chriswareham

I'm sure I read somewhere that he played "incognito" with Zodiac Mindwarp a few years ago. They are both contributors to the Idler magazine, although Alex didn't realise at first that the mild looking Mark Manning was really priapic rock god Zodiac :-)

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1419020987' post='2635856'] Try the Ed Friedland book which ought to be called Jamaican bass: [/quote] Cool! Just snagged a copy on Amazon for less than a fiver.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1419022063' post='2635862'] Lots of triplet stuff where you just play the two and three of the triplet. Unfortunately to be any good at any style you just have to immerse yourself in it for weeks. Just listen constantly on your iPod to as much as you can get hold of. [/quote] Any recommendations gratefully appreciated. Stuff I'm familiar with and love includes Specials, Selector, Prince Buster, King Tubby and various stuff that Sly and Robbie have played on. For whatever reason, stuff that leaves me cold is Madness (apart from Night Boat To Cairo) and Bob Marley. I think I must be in good company when it comes to sharing this love of ska / reggae / dub stuff as it's also a big influence on people I admire like Killing Joke and Godflesh.

[quote name='taunton-hobbit' timestamp='1419020457' post='2635851'] Someone once told me that reggae bass is played on the 'off' beat, not the 'on' - is that any help? [/quote] Could be. I tend to think of the emphasis as being on the quarter notes, first note of four triplets or two dotted and one undotted quarter notes in a single bar if that makes sense. Perhaps I need to change my sub-conscious "count" to use alternate eight notes and what would be sixteenth "passing" notes in the genres I normally play. It's either that or start smoking draw, which is what was recommended by the Rastafari guy who ran the rehearsal place I used as a student!

I've played in punk, gothic, industrial and metal bands for over twenty years and something I've noticed is that pretty much everyone I've ever been in band with absolutely loves Ska and Reggae - in particular the Ska revival stuff of the very late 1970's and early 1980's. Whenever we've talked about it further, my bandmates have agreed that the bass playing in those styles of music has a feel we've found it impossible to replicate. It's almost as though our primary genres demand a mechanical and precise feel that is the complete opposite of Ska and Reggae. I've been intrigued by this for years, so I've spent this afternoon trying to analyse what makes a typical Ska bass and drum backing. My conclusion is that the the drums are typically quite "shuffling" (not sure if that's the correct term), but ultimately play a repetitve pattern thoughout most songs. The bass guitar though is completely unfathomable to me, playing against the rhythm and often changing so much that it almost sounds like it was improvised. I know that people like Horace Panter had been playing for many years before they acheived a high profile, but how on earth do you start to learn this style of playing? I've tried many times to play along with the recordings, but I always sound stilted in comparison!

Hmm, synth porn. Here's my collection of unreliable analogue antiques: Roland TR-77, Roland Jupiter 4 and Oberheim OB-X. All with MIDI retrofits. ARP Omni II and Solina String Ensemble Mk I. Powertran Transcendent 2000. Plus about a dozen other rack mounted or percussion analogue oddities such as a Syncussion and Clap Trap.

As it was my birthday today, I asked my brother if he'd buy me a cheap Gibson EB-1 or EB-3 copy. I'm a big fan of Jack Bruce's playing in Cream, but could never justify the exorbitant cost of a Gibson short scale. So, my birthday present was an Avon Rose-Morris EB-1 copy: I found it on Gumtree, then my brother sorted out payment and shipping (£60 in total). Neck is straight, action is spot on and the tone goes from thuddy if I pick near the neck to surprisingly bright and twangy near the bridge. I absolutely love it!

Type O Negative - Cinnamon Girl (they also did a great version of Summer Breeze, a song mentioned earlier in this thread, but a rather lacklustre Beatles medley). Jesus And Mary Chain - Mushroom (a Can cover) and a scorching version of Bo Diddley's Who Do You Love? Paradise Lost - How Soon Is Now (no Morrissey vocal is a bonus for me), as well as a great version of Bronski Beat's Smalltown Boy. And a stonking cover of The Sisters of Mercy's Walk Away. Sepultura - The Hunt (a New Model Army cover). Diamanda Galas - Gloomy Sunday (with the first English lyrics that are closer to the original Hungarian lyrics than the later, better known version covered by the likes of The Associates). Therapy? - Diane (Husker Du cover, although the original is great as well).

Looks like an alcohol fuelled posting that sounded funny until they sobered up. Either that or they really are twunts.

Played there a couple times about fifteen years ago. It was a Hells Angel pub back then, complete with bikers club room upstairs which doubled as the strippers changing room and band backstage area. A grotty place, but they still seemed to get some decent bands. Sounds like it has gone downhill since then and I guess it's not a biker place anymore.

I had to change the setup on my Stingray to account for greater tension, but I was using the heaviest strings from a five string set on a four string and tuning them up from BEAD with a subsequent increase in tension. If you're using a four string set and detuning them, then you're probably OK. I currently tune to drop Bb, and on one of my basses I just use the standard set of strings that was already on there (on my other bass in drop tuning I use a Circle K set).

Contrary to popular belief, reggae-lite outfit UB40 took their name from a postal district in Uxbridge not from an employment benefit form. Ian MacKaye, founder of legendary straight-edge acts Minor Threat and Fugazi, was recently sectioned following his breakdown in the cooked meats aisle of his local supermarket. On attending the scene, paramedics found him rubbing handfuls of bacon over his naked body and screaming "it's all lies, all lies I tell you".

"Paradise City" by Guns and Roses is a tribute to their home town of Scunthorpe. Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails holds the Guinness World Record for owning the largest collection of Hello Kitty merchandise.

Saw an article about this lot in The Guardian. They remind me of John Cooper Clarke when he was at his best (Beasley Street, Evidently Chickentown, etc), and I do love a bit of gratuitous swearing :-)

If money was no object, then one of those old Roland SIP-301 rack mounted pre-amps into the power amp of any decent combo with a 15" speaker (most likely a Peavey I guess). Those Roland pre-amps are simple to use and sound great. I miss mine :-(

You might mean the Circle K website, although their gauge charts are specifically for their own strings. For drop C on a four string I used to use the heaviest four strings from a Power Slinky five string set. That gave me good tension and a great tone, but it required a full setup to ensure the neck was correct.

[quote name='Marsy' timestamp='1415458020' post='2600568'] Arp - Quartet [/quote] Lovely string synth - a rebadged Siel that sounds similar to the wondrous Crumar Performer. I'd strongly recommend getting a proper keyboard amp, since bass amps tend to colour the sound, and an SVT CL does that more than most bass amps. The colouration may benefit a synth bass, although I'd suspect it would sound a bit woolly, but your going to lose a lot of the "sizzle" of a string synth.

I had the first version with the *ahem* controversial headstock that reflected the same influence as the body shape. It was a nicely put together instrument, and as others have said those Musicman style pick-ups are phenomenally loud - I had to double check that it really was a passive bass and that there wasn't a battery holder for an active circuit hidden somewhere!

[quote name='Old_Ben' timestamp='1414356082' post='2588626'] Uninstall firefox, install chrome = sorted! [/quote]Can you get adblock plus for Chrome?

That Hondo is identical to mine. As Jon says, they were clearly a budget instrument but with a good setup they are surprisingly decent. The pickups are particularly good, and another member of Basschat transplanted the electrics from a Hondo into a modern Rick copy. The Hondo Rick copy in this colour was also Peter Hook's main bass throughout most of the time Joy Division existed, although in his autobiography he says it wasn't a great bass - the first gig he played with it the E string kept popping out of the nut!

Not sure which one qualifies as worst: 1) Fell off stage at the Moonlight Club, West Hampstead - my first gig in London, over excited at being the same stage that had once been graced by Joy Division. 2) Going into a catatonic state for an entire chorus thanks to a strobe light. I black out whenever I'm exposed to fast strobes, and then I get an appalling migraine roughly an hour later. 3) Knocking a sequencer off stage in Liverpool. Thankfully the drummer didn't miss a beat, despite the sudden loss of his click track, and the on stage sound was so appalling that none of the other band members noticed the absence of keyboard parts. 4) Watching from the side of the stage when some tit in a support band managed to careen into my Ampeg stack and knock it over. Thankfully it was a solid state SVT 350 head and it still worked, albeit with a few dents. 5) And finally, a gig in my college days where the singer had taken LSD. He just about managed the original songs, but his rendition of Rock Lobster was ... odd.

I tried one of those, and it was frankly awful. Tracking was all over the place, even on a bass with light gauge strings and a high action - which is what you'll need, since the slightest mix of notes or harmonics will confuse the hell out of this kind of device. You also need near superhuman accuracy to ensure you play in a staccato fashion to prevent notes overlapping. I was suckered into thinking this might be something that could be used live, but I think most people would struggle to get a clean take with one in the studio!

I use a Novation Super Bass Station (rack mounted module) and an obscure thing called a Firstman SQ-01, which has a built in sequencer. I have used them in the past along with bass guitar, but more often on completely electronic tracks where both modules are often playing different bass parts simulataneously. Some of my electronic stuff is up on [url="https://soundcloud.com/namesinmarble"]Soundcloud[/url]. I've always loved the way that New Order combined synth bass and bass guitar, as well as various industrial rock bands that also did interesting things along these lines. In particular, Stabbing Westward whose songs featured excellent bass guitar and synth parts.

Have a look on eBay for a good condition Boss DR550. Cheap, with good presets, but also programmable and it's very intuitive unlike the Alexis SR-16.

The skill of the guy with the band saw is amazing. In the comments on YouTube, someone says that their parents are in the video and that he thinks there is more footage of a similar nature. Would love to see that as well, particularly if it shows basses being made!