Baceface

Entering beta-test phase for Project Pickguard (scheduled while awaiting delivery of pickguard attachment screws from the far East). Decided to go with the stock Yamaha part as it only cost me £14 including shipping from BTN and it only took a few days to arrive! I did lightly scrape it with a scalpel as the 'guard is designed to join onto a metal plate that covers the controls (as on a jazz bass). That part of the pickguard is cut straight so I just needed bevel it slightly. Not necessary but I think it looks a bit better. Currently held in place with double-sided tape and the little plastic truss-rod access doodad. Realise the jazz-style knobs are non-standard but I hate the way I can't see how the stock ones are set. I think they look OK, particularly with the black 'guard which I think, rather like The Dude's rug, really ties the bass together. Overall, I like the look and think I'll stick with it.

Thanks for the advice @FDC484950. I don't have a problem with the second, yellow-highlighted bit. It's just that first, green part, skipping over to the E string. Analysing what I'm doing has revealed that I'm not consistent at all in my picking. Most of the time I'm alternate plucking OK but I've noticed that I seem to "lead" with different fingers (i.e. sometimes index then middle, sometimes middle then index). I even occasionally attempt to pluck both notes with just the index finger, a-la Jamerson (without the talent, naturally). I suppose this betrays a shocking lack of discipline and rigour, possibly inherited from the sloppier world of six string g***ars. Either way, I probably need to rethink my approach. Have laid off the "Hit Me" this week and concentrated on "Sir Duke" because I just got so frustrated at not making any progress. Anyway to quote General Douglas MacArthur "I shall return". That said, he had the relatively simple task of liberating the Philippines from Japanese occupation. I doubt he'd have been so cocky if he was trying to nail a Norman Watt-Roy bassline.

That's absolutely beautiful. I love that Sandberg creme colour, either with white or tort' guard. Lovely relicing on that one too - the bits that have yellowed even more look great. Am after a VM4 myself but will only be able to stretch to one of the cheaper models. Just can't find the right combination of colour and weight anywhere local enough to try.

As a big Tull fan (love the Jeffrey H-H pics) I loved the contrast between the bawdy lyrics and the moments of great beauty. At his best, Ian Anderson was up there with Ray Davies for me. Listening back to their proggy contemporaries, things often got very twee or far too clumsily earnest. Tull mixed in that occasionally coarse element to bring things back down to earth.

Cheers @nilebodgers. I had seen the Josh Fossgreen lesson and I think that was the first one that sounded "right" to me. In particular, I think he was the one using that C#/Db pivot note I was blathering on about. What I either forgot, or failed to pay attention to, was that he has a PDF of the transcription! Still non the wiser about my particular inability to cross over to the low E string but I'm fine playing it slowly (as in Josh's run through above) so I'm hopeful that it's just a case of practice and time before I get it. Just in case anyone's interested, I've highlighted Josh's tab with the notes I mean:

Thank you @hiram.k.hackenbacker and @Ricky 4000 First up, apologies. I posted the first tab I found to mark the C notes on the E string. I've actually learned the fingering from multiple youTube lessons/covers and the tab I posted isn't quite the way I play it. However, the notes I'm struggling with are the same across all the versions I've found so hopefully it indicates the issue. What's brilliant is that in using the phrase "floating thumb technique", HKH has given me "a name for my pain" and a quick Google reveals lots of possible stuff to investigate. I couldn't even properly describe what I was having problems with so thank you so much for that! It's fascinating to me how many versions of this part there are. I know that there's always more than one way to skin a cat (if you'll forgive the somewhat unpleasant proverb Ricky!). For instance, the chromatic Jaco-esque run in bar 3 sounds wrong (to me) in both the example I posted and in HKH's version. I find that using the open D string as the pivot note sounds quite jarring and I use the C# at the 4th fret of the A string instead. However, eminent Northern bass educators (why do we have so many up here?) like Scott Whitley and Mark Smith play it using the open string note. I'm guessing that with this one it's such a fast moving part that the notes aren't always easy to hear. On the original recording the is bass mixed quite low, which is ironic given how famous the part has become!

Right ho... I'm a crap guitar player, desperately trying to turn myself into a crap bass player. Have probably bitten off more than I can chew by learning "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" but I love the bassline and am enjoying the challenge. I'm ok with most of it but progress has been slow and I'm hovering somewhere around 85-90bpm which is a lot slower that the recorded version at 104bpm. I am consistently tripping up over one small part under the vocal in the verse. Most of it is fine but there's a bit where you have to move from anchoring the R/H thumb on the E string to play two C notes on the E string then go back to anchoring on the E and playing the A, D & E strings. I constantly keep messing up on this part usually by either: messing up my alternate fingering, sometimes playing the notes with just one finger fluffing the notes by not plucking cleanly enough or bounding off the string is someway ending up with my hand painfully bent right into my wrist (particularly when trying to pick nearer the bridge) ...or some combination of all three. Any ideas if this is a manifestation of a common issue, or am I just a particularly bad player? Tab attached with the problem notes highlighted, if it helps. Sorry for the utterly specific question. I know the answer is practice. A lot. However this does seem to be a real sticking point for me. I can see genuine progress with everything else but I don't seem to be able to nail that string/anchor point swap over the E.

I'm not that into his solo stuff and can't really get on with the Weather Report albums he plays on. However, I think his stuff with Joni is sublime (as above). That said, my favourite Jaco album is Pat Metheny's debut, "Bright Size Life". (Oddly enough I'm not that into Pat's other albums.) It's a pretty straight-up trio record with Bob Moses on drums and it's just stunning. A widescreen, atmospheric, Americana-infused take on jazz with wonderful playing from everyone. I think Pat was 21 at the time and Jaco not that much older. Title track for those who haven't heard it:

What scared/amazed me about that video was just how good Jack Stratton is on bass. It shouldn't really be a surprise, given how good he is on drums, keys and guitar. An absolute monster talent.

Hmm. In the interest of creating something that doesn't exist (as far as I know) I'd have a Sandberg "J" shape body but with the pickup configuration from the typically "P" shaped VM4. And a slightly more yellowed shade of the creme finish with matching 'stock. Oh, and it would only weigh about 7.5lbs.

I've just had a look on their site. That candy apple green sparkle Music Man is pretty saucy. The flip-flop finish on the Fly guitar is pretty special too. If I were you, I'd put either the wine or the credit card away for the rest of the evening. Just in case things get out of control. Again.

Hard to nail it exactly but I've had a go...

We've all done it. I have a Squier Classic Vibe strat somewhere that I bought because they're such amazing value. Having too many bottles of Belgian beer inside me rendered me immune to the point that something only represents "value" if you're actually going to use in in some way, as opposed to sticking it in a cupboard for 10 years. Still, the odd Trappist ale assisted Squier isn't too much of a problem. It's when you sink three bottles of Rioja and start picking up Custom Shop Fender basses that it can become an issue!

You should really pick up a tatty, old 414 and get it refinished in that colour. Guess it could be done for £400 all in? It'd be a splendid one-off and no mistake.

Scuse the crude 'shop job. I do wish Yamaha would come up with more colours for the BB line. The BB414 Orange was an absolutely lovely finish but they seem to be regressing to offering not much more than black, natural and 3-tone sunbursts these days. Anyway, here's the BB-AT414:

I know what you mean. My biggest complaint is that the cost of membership isn't stated. I assume that means it's expensive. However, I also realise that "expensive" is a relative term and I can compare the cost with private lessons and work out if the relative merits of SBL membership make it worthwhile. Keeping the cost hidden just puts me off. I really rate what I've seen of his content but wish he'd be upfront about the charges.

Hello from about 9 miles south of the land of the pie eaters.

Yes. I've seen poor Dave also get the riding crop across the jacksie during "Hunting Girl". If that was the end of his derrière-based-bass-activities, he'd probably be happy. Unfortunately, this also happened...

I think I heard Dave Pegg once describe himself thus...

From one "face" to another... I think the credit card thing is standard practice for a free trial. It's annoying, I know, but it's par for the course. You just have to be sensible enough to cancel the agreement within the time and you'll not be charged. I agree about the competitions but you can just ignore them. Ditto all the emails - they can be annoying but I'd sooner have spam about basses than erectile dysfunction. Moving swiftly on.... We need to balance this with the fact that SBL contains a lot of really great content - all free with absolutely no catch. I've no doubt that with some self-discipline you could educate yourself to a prolific standard with the free stuff that Scott and others like him put out. As I lack this self discipline, I too get tempted occasionally. I almost signed up for the recent "practice accelerator" but had an honest chat with myself and had to admit that I probably could not commit the time, just at the moment. I was spammed cross-eyed over that one ("just three seconds left to sign up" etc.) but I guess it's his living and I think he's a fantastic teacher with a really natural, unassuming personality. Doubtless this conceals a terrifying, cynical, magnate (alnico?) running an empire of bass-based-evil from a hollowed-out volcano somewhere near Leeds but I can live with that. "Ahhh... Mr Bond. I see here that you have not met your practice targets for slap triplets for the month. I am very disappointed."

Also love Venus/Star combo but sad at lack of Dave Gregory involvement. He's a fantastic guitar player and totally the third prong in their "triple threat" alongside AP & CM. I just think they were unfortunate in not having someone who could square up to Partsy and drag him into line. Guess they lost that with Terry C?