Frank Blank

I use open strings a lot. It has become part of my... (trying to think of a descriptor here that doesn't make me sound like an ar$3) playing style*. I particularly like to hit an open string that clashes with one of the next note/s I land on, I like the dissonance of notes that clash but dissonance is something I like in music generally so I try to incorporate it in my playing a lot. *I failed in the 'Not sounding like an ar$3’ thing, there, clearly.

Norman Watt Roy - what a dude.

I think that’s the key, apart from sounding exactly right for the music I play, they are just really good fun to play.

That’s for sure, it’s definitely going to be a love or hate divider.

I have played bass ukes and the Taylor is, imho, hugely superior. I will be playing it at gig volume tomorrow and will let you know.

Yesterday morning I purchased a Taylor GS Mini-e Bass and having played it all day (because it’s more addictive than crack) I think I can categorically state that I have found my perfect bass. Obviously it wouldn’t have cut the mustard in the thrash band I used to play in but now I play in an acoustic duo and having tried a Fender Kingman, a Takamine GB30CE a Washburn AB10 and 20 and a Godin A4 I had never found a bass that suited both me and the style of music I now play. Firstly I have quite small hands and fingers so the Taylor is a revelation to play, I have always (why I started this habit I don’t know) written most of my bass lines on an old classical guitar and sometimes had problems transposing those bass lines across to a standard size bass. The Taylor is so easy to play, I find myself consistently ‘making’ some runs and complicated parts that were 50/50 on other basses. Also, despite having played bass since I was 24 (I’m now 54) I had never been fully satisfied with the amplified sound from any of the basses I’ve owned, both electric and acoustic, so having played the Taylor for a while and loving its tone unplugged I was nervous to amplify it in case I couldn’t reproduce the same delicious sound. Well I needn’t have worried, with all the controls on the amp at their middle setting the bass sounds glorious. So, essentially, I’m just posting this in case anyone is considering purchasing this bass. It’s a hefty chunk of change to shell out on such a unique instrument so if I can answer any questions about it or you want to try one out outside of a shop environment then let me know. I thought I’d ‘found my brand’ with the Godin A4, beautiful bass that it is, but for me, the Taylor, smaller, lighter and so glorious sounding, has trumped it. Now I’ll need to sell one or two (or maybe all) of my other basses to get another Taylor and because now they will just be gathering dust!

+17 for Mick Karn, one of my favourite bass players, as you say, well under appreciated. It's a good point, would he have existed without Jaco? His influences were so peculiar and left field I choose to think he would, but then, Jaco did change bass playing fundamentally. Ach, who knows, just great to remember that wobbly Wall deliciousness. Japan on the drive home then.

'Sunk Costs' perfect. The title of my autobiography, there.

I don't really understand virtuoso players like Jaco, it's like watching someone type incredibly quickly but what they write is incomprehensible, to me anyway. I always think the playing should serve the song and the song not be a platform for virtuosity but then I'm an old punk so solos and such leave me cold. JJ Burnel is about as fancy as I want and he managed to play beautiful impressive bass lines that always served the song. Jah Wobble is my ideal he found peculiar grooves and once in them he barely moves, restraint and subservience to the groove is where it's at in my book.

I agree with Lownote12, it does take more time and don't beat yourself up because things don't happens straight away. I have just bought a Fender Aerodyne mostly because it's so light! I also wholly agree that playing with other people makes a huge difference but the best advice you'll get on here is persevere, just keep going, you'll feel some days that you just can't do it or you'll watch a video of some virtuoso and it'll make you want to give up. DON'T give up. I've been playing for 28 years and I'm now 54 and I'm only just feeling like I have a playing style that I'm happy with but I've had a gas the whole time. Just keep playing.

I agree totally. I have attempted to sell two basses on here, both with modifications, both Fender Modern Players, one with a fretless neck put on and the other with black hardware installed. Both were modified by an excellent luthier but they were nonetheless still second hand and tampered with. What in my eyes is a pleasing modification, even one I consider to be an improvement on the original, might make it, in someone else's opinion, a dog. Just because I have invested money in mods does not necessarily mean someone else should shell out for them, in fact quite the opposite. I wouldn't pay for a modified bass, fair enough to modify your own to your personal spec but no one else is going to dig it quite like you do.

I played one of these in my local music shop on Friday, stunning little guitar. Had I not been picking um my Aerodyne I would have bought one there and then. Definitely my next purchase. I only had a go on it for fun and found myself really digging it.

[quote name='Jus Lukin' timestamp='1509100813' post='3396594'] Interesting that I want to hear it again! It does seem random, and there are some actual 'mistakes', but it does have a theme running through it, and it is so willfully 'out'- there is a certain jarring quality which is maintained (mostly) throughout. Whether by accident or design, that is an interesting listen, in it's own way. [/quote] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif][i]So Willfully 'Out'... [/i]at least I have a title for my forthcoming autobiography.[/font][/color]

That gentleman smokes quantity.

Morning I have just ordered the latest iteration of the Fender Aerodyne Jazz. I have been combing the Inet to find out as much about this bass as possible with an eye on any modifications that can be done, this is half for cosmetic reasons in order to have a bass that is... It's like, how much more black could this be? and the answer is none. None more black... and half to improve the quality of the bass as much as possible. This is my last bass purchase before I go part-time in order to concentrate on music so I want to make this bass as good as possible before I become a pauper. I should get to the point/s... Some of the older models of Aerodyne had a recess under the bridge as the surface of the body was curved, I can only find one reference to the latest model online and it suggests the latest model does not have a recess. I emailed Fender but they didn't have a model in to look at and, going solely by the pics from online they thought it was a flat surface. Is there anyone here that can answer this definitively. Other than that does anyone have any recommendations / suggestions for replacement bridges, pickups, tuners for the Aerodyne? So far my list consists of... Bartolini Classic P-J pickups Hipshot A Style bridge HB6 - 3/8 Ultralite tuners ....any advice, warnings, experience, comments welcome particularly about the latest model Aerodyne. No need to suggest that I might not need to do the modifications, obviously if I'm happy with any/all of the elements on the bass out of the box I'll leave it that way. Thanks in advance you lovely people.

Hello Thought better than just hanging around like a ghoul and decided to introduce myself. I'm Frank from Essex, ahem. I have been playing music since I was fourteen but was a drummer initially until I was around twenty five when I decided that I should turn my tendency to play bass while the rest of the band was out of the rehearsal room into actually swapping to bass, I was never that good a drummer anyway. Soon after taking up the bass I became a drum tech for touring bands and spent a happy fifteen years getting paid for travelling round the world and seeing nothing but drum kits and the inside of planes and tour buses. After deciding (mid tour, half way up a flight of stairs with the heaviest traps case I've ever had the pleasure of moving) that tech work was a young man's game I packed it in. I know a lot about drums because I was a drum tech but basically nothing of any use about basses and bass amps! (except how to play them and then not that well). I've owned all sorts of basses from cheapo no namers purchased out of a catalogue to my first serious bass a Jaydee, eventually I tried a Fender Jazz Modern Player and found I loved it, seriously wouldn't consider any other bass. About three weeks ago a friend of mine suggested I look up an old friend who wanted to start up playing again and we are starting rehearsals in mid December. I purchased a new Jazz Modern Player and started researching bass amps. In the end I decided on a TC Electronics RH750 with an RS212 and RS210, for the first time I heard my bass sounding exactly how I wanted it, clearly and powerfully, wonderful definition. I feel as if I've barely scratched the surface of its possibilities and yet, again thanks to your cool forum, I feel as if I knew more about it before I turned it on than the usual punter... I'm rambling, but just in case I never post or reply to post again on here at least you'll know who's floating around. This forum is extremely cool, thanks loads.