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[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1348695872' post='1817178'] But how cool would that be?? You could be all warm and cosy while jamming away [/quote] You mean get a bass with a burl ives top and loads of laminates and drool on it and suck on it all day and night instead of treating as your music slave

I really like the Bass Builders books, they are genre independent and very good for beginners to this sort of stuff, like me, although I can't claim to have really worked through them properly as I have so little motivation to http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fingerboard-Harmony-Bass-Builders/dp/0793560438/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348695915&sr=1-3 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simplified-Sight-Reading-Bass-Josquin-Pres/dp/0793565189/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1348695827&sr=1-4

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1348694907' post='1817159'] Totally man.... people worry too much [/quote] I think I have evolved over the years and I won't let an instrument be a f***ing comfort blanket.

[quote name='Kevo' timestamp='1348693199' post='1817117'] Just call me a ludite! [/quote] To me music is music. The more I do it the less I give a sh*t about how I make it. I play a few instruments, but all I care about is the song. I just make music, and that's all that's important.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1348642674' post='1816216'] The top half is a [url="http://www.misadigital.com/kitara.html"]Misa Kitara[/url]. And what's with the second guitarist lurking in the back ground? If you're going to use extra musicians put them where they can be seen otherwise everyone will assume you are using backing tracks. [/quote] Thanks Mike, I was searching last night and I saw the name in some links, but didn't click, I'd assumed it was a Kaoss Pad. Cheers! I WANT ONE!!!

[quote name='Maverick' timestamp='1348617875' post='1816169'] I'd imagine there are a million and one interesting and creative things you could do with that set-up. Unfortunately, I can't really imagine that that bassline is one of the finer examples. [/quote] I'm afraid I can only agree. Desperately disappointing really. I would die to bring that bass to the Kit show. My imagination is running riot now. I imagine so many sounds I can't achieve on a 'normal' bass rig, but until this wonderful evolution I couldn't see how it was possible without a keyboard synth. That bass is pretty much perfectly designed for what I feel I need.

The things I could do with that! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNodZNUZ8Ss

[quote name='SteveK' timestamp='1348614898' post='1816146'] Another example of a [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjexmfdXXhQ"]whole-tone scale @ 0:06[/url] blink and you'll miss it! [/quote] There you go! Nice one

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1348602971' post='1815925'] Also, when does anyone ever have the audacity to use a whole-tone scale? I think I've heard Stevie Wonder do it once, but is that how useful it is - you can use it once if you're lucky and mega talented? [/quote] Depends how you phrase it doesn't it? Same as Diminished scales, I love the sound of them.

That's very good mate, smoove. Sounds a little like a James Bond theme. My only minor gripe is that in some places your timing is a little over-anxious, other than that it's got some really nice bass note choices and the chords are lush!

[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1348573156' post='1815309'] My vote has been cast. I must say, there's a downright excellent collection of songs there. It's insane how so many people can get so many different messages and emotions from just one image. Can't wait for next months competition. Liam [/quote] Highly diverse and some great stuff on there! I voted for what I really liked.

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1348592037' post='1815698'] No one's arguing about listening and educating your ears...But why is the rest bollocks and unrealistic? It's certainly not unrealistic due to the amount of people over the years who have learnt and are still learning all of this stuff.Of course it takes years to study,but what is the problem with that? Again,there are tons of musicians who are still studying even though they have had long careers in music. No one said that you can or should learn this overnight,it's a long steady process. If people feel inadequate or put off by suggestions of what to learn,then that's down to the individual.The way that I've always approached it,is that it's all just part of the learning process. [/quote] Sorry, poorly phrased, I meant the advice is pretty much bollocks, its an overused used stock answer to those seeking some improvement in their playing and writing. A good tutor needs to identify the student's issues and remedy them with intelligently targeted exercises, not a very large theoretical undertaking.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1348585044' post='1815557'] He's right. (He's alway f***in' right ) [/quote] He is !

[quote name='Doddy' timestamp='1348580086' post='1815457'] ...and the problem of approaching it from that angle is? I actually do more gigs where I don't read charts and it still all helps. You're right about educating your ears(that's never been an argument),but it's not always about playing what [i]you[/i] like. The OP may or may not have been coming from that angle,but it's a perspective that no one else had suggested until that point... and to be honest,saying that "No amount of theory will help you",is doing people a disservice,especially when you later reference Steve Vai,who knows a ridiculous amount. That is why you study and practice...so that when you play you don't think "I'm going to play this note or that note".You do all that in the practice room. But the idea is that it becomes ingrained and it comes out subconsciously. The notion that music is an "expression of yourself" isn't always the case.There are a lot of gig situations where you may not be required to 'express yourself' and it is your job to simply highlight the changes or read the charts or whatever. In these cases you better know what notes make up what chords.That doesn't mean that you don't use your ears,but it does mean that you sometimes need more. I'd say this is more about learning changes and harmony and keeping your ears open than scales and modes. There are a lot of jazz tunes that follow similar changes to each other,in the same way as pop music does.If you know most of the common changes and can hear when they are being played it makes life a lot easier to busk on a jazz gig.Then it's just a matter of keeping your ears open for anything that may be unfamiliar. I disagree. I've done countless gigs with people who don't know theory and just play/write,but it doesn't mean that my knowledge hasn't been useful to either myself or others. [/quote] The problem is, a relative beginner posts a question like this, and are often told, learn scales, learn intervals, learn the modes, learn theory, learn to read .. It's bollocks really, because it's idealistic and completely unrealistic. This sort of advice takes a lifetime and it usually makes people feel very inadequate, and may put them off learning much at all. Easy steps. Sure, if he wants to be Jimmy Haslip, by all means go to school, but for most of us that's not the way it is. No amount of theory will help someone be musical if they are not constantly LISTENING and educating their ears. That's pretty much my angle anyway.

A superb drummer friend has a Meinl, it sounds excellent and is within your range, I just checked on Amazon, they have some nice finishes too.

Top name Hello and welcome to the mothership.

[quote name='WillEdwards' timestamp='1348527891' post='1814959'] Definitely aaaaaaaaaall that! [/quote] Get to it then! Seriously, if you put your time into expression, space and time, rather than notes, you'll find that obsession for finding 'interesting' notes becomes much less important or pertinent to your becoming an expressive bassist. You will also find playing the simplest of bass lines immensely rewarding.

I woke up in the middle of the night to hear an interview on the World Service with Larry Graham. He was saying how he just wanted to be a drum kit. He was asked by the interviewer what he thought of all the bassists he's influenced since, like Mark King, Flea, Marcus Miller .. he said it feels gratifying hearing all his bass children Sorry, bit off topic. What is it with the BBC and bassists at the moment?

ahahahaha, you don't change do you brother You are the one person on here with permanent, full on, GASSSSSS! I have to say, the Big Als are really lovely, but I can't get on with those nut widths. The white and tort is wondrous!

It's just the way your post came across mate, like a clinical theoretical approach to writing. You seem like you are well on your way, you play notes you like, that's all you need to do, but obviously you can develop that infinitely. But is NOT just about notes, there is also timing, using space, swing, accent, techniques like legato, staccato, diminuendo, crescendo, ghost notes, trills, tremolo, vibrato, violining (or 'cello-ing' in our case), slides, diads, triads, chords ..

[quote name='bertbass' timestamp='1348524897' post='1814906'] OK, I'll be the one to ask the obvious question. What's a ghost note? [/quote] If you imagine a normal bass note as a large dog, ghost notes are like the flies on it.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1348523776' post='1814894'] Don't think, FEEEEEEEEELLLL. I tried getting ghost notes when I was learning to slap and I consciously put a lot of unnecessary effort into it. Then one day I just relaxed and had fun with it and hey presto - I got a ghost note. I then 'backwards engineered' what I had done and realised that the effort that I had been investing to develop a new technique had been causing me to tense the muscles in my wrists and hands. [b]The minute I stopped trying everything just fell into place.[/b] Weird. [/quote] That's the way it works innit. I had exactly the same thing with slap. I don't really play slap much, but my mate showed me and he does that double thumb hit thing which I can't do, but I do a four note thing with a ghost that he can't do. It just happens doesn't it

[quote name='johnthebassist' timestamp='1347905588' post='1806495'] Wicked idea, I like it. My Golden Mouldy is "[url="http://www.soundcloud.com/kid-mohair/rabbitman-bulldozerhead-radio"]Radio Scum[/url]" - a hideously hilarious *radio jingle* I created for a college assignment many years ago. My mate Tom and I had masses of fun recording this on a 4-track in my Mum's kitchen in Penzance. Shame we forgot about any kind of click-track - Ben the drummer had to guess when to come in. You can't tell though, honest. The offending 4-string is my old Fender Wazz (a Mexican Jazz cunningly adorned with the red "W" sticker from a VHS tape) through a Marshall B150 "cube of vom". And "[url="http://soundcloud.com/londonafrobeat/occupy-promo-lac"]Occupy[/url]" is my something new. It's a [url="http://www.lacband.co.uk"]London Afrobeat Collective[/url] tune, recorded earlier this year. You can find it on iTunes and Spotify too, if you're not a Soundclouder. I used my Warwick Streamer Stage II and a Line6 M9 for this, mic'd and DI'd. Still really pleased with that low-mid growl - it's the first tune I recorded with my Warwick (having wanted one since 1998). [/quote] Love the LAC track mate! Great number, love the bass tone - I also use a Streamer, with a POD X3 LIVE. BOOOOOOOM!!

Just use one tone you like on the Pod Pro p'raps?

Well, since this has ended well before then end of September, I'll enter next month