way street. If you don't tell them what you're looking for & in what colour you could - to them - be just another Saturday afternoon widdler about to make a £1300+ bass into an ex-demo discounted item. [/quote] Did mention that ideally Mapleglo isn't my colour of choice and asked when their next delivery of Rics was due to which he said whenever they make them. Still the guy decided to start putting it through the till. The whole idea of going to a shop to buy high end gear they do wanna try it out and try it out thoroughly, I wouldn't expect him to appreciate the service he gave if the roles were reversed, that's what I was taught when I was a waiter, don't give them a service that you wouldn't appreciate yourself.

Went into Nevada Music last week as it is my local shop and I'm looking for my next bass, luckily they had a 4003 this time and I asked to try it out and the first thing the guy said was, "You actually gonna buy something then?" I thought I'll let it slide as I can't really get elsewhere currently due to lack of transport. The guy ended up plugging me into an Ashdown Tour bus, so after I badgered him into letting me try it through a worthwhile amp, still out on the shop floor right next time their radio system so had some god awful feedback coming through I decided yes this is the bass I wanna buy but I don't want the mapleglo finish, so I hand the 4003 over to him and he instantly scanned it into the till and said how are you paying for it. I walked out and I am NEVER going to go back in there! Horrible shop, rubbish stock of a few Fenders, millions of ESPs and Ibanez basses with the occasional MM or Ric. Note to Nevada store guy, that is not how to give customer service and convince someone to buy from you!

Personally I prefer to have it plain and simple, the less in there the better! If you have too much in there like a laptop or TV or even books you might well find yourself distracted, I know I do and so when I practice I turn the Internet off and my phone goes off. I've got a written practice schedule taped up on the wall, the next step for me would be to sound proof it but I unfortunately by living at home use my bedroom as my practice space so sound proofing is out of the question as the 'rents won't pay for it and I can't afford it. Hope that helps!

I've got 1 active and 1 passive bass and honestly I prefer the playability of my active but I HATE that it's active because no matter what I find myself constantly checking my tone during practices and fidiling with it on stage, it drives me nuts! The passive bass I just roll the tone up and down depending on what I'm playing, such an easier feeling as I don't have to think about how well my EQ is balanced or if I just tap the Bass/Mid/Treble nob that bit to boost or drop it I might get a better sound! My next bass is going to be a Ricky, played one yesterday and just simply loved it! Felt utterly fantastic, all I'd change about the one I played yesterday is the action and maybe the strings

Yep, so many artists just wanna turn up to 11 and destroy peoples faces or they wanna just run around and look like they are more likely to be in a gym doing a work out session! I know there's a certain aspect of stage show but sometimes there's just too much going on and not enough music. JTUK I did move about started off down the front as my girlfriend wanted an optimum view of Ellie Goulding, I tried the bar area, the middle of the stage back of the room and right by the sound desk where the sound guy wasn't even listening but playing Angry Birds! Talk about unprofessional! It got better by the sound desk but still wasn't anywhere near as good as it should be especially when the tickets were £22.50! I like Ellie Goulding she's different while still being samey she's got a great tone that would suit some blues or some rock ballads!

As a gigging bassist at the small venues in my local scene I've come across some really shoddily mixed gigs, gigs where all you hear are drums, gigs with FAR too much bass in the mix and not enough clarity and some where the levels have just been far too high and left me with headaches and tinnitus, doesn't help that I've only just started wearing ear plugs religiously! But anyway last night I went with my girlfriend to see Ellie Goulding at Southampton Guildhall, now I've got a guilty pleasure for Ellie Goulding and was seriously excited to see her live, thought what better opportunity to see how the POP genre sounds and performs live! But, I was seriously let down, I've seen many bands play at venues right from Pub size all the way up to Festival fields as I'm sure we all have, but, I was honestly appalled by the quality of Southampton Guildhalls sound quality, I know it has a hit and miss reputation but last night was a new low for me! The support act were a band called Sons and Lovers a sort of Indie Rock band, who seemed nervous and as a result were slightly out of time with one and another but we can sympathise with that, yet when it came to the pretty competent lead guitarist to play his solo I couldn't hear him at all! All I heard were the bloody drums and the out of time bass! Shocking sound mixing and then when Ellie played we were subjected to this beautiful singer straining to be heard over her backing band! Poor girl sounded like she had a cold as it was yet heres the sound guy absolutely whacking the life out of the sound system by boosting the bass and drums! It had pretty much no treble and no mids half the time! Won't be going back there ever again! Rant over Anyone ever had a similar experience of supposedly big venues having atrocious sound?

Get hold of some more Ricks, Nevada in Portsmouth HAVE no and their bass department is the single biggest joke! It's tiny compared to what it used to be, I hate going down there and looking around and being able to be done in less than 5 minutes because all they seem to stock are a few Fenders and millions of Ibanez and ESP basses! Certainly look to have more Ricks in stock in a few different finishes other than Jetglo, Mapleglo and Fireglo. Aguilar amps would be fantastic to see, also a few Mesa Boogies, and what about Vox, are they still making bass amps? There are a lot of nice amps out there that I keep coming across lately and they never seem to be near me, so I'm travelling just to try out some gear which isn't economical, Brighton I can do cause that's 40 minutes down the road anything further than London is a bit of a trek!

I don't think its CD or Vinyl, more a case of new techniques versus old techniques, modern music is being produced in a different way to that of yesteryear, for those who haven't seen this vid check it out, makes a lot of sense once you've watched it! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Gmex_4hreQ

I think Dingus has it spot on there, when we were all kids or just starting out, we all had that one Pro bassist that we thought we were/wanted to be and strived to replicate their sound and thus use their gear. Personally when I first started out Steve Harris was my biggest influence, those galloping bass lines, that distinct sound that is mixed and cut so well and what did he play, a Fender P-Bass and what were my first 2 basses, Squire P-Basses. Back then I didn't know ANYTHING of anything else I didn't know about tone and playability I just wanted to be and sound like Steve Harris and would pay the money to achieve that. Nowadays I aspire to have a vintage tone of a Rickenbacker and low and behold the bassists that influence me most currently are John Entwistle and Macca and those guys played Rics and had a cracking tone. I'd personally pay the money for Ric yet other people won't. I'd happily buy a Stingray at the current prices but wouldn't if they were higher than £900 2nd hand, it's all about supply and demand and personal taste and necessity. If you're gonna post a FS add on your Stingray you have a sneaky look to see what the value is otherwise some guy is gonna undercut you.

Was my first gig in around 4/5 months last night and it went really really well! It was an assessment gig for my HND and it was great, we only had a small set, 3 songs but, we treated this as a pro gig and original set list was over 12 songs but we cut it right down so we had the strongest set possible and it was a great, great show! Can't wait for the next one and getting the original songs down so as to build up a good set!

Yeah definitely I'll get in touch sometime

Hi JimRyan, Yeah there's not many of us down here and that's just musicians in general! Yep sure is! HND course then when I'm done with that I'll top it up to a full BMus

Cheers for the replies guys, some seriously informative replies there and it makes me wanna try it even more! Anyone know of any decent luthiers in the Portsmouth area? This is certainly one project I'll add to the list to do before I reach say 30! I'm gonna stick around on here for a long time so you'll all see it! Dom, that Elm looks lovely! Would make an excellent top!

Haha, well if it's cheating then I don't care Thanks for the welcome Thanks Tony

Hi all, I'm branching into the teaching world on a more permanent basis (Hopefully) Looking for new students, any age and any ability. Currently studying for a HND in Music Performance and have experience of gigging many genres. I'm not a proficient slapper so am unable to teach that style sadly. Further enquires to [email protected] Thanks, James