oldbass

[quote name='JapanAxe' timestamp='1449753210' post='2926494'] Off you go to the Custom Shop then! [/quote] You mean these can be ordered in different colours,I had no idea. By the way..how much harder is it to play that wider neck than the 70's width.

[quote name='colgraff' timestamp='1450390856' post='2932421'] I heard Mr Holder refer to it as "my pension." [/quote] Lucky man...and the Roy Wood tune too...I couldn't write a song to save my life...hats of to these guys.

I wonder how much cash Noddy Holder has made from Merry Xmas?..yeah we all hate it but its still an immense tune... I quite like the Mariah Carey tune with that beautifully played plodding bass... +1 on everything else that's been mentioned.

John Giblin who I always thought was a bit underrated. The way he plays that line on Cannot Believe Its True by dare I say Phil Collins, sorry, is sublime...soooo smooth, like he's barely touching the strings. Very tasty player.

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1396809000' post='2417587'] yes yes yes all of that and where to start on the lyrics ! [/quote] and again thumping great YES to it all.....don't think I can think of another female writer who can put chords together the way she does....fabulous...mother of all solo female story tellers ever. Not so keenthough on the heavy smoking thing she has going.. oh well that's genius for ya.

Great image...kinda pretty vacant looking

[quote name='Meddle' timestamp='1449698769' post='2926169'] I find it a bit odd to focus in on one bassist in one genre. Motown was somewhat synonymous with the civil rights movement, and the music was made to capture the spirit of the era as it was unfolding. To perform a dry, academic analysis of this music, and the bass lines especially, seems a bit odd, when the actual cut and thrust of the music is ignored. For me, I find Jamerson's lines to be a bit twee, if anything. I'm not convinced that such a fiddly bassist would be as popular in other circumstances. [/quote] Ha Twee?...Fiddly?.sounds like me on a good night...lol

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1449697537' post='2926158'] Bob Olhsson seems to be suggesting that Bob Babbitt was a better bass player than Jamerson! I've got a gig at the weekend - am I still OK to do it?? [/quote] I think by 1970 his drinking and depression was taking a heavy toll and Babbitt was new, could sight read on the spot and was reliable..u can see why he got the calls.

He started something new...noodling in public using a bridge PU on a Jazz bass and now every wannabee jazz bassist does it and they all sound like Jaco so I guess he was first which makes him pretty special. Great tone, and tasty technical playing. Back in the 70's he was like something from another planet which with the passing of time probably seems less obvious today.

[quote name='Beer of the Bass' timestamp='1449693723' post='2926114'] Didn't Jamerson have difficulty finding work later on as producers felt his sound hadn't moved with the times? With hindsight his work comes across as classic rather than dated, but I guess there was a time when it didn't seem that way to everyone. [/quote] Yep,it's all in the Motown Standin In The Shadows book if you can find it, and what a fascinating read it is. But yes apparently on a session in the early 70's in LA a stand in bassist brought a pack of rounds into the studio but he refused to fit them on his bass....and it appears from that point onwards the work gradually dried up. His very last No 1 hit....was "You Don't Have To Be A Star" by Billy Davies and Marilyn McCoo. Very sad.

Would love one in shoreline gold.

Depends on what works for you really. My 71 r/wood P is a smidge heavy and the bridge is in the wrong place, as many were ...so already some may say its a "dog"...but it's got the chunkiest stiffest neck I've ever played... never ever moves and the sound with 10 yr old flats on whilst not overly "boingish" is very heavy and smooth... I absolutely love it but many probably wouldn't.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1449489006' post='2923887'] And ironically referenced with a wink in the opening of the Genesis song in the previous post... [/quote]well ive never heard that before...interesting though nothing beats that SP's intro. Have'nt listened to Genesis for years, love that keyboard mix.

[quote name='paulnb57' timestamp='1449351418' post='2922903'] The opening riff on Pretty Vacant by the Sex Pistols [/quote] couldn't agree more....the angriest three note intro ever written.

My 0.2$ There are some musicians that have "it". Macca is one of them...so is Bach, Mozart, and of course Jamerson and dare I even say and to a much lesser degree, Adam Clayton ... It's all about putting the right note in the right place at the right time. And if done with a flourish then so much the better. I don't really think bass is there for our undulgence to show how flash we are, its there to support the tune and those who do it best are worthy imo of high praise. Tin hat now firmly attached!

Yeah hards day night does it for me too....strange thing is I don't really like it but it is uniquely brilliant.

Guys a ruddy musical genius, and yes his bass work is amazing. That line on silly love songs is out of the park gorgeous... and the tone....just exquisite!

Probably a 1976 Ampeg V4b paired to a custom build EV 2x15....pretty spectacular if I remember - sold to another happy camper many decades ago. Doubt I could lift any of it now.

Hi everybody newbie here post wise..hope u don't mind. All great advice so far but if I may. First things first.....slacken all the strings right off..then slacken the truss rod right off (turn it left as u look at it) then slacken off the neck bolts and then re-tighten neck bolts then turn TR to the right until u can just feel resistance then stop, then tune strings to pitch and then do ur neck relief stuff. You will then know that everything is where it should be.

[quote name='kevin_lindsay' timestamp='1448209725' post='2913675'] Yup, "I shoulda Loved Ya" was T.M. Stevens on bass. Another cracker - this time with Randy Jackson (of American Idol panel fame) on bass. Narada Michael Walden "Divine Emotions" http://youtu.be/1XCTNi_2AS4 [/quote] just love that bass line....kinda greasy,gnarly. Don't think I've ever seen a stingray bass so beat up...unusual with such a tough poly finish.

Guys, hope u don't mind this being only my second post etc but I just love this subject. My 71 alder/rosewood P with original PU is heavyish and a bit of a funny one. G string is loud and very middly irrespective of PU height, with the middle strings middly but quieter and a low E with bags of low mid almost thunderous....very satisfying Just wish there was a bit more balance across the board, makes for some funny attack patterns.

My current set of flats have been on for 8 yrs and they sound good to my ears, plenty of middle etc Just to say I didn't like them much when new, much too twangy.

ha thought Id completely deleted the post...I'll start again. Thought this might help anyone with the same prob. Long story short. My 71 rosewood P bass has always had a very quiet E string..tried literally everything from PU's, strings to bridge etc including several trips to my local 'luthier'. In desperation and after reading this and that on the web I took the neck off, slackened and tapped the truss rod nut and now it thunders the way it should, weird but true. Very pleased.