Yank

The Battle of New Orleans done as a skiffle tune in England? That's funny. Probably most of the budding rock stars of the 60's did it as wee lads, on their washboards and tea chest basses.

I do a really fancy restaurant gig with my duo that's like that. Playing for yourself or a few people at most in front of you. Most folks are out of sight. My buddy hates it. You get no immediate feedback from the audience until they're leaving, when they will stop by and say how much they enjoyed it. It pays good and they feed me lobster, and re-book. Much rather play this other bar which is down the road. Working class place where some folks drink too much, hoot and holler and sing along and cheer after a song. No lobster, but more satisfying.

We had a request at a gig for "The Battle of New Orleans" a song based on the fiddle tune "Eighth of January" that was a hit for Johnny Horton in the 1950's. It went over so well, we continue to do it and people love it. I don't imagine it would go down well in England, but are there others that for some quirky reason go over? Something along the lines of "Henry the Eighth" by Herman's Hermits. I imagine in England, the line "wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam", would get a chuckle, but wouldn't register in the States.

The bassist Leland Sklar had a great rock band in the 90's called Barefoot Servants. For whatever reason,they folded too early.

In bygone days, jazz was vibrant. Today, IMO, it's mostly self indulgent and derivative. It's dead and rigermortice has set in. Send flowers.

Yes, you are wrong. Where would the Sex Pistols be if they had played "My Way" just like Frankie?

I started on a lined Jazz. Now have unlined and the lined is my spare. With both you need to use your ears, more so with unlined.

In one of my bass books, it has the circle of fifths, but 3 of the twelve it gives both enharmonic equivilents. It lists both B and C flat, D flat and C sharp, and F sharp and G flat. Why these three keys? I also don't find much music written in these keys. Is this just an intellectual exercise?

Last night I plugged in the Mesa and tried to listen with your ears. I tried your settings also, before reverting to my own. I had never thought about it being aggressive, but found your review spot on. I mellow it out by playing technique, but you're right, it wants to be aggressive and powerful, in the same way that a Precision tone is more aggressive than a Jazz tone. I also keep the deep switch off, but have the bass at 12, low-mids at 2, high mids at 12, treble at 10, with the voicing off. This gives a mellower tone, and for punch, I'll boost the high mids to 1 or 2. Also, the aggressiveness, means that your tone won't get lost/overpowered in a band setting.

Great review, you have good ears!

Excellent review. I have a D800, and using a passive fretless with flats, I don't seem to have the same impression of having to rein it in. I find it full and rich with plenty of power in reserve. I also run it through the mesa cabs, a 15 and a 2-10, as that might also affect my impressions. I always love good reviews with other's impressions. Well done.

I mated with the fretless as soon as I picked it up and put down the fretted, never looked back. I love your fretless!

In my band, I play bass and sing background. Growing up I was the lead singer/drummer and have been in bands where I play rhythm guitar and sing. As a singer, I tend to think in terms of form, i.e. first verse, second verse, chorus, bridge, lead, last verse, chorus. Not every one thinks like this. I also write things down at practice i.e. key, endings, feel, arrangement, only to find something's changed next practice. When something has changed, I'll bring it up, but will roll with the new changes and mark them down. From many years of memorizing lyrics, I can easily memorize song structure, but at gigs you need to keep your antennae up and spin on a dime when things go south. Adapt or perish.

Take up fishing. It's cheap, takes up loads of time and puts you together with others to tell war stories to. What to fish for? The obvious one would be bass.

Yeah, Centerfold was their weak, pop period. Hated the whole album. Loved their earlier bluesy stuff.

There's so many. One that springs to mind is Somewhere Beyond the Sea. The bridge takes it up a notch and then resolves back to the verse. Brillant!

I know what you mean about GYOW. I heard it on the radio recently and was digging the bass part.

I use flats on a fretless, but that's not what you're looking for. If you're using cheap Roto's and have learned to deal with inconsistensies, the question becomes, are you willing to pay more for a better string. Which is more important, better quality or cheap price?

Just added some heavy duty bungee's, so now the gear is locked in to the hand truck and won't tip off.

After playing fretless exclusively for ten years, the question for me would be "why would I ever want a fretted"?

When someone else lugs your gear.......oh wait, that's when you're the singer.

I love to gig. I'd call all three and would gig with them. Between the three I might get a full schedule. I'd practice with them to learn their set, then re-practice when new material is on the table. I'd be a "floating dep".

The problem is every drummer sets up so differently, according to his arm reach and seat height and idiosyncrasies of his playing style . From seat height to snare height and angle to tom angles to cymbal heights, our playing suffers when on other's kit. It would be like playing someone's bass where the string type and action are different and the amp was foreign. OK at a jam, not on a show.

Doing which wrong?

Playing in public in your underwear??????? I don't get it.

Pulled a muscle in my back 2 weeks ago. Layed me up for a week. Healing now, but decided to change how I move gear. My cabs are around 40 lbs., but unwieldy. Picked up a hand truck. Pro quality, steel, not too heavy, large wheels to handle stairs, D handle, for one handed use. Fantastic piece of gear! It's a Milwaukie. Made in the USA. Well worth the money. Any one else use one?

To quote Jaco- Acoustic upright bass is too much effort for too little return. Go electric.