Annoying Twit

That's much later than 80s, and was on sale in this forum for some time.

The advantage to buying from an online supplier such as Thomann is that if you don't like the bass, you can return it.

Somebody did on this Talkbass thread. http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f8/fake-chinese-rickenbackers-820285/index3.html

Listening to Neil Finn's latest album, with his wife Sharon on bass, it sounds to me as if she's developing nicely. As with Linda McCartney, some might argue that she's in the band because she's married to the main guy. But, I think what's she's playing, while fairly simple, supports the songs well. In interviews Neil Finn mentioned that some songs (e.g. "Flying in the face of love" were built on bass lines that Sharon came up with. Listening to her playing, it's undeniable that there are many players who have far more technical ability than she has. You can hear that the bass isn't being played by a virtuoso. But, in my opinion, what she's playing is simple and effective, and she's getting better at making the notes she plays support the song well. Any other opinions on Sharon's playing?

I've never heard of this brand. Looks like it might even be an Indian brand. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Tansen-6-String-bass-guitar-/371005895905?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item5661acb4e1 Very much looks like a sticker on an unbranded instrument though.

How about electrical wires connected to his gonads from a footswitch, that you can press every time he makes a mistake?

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1392211343' post='2365966'] Wasn't it sampled from Camille Yarborough's Take Yo Praise? Sounds very Jerry Jemmott Edit: James Benjamin apparently. I've always loved the playing on that song [url="http://www.discogs.com/Camille-Yarbrough-The-Iron-Pot-Cooker/release/719973"]http://www.discogs.c.../release/719973[/url] Another Edit: The actual bassline is not sampled from that song :-D [/quote] I did listen to the song, but was working at the same time. The general playing style and bass sound are quite similar, so I was guessing that the correct phrases would be in there somewhere, but perhaps I'd missed them. However, I enjoyed the playing on Camille Yarborough's album, and am currently considering whether to buy that album just to experience/study the bass playing. When I get time I'll go through the 'who sampled who' links to see if I can identify the bass source. Otherwise, unless someone has a credit, I'll assume it's Norman Cook himself.

Edit: Deleted due to previously booked trip on the 10th. Apologies.

It sounds very much like a bass guitar to me. It could be a sample from some source, but then you'd expect that sample to be credited when the other ones on the track are. (E.g. on Wikipedia).

As in the title. Was it Norman Cook himself? I thought that he wasn't playing bass for much of his Fatboy Slim career, but can't find a credit for this track.

While this, in my humble opinion, loses its way a bit later on, I greatly enjoyed much of this jam. I think that Flea and Stanley Clarke do an excellent job of soloing when it's their turn, but standing back and letting the other musicians have musical space when it was their turn. And Clarke is slapping in a way that IMHO serves the music, rather than being an all out pop-fest. Again IMHO, Sheila E and Stewart Copeland could have applied a little bit more of that restraint during the dum solos. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A13mmk5Wzns

I personally believe that it's a case of being able to follow the rules before you can break them properly. I can get some things sounding OK timewise, but not everything. First I need to be able to play something easily without interpretation and subtle timing variations. Then I can bring an as yet limited amount of funk to it. So I don't think that I'm constitutionally incapable of achieving good timing, but I will have to work at it. That very good players are perhaps not even aware of how they are playing in these ways is not actually surprising, as research into true human expertise that what distinguishes a true expert from a 'proficient performer' is that for a true expert, much of the knowledge that they apply in their tasks will have receded into unconsciousness. But that doesn't mean that they didn't specifically study and apply that knowledge earlier on when they were learners. Here's a reasonable discussion of expertise, which I believe makes some points relevant to this discussion. http://www.psy.fsu.edu/faculty/ericsson/ericsson.exp.perf.html Another area that some people claim cannot be learnt is songwriting. But as a Beatles fan, one insight that we have about The Beatles is the degree to which they developed as songwriters, as recordings of them as early teenagers is available. E.g. this is one of the first songs that John Lennon wrote. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8cHcc-edjMM And it's a historical oddity, but I wouldn't call it a great song. The playing skill of that era is also illuminating (and more relevant to this thread). They got better over time. There are people who just sit down and can do something first time out (Brian Wilson wrote Surfer Girl as an experiment to see if he could write a song). But I don't accept these comments that 'if you haven't got it already, you can't learn it.'

I'll add my best wishes for the future. BTW: Slightly OT, but are there any other threads where you discuss the dynamics of a band with two bass players?

If I was a logical, organised, person I believe that I would have aced this by now. What seems to have been revealing itself is that I was overconfident in my timing because I was able to ape other people's timing. Now that I'm finally getting around to really getting deeper into Friedland's book, I'm exposing defects in my timing that I didn't even know were there. E.g. if I'm playing the classic syncopated pattern with two notes played on the downbeat, and only a single syncopated note on the remaining three beats of the bar, then I'm not being accurate enough to distinguish between these unless there is a very clear pattern (playing along with bass or a clear drum beat) to follow. E.g. in eighths, the pattern to play (capitals indicates which divisions are played - meaningless syllables used as per Friedland's style) is: DA BA da BA da BA da BA - easy, even if unaccompanied For shuffle twelfths, it's DA chi BA da chi BA da chi BA da chi BA - in this, I can get the downbeat right, but I don't think the other notes are accurately timed unless I'm playing to a very slow tempo and counting. For beats divided into sixteenth notes, it's: DIG a chick A dig a chick A dig a chick A dig a chick A - again, I can only do this with a slow tempo and counting. If I drop the counting and don't have a pattern to play to my timing will wander as I drift towards the straight eighths timing. Even worse for sixteenths than for twelfths. Also, for the more complicated patterns that he includes in the book, it takes time for me to lock into the correct rhythm, unless I play along with the example. I can get them even unaccompanied by starting slow and counting, and eventually building up to unaccompanied and not counting, but this is still far from trivial for me. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel for this, and that I'm making progress. But, it's a tiny bit frustrating that I'm not as good a bassist as I thought I was, and that I'm not doing some quite basic things well enough. Also, that I could have thrown myself deeply into Friedland's book in August when I bought it - but sadly that's me all over. (See username for explanation).

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1360429093' post='1970288'] The Beatles listened to a lot of stuff by bands no-one was really listening to, and brought those sounds to the masses. Influential more than innovative I think you'll find. [/quote] The Beatles did both. They wore their many influences on their sleeves, but also innovated more than anyone else at the time. It's not an either-or situation.

I tend to use OFPF everywhere. When I'm playing right down at the lower frets, I tend to move my hand more depending on what fret I am fretting at a particular time. It doesn't feel as if I am putting my hand under undue stress.

Why would people not use their third finger to fret? It seems a waste of a perfectly good finger to me.

[quote name='timmo' timestamp='1391894852' post='2362479'] Where do people get them from. I found a site that you could buy tracks and could fade out any instrument that you wanted. I made the mistake of not bookmarking it. I am just looking foir some site that the bass is not present, but the rest is [/quote] You can do this by downloading MIDI tracks, then using a MIDI editor which allows you to mute tracks. They won't sound like real music though, but a bit cheesy. (Or a lot).

Massive bargain!

I look at bitsas such as [url=http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fretless-Jazz-Bass-/251446206117?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3a8b5c9ea5]this defretted Jazz Bass[/url] and think that they could be really nice instruments that play and sound fantastic. Or they could be unusable unsalvageable rubbish. How on earth would a potential buyer know?

At least some 'Grant' basses were MIJ, I thought. Though, if I remember correctly, the Grant brand is not well respected. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Grant-Bass-Guitar-Carry-Case-Laney-Amplifier-Accessories-Great-for-Beginners-/191064961070?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item2c7c5bf02e There is a rather confusing thread on them here. http://basschat.co.uk/topic/175221-sold/

If I was actually thinking of buying it, then I'd be a lot more critical and the lack of better photos would put me right off. But, I do think that the general shape and design looks nice.

Quite a few of the custom basses (or those claimed to be custom) on ebay look a bit more weird than wonderful. This one doesn't have any high resolution pictures, but IMHO it looks pretty nice. Bit strange to sell it missing knobs though. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/custom-bass-guitar-/261392287496?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item3cdc31c708

Wow! What a bargain. I hope to come across a bargain like that someday.

Get well soon for Scott from me too. I'm familiar with his work with Zappa senior and in the band Z wit two of Zappa's sons.