Staggering on

28 minutes ago, bassace said:

I’ve got a 6yd skip arriving on Friday to assist with our house move. I have a banjo that belonged to my grandfather but it’s time to give it the heave ho. Perfect pitch and all that.

NO! How could you?

...now if it was an accordion or bagpipes....or maybe an oboe....

2 hours ago, pete.young said:

There was a thread in 'Other Instruments' but it was a while ago. If anyone is obsessive-compulsive about it maybe the mods could move it.

Like the man says, it depends on what style of music you want to play. If there are any banjo players looking for a gig, I have a vacancy in the Ipswich area!

Five string isn't just used for bluegrass, there is also the Appalachian Old-TIme style (what Dolly Parton calls 'mountain music') which doesn't use either picks or a three-finger roll style. Like this:

 

 

I agree that it's not just for Bluegrass and that's why I also mentioned "country" in my post and I guess that clawhammer style (which I have always liked, not as hyper as a lot of Bluegrass) could be classed as "old country" or what used to be called "hillbilly" music or Dolly's "mountain music".Thanks for that video.

My main point was that there are many types of banjos and banjo music so talking  about "banjos"  is a very large subject.

I'm a bit of a tenor banjo nut and I'm curious about your search for a banjo player.What kind of music do you play?

5 string is played with finger picks and used for bluegrass and country (unless you're Bela Fleck) and there are three types of 4 string banjos-tenor(ragtime and old time Trad jazz),plectrum(longer neck and different tuning than a tenor but same music styles) and Irish banjo which is different again.

Most serious banjo players don't consider the 6 string banjo to be a "real banjo" but it is an easy switch for guitar players and sounds somewhat like a real banjo.None of the others have tunings that are the same as guitar or bass.

Your choice of instrument is determined by the music you want to play because each banjo type is made for a specific style, if you want to play bluegrass you will have to learn to play 5 string.

It's kind of like "I want to play bass".Double bass(orchestra, solo,jazz,folk,Bluegrass),acoustic bass guitar, electric,EUB.....and on and on...

I agree, this is an odd place for this topic but since I play bass and banjo(tenor) I'm OK with it. 

I used the Mini Pre at a house party our jazz quartet was playing at last night and it worked exactly as I had hoped and I even got the chance to use the volume control when a bass player in the audience said "more bass".Perfect.

8 minutes ago, Bridgehouse said:

I think upright would be a step too far for me at the moment.. I’m certainly not now going to say never.. whereas before I may have done. 

Fretless and the extra string will keep my learning curve nice and steep for a while !

Great way to look at things...have fun and keep on learning!

If you think 5 string and fretless open up possibilities, upright(EUB or acoustic) will take you into yet another whole world.I am a completely different bass player than I was a few years ago when I fell under the spell of uprights.Not for everyone but a great challenge and another way of seeing bass music. Isn't it wonderful to have all these choices!

As a contrast to the Hartlepool gig above, our jazz quartet played a house party with about 30 folks in a woodworking shop that had been cleaned up for the occasion.We played two one hour sets to a very appreciative audience and had a great no pressure evening.Not your usual house party with people wandering in and out, these folks were there to hear us and were actually seated in chairs while we played-definitely different.I used my new Schatten Design Mini Pre with my Englehardt ES9 upright straight into the Bose PA and it was great and I got several compliments on the sound(not necessarily the playing!) from a couple of bass players in the audience.Good sound, good music, good crowd, good pay=excellent night. 

Fun gig for our jazz standards quartet on Saturday night, a somewhat rustic old fishing lodge on the shore of Lake Nipissing here in Ontario.We hadn't played there before and didn't know what to expect but it was a lovely big room that is a bar/restaurant and we had lots of room to set up beside a huge fireplace.

Unfortunately on Friday night and most of Saturday we had our first real Northern Ontario snowstorm and although the roads were generally in good shape  we knew some of our friends and band fans would not want to make a long snowy drive and so we were pleased with the 30-40 folks who showed up. Most would have had about an hour drive on a mix of highways and rural roads so we knew they would be an appreciative crowd.

We usually play three sets over three hours and got through our first set and then passed out copies of our playlist (almost 150 songs) as we have done in the past in situations like this and after a couple of songs to start the set we played mostly requests for rest of the sets so the audience is involved and get to hear what they want and we play songs we might not have chosen for a particular gig.Everyone is happy and it keeps us on our toes.

Meals supplied, good staff, plans to rebook us soon and an extra $100.00 on top of our usual fee.Everybody wins ! We were in good form and played exceptionally well and had a lot of fun going into our seventh year together. 

Just picked up my Schatten Design Mini Pre and it is exactly what I need.I got the single input model but there is a two channel one available also.It is designed for any acoustic instrument.I have rigged my bass with a KNA DB 1 pickup that sounds great but apparently any type of pickup can be used.

This little wonder is made here in Canada but is available through Gollihur (about $60 USD) and is listed by Thomann at what seems to be a ridiculously high price.In Canada it goes for around $70 CDN.

It is a very basic preamp with volume control and an adjustable trim pot to match the input.Since I use the EQ on my amp or the EQ on the Bose PA if I'm going direct, all I wanted was an easy way to control the volume and this seems to be the perfect solution-small,simple,adjustable trim, 9V battery(up to 2000 hours apparently).It comes with a belt clip that you can screw onto it but I have it mounted on a bracket on my mike stand which makes it very handy and not as easy to accidentally bump with my arm or hand or jacket. 

So far I have only tried it at home but I will use it at a gig this weekend with my Englehardt Swingmaster ES 9 and am looking forward to a worry free night and when somebody says "more bass" I can do it! Life is good.   

33 minutes ago, bassace said:

A jazz musician never plays the same thing once.

Good one! I will remember to use that one as I continue to improve on the upright acoustic that I bought after attending the double bass bash in April and meeting you and the other BC members.Thank you bassace  and BC.

Excellent gig Tuesday night with the jazz standards quartet at Jazz At The Junction in North Bay Ontario, an hour from home.

We were the first band to play when it opened about a year and a half ago and we get booked back every three months or so.The place was packed and extra chairs had to be brought in and the crowd was really up for it with many of our regulars and some new faces too.It was one of those nights when everything just goes well-good audience, good songs and all of us played better than usual and we all clicked on pretty much every song( which doesn't happen every time we play).Even our usually very serious keyboard player came out of her shell and surprised us with some great solos and her voice was in top form too.One of our best performances in the six year history of the band.

This was the first time I have used my new KNA DB-1 pickup on a gig and I was really impressed as were the band members and some musicians in the audience.I was playing my Englehardt Swingmaster ES 1 and used a K&K preamp as a volume control only and went straight into our Bose PA.With the Bose you can set the input to "Bass" and then choose from a whole bunch of choices of electric(eg.Fender Jazz) and acoustic basses to get the correct input.I used "Acoustic Gage Pickup" and it was awesome.I then used the EQ settings on the Bose to dial in exactly what I wanted, set the trim and channel volume and used the preamp to make minor adjustments to the volume.Best sound ever for me...I love the Englehardt(not everyone's choice of course)and the KNA is very powerful and has a great sound, not as "quacky" as a lot of piezos.

All in all a fun gig and very satisfying to find to find that my new pickup was all I had hoped for.I will use it next week for a seven piece swing band gig and for the other gigs for both bands-happy days!

I drove home after the gig in a bit of rain that turned into snow as I got closer to home and ended with an inch or so in my driveway, good thing I put on my snow tires last week.

According to the string ID illustrations on the Gollihur site you are correct.You can tell if they are light or heavy by the colour of the ring at the pegbox-light is yellow, heavy is dark orange.

If you can't find one in the U.K. BassBooks.com in the USA has it listed on their website.Good luck.

2 hours ago, 12stringbassist said:

I've been gigging for 41 years or so now.
What I have learned is do play what suits the song.
To sit down and learn songs rather than just busking it.
Play with players who are as good or better than myself and make damn sure I keep up.
Not to take duff musicians on, as the band will only go to their level.
Let mistakes go and try to laugh.
It''s not all about me.
To try to 'project' while playing and to talk to the audience.
To try to smile sweetly when a venue dumps on you.
Perseverance.

Perfect!

...I can't add anything to that except to say  that I played my first gig 56 years ago.

Looks like "reasonable travel time" varies a lot.I play in two bands that rehearse an hour away from me and both bands rehearse weekly.Gigs(15-20) are also also at least an hour away.I also have played  in pit bands for musicals that also require an hour each way.Unfortunately things always seem to be on different days/evenings due to work/family/other musical groups ,especially in the 7 piece swing band.

I live in Northern Ontario in Canada where nasty winter weather is just part of life and sometimes the drive to rehearsal is a bit more of an adventure than I would like but I'm smart enough now to know when to stay home on really bad days/nights.I'm 72 and still working part time as well as my band commitments but as was said above "being in a band at all is golden" and  even though I figure it actually costs me money to play in the bands  it is worth the time and money to me.I have gear(BG,EUB,DB,amp) that works for me and is paid for and currently have no GAS,well,nothing serious.

As I have said before, we are so lucky to have music in our lives and be a able share it with bandmates and audiences.I am fortunate at my stage of life to not have some of the responsibilities that many of you have but I also realize my time is running out and I want to use it musically as much as I can,I'm contemplating finding a DB teacher(also an hour away of course) to help me with my DB skills and augment the teaching vids on the net.I live in a very rural area so any type of public transportation is out of the question...remember this is Canada. 

I'm lucky I get to play lots of different types of music with very good musicians and at this point I'm willing to make time for it and my playing is improving as I try to keep up with them.Making music is magic.

I Googled around a bit and found a reference to "Fingerboard Oil-Number One" manufactured by Logic Promotions in Monmouth Gwent on the Rob Chapman(Chapman guitars)forum.Same stuff?Maybe he has a source.It was in a post dated from April 2018.

1 minute ago, burno70 said:

I've got into jazz more and more over the last 5 or so years. Stems from Jaco - Weather Report. I love Some Kind of Blue - Miles Davies, it's awesome. Don't like the noisy/atonal/everyone is soloing genre, leaves me cold. Looking forward to listening to some of the artists posted on this thread so I kind find more that I like.

Also, having a stab at a bass solo version of Take 5 (Dave Brubeck Quartet). Working on it for a couple of months now as it was above my technique level - but that's how you improve, right?  

I've tried Take 5 on my upright and it's a challenge.What key are you playing it in?

I feel better now.

44 minutes ago, bassmachine2112 said:

Hiho I was rushed to cardiac unit .Confirmed that I had a heart attack.

I,m not stressed at all about gigging just wondering if I should scale it back a bit or just get back to normal.I think I,ll just get back to normal and keep gigging.Thanks to all for advice and thoughts-keep on keepin on

All of us with heart issues will be following your progress and hoping things go well.Glad to hear you plan to keep gigging.

Best of luck! 

I had angioplasty procedures last October and had stents put in two heart arteries that had some blockage and was gigging within a week.I did not have a heart attack and there was no damage to my heart.Both of my cardiologists said to keep on with my normal activities and continue on with several meds they prescribed.So far so good,I will be seeing the cardiologist for a long term checkup in a couple of weeks and will have several tests done and I'm hoping all is well and I can keep going with my quite active life at age 72.I might even be able to stop some of the meds if things look good.

I am a worrier and have had lots of stress in my life but I am learning to handle it better, well,a bit better.

Good luck and remember there are a lot of us in the same boat, or maybe the same band seeing this is a BC thread.

45 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Say yes to every opportunity that presents itself, never assume you won't be good enough. If it isn't want  you want you can  walk away but you'll never  know if you don't try.,

Absolutely!

I just got one of these and put it in the G wing slot.Very easy to install, good sound and high output for a piezo pickup...and a good deal from an experienced bass player in this instance.Highly recommended.

2 hours ago, Bridgehouse said:

Not squier or squire then?

 

Disappointing

Actually Huey,Dewey and Louie. 

Pleckin' and grinnin'?

...hmmmmmm...

On 10/08/2018 at 08:10, Staggering on said:

The Double Big Twin is not fitted in the wing slots,the piezo pads(4) are held to the bridge with adhesive.I have the same pickup on the Engelhardt Swingmaster ES 9 that I recently bought used and am  awaiting the arrival of a KNA DB-1 pickup that I ordered from Gollihur.Mark suggested this wood encased wing pickup for my bass to cut some of the string noise and get a more woody sound.It also has a higher output than the K&K and I may not need to use the preamp(K&K) that came with the bass. 

I am expecting the pickup soon and will report on its performance.A little research that I did turned up a lot of positive reviews for the DB-1,including comments from some BC members.

The KNA is also one of the lowest priced pickups which is a bonus if it works well.Many of you know the Gollihur site, it is a goldmine of information and they know what they are talking about and ship worldwide.They are in the USA but have sent my pickup to me in Canada with no issues, they do this stuff all the time.Mark will answer email or phone questions about all of the products they sell and just about anything else related to basses.

Edit-some of the above comments came while I was writing, sorry about the repetition. 

KNA DB-1 pickup

This pickup is a wing slot type and I had to do little bit of filing and sanding to get a perfect fit but it comes with wood shims that are used to make a snug installation so it was really very easy to fit.The extra information/instruction sheet that Mark Gollihur writes and is included when you order from him was much better than the basic instructions that came from KNA,Mark was in on the development of this pickup and his advice is always good about anything related to basses.The pickups are made in Europe.

I haven't spent too much time with it yet but it is definitely a lot different than the K&K Double Big Twin that came with the bass.Output is significantly higher direct to the amp or preamp and the tone is much more woody and can be shaped easily with amp or preamp.I installed it in the G side wing slot as KNA suggests and it is quite even across all the strings, unlike the K&K that was hard to balance both tone and volume across the strings. 

I might have more to add after I have tried it at a gig through the Bose PA but at this point it's a definite thumbs up for me.