SteveO

Ocean colour scene's Riverboat song is a good one. the drummer's playing a pretty straight forward 6/8, but the tuplet* over the first 3 quavers gives the bass and rhythm guitar lines that stuttering rhythm that makes it feel like it's much more complicated. * Anti pedant note - I know the second of the tuplet quavers is split into a dotted semiquaver and semiquaver, but it's still a pair of tuplet quavers over the first half of the bar.

2 logo's at 90 degrees to each other? Redesign your logo so it has rotational symmetry? The rotating logo is not a bad idea, although I reckon most people won't be bothered too much about sideways logos anyways. I'm not, but then again I have low standards

What about the rest of the band? they will need to hear you aswell, there is the PA monitors for this of course, but then again you can use them too if they're up to the job. I'm not knocking in-ears BTW, I use them when playing the Brass, I may even use them as well as the rig, but not instead of it.

unless it's got sentimantal value, why not save the bother and get a new one. There's a guy on ebay knocks them out for a tenner with postage for most common makes.

never had any probs. I was in a 5 piece for 2 years and we were all using RF's (cept the drummer of course) and noone ever had probs with crosstalk or interference, and we never even bothered to check which channel numbers we were using or anything (must have just been lucky with that one though ). I always take a cable and stick it on the amp in case of emergencies, but i'd never go back to playing wired. It's much more fun to run about like a loon

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='604733' date='Sep 21 2009, 05:59 PM']Study music not musicians. Biographies and magazines are not all they are cracked up to be. They create the illusion that you need to do this or that to get good, that you need this gear to play that or that gear to play this. Read 'em for two years and you have got pretty much all that you can get out of them. Save the money and get some music theory books.[/quote] I was actually looking forward to reading one that's supposed to be coming out next year about Paul Chambers, but I'll take your advice and put the money towards something more worthwhile then

[quote name='niceguyhomer' post='604256' date='Sep 21 2009, 10:36 AM']Is it me or do others find more interesting literature and illustrations on the top shelf?[/quote] The advantages of the interweb. This place has better info than the bass mags, and there is much better free porn out there than you'll find hiding on the top shelf of WHsmiths. I do miss the interviews though, although they did tend to become very generic. Now I spend my toilet time reading bios instead.

I think it's the hardest part of being a bassist. By its nature many songs are repetitive and it's easy to loose focus and wander off, and this happens more often on easy stuff purely coz it's easy stuff. My personal hate is She Sells Sanctuary as there's so little difference between the 3 different notes of the verse and the same 3 notes 'plus one more for a bit of variety' in the chorus played at a straight 8 rhythm. I end up dropping notes left right and centre on that one. Still, it's always a crowd pleaser and as long as you don't stop dead then it generally works out without anyone outside the band noticing. Our guitard is the worst at this though (there's a suprise). At least once per set he'll go for an extra verse, totally miss a middle 8 of a song. on a very memorable occasion whilst playing sweet child o mine he went straight to the ending whilst we were all going into the breakdown (singer "where do we go??? oh, it's the end of the song!" audience pissed themselves. Guitard "Huh wassup?"). Keeps us all on our toes

[quote name='SteveO' post='597330' date='Sep 13 2009, 02:45 PM']Maybe rename General Bass Discussion to General Discussion. (or something with a snappier title )[/quote] [quote name='skankdelvar' post='597387' date='Sep 13 2009, 03:53 PM']That's a good idea and a good compromise. It's not as if general music discussion is currently being inhibited by the sub-forum title. Might also push some of the gear and technique related stuff into the appropriate dedicated sub-forums. OT could then be re-specified as being for non-musical discussion. Might tidy up some of the cross-over stuff that slides into OT, e.g. band problems.[/quote] [quote name='BottomEndian' post='597521' date='Sep 13 2009, 06:41 PM']Yep. This could work too, and be less complicated than an extra forum.[/quote] What, are you mad? I wouldn't trust the opinion of anyone who's crazy enough to support one of my ideas. [quote name='leftybassman392' post='597528' date='Sep 13 2009, 06:47 PM']I like the idea of a general music discussion forum, but perhaps with a slightly more specific title - how about 'General Music Discussion'? I can see some of the less alert members using a 'General Discussion' forum for, er, general discussion - you know, like you would at the pub after a couple of beers...speaking of which... [/quote] Phew, the voice of reason.

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='597325' date='Sep 13 2009, 02:40 PM']Just to be difficult, can I reg a vote to keep things as they are. I quite enjoy the diversity of general bass discussion. We've got dedicated forums for basses, effects, amps, technique, gigging and recording. If we take general music [i]out[/i] of Gen Bass Disc, there won't be much left to go in there... [/quote] I'd vote against it too, although I agree with the op that some topics are not bass related, yet not Off topic and so don't really belong anywhere. Maybe rename General Bass Discussion to General Discussion. (or something with a snappier title )

i'd imagine it'd be a hell of a lot easier just to get a headphone amp - one of those VOX bass jobbies are supposed to be the bees knees. The output on my zoom 506 doubles as a headphone socket which is what I use and you can pick them up for a tenner. Of course if money isn't an issue then there's the newer B2.1's to consider. I've also run the bass through my stereo aux input to send to headphones although the sound was pants.

[quote name='metaltime' post='596482' date='Sep 12 2009, 01:17 PM']@SteveO: Really helpful post thanks for that. As i mentioned above I'm going to crack on with some theory and the book i have is The complete idiots guide to music theory which i believe is mainly Piano based. Do you think this will be enough of a basis? once i get to the point where i can read read i.e somewhere near the first stage you point out I will defiantly be tackling some classical pieces. I have heard Cello suites are supposed to be useful.[/quote] I would treat theory as a seperate entity to reading music... you don't really need to know either to be able to do the other (although reading music helps a lot when it comes to learning theory). To continue the analogy with reading words, it's like the diference between being able to read the newspaper and understanding why 'A tale of two cities' is such a great story. By all means learn both together, but I'd do half an hour concentrating on reading then half an hour concentrating on theory. In about a month you won't be [u]learning[/u] to read any more (because when all's said and done there's not a lot to learn) but you will get better at reading as you practice your instrument or learn the theory from writen music. When I was talking about reading classical stuff what I meant was that it will develop your sight reading faster to read a piece as you listen to it. Saying that it will also help a lot to read whilst playing too. Not that it is better than other styles of music for any snobbish reasons but because if a riff is repeated throughout the piece then you're only learning to read for the first instance of that riff. Anyway they tend to be a much better mental and physical workout than playing through whole lot o rosie a few times (That reminds me, I must get round to finishing off and posting the other Bach cello arrangements one of these days)

[quote name='metaltime' post='596209' date='Sep 12 2009, 01:41 AM']I am currently out of work as i have just finished my MA in Social Work. While I apply for jobs etc i have decided to learn how to read music as a challenge. I am going to try and practice every day. I have a book somewhere and i will up date this thread with a progress report on what im up to. Any advice or tips? getting a teacher is not an option just now due to lack of funds.[/quote] I've not seen that book so can't pass comment there, however I think there's 2 aproaches to reading music. the first is the logical aproach of reading the pitch and duration of the note plus any extras such as dynamics then moving onto the next note. The other aproach is you don't really scrutinise each individual note, but rather you read the music that the notes make up. It's the same way as when you read a sentance you don't pay much attention to the individual letters that make up the words. You should concentrate on the first of these to start with, look at the note and work out where it is on the fretboard and how long it lasts, play it then move to the next. After a short while you will memorise the notes (conciously or subconciously) and when you are reading and playing the music at normal speed the reading part will just be jogging your memory as to which notes come next. At the start you will probably be counting the lines under the note, maybe using a memory device such as the one BigAl mentioned to work out the note. Soon you will just look at the note and recognise it without having to count the lines (like recognising a letter without having to look at the shape of it). In my experience the vast majority of musicians will only learn to read to this level (which is not a criticism by the way) They will take a short while to practice a piece slowly before being able to play it at speed, and this level is perfectly good for all but the top jobs in orchestral music. The next step is to learn to sight read, which is where the 2nd approach comes in extremely useful. I'd advise getting a real beginners book, beginners piano would probably be good as it will cover both clefs. They generally have well known tunes such as '3 blind mice' or 'london brigde is falling down'. Whilst you probably won't use them on stage knowing the tunes as you learn to read them makes it a hell of a lot easier than trying to learn the tune as well as learning how to read the notes. Once you can recognise the notes, reading comes into it's own and learning a tune from the dots becomes a doddle. If you want to progress onto sight reading then this is when you start listeninig to music whilst reading the notes (without an instrument) If you can listen to it then classical music is the best for this as firstly there is a huge volume of cheap scores out there (check out 'dover minature scores' at Amazon) and secondly most classical music is constantly changing with little repetition, so you're learning to read a greater variety of phrases for the same cost in time and effort. Good luck with it, it's not as hard as many people make out. If it gives you any encouragement my 5 yr old can read music perfectly well and she isn't a prodigy by any stretch of the imagination.

[quote name='velvetkevorkian' post='593065' date='Sep 8 2009, 06:05 PM']What are you man, a gorilla? [/quote] my first bass (the CY Squier) was set up like that when bought, and not knowing any better I learnt to play high action. Now when I play it just doesn't feel right on anything less than 5mm. The JV squier is on the last turn of the thread on the height adjuster, but to me it feels great.

Forgot about this until it was resurrected, but here I come to screw up your stats: ... All measurements made on the E string. JV Squier 3rd: 2mm 12th: 10mm 17th: 11mm CY Squier 3rd: 1.5mm 12th: 7mm 17th: 8mm Yamaha RBX375 3rd: 1.5mm 12th: 6mm 17th: 7mm

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='590305' date='Sep 5 2009, 01:41 AM']Let's not lose sight of the fact that 4x10s look cool.[/quote] -1.... but let's not start that here

I'd vote for off, purely coz I hate pup covers, I always think it makes the bass look cluncky and they *must* restrict your plucking hand (I've never played with them on, so this is pure speculation) Anyway, that jazz looks sexy as hell without...

[quote name='BIG.J' post='588785' date='Sep 3 2009, 05:06 PM']Any Thoughts!! [url="http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Bugera-BTX36000-The-Nuke-3600-Watt-Bass-Amp-Head/ANG"]http://www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/...ss-Amp-Head/ANG[/url] Must admit one of the nicest and quietest amps i have ever used was there 300w head! Me thinks this is a little overkill J[/quote] Behringer are renowned for having a very casual relationship to reality when it comes to numbers. Someone on here (not sure who) pointed out on a similar product (Bugera) that if it really was 3600W, it'd be drawing 15A from the mains. Doesn't leave much left for anyone else on the same circuit. Anyway, anyone can see this is stupid marketing 'mine's bigger than yours' oneupmanship taken to extremes. I can't remember the math, but the power / loudness relationship is not linear anyway, i.e. this is not 12 times as loud as a 300W amp. Edit: doh! it is the same amp as previously discussed. If I could be bothered I'd post a link, but I cant so I wont.

[quote name='johnzgerman' post='584827' date='Aug 30 2009, 12:18 AM']basically if your going to buy a wireless system you need to get a decent one such as sennhiesser ew 300 g2 or a shure equivelent, as all the cheap ones are crap and will cause you more trouble than they are worth wether you use them for bass, guitar, sax or have a radio mic. they will suffer from interference from taxis, pirate radio, mobile phones and all sorts of other things that are flying about the airwaves. they will also have a short and patchy range and generally be a lot less reliable than a cable. believe me, i am a live sound engineer and regularly encounter musicians with their own wireless systems and it almost always ends up with reduced sound quality for whatever instrument or vocal they are using it for. i also regularly use the sennhiesser and less often shure systems which if you use the right licensed frequencies will rarely have any problems unless there is someone else in the vicinity useing our frequencies iligally. sorry to put a damper on your plans but unfortunately that is the way things are. (also they will cost you a fortune in batteries as you can only really use duracell procells or something similar to run them reliably for long periods.) hope this helps:)[/quote] I guess I must be one of the lucky ones. I have a cheap £50 T-bone wireless jobbie from Thomann and have never (touch wood) had interferance, to my ears the sound is indistinguishable from using a cable (although I'm sure that someone with an oscilloscope would be able to tell the difference), and an alkaline battery will last 4 hours (about 2 quid for a pack of 10) I wouldn't worry too much about the frequency response, even though the fundamental is lower it only makes up a tiny proportion of the note, and the vast majority of the sound you want is well over 50Hz. The best thing as always is to try before you buy, and trust your ears rather than what's written on the box / on the techy pages of your fave mag. Edit: for spellin

[quote name='bassbloke' post='584908' date='Aug 30 2009, 06:07 AM']Maybe some of you should have followed the link before commenting. It was clearly a semi-serious record attempt held as part of a fund raising event for a regional kidney charity. Now who's got a small penis eh![/quote] Followed link. Kudos for charity work, still a pointless record to 'break' (I'm sure if we could be bothered the 'record' could be smashed at the next bass bash if we each took a handful of pedals along). Still a bunch of fretboard w***ers. I remember when records were about people pushing themselves to the limit of physical endurance - lifting hundreds of beer crates, cycling thousands of miles on a unicycle, eating millions of beans with a toothpick etc. Wouldn't have been the same if Roy Castle had been singing "A big fat wallet's all you need..... "

I always find this kind of thing intriguing. Why do they do it? There can be no reason in a musical context to require that many pedals, There's no 'acheivment' in making the worlds largest pedal board, as it isn't going to be hard for some music shop / pedal manufacturer to assemble an even bigger one. Anyone who plays a guitar will think 'ostentatious pricks'. Anyone who doesn't play guitar will think 'ostentatious pricks'.... what's the point???

Woohoo I always say it's important to recognise your achievements when playing. Usually all we notice are the errors and bum notes. It's good to have a bit of self praise too.

I'd also be very interested in this mr lefty sir. Can you add me to your list please.