Al Krow

For lockdown practice - this £6 headphone extension lead is going to make things a whole lot more comfortable! https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002WMMAMU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Aha - a much posher bass and looks great in that finish!

I've tried a few including a number of the excellent filters already mentioned on this thread (not as many as BoOtsy or GisserD mind you!) The analogue pedal that out squelches them all for me is the 3Leaf GR2. Comes up from time to time used. Grab one when they do! YMMV etc.

That one's easy. When learning to ride a bike it's always good to start with stabilisers. And some of us never manage to get rid of them 😁

Wasn't aware that Mark was of SBL heritage, must admit! I think our own Mark @M@23 knows him personally and may be able to confirm. But I guess not unheard of for folk in all walks of life to venture off and do their own thing. At the back of my mind I've got both the Fodera and F Bass founders as having originally learned their trade in Ken Smith's workshop (although that may just be wrong!) Yeah - please do let us know how you get on with the 'The Practice Accelerator' and if it's largely duplicating his free material, that's also worth knowing.

@EBS_freak loved that! So professionally done & sounding! You're sporting a tasty bass, but I couldn't quite make out the make and model - I'm going to have a bit of a wild guess at a Cort A5?

@BillyBass thanks very much for sharing that. Yes - still absolutely looking for highly recommended paid courses that folk have taken and found to be well worth the money. As you spotted, it may not be for me for this year, as I have now signed up to three(!)** of Mark's courses on Talking Bass and I'm only 60% of the way through the first one, but I know several other folk are also looking for lock-down lesson inspiration and it's good to know what else is out there for sure. And hopefully this thread will turn into a useful repository of recommendations that folk can refer to down the line. The course you've recommended seems to have a lot of fans: I've just checked and it's already in the summary list in the first thread post, but it was great to have your detailed comments - really useful for anyone thinking about doing the course. **he keeps offering 30% discounts on courses that I really like the look of and would have likely have signed up for in due course anyway! 😁

Thanks - I've included a precis in the summary.

Hey - first of all welcome to Bass Chat! For a first bass, I'd definitely recommend starting on a 4 string. This thread may be of interest: To save you reading through 20 pages, the "right" answer is a Sire P7, if you want to have both a P and J pup on a bass or a Sire V7 if you're after a Jazz bass 😁 I've recently got a Sire P7 5 string and it's a very versatile and well put together bass. @pepsi-abi, who started the other thread a few weeks back, ended up getting the Sire V7 4 string and I'm sure she'll be able to share how she's getting on with it.

Yes indeed, sounds like a really helpful add on. And I suspect as well as beneficial for those taking the course, rewarding for you to see the progress folk have made and to establish a connection with your 'students'. Hope it goes well - and ties in nicely with the Jeff Berlin discussion I've just been having with fretmeister above.

I learned something new today - bass notation on the bass clef strictly requires the use of an octave-up pedal, as the true pitch of our basses is an octave below what's actually written! I guess a lot of folk know that already, but I certainly didn't!

Haha - fair enough! So would I be correct in summarising the course you've done as being "aimed at teaching how to read 'proper' bass clef music notation"? Definitely something I need to think about doing at some point soon - I was learning classical guitar at about the same time you were having your piano lessons but that was purely treble clef!

@fretmeister - really good mini review, thank you. Exactly the sort of helpful detail for folk to get an idea of whether to look into a particular paid online course further. My only follow up query is that the first course which you took seems to be aimed at teaching 'proper' bass clef music notation. But what extra is it bringing to the party for someone, like yourself, who can already read music on the bass clef given that you've had classical piano lessons?

Pulling you onto this thread... Also worth you posting an ad in the "Items Wanted" forum. Great choice of bass btw!

This sounds great John. Again, any more details on the particular course you've taken and price / number of lessons / what level aimed at / what it's setting out to teach etc? A little mini review would be really useful to give folk a bit of a steer and I can then also include in the summary table in my OP.

Yeah I'm afraid it does! The SS was decent in its day but the decade old tech under its bonnet is definitely starting to be shown up by several of the newer kids on the block.

You got any more details e.g. price / number of lessons / what level aimed at / what it's setting out to teach etc? I can then include in the summary table in my OP.

For sure. But the beauty with online courses is that you can skip through the easy stuff and just spend time focusing on the areas you need to. Applying a bit of your own judgement means that the generic courses become a lot more tailored to your specific needs. Obviously this needs you to have a degree of self awareness, whereas an expert one-to-one tutor should be able to spot this for you. And I hope you'll agree: as important as the lesson itself is the quality and time spent practising in between - that's where the real progress is usually made.

Haha - I should definitely be on commission, shouldn't I? 😁 He's just released a new set of course material, which looks great, with a 30% discount for this first release week: https://www.talkingbass.net/product/chords-for-bass-course/ 52 lessons spread over 3 modules, 154 pages of lesson material and over a variety of audio practice tracks. With the discount, it works out at less than £1 a lesson.

That's a good summary. The issue in both cases is finding high quality tuition. I suspect many (but obviously not all) "in person" tutors will find it hard to match the expertise / ability to express and convey technique, supported by lesson materials, that the very best online tutors clearly demonstrate and provide. Having had both, I'm very much a convert to quality online tuition.

Just had a play near the bridge and clearly the chap who had it in between you and I must have set it up differently (better? 😁) - the bridge poles are rock solid and notes sustain very well, as you would expect with a neck through. And actually the mid heavy nature you mentioned a few posts back with NE mid sweep off, is fairly easily dealt with by just cutting the main mid EQ a touch; and on that basis I would be very comfortable with playing the bass without the NE mid sweep engaged. So all is still well in the Krow household this evening...PHEW!! It is funny, isn't it, how the exact same bass can find different wrinkles and reactions from different bass players? E.g. the BB735A you took off my hands was one I just couldn't gel with, but methinks you had it set up better than I managed and consequently coaxed a better sound from it than I ever did. @HazBeen will be along shortly to say it's all in the fingers...

Congrats! I thought that was a head turningly good looking bass from the moment I spotted it (as I commented on the FS thread)! If Fender could be persuaded to make a 5 string version of that exact bass I would be on it like a shot - huge fan of PJs these days. Enjoy!

Now he tells me! 😂😂 I'm gonna be looking particularly closely at them bridge saddles next time I'm playing near the bridge...😉

Is that the Oly White one in the FS which has just sold?