musicbassman

Oh dear.....

WRT filters?

LP filters?

BP?

YMMV?

4-pole LP design?

This is high level tech-talk to me.

I'm a simple soul - I just use a Spectracomp and my PJ and that's it.

I'm not a luddite or a fully paid up member of the "it's all in the fingers" camp, but maybe someone can explain.

No expert here, but I would have thought some sort of shaper is what you need to help create that sort of sound, rather than distortion ??

Oh, and assuming you're playing finger style, a super clipped bass technique, using left hand or right hand/or a combination of these. (Not to be confused with muting or damping, of course)

I'm sure some BC'er much more knowledgeable than me on here can assist further.

Hi mum……………..yes, everything’s fine…………….well, we’re three months into the tour now, and we’re playing the little town of Bullethole, Texas tonight……………..yes, I’m just fine, and I know I’m not allowed to leave the tour bus and the guitarist is right when he says he’s the King of The Lizard people, praise His name,   …………………no, no, I’m not being brainwashed…..must go, we have two hours of prayers to do before we go on stage…………………

23 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

The covers band enigma.  I've never understood why people go nuts for bands playing other people's songs.

Well. I've played in covers bands for what seems like forever, and I wouldn't expect people to go nuts for covers - you're there to provide entertainment that's hopefully a couple of steps up from a mobile disco at a function - a band playing live can be a lot more interesting than watching a DJ's lighting rig. Having said that, I still maintain that many covers bands are pretty hopeless at getting it right.

23 minutes ago, SpondonBassed said:

I wouldn't worry too much about the drop D in the greater scheme of things.

- which brings us on to this, which I agree with absolutely. For playing covers on bass, I think it's more important to get the dynamics and feel right to reflect the original rather than worrying about the exact notation. Nobody notices the notes, but they'll just think 'This doesn't sound right' if the feel of the original is lost.

I expect this might sound familiar –

Early 1970’s - aged 20 – my band were big fish in a small regional town – and I’d convinced myself I was really rather brilliant at playing bass.

Armed with enormous ill-found egos and equally enormous amounts of naivety the band moved to London to – err “make it”

Of course, the band folded within a few months -  and I had grudgingly started to realise that there were many players who were way better than me around,  even on the bottom rung of the pub rock circuit.

Many, many years later, I now at last think I’m a pretty decent bass player – but it’s all a bit late now – I saw a video someone had taken of a band I was depping with recently and realise that the really old guy playing the bass was actually……me.

If only I could gift the knowledge I have now back to myself in my 20’s……

Bass playing - it's so hard getting it exactly right.................

"My first impulse was to dig deeper into the rhythm to find the sweet spot for the groove. It is a continuously moving object, and you ride it much like you would ride a horse—guiding it, knowing full well that it has a life of its own"

A wise man has spoken. What a perfect analogy.

Last Friday it was....

.........ahaha ! ....look at those two girls in fancy dress over there!  Bit over the top!   😀

......blimey, that doesn't leave much if anything to the imagination........😯

.......they must surely be going to a Vicars and Tarts fancy dress party later!..........

.......errrr, oh, no, seems like they're just local girls on a night out in Portsmouth.........

On 08/09/2018 at 20:51, Mister RLP said:

I used to have a 73 Jetglow 4001

.............I didn't know some cats had model numbers.

Well, I would have said that a new set of roundwounds and some accurate playing with a pick would have that sound sorted quite easily.

And I wouldn't think that even having to have a certain type of bass guitar would be essential.

However, other opinions may be available.

1 hour ago, lowdown said:

There is a nice little read here regarding 'Everlasting Love'.

What an interesting read. As ever, the truth is slightly stranger than history chooses to remember.

Maurice (Mo) Bacon, the original drummer actually kept the rights to the 'Love Affair' name and continued to run the band right through the early '70's, although there were no original members remaining.

That's why when Steve Ellis restarted 'his' Love Affair it had to be called 'Steve Ellis Love Affair' to avoid treading on Mo Bacon's rights to the name.

I should know - I played in 'Love Affair' during 1975 and 1976 .

A rather dubious claim to fame, methinks........😏

Rand Forbes from the band United States of America, 1968

Fretless bass, way ahead of it's time. I hadn't even started playing when I first heard this in 1969, but I think the opening bass line here triggered me.

Yup, it's a little known fact that after a hard day building the Great Western Railway he'd rush off to gig with his Steampunk band.

In fact, he oversaw the stage construction for the 1887 Glastonbury Festival - in this photo he can be seen inspecting the wooden scaffolding for one of the giant PA rigs to be installed there. His giant steam powered rotary bass amp can also be seen behind. Exact details of it's method of operation have been lost, but apparently ladies fainted and cows died in the surrounding fields due to the excessive bass frequencies. It's all true.

11 minutes ago, wateroftyne said:

And, of course, the other problem with overplaying is what when you get to part of the song that could really do with a bit more going on... where do you go?

............that's when you go to 11, of course.

I must confess I had tea coming down my nose at 0.58..............

18) ChunkyMunky - Yamaha BB1025X, SWR Redhead combo 

19) Jabba the Gut - TC Electronic RH450, RS112 and some own build basses

20) Thestick - Vanderkley cabs, Aguilar ag700 head, selection of basses

21) Mr & Mrs Hamster - Tea, coffee & cake! Might bring a couple of basses too 

22) bassace - usual double basses etc.

23) OutSpoon (Steve) - Fodera Monarch Standard Classic, Sandberg California VS5, Maybe a '94 Stingray? TC 208 combo or PJ Double4?

24) Walman - BF Super12T, FPPR Status S1 (yes that one  ), Genz Benz Streamliner, Helix Floor, and a load of EBS pedals for sale

25) musicbassman - planning to come, sorry I've nothing of great interest to bring with me, just some respect for all you guys bringing your treasured possessions to display.

Warning! - this thread appears to have turned into full frontal Precision Porn.

If you have been affected by images viewed (GAS), please seek help now, it's never too late.

Hi Blue,

in the '80's I used to play on cruise boats on the River Thames that people sometimes hired for corporate functions. The load on was usually at Wapping for the caterers and the band, and then the party goers were collected at Westminster or the Embankment.

They were strange gigs - the boats never went very far - just down to Greenwich and up to Kew, but they'd do this a couple of times during the evening. Usually the dancefloor and the stage were on the top deck, and on a summers evening the roof would be completely open so you'd be on stage playing as the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben slowly rolled by above you - all slightly surreal.

The Thames is a tidal river, so if the tide was right out at load on or load off and it had been raining, it could be more than a bit scary with a very steep and slippery gangplank to manouevre the gear down or up - health and safety was not so well considered even then.

I don't know if this scene still exists - maybe some other BCers can advise.

34 minutes ago, burno70 said:

Weaknesses - Tone deaf. Would love to have pitch perfect hearing rather than having to ask '...erm, what key's this in? when jamming.

Don't worry, burno70, very, very few musicians have perfect pitch.

I think what you mean is you may find it difficult to hear intervals, which is a very different thing, and you really can improve this by ear training - there's quite a bit of stuff online to help you with this.

Here's Rick Beato talking about perfect pitch, and how it's a misunderstood term:

3 hours ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Weakness - I'm a crap bass player. 

Awww - c'mon - realising your weak spots as a player is already half way down the road towards becoming a GOOD bass player!  🙂

7 hours ago, ambient said:

I'm first to admit that I'm perhaps a little odd, but I do find other people strange and difficult to understand.

Yep, a problem I've had all my life also. Maybe all bass players are like this !

We are. after all, a bit special as a breed, aren't we ?

Never mind the flash stuff, learn to play any of the classic Motown lines accurately and with feeling. And if you think that's easy, you're doing it wrong.

And when you meet a bass player who's possibly a bit better than you, swallow your pride, put your ego back on the shelf and try and learn from them.

And, yes, never ever leave your gear in the car. Ever. Your luck will definitely run out at some time.

When you're last minute depping with a band and at the gig have a complete mental blank about the next song that you apparently ran through with them at an impromptu rehearsal that afternoon.

Singer, to me : "we're going to do ' Be My Bad Move Dreamer' next"

Me:   Blank look..................

Singer: " It starts with the bass - remember???

Me:   Errr............File not found

Singer: "do-do-dar- dum-dum"  (Pulls a bass face and plays imaginary bass) ..........."Remember ?"

Me:  😥

Guitarist: "No, actually we never did go through that one"

Me:   ............🙂.....................☺️😊☺️

On 21/08/2018 at 11:33, el-gnomo said:

The new guy does a pretty good job, but he still has "dep panic face" 🙂 mind you, who wouldn't on this gig.

Yes, it can't be denied he has a look of extreme concentration on his face. Maybe this will explain for those that don't know:

http://www.ktvu.com/news/tower-of-power-member-returns-to-yoshis-following-horrific-train-accident

Careful guys - with these attitudes to punters.

It's something I used to be very guilty of myself in the arrogance of my younger gigging days - regarding any customers as 'dim punters' if they didn't react favourably to your playing or ignored you.

It's better to try and engage with these people - so if you're going to put a PA speaker 12" from their faces when you're setting up then you could at least suggest with a smile on your face that they might like to move tables "as it might get a bit loud and we don't want to deafen you" or something like that. OK, they may not be the sharpest tools in the box but they're still human beings and people usually respond favourably to someone taking even the slightest interest in them and their wellbeing. And then it all helps create a good atmosphere in the place which is beneficial for all.

Just a thought, nothing personal.