musicbassman

Rickroll yourself in the privacy and comfort of your own lockdown. You've got plenty of time, which might be handy as this could take you a while to nail. Surprised I've never heard anyone talk about this on BC, it's an amazing bassline that really does think outside the box. And it sounds so weird in isolation, yet it all clicks together perfectly when it's enmeshed in the song. Loads of damping required, so will check out your skills in this area as well ! This could be handy, isolated bass line:

C'mon guys - your sponge damping is not supposed to look smart!. My road worn sponge is actually cut from a piece of caravan upholstery from the 60's, so there ! So it's pre CBS and everything.... The Jamerson vibe is immediately obvious to the discerning listener.

There you go. One of these. Slice off the green scourer bit at the base with a Stanley knife (Careful!) You'll have to experiment a bit to find out what thickness of sponge you need to suit both your bass and the amount of damping you want. Edit: Forgot to mention that I've found you may need an additional thickness under your B string on a 5'er.

Nick Beggs - Kajagoogoo? You remember.... And I think many would agree he wrote possibly one of the greatest opening bass lines ever for 'Too Shy' He was just 21 at the time, apparently. I'd no idea that this leisurely and lengthy interview would reveal him to be such a talented and thoughtful guy. Worth a look.

Just before you head for bed............. 😊

Harley Benton = HB = Hernia Beckons........😨..

See? We can all be friends after all ! 😊

Ted, what are you on ? And....err, can I have some ? 😵

As a newbie to bass dispatch by courier (see my earlier post) can someone tell me what additional packaging you need if the bass is already in a decent hard case ?

Interesting post, Clarky - as a complete newbie to selling a bass on BC (or anywhere else, for that matter) I 've recently advertised a bass on here and I advised that the purchaser would have to arrange a courier. Why did I do this? As stated above, I'm a complete newbie to this. I used to use couriers a lot when I ran a business and I wouldn't trust them as far as I could throw them. I assumed that if the buyer arranged the courier then it would be their problem if/when the bass was damaged or disappeared. I wouldn't know where to start in choosing a courier. If I bought a decent bass I would always collect it in person even if it meant a day trip. Please reassure me that sending a bass by courier is sensible, I have a real job accepting this ! Thanks.

Regarding social distancing etc, the worrying thing is that there will be a hardcore of mostly not-very-bright under 30's who really just don't give a flying f*** about anybody or anything, and will show just how 'hard' they are by deliberately acting irresponsibly. Witness the "Coronaparties" reported this morning, apparently taking place in Germany. These peoples grasp of social responsibility is clearly zero at the best of times, so if any of them actually succumbed to the virus I would therefore have zero sympathy. 😠

I usually do deps, and when I get the set list I'm looking out for four numbers that will always immediately have alarm bells ringing for me This is because with these, although I can nail the bass lines, I'm absolutely relying on the band playing the song as the original, and not their own awful bastardised version of it (wrong chords, wrong tempo) - which can throw me completely. Sir Duke Forget Me Knots Rhythm Stick Do I Do

Just had a dep gig offered - a standard club gig for the 28th, and it's local. Played with this band before, no problems, so I'd normally accept this straight away. But I really feel I shouldn't be doing this, so have declined. Thing is, I know one of the guys in the band is a teacher with two young daughters. I simply can't understand why he (and the rest of the band) would want to put themselves at risk in this way. I've played this place before - the venue is 'friendly' but I can't imagine it's well known for it's hygiene standards. This applies to both the toilets and the punters.

I can finally get around to learning 'What is Hip' Properly. No excuses. There'll be plenty of time.

Listen, stop giving this guy a hard time! In this pic, he's actually playing Stairway to Heaven in his local music shop on a Saturday morning using his new Vertical Double Mute technique (TM, pat.applied for) Obviously, it's in the early stages of development, but anyone who tries to copy this playing technique is going to feel the full force of the US legal system, oh yessir, they surely are .....

Jump jive, I presume. 😁

Does that explain the shortage of tissues and toilet paper ? Asking for a friend............

I teach English to groups of mostly European students at summer schools, due to start at the end of this month. Just had the entire seasons bookings cancelled. Not just me, whole school is closed down for everyone. I'm OK, can manage without the income, but what about those people who rely on this sort of thing - and all the associated staff - cooks, cleaners, coach drivers etc etc? I really can't see how this loss of income/employment for millions of the mostly lower paid in the hospitality industry is going to be resolved quickly and successfully.

Well...... In 1975 I was playing on the island of Jersey with the remnants of a 60's pop band called Love Affair. (Remember them?) We were doing some sort of cabaret show at a big hotel there. We'd finished our set in the main ballroom, and then picked up word that Robert Plant and John Bonham were in the bar. Went and had a discreet look, and it certainly looked like them. Plant was on crutches - I knew he'd had a car crash recently. Bonham looked completely out of it. They were surrounded by a posse of hangers on and music people by the looks of it. Next thing we know, everyones cheering, and Plant and Bonham are heading towards the stage. Plant stops and talks to our drummer briefly, and then our drummer points to myself and the guitarist, and indicates we should go up on stage with Plant and Bonham. The rest was a bit of a blur, quite honestly. Bonham was clearly more a bit worse for wear but started fiddling with the drum kit. Then someone fetched a stool for Plant to perch himself on, and Plant suggested over the mic that we played 'Red House' Sorted out the key, and we were off. I was doing my best, but was only one step back from pissing myself with fear, god only knows what it sounded like. Luckily our guitarist was an excellent player and carried things along, as Bonham was hardly able to keep time, let alone play well. We played two lengthy numbers, half drowned out by whooping and cheering from the crowd, possibly undeserved. I cannot remember for the life of me what the second number was. Most unexpected thing that's ever happened to me at a gig!

I thought you could no longer leave negative feedback for buyers?

Very early 70's, and I was an impoverished fresh faced Devon youth who'd recently moved to London - to 'make it' of course. Answered an ad for a bass player for a backing band for a 'famous soul singer' It sounded great to my gullible ears, although I had to admit I really hadn't heard of this famous soul singer before. But it was a West End residency position, six nights a week, at an extremely upmarket disco just off Park Lane The pay was "£60 per week", which was a fantastic sum to me at that time. I got the gig, massive excitement, and after 2 weeks of regular rehearsals at a studio in Islington the band arrived at the venue - to find 4 other bands already there. It was just a showcase evening, there was no residency, and the 'famous soul singer' who we'd realised was a master b**lshi**er performed like an absolute dog. And the band had shared the daily cost of the rehearsal room, which had been eye wateringly expensive, with absolutely no contributions from the singer.. Of course, it was the first and last gig for this band, and was a very expensive lesson for me, but at least I learnt that if it sounds too good to be true then it will be.

Massive skills in abundance being revealed in this topic. If we all got together we could successfully run a small country 🙂 Well, we could until all the guitarists turned up 😮

It's so interesting reading through all these comments - seems to me there is an emphasis on technical and/or highly specialised roles overall, which would make sense for bass players and their specialised role in bands which is often woefully misunderstood by other musicians - well, bass is just a guitar with only four strings, innit ? By the way, I started as a pro bass player in the 70's, then became a specialist cut flower grower. Retired now, and I work as a dep player for covers/functions bands as and when. I also teach English to groups of foreign students every summer to help keep my brain working !

Carolina Eyck is unparalleled in her mastery of the Theremin, here she is playing a Messiaen piece with bassist Philipp Martin. Uncanny parallels with Johnny Greenwood's 'Moon Trills' , by the way.

Yup, this is what happens to me if I overthink that break in Stevie Wonder's 'Sir Duke' Go on to autopilot - no problems. Somehow it seems to play itself..... Start thinking about it too much - it's very likely to go t#ts up, big time.