XB26354

[quote name='charic' post='195886' date='May 10 2008, 10:53 AM']Standing waves are a form of resonance. It is usually found in longer rooms and effects bass frequencies waveforms are much "longer" and more powerful than high frequencies (told you bass was better than guitar). Basically your waveform could of been reflected off of the far wall and if to peaks of a wave hit each other they add together and at that point the bass frequencies will sound louder. Its not really amp science but acoustics. I find it hard to explain without pictures and im not at my home comp, may try again later[/quote] Standing waves usually occur in rooms with parallel walls, regardless of the whether the room is long and thin or square. Standing waves occur when a peak amplitude wave hits a trough amplitude - add them together and you get (near enough) zero, so they cancel frequencies out instead of enhancing them (like 2 mics that are out of phase). This is unlikely to be the cause. Bass frequencies need a fairly big space to start reflecting. It may be that the room was big enough to start reflecting the bass end off the walls, meaning front of house (and the audience) were hearing loads of bass. How big was the room? I have found that I need my amp to be louder in a small rehearsal room than a medium venue because of this.

There is a Candy Cola one at the Gallery - B sounds crap even with newish strings. As for Fender not making a lemon, almost every Fender 5 I have played has got a dull, undefined B string (and I've owned a couple - Deluxe 5 Jazz and Custom Classic 5). I have played plenty of 4-string Fenders too, new and old, that sounded crap and looked shoddily built. I'd say about 20% of them were great, no more. With Sadowsky's I'd say 75%. The quality of manufacture, fit and finish is just so much better (owned 3 Sadowskys too!). That bass on YouTube has a totally tapered B and E yet the B still sounds markedly different to the other strings. If I was looking for a Fender style 5 around that kind of price bracket I would look at a Lakland Joe Osborn or save a little more and get a Sadowsky Metro (The PJ hybrid is heavenly). If you must have a Fender logo on the headstock then go for it. Other companies have long known Fenders have great fundamental design but they also have serious weaknesses and have exploited them. If Fenders were what they should be after 60 years of R&D these "clones" wouldn't be in business!

Please Delete.

"Teaches guitar, also bass". We've all come across that kind of "teacher". Seriously though, take the time to find the right teacher for you. My long experience both as a student and a teacher over 20+ years has been that there are a lot of people that can certainly play but they can't necessarily teach (and that goes for "name" players too). A teacher should have good all-round knowledge of music, be able to read music (forget about tab - if you're going to use it there's no point getting a private teacher), has a solid and comfortable technique, and most importantly that they are open, good-natured and a natural communicator. It would also help if the teacher is aware that due to men and women having different body types (oo-er!) he/she should make sure that the position of your bass is correct and will not cause you back/shoulder/wrist pain in the future. Be wary of teachers that just want to show you licks, or just songs, or do nothing but slap or widdle or who can't express themselves. A good teacher will make you advance much quicker that you would teaching yourself, but a poor teacher will show you a load of their bad habits and gaps in their knowledge that will take years to undo. Finally be aware that a teacher is there merely to open the door to allow you do discover the ideas and inspiration to improve - it's up to you to go through the door and make it happen. If you don't work hard on each lesson's material you're wasting their time and your money

[quote name='alexclaber' post='39654' date='Jul 31 2007, 06:23 PM']There is one thing that will make it louder and that is more sensitive speakers, or simply MORE speakers! The more sensitive the speakers the more dB SPL out you will get for the voltage in. So if you were to plug the power amp output of your little 35W combo into a very large efficient speaker cab or two (like a BFM DR280 on top of a Titan 48) then you would actually get enough volume to easily keep up with a drummer. But you wouldn't want to have to move that..." Alex[/quote] I think it is worthwhile pointing out that in general your amp should have a higher wattage than your cab(s). If you have a 100w head and a 400w cab it will work fine but you'll still only perceive the volume to be something close to the rating of the amp. The temptation would then be to crank the amp past its most efficient output level to get more volume. Most amps tend to work best when the output/master volume is between 40% and 60% - any higher and the amp runs out of headroom and will start distorting. Much better to have a 500w head with the output at 50% driving a 300w cab than a 300w amp at 90% driving a 500w cab. Obviously you need to be aware of the output from the amp so you don't blow the speakers!

I don't think it is really possible to learn to develop your own style without playing in a lot of different situations (both good and bad). I am always blown away by the average bar bands in the US when I visit - they are so committed, talented and tight and I've seen very few duff ones. Most musicians play in half a dozen different bands - covers bands, functions, etc as well as "serious" original music. The ones that I spoke to are pragmatic: the functions band helps to pay for the costs of running the originals band and also gives them valuable band experience playing songs they might otherwise never play. Some even played with the same musicians in each band. Better to do that then put up with a dead-end day job So I say play what you like and use what equipment you like, so long as you put your heart into it and enjoy it then integrity will take care of itself. I think musical integrity (or a lack of it) usually refers to critically-regarded acts that produce a very commercial album just to make loads of money (but even that is open to personal opinion)

[quote name='BossHog' post='194160' date='May 7 2008, 07:59 PM']My vote 1 Gail Ann Dorsey, as of Bowie, Tears for Fears, Gwen Stefani fame as well as her own material. Great player, great voice. 2 Lydia Kaboesj can be seen on numerous posts on YouTube, I saw her playing at the Frankfurt Musikmesse this year, she's fantastic. 3 Tal Wilkenfeld, she's in a rhythm section with Vinnie Colaiuta at 21 years old!!![/quote] GAD is absolutely wicked... met her once and she is really interesting, and a really nice person to boot! Tal Wilkenfeld is playing with VC in more ways than one - which is perhaps why when he has a gig nowadays she is always there Good player at such a tender age though...

I think that a beginner would do well to look at the position the bass is sitting. It is too high on him and if you played a lot of fingerstyle like that you'd have to have a very bent wrist in the plucking hand, which is asking for pain and hand problems later on...

I have yet to come across tighter or better-defined B-strings than on Warwicks. BTW I recently bought new gold hardware for my Corvette 6 and Warwick seems to have widened the tailpiece so that non-tapered B-strings will fit. I will say that the Streamer Stage 1 6, whilst one of my favourite sounding basses of all time (especially on the neck pickup - instant Anthony Jackson) has a horrible fat neck. It is the profile rather than the depth. The fingerboard is wide anyway (55mm at nut, 19mm spacing at bridge) but the curve is too steep at the shoulder, meaning there is too much "meat" in the neck for me. I recently acquired a Ken Smith BSR6 which has the same width board but has a much shallower curve to the back of the neck. It is a dream to play in comparison. It's a shame as I love the Warwick growl but even at similar prices it cannot hold a candle to the Smith in terms of quality of manufacture, balance, looks, playability and variety of tone (although I know Smiths are love/hate as well due to their limited availability, slightly dated styling and less aggressive tone). For rock or metal though I wouldn't play anything but a Warwick as the tone just cuts through and sounds so good in the mix.

I spelt it with 2 t's until I looked at my Birth Certificate when I was about 20 and realised there was only one t I was named after the maternity nurse (a Mrs Mathews apparently) - good thing she wasn't Mrs Berk

Cheers everyone, very much appreciated!

I think so too (although I don't have a signature yet - [edit] do now!) It would nice to bump into fellow Ken Smith owners, and unless it comes up in a thread I probably wouldn't know if someone owned one if it weren't for the signature. I don't think people are trying to show off, they're just proud of the gear they have

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='193691' date='May 7 2008, 10:40 AM']S'alright, HH, no need to apologise. Most jazz out there isn't jazz, most jazz venues don't put jazz on very much and most aftershaves don't swing. Most jazz festivals are chock full of stuff that isn't jazz and most jazz bins in record shops are not full of jazz cds. And most owners of Fender Jazz basses STILL don't play jazz on them (despite my campaign). Have a good one. [/quote] Yes, the Jazz Cafe in Camden is the best of the lot. I think they have one jazz artist per year, and when they do I miss it, even though I'm just round the corner

[quote name='jakesbass' post='193531' date='May 6 2008, 11:40 PM']Welcome Mathew. I've already read and enjoyed some of your posts, I think you'll like it here. Jake[/quote] Cheers! Nice to feel welcome

[quote name='thinman' post='193304' date='May 6 2008, 08:53 PM']Thanks all - I'll try some of the suggestions. It's not playing octaves that I have a problem with as such - it's the repetition of damping the octave by lifting off that is giving me problems so I may go back to trying thumb and index and muting with the side of my plucking hand.[/quote] Ah - have you tried playing with your fretting hand fingers right on top of the frets? It slightly damps notes and saves a bit of effort as you only have to make the smallest movement to stop the note...

If I am a snob, it is that I prefer second-hand basses to new ones. There are very few basses I have played that feel comfortable when brand new. When a bass has been played for a few years the wood seems to settle, the neck wears nicely and the instrument seems to feel so much better. As long as a bass is made from decent quality wood and feels right for you then it shouldn't matter what the name is on the headstock, or what the price tag says. I recently picked up a Yamaha BB615 in Black for £300 - a lovely, lovely bass. The only things I would change to make it perfect is to file the sharp fret ends and cut the G slot in the nut as it is a little high. It is all down to preference. I have played perhaps 200 Fenders and I have only come across 2 that I liked - a 1973 P-bass and a 1966 refinished Jazz. Both were light, really sang and looked lovely. They were also silly money Snobbery occurs in any hobby/pastime/profession - golf, cycling, studio recording, designer clothes, cars, computers etc and is usually fuelled by money and envy. I do happen to own a reasonably expensive bass, but I've been playing over 20 years, and bought it because I was (only just!) able to afford it at that time, and decided to go for it because it made the perfect sound I hear in my head (which no other bass I have ever played did). If it had been half the price and a no-name make and sounded and felt the same, I would still have bought it

I think it is also worth mentioning that you do [i]not[/i] need strong hands to play the electric bass! A well set-up bass, with a small amount of neck relief, requires you to push a metal string between about 1mm and 3mm down slightly behind a fret. Your plucking hand needs to pass the tip of a finger over the top of the string. A small child is "strong" enough to do this You also do not need stamina to play for a long time. You need to develop efficient technique, and most of all, relax. I've seen Gary Willis play several times, and he can play very fast, sustained passages. he has a very efficient technique so it looks like his fingers are hardly moving. At the same time he gets a deep, fat tone! One Finger Per Fret is a general guide that is most useful for scales and arpeggios. There are always some awkward fingerings that don't "sit" nicely using OFPF, and require compression (Motown 3-fret lines a la James Jamerson) or expansion (playing a chromatic scale in one position). With regard to strap height, too high is even worse than too low, as it pushes the headstock (and therefore lowest frets) as far away from your fretting hand as is possible. A lower strap (with the body of the bass around the waist) allows you to angle the neck up towards you. This also puts a comfortable bend in the fretting arm and straightens the fretting wrist (ironically bringing the playing position a little closer to double bass).

I would respectfully say that double bass technique is not necessary on a normal scale electric bass unless you have very small hands. One finger per fret gives you a lot more freedom and fits most lines as well as, if not better than double bass fingering. Octaves are, however, more comfortable with index and pinky (some players I know prefer index and ring finger). Middle and pinky tenses up the middle of the hand, straightening out the pinky. Be careful that you are not locking out the knucke joints of the pinky as well as this will make your hand tire quickly. Far from developing strength it would be more advisable to a. use the least amount of pressure to fret a note with the left hand b. be as relaxed as possible both with your hands and your body in general c. not wear the bass too low or too high - too low is not as bad as having it up under your chin as this forces your arm and hand further away from your body, distorting the wrist joint. The fact that you say it "kills" your hand is a sure sign that you are pressing too hard and/or tensing up.

Light or heavy strings won't make a difference in your music. New strings will have more zing, but if you really want to cut through that mix you'll have to go to a studio and get each track balanced properly as bass ferret says. Most recordings use some kind of complementary eq so that each instrument has it's place. A good engineer might cut a narrow band of low mids from the guitars slightly, and boost the bass at the same place. The same would apply when getting the kick drum and bass to sit together. It may also help when recording to pan the guitars slightly, leaving the centre for bass and kick drum. Live, you may have to insist that the guitar player cuts a little bit of low mid

Hi, nice to meet you all here at Basschat - I actually stumbled across this whilst talking to another bass player at a gig, so networking does have its benefits... My name is Mathew, I am 35, been playing bass for 20 years. I'm originally from Portsmouth. I was lucky (or unlucky!) enough that at 14 and a half my first bass teacher was an old school jazzer that played electric, upright and pretty mean piano. He eat, slept and drank music and instilled in me a passion for bass which I've never lost. He also introduced me to all the great electric bass players I would never have heard of at that age - like James Jamerson, Carol Kaye, Joe Osborn and Chuck Rainey. I guess that I have leaned towards jazz ever since, but I have always liked a good song, so my iPod has got every conceivable style/genre. I was lucky enough that Portsmouth had a pretty decent music scene in the late 80's to early 90's - there were a lot of musicians passing through (as it is a port). I was lucky enough to play in a lot of different jazz bands, as well as a stint with a great 15-piece latin band (playing latin percussion certainly helps with your sense of timing!). As for influences, I would say my main sources of inspiration nowadays are Anthony Jackson, for his brilliant all round ensemble playing and note choice, Gary Willis, for his fluidity and deep harmonic sense, and Rocco Prestia, for being a great, funny guy face-to-face as well as an awesome player. Equipment-wise, I have played pretty much everything there is over the last 20 years, and have settled on two recent acquisitions - A Ken Smith Black Tiger BSR6 and an Epifani UL210C. Both were expensive but surpass anything I have owned previously in both performance, sound and build quality. I also have a Yamaha BB615 which for £300 is an unbelieveable 5-string backup - great tone fingerstyle or slap, cool looks in black and solid build quality. I might even get time to whack a couple of photos up as well, if anyone's interested... Well that's enough about me, thanks for reading and good to be a member! Mathew