xilddx

I use them too, and hammer ons. Very useful for expression, getting a legato feel, and, if you have a mind to, 32nd note flurries.

[quote name='RhysP' post='816614' date='Apr 23 2010, 07:39 PM']Todd Rundgren.[/quote] Ooh, I like YOU! I simply CANNOT BELIEVE NO-ONE HAS SAID FRANK ZAPPA!! You damned PEASANTS!!

[quote name='Bilbo' post='816366' date='Apr 23 2010, 03:51 PM']Listen to some jazz. Chill out [/quote] That's an oxymoron for me, jazz makes me all jumpy and nervous, or in the case of being at the Ealing Jazz festival listening to trad jazz, just angry

[quote name='Faithless' post='816335' date='Apr 23 2010, 03:27 PM']You're saying, it matters of opinions (and yes, my opinion is clear- i would choose jazz gig/tour over a commercial pop one), and, then, I am missing something? Could you, please, be kind, tell me exactly, what's missing there..? Something tells me, you just can't get over my opinion, not that 'I'm missing something'..[/quote] You asked in your OP if you were "missing something". There are 4 pages of answers here, filling in what you were missing. The consensus is that most people playing jazz here, including, I might add, some professionals, say they would happily play a pop gig, for fun, for money, for their continued careers. The way you phased your OP sounded snobbish, or perhaps simply naive. You have come across as quite aggressive/defensive in many other of your posts, and you seem to take it ill when people disagree with you or express an opinion of you based on your posts or style of articulation. [b]Clear?[/b]

[quote name='Faithless' post='815107' date='Apr 22 2010, 03:56 PM']There's a short one.. To me, it's a bit strange - [b]one day a guy is pushing music boundaries in Blue Note with some smokin' jazzers [/b](Garrison with Horacio Hernandez and Scott Kinsey..), [b]and the other day he's playing behind Whitney Houston..[/b] Same one with Janek Gwizdala - [b]he plays with Mike Stern,[/b] who has big tours on Europe, Canada, Asia and so on, [b]but then, he passes Stern's gig to other folks, cuz he's doing tv shows with VV Brown[/b], working as an MD for her, as I suppose.. [b]They're both smoking players, 'dedicated' for jazz [/b](as they say..), but.. [b]I don't get it - is it all just money thing, or there's something beyond it?[/b] [b]I believe, I wouldn't pass gigs with jazz giants just because I'd get a chance to do some tv show..[/b][/quote] Snobbish attitude. That's the only way I can read it.

[quote name='Marvin' post='815537' date='Apr 22 2010, 10:12 PM']You forgot Ellie [/quote] Balls, I meant to aswell Thanks mate!

[quote name='Chris2112' post='815428' date='Apr 22 2010, 08:34 PM']Show me a pop musician who can! [/quote] You're kidding me, right? White Stripes, Florence & The Machine, Erykah Badu, Radiohead, Kate Bush, Jonatha Brooke, Prince, Jeff Buckley, B-52s, Pulp, Mary J Blige, Blur, David Bowie, Eminem ..

[quote name='Faithless' post='815340' date='Apr 22 2010, 07:13 PM']So, I suppose, you're calling me a musical snob then? Dude, just shut your mouth, sit back and relax - I don't have any problem with them, they do what they want, in the end, it's all discussion, and it all makes sense to me, I have nothing to argue with. Clear? Musical snob, you see..[/quote] You've come across as aggressive, and to deny your OP was anything other than snobbish is nonsense. Also, those of us who play "pop" music may be a mite naffed off at your insinuation that it is less worthy or skillful than jazz. An enormous amount of craft goes into most pop songs, on all instruments. And show me a jazz musician who can write credible lyrics. It's all about feel, interpretation and context. Family Man couldn't play bass like Alain Caron, but let's see if Alain Caron can make me dance? But you'll probably tell me dancing is vastly inferior to Chinese freestyle gymnastics now, won't you.

[quote name='Faithless' post='815176' date='Apr 22 2010, 04:48 PM']I know, what you're saying about money thing, anyway, it's somehow sad a bit, that such players have to take pop gig to pay their rent..[/quote] Why is it? Jazz doesn't pay, does it. It's as simple as that. If more people bought jazz music, it would pay. Just because someone is ace at something doesn't mean it pays well. People like stuff they can relate to, which in musical terms means simplicity and approachability, the more subtle music gets, the more the audience size declines. It's the same with food. Most people seem to prefer eating crap with massive taste-bud melting flavours, and they don't mind eating out of a bucket to get it. Most Michelin-starred restaurants could halve their prices if there was a much bigger market, but as it is, they are small because so many people would rather go to Pizza Hut and eat crap. That's why some Michelin-starred chefs resort to TV to make enough money to expand, or they open brasseries, or even posh hamburger joints like Thomas Keller of the French Laundry did.

Stuart at Peter Cooks in Hanwell is excellent.

[quote name='7string' post='813796' date='Apr 21 2010, 02:17 PM']Fender spec is string height of 4/64 of an inch (1.6mm) from the top of the 17th fret to the bottom of the string.[/quote] And I bet that is possible on one in a thousand Fender basses. I would suggest double that is about the limit on most fender basses.

Ohhh the times I've heard this

[quote name='Buzz' post='813305' date='Apr 21 2010, 01:51 AM']Someone on here has the Lightwave system on a bass iirc, might be BigRedX. Bonza!: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=5525&view=findpost&p=68770"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...ost&p=68770[/url][/quote] Happy Jack has/had one too. They've been around for a long time.

I had the same last year, free strings again, but I PMed him to ask if he received them, he had and forgot to say thanks. I sell my strings now. On the subject of feedback, it is very important.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='812761' date='Apr 20 2010, 04:53 PM']But in terms of basses that are trad-looking and fairly light, you could try a Ric.[/quote] yes but then he'll have problems with his fingers and his general street cred

[quote name='neepheid' post='812646' date='Apr 20 2010, 03:26 PM']Don't use the truss rod to adjust your action, it's for adjusting the relief in the neck - not the same thing at all.[/quote] Sorry mate, but relief is [b]directly [/b]related to the action. Too much or too little relief will cause fret buzz in different places if you set the action too low. To the OP. Fret (or capo) the E string at the 1st fret and with your your right hand fret the E string at the 12th. While you are doing this, look at the 7th / 8th frets and see how high the string is above the frets. In general terms there should be a very small gap, around half a mm. If it's much more than that there is too much relief (tighten the truss rod), if the strings touch the frets there is too little relief (loosen the truss rod). You should get the relief right before adjusting the saddles. Get the correct tool to adjust the truss rod. With a little pressure the truss rod should turn. If it doesn't, do NOT force it, take it to your local techie. Do not do more than a quarter turn at a time, preferably only an eighth. Let it settle for a minute or two, do the 1st/12th fret thing and see if your E string has a tiny gap. Repeat if necessary. Then adjust the saddles until you get a lower action without too much rattle. There is a great free guide here .. you have to sign up to the Jerzy Drozd newsletter but that's no sweat, the guide is superb. Good luck, any questions, Basschat is here. EDIT: Shims are a last resort after you've tried everything else.

Weight is not your primary issue here I don't think. It's about weight [b]distribution [/b]and posture. You've kind of proved that with "The Precision causes less pain than the VMJ, which is strange because the Precision is the heavier of the two.". I would be looking a strap which distributes the weight as evenly as possible over BOTH shoulders and using a bass that balances perfectly with no neck dive before looking for a lighter bass. A lighter bass is not really going to help you as much as you think. Obviously in combination with the other two solutions it will help more. The Planet waves DARE straps are cheap enough to try out. I'd do couple of weeks of using it exclusively to let your muscles and posture adjust to it and see if you feel benefit. You should talk about posture with a specialist too. [url="http://store.daddario.com/category/154813/DARE_Strap"]http://store.daddario.com/category/154813/DARE_Strap[/url] [url="http://www.soundunlimited.co.uk/product_1420_Planet_Waves_Troy_Dare_Double_Shoulder_Guitar_Strap_50DARE000.html"]http://www.soundunlimited.co.uk/product_14..._50DARE000.html[/url]

Well done, mate! I'm really pleased for you, especially after all that crap you went through end of last year. Ensure you let us know when you're gigging.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='812267' date='Apr 20 2010, 09:45 AM']Are you playing it with a pick?[/quote] I am, Bilbo. I use a similar pick to his, and a similar technique where he uses the flesh of his thumb on the string aswell. I have studied the TF promo video, but that's miming and his finger movements don't look quite right, although I can't understand why that should be. I have listened to a tracking session where the bass is very clear, but he does it differently, the main notes of the run are on the off beats in that earlier version, which also sounds ace. I've watched recent videos of him playing it live but it is hard to see, hear, and he seems to be playing it slightly differently. The album version sounds like he's sliding down then up to the next note and so on, but at that speed it is very difficult and it doesn't sound like a sensible approach. Whenever I learn someone else's lines, I try to think like that player, almost no-one is going to do something using a very difficult technique for only one song. It would probably be something they do fairly often, a finger memory technique. Except this is perplexing me. I simply can't work it out.

There's a part in Tempus Fugit by Yes I simply cannot work out to my satisfaction. It's the part that comes out of the version of the main riff he does an octave lower, in the verses. It goes E F# G A. The run is so easy in theory, but Chris Squire's doing something so liquid with those notes that I'm convinced there are other notes that are kind of ghosted, but I can't get close to it. It's the oiliest, greasiest bit of bass I can remember hearing and he does it slightly differently every time. The riff everyone loves in that number is child's play next to that ostensibly dead simple little run. Amazing.

[quote name='mgibson' post='811688' date='Apr 19 2010, 07:12 PM']I was flicking through a copy of [i][/i]Bass Player[i][/i] and i saw this ibanez, a six string, suffice to say it is fretted for the B,E,A and D strings but not for the G and C strings, sorry if this has already been brought up, i haven't been on for a long time, but would anyone actually use this?[/quote] Of course. Part fretted instruments are not new at all. Very useful in my opinion. Not for everyone though.

It's glorious! Your bass comes in a knitted beach hut, how cool is that!

Got one too, just now. Thanks mate.

We so need a full on lab comparison between a valve rig and a digital modeler.

[quote name='discreet' post='807436' date='Apr 15 2010, 05:55 PM']Am a pick man for precisely these reasons. And it's gotta be a Herco Flex 50 bronze![/quote] I must try the Hercos. Do they last long? I like Tortex but I just got some Dunlop nylon .88s which I quite like. How do the Hercos compare to the Dunlops? I imagine they are a similar beast. BTW, do you mean Gold, can't find bronze on ebay?