spongebob

I was drumming in a band some years back, and the bassist (who was a real font of knowledge as it turned out about band stuff) said to me - 'I never join a band with keys. If you've got keys, you don't need me' was his thing. You know what, I played with a keyboard player once, and since then, I've lived by his words of wisdom!

Just flicked through a bit of the Mike Stern album on the 'net - sounds a bit 80's for me! Then again, how could you beat the 'WOM' record - amazing.

Big +1 from me as well, got a newer J and P. You could buy the 2011's Fender very recently from Thomann for about £820 - I posted it on here - and promptly bought my Jazz! Just checked now and the J's seem to have gone, but there is a P for £877 - American Standard, not the cheaper special.

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1349270510' post='1824044'] David Margen from Santana. [/quote] A big +1 on this! I can't find much about him - but love his Santana band work, and during same period on Carlos' solo stuff. I he is on 'Oneness' (great record) and parts of 'The Swing Of Delight' (brilliant as well). Whist on a Santana vibe, I'd throw in Doug Rauch - I can listen to the live triple 'Lotus' (yes, triple) album all day - mesmerizing music, and Doug is just on fire.

Good post - I'm in total agreement - drives me batty as well!

Both my Fenders (J+P) are MIA. I've had the MIM's of both in the past - nice basses, but TBH, the MIA's are in a different league - both in feel, but more importantly, in tone. But a big +1 on the above mention of the Classic MIM series - seriously nice basses, and much closer to the MIA's than the 'standard' MIM's.

+1 on Martin Sims. I'm in a lucky position of being about 10/15 minutes drive away from him as well! Good place to go for general work too - I've had some set-ups there. Nice to see his wall of basses - such as the models made for Leo Lyons and Norman Watt-Roy. Great stuff!

Great purchase - congrats! I had the black one for a while - kinda wish I'd kept it - really lovely tone, and quite different from the modern MIA.

Cool - will check those out! Is there an issue with the post-Word Of Mouth recordings? Appreciate they're not 'official' releases - is the issue with the quality of the recording, or did Jaco go off the boil performance-wise? Wouldn't blame him after reading where he was during the later years.....

Really on a Jaco tip at the mo - from solo, Weather Report, Joni..... Having really enjoyed the book, it led me to iTunes where there's a whole load of 'other' recordings - some Brian Melvin stuff, PDB, etc. Can anybody suggest any of these to go for/avoid? Being that they're not the main discography stuff, not sure where to go on this..... All ideas welcome!

I've owned the Markbass 121 and New York cab for about 3 years now - best stuff I ever bought. Gigged with it loads and loads, recorded, transported.....excellent products which I carry out together! Volume-wise, with 3/4/5 pieces, never had to crank much above a quarter/between quarter and half. Really good sound. Also, I got 2 custom covers made from here - [url="http://www.amplifiercoversonline.com/zencart/index.php"]http://www.amplifiercoversonline.com/zencart/index.php[/url] Had mine in black with yellow piping to match the amp and cab! Once again, excellent product which will protect your pride and joy!

Hope it doesn't appear in 'For Sale' soon!! Make sure to keep this one!!

After my recent Jaco post, I bought the book and can't put it down.....getting into the latter third now...what a terrible, sad story....such a waste. How anyone can live like he did with the drink, drugs....compared to how he started out avoiding all the rubbish.

[quote name='JMT3781' timestamp='1347725011' post='1804378'] You aren't getting worse mate, as you get more experienced you're just spotting the areas you want to improve [/quote] +1.

I read it was smashed into oblivion in the Joy Division days, before they'd even started on 'Closer'. Got broken when colliding against a low ceiling! Then again, from what I've also read about Hooky, the above may or may not be true!

I too shied away from Precisions for a long time - first bass was a Sunn Mustang P-cpoy.....dreadful! Tried the odd one in the meantime, good and very good.....couldn't quite find the 'one'. 2012 picked up a used US standard - that's the spot, and what a difference to previous P's. Like the above, I should have done it years ago instead of faffing about with the others. Go for a good one, and realise what a bass should be.

Love MG - anyone interested should check the book 'Divided Soul' - the definitive MG bio. Really tragic story - but an utterly engaging portrait of a true genius.

I'm a lifelong 'pickie' as well. Do try fingerstyle at home, sometimes when digging into the scales book, etc. But as much as I try, I must admit I am a far more fluid player with the pick, whatever style I'm attempting!

I've just ordered the biography mentioned earlier, so can't wait to get stuck into that when it arrives!

Welcome to the dark side!

Never played a 'vintage' Precision, but on the Rickenbacker front, I've found the 'old' outweighs the 'new'. New ones sound great, almost like turbo-charged oldies....but what they increase in power, I find they lose in overall tone and charm. I've had a more than a few, and have come down to 'old' side!

Just go and rock that P-bass, ED!

When I used to drum for a 3-piece, the bassist would always tell me that he would never play alongside keys because of the drowning out of the bass. His thing was 'if you've got a keys player, you don't want a bassist'! TBH, it's something that I now always stick to.....playing with one certainly made it tricky to find my space....