xilddx

[quote name='Mog' post='1064410' date='Dec 20 2010, 11:24 AM']Cool, so are you just pointing that out or what? I dont get what I'm supposed to take from the post.[/quote] Same as you would take from a Jeff Berlin one

I couldn't give a sh*t any more. I found out it really doesn't matter.

It seems obvious that some people got a tone they liked easily, maybe because they had little choice of gear, or they were easily pleased, or they thought all basses sound the same, whatever. That's the early days of the electric bass and studio production and live sound reinforcement. Things are infinitely more advanced now and we would be stupid to ignore the possibilities for accurate reproduction of what we hear in our heads. Some players really care about that, some don't, some players heads are full of other stuff they would rather worry about. If you change this thread title to "the FEEL fallacy" and argue that the feel of the instrument, its action and neck dimensions, etc. are a fallacy and we should concentrate on notes, what do you think the response would be?

[quote name='Mog' post='1063240' date='Dec 19 2010, 09:24 AM']Theres no way I can agree with the OP, thats right up there with what bass sounds best for metal. The whole 'My Tone' thing is whats makes us individual. Imagine if all basses had that farty Jaco tone or Victors monotone, dynamically dead twang?[/quote] I'm completely with you, Mog. Tone or more correctly, timbre, is incredibly important. If you have a vision of what you want to communicate through your instrument, timbre is a key component. If I want to dub someone to death, it is not going to happen with Geddy's sound is it. Neither would Jaco's style be possible with Aston Barrett's tone. So, attention to tone is not a fallacy, the notes occupy more than one dimension, tone is a dimension, harmony, melody, and how they fit with the music are other dimensions. How you activate the strings is yet another, do you pick, pluck, hammer, pull off, slap a particular note in a line. these all affect the tone and dynamics of what you are playing and a great line can be rendered dull as sh*t if you don't apply the dynamics and tone of technique. These dimensions combine to form your overall sound and how it interacts with the ensemble, and what defines the player. You would be stupid to ignore your "tone" and concentrate purely on the notes, there are so many other essential considerations to your bass line quality control. The only way I can sum it up is, if the only tone I was allowed to use was Jaco's or Aston Barrett's for example, I wouldn't want to play bass anymore.

[quote name='gary mac' post='1059917' date='Dec 15 2010, 07:28 PM']Not at this time of year mate, the lakes are frozen and the fish aren't feeding. [/quote] Oh yeah? They've had some lovely carp out of Redmire very recently.

I think it's all relative. It depends if you have a good sense of rhythm and timing and if the pieces you are trying to play are above or below your level of ability. Fairly obviously, if it's above, you need to practice it very slowly with a timing reference or a metronome, paying careful attention to your timing. Only move up 10 bpm if you are completely fluent, by which I mean you are able to confidently play the piece ten times without any errors at all. You could mean, by your question, that you are looking to develop rhythmic expression and dynamics while playing in "perfect" time. There is no such thing as "perfect rhythm" IMO. It is subjective. However, I do think that there is a lot of bullshit spoken about playing behind or in front of the beat. Just play in time and eventually you will build in the expression as you grow as a musician. I have no idea of your level of expertise on the bass, but something I like to do for fun and practice is to develop dynamic muting rhythms while finger picking constant quavers and semi-quavers. accenting (with the picking hand) and muting (with the fretting hand) certain of the notes. You can create very interesting and challenging rhythmic patterns and odd time signatures. I do it on my own but you could do it with a metronome. It can be an incredibly funky experience, especially when you start adding interesting notes to the patterns you create.

haha! I was just about to post it too. I think this is the ultmate build thread. The guy is a bit of a genius! Incredible level of knowledge.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1059340' date='Dec 15 2010, 09:59 AM']That is one of the most gob-smacking, awe-inspiring threads I've ever read. Out of sheer idle curiosity, I've emailed Gil Yaron to ask roughly how much he charges ... Incidentally, post #336 gives easily the best explanation (and demonstration) that I've ever come across of why the Jazz was called the Jazz. Who'd have thought a J-bass could sound so much like a DB?[/quote] Amazing isn't it!

[quote name='thebrig' post='1059049' date='Dec 14 2010, 09:56 PM']Both German, 2007 & 2009. Yes, I did remove them and put gold hardware on them (all purchased from Warwick). I've since put the original chrome back on one of the basses, but still one of the tuner seems too short to tighten correctly. I will try to get some pics soon.[/quote] I have a feeling you may have installed them incorrectly since you are having problems with both sets. Mine are about the same age and no problems at all. I have also bought two sets of Warwick tuners for a colour swap, no problems at all. Be interested to see a pic or two mate. Front and back.

You should be able to find a SH German Warwick Corvette Standard for about £400 on the bay. Here's a nice one, let's see what it goes for [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Warwick-Corvette-Standard-Bubinga-German-Made-2008-/170577814349?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item27b73ae34d#ht_578wt_1013"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Warwick-Corvette-Sta...d#ht_578wt_1013[/url]

[quote name='Doddy' post='1058894' date='Dec 14 2010, 07:46 PM']Nice one guys-I'm glad this thread keeps popping up. Silddx-Sounds like you're doing great. If your pretty comfortable in C,crack on to G,so you're only dealing with one sharpened note. Pete-I'm doing the panto in Lichfield until January 9th,so if you ever want to pop over and ask questions,give me a shout.[/quote] I'll do that soon Dods, thanks mate.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1058919' date='Dec 14 2010, 08:05 PM']Is this the one everyone else has? [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simplified-Sight-Reading-Bass-Josquin-Pres/dp/0793565189/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1292357073&sr=1-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simplified-Sight-R...7073&sr=1-1[/url][/quote] That's the boy! It's brilliant! Fingerboard Harmony for Bass by Gary Willis from the Bass Builders series is equally good, I got that too.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='1058868' date='Dec 14 2010, 07:26 PM']Hmmmm, I've owned LOTS of Warwicks ([s]mostly[/s] all old ones) and not once had this problem, in fact I've had some of my Warwicks 15-20 years and not once have any of them ever needed any attention to the tuners. As Mart says the Warwick forum is a good place to look.[/quote] Sounds to me like they are incorrectly fitted, I stand to be corrected though.

[quote name='thebrig' post='1058860' date='Dec 14 2010, 07:18 PM']Both my basses have a matt finish on the front of the headstock, and just natural wood on the backs.[/quote] Can you post a picture or two? Seems to me like there must be something wrong with the way they are fitted. Did you buy them new? Are they German? Rockbass? Pro? Which model? How old? Etc. Did you remove the tuners and they suddenly had a problem? Or did the problem develop suddenly?

[quote name='thebrig' post='1058836' date='Dec 14 2010, 06:58 PM']I have two Warwick Corvettes, and on both of them, the nut part that goes through the hole keeps working loose. It seems that they are not long enough to tighten properly, barely catching the thread, so as soon as you start tightening the string, it just comes loose. On one of my corvettes the tuners are chrome, and on the other one they are gold, but but both seem to have the same problem. Has anyone else experienced this with Warwick tuners, and if so, what is the remedy? I would love some advice on this. Cheers[/quote] I have never had this problem on my German Corvettes. Their tuners are quite cheap though, about £6 each to buy. I upgraded to Hipshot on one bass, fantastic tuners, but the Warwick ones have never let me down.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1049591' date='Dec 6 2010, 05:07 PM']I have not had much of a chance this last week because of other music related stuff but as long as it is music related it all counts I suppose and I have been analyzing tempos and stuff in relation to where I am in my book too. Every little helps. Sounds like you are really going for it Nige, Nice one. [/quote] I'm not getting much time to actually play the bass either at the moment. However, I am at the point where I can sing very simple charts in C, and am reasonable at reading and singing note times. I can still only barely recognise the note names but I can see the relationships between the notes to some degree now, like recognising triads, some scale degrees and such. Of course, this is all fairly easy in C, when I am faced with a simple key sig, I lose it and am ten times slower, at least But I am getting good at the timing, even some quite complex timing in charts with a big mixture of note lengths, dotted notes, ties, etc. I can sing it in my head and play it on the bass. I can do most of the timing section in the Simple Sight-Reading for Bass book now. When I am not with the bass, I carry some of Major-Minor's Boot Camp Sightreading in C charts around with me, and try to sing them in my head while reading them on the tube or at lunch, seems to be good practice. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=74284"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=74284[/url] I can finally see how it might be possible for me read the dots like we do words and sentences, it seemed like an impossible task a few weeks ago. In simple charts in the key of C, I can look at a bunch of notes in a bar and quite quickly see how it would look on the bass and hear how it sounds in my head. It really is most encouraging! I have realised that knowing the note names extremely fluently is not quite as important to me at the moment as I thought it would or should be. I find that as I am starting to see what the scale degrees look like on the staff, I only need to recognise the first note in the bar, the rest often reads like a word, even a sentence, so my fingers and voice know where to go after I know what the first note is. I reiterate though, this is only in C and not with too many extended intervals! To all those who have got started trying to learn all this stuff, write down your progress like I have above. When you feel daunted by the colossal task of learning to sight read, re-read what you wrote and you will realise how much progress you are making. When was writing this post, I realised that in one month, I have made enormous progress compared to where I was at the start. To those imploring us illiterates to learn to read, Bilbo, Doddy, Jake, [i]et. al.[/i] Thank you! I now realise how stupidly closed minded I was about this and that I DO have time to learn how to read. All players will be better players for being musically literate - simply because of the way your mind will open like a flower, and be receptive and able to assimilate the great music and lessons available. I now realise that whenever I argued against the value of reading, I just sounded like an ignorant twat. I also know that learning to sight-read, learning theory, knowing my fretboard, learning lots of new music, improving my technique and facility on the bass, is NOT going to turn me into Alain Caron.

[quote name='Luulox' post='1020606' date='Nov 11 2010, 07:55 PM']Thanks very much for taking the time to do these lessons. Just started trying to read music and they are a great help. Thanks again Pete[/quote] Me too, these are truly fantastic! I am at the point where I can sing very simple charts like the [b]C Major Playalong (a)[/b] above, and am reasonable at reading and singing note times. I can still only barely recognise the note names but I can see the relationships between the notes to some degree now, like recognising triads, some scale degrees and such. Of course, this is all fairly easy in C, when I am faced with a simple key sig, I lose it and am ten times slower, at least When I am not playing bass with the music in front of me, I carry these charts around with me, and try to sing them in my head while reading them on the tube or at lunch, seems to be good practice. I can finally see how it might be possible for me read the dots like we do words and sentences, it seemed like an impossible task a few weeks ago. Simple charts like playalongs a and b above, in the key of C, I can look at a bunch of notes in a bar and quite quickly see how it would look on the bass and hear how it sounds in my head. It really is most encouraging! Major-Minor, you are an absolute gem for doing these, really! We owe you very much gratitude

[quote name='JTUK' post='1053068' date='Dec 9 2010, 05:19 PM']You are right, but this guy, IMV, was something else. I like to know what tools people have to have to get to that sort of standard. It is like things like football and golf which have dabbled in.... one of the local PGA guys plays out of our club... or used to and can still be seen about every now and again. He is a nice guy to talk to but he plays our long par 5 with a driver and 8 iron..so on a different planet to all our clubs players, of course. It takes me driver, rescue and 8 iron... he is not considered anything like a long hitter on his tour nor is he one of the top players, although he has grossed some more than decent prize money some years, so that is why I call this thread all relative. I am always intrigued about how good these people that you get to hear about, actually are...but the two cases I have mentioned are the REAL deal, as far as I am concerned.[/quote] I think it's a rare combination of natural ability, motivation, the right practice, and stubborn single mindedness.

[quote name='icastle' post='1052756' date='Dec 9 2010, 01:58 PM']Good Grief! I can't decide if it needs a luthier or a forensic scientist.[/quote] I know what the seller needs.

[quote name='JTUK' post='1052750' date='Dec 9 2010, 01:55 PM']yes..you struggle and do this and that and then see a really really good player who makes it all look very easy...and doesn't get how hard it is for everyone else. There may be a lot of bullshit about the industry and we could indulge in some of it here..but when you come across a really really good player who you have been lucky enough to be in a band with.. that puts talent into perspective for me.. and if I was being a bit arrogant, I like to think I have played with some good players Best ever player I came across was a drummer... who could put away so many 'names' I may have come across over the years in a box and tied up with a ribbon, IMO. with his feel and groove alone. When I saw him with a big name band headlining everywhere, that gig was in his pocket but I didn't go OTT on his lpaying in that gig.. I'd call him a genius, tbh, tho'..and sound checks were a real treat...could listen to his drums alone for ages..[/quote] You realise this thread is call Big up YERSELF don't you? Not Big Up A DRUMMER I USED TO PLAY WITH There are a lot of Brits on here

[quote name='Sibob' post='1052523' date='Dec 9 2010, 10:45 AM']+1 People tend to shoot-down what they perceive to be 'Sell-outs' without ever having been in a similar position nor knowing the intimate details.....oh well . Also, was Ellie's cover done FOR the supermarket, or simply covered by Ellie and licensed early by them?....does anyone know?, probably not Si[/quote] All I know is my boss got the album based on that one song.

[quote name='Fullmetal' post='1052498' date='Dec 9 2010, 10:21 AM']Both the producer and I were confused about the Ampeg. I assume the problem may have been a faulty XLR as I havn't had a problem DIing the amp since. As for the thin sound, that was more my fault than anything as I hadn't used a BDDI before so I couldn't really find the "sweet spot" settings in such a short time. I just dialled in a tone which sounded good at the time.[/quote] Oh dear, I imagine this is a very inexperienced producer then. He should have had an engineer taking care of business.

[quote name='philipleonard' post='1051979' date='Dec 8 2010, 06:22 PM']Wow! I couldn't have put it any better.[/quote] You obviously could because you edited your post You are also British.

[quote name='ezbass' post='1051950' date='Dec 8 2010, 05:57 PM']Other people think I'm good, but when I play by myself at home I often think I suck really badly. All I know is that I like to play and others like playing with me, so I'm going to go with those thoughts.[/quote] You are British.

[quote name='ashley699' post='1051851' date='Dec 8 2010, 04:26 PM']thanks, i love it to bits, had to walk through londons ice to get it late at night, well worth it. Its being setup by the guitar tech now, it had two screws missing out of the bridge which he has managed to get hold of and hes sorting out the bowed neck as well. I repaired the electrics myself cause they needed sorting out majorly. The next bass i want is a 72 Jetglo with Checkerboard binding as its my dream but it will have to wait i think. I have played a 1970's Shaftesbury copy which blew my mind at the time. Just as a side point, what do people thing of Markbass? i used to have an Ashdown Mag210 with a 15" sub unit (which was a heavy bit of kit!) i now have a Markbass CMD121P and its out of this world i think.[/quote] I like the sound of my Warwick through a Markbass head and cab, but it wasn't mine. I never use amps anyway. Always the POD into the PA for me.