chris_b

I would like to hear the thoughts of someone who was listening. I'm not saying you are wrong, but I'll always prefer to hear impartial opinions when I'm dealing with comparisons involving my playing. We all do that. Many musicians, great and not so great, ignore the audience but most only get away with that because the rest of the band doesn't.

That's got to be in the schedule for 2019.

You can get a degree from music college, play the cleverest lines and sound amazing with your great boutique gear. You can agonize over how Geddy Lee got this sound or that sound, but most bands (well most that I know) will give the gig to a bass player who sounds and plays good enough and who sings.

"It's all in the fingers" is short-hand for, "It's you that makes the difference". It really doesn't matter if you play a Precision, Musicman or double bass. OK, there are "rules", ie you don't see many double basses in Metal, but a good bass player will sound good on any instrument. What do others want from a bass guitar? That it don't sound bad. That's it! More important than your sound is that your timing is good/perfect, you play interesting lines, you groove/swing/rock and that you remember the arrangements. The sound of different basses? That's personal preference and not a "thing" to anyone else but you. I think most audiences do notice bass players. There is a sliding scale of recognition but the bass is heard by most people. I get comments about my 5 string bass everywhere I go, so lots notice more than you think. Some of them will actually be bothered to walk across the room and tell you. As a bass player you'll play better if you are happy and that will contribute to a happy band. A happy band will make better music and the audiences will always/usually notice and appreciate that. I rate airlines on their price and service, so basically the cabin crew and the entertainment on the plane. I never think about the guys who service the plane or the ones up front doing the steering and landing. That's bass playing and why the rhythm section is called the engine room.

IMO, TI's are great flatwound strings. If you want something less expensive, try GHS Precision Flatwound strings. They sound and feel very good.

Later is fine. Irritating people are a fact of life. I live next to a particularly fine example but irritation is just something I/we all have to deal with. The problem is that TV people don't understand that just showing the performance is enough. They always insist on adding all that "interesting" TV stuff! Never mind that it is mostly irrelevant and usually detracts from the music. We need more live music on TV of all sorts. Whether you or I like the particular content or presentation doesn't matter, someone will. With so much TV air time these days I would have thought that showing concerts, gigs and music programs would be a cheap and easy way of providing content, but as live music fans have always been poorly served by TV I won't be holding my breath.

Absolutely. Music programs should always have a place on TV. More the merrier. I watched Later and I have to say, I can't remember anyone who was on it. This week just wasn't interesting to me, but every TV station should have a "Later" in its schedules.

It does sound good but it's not a live sound. The whole band was recorded and remixed in the studio afterwards.

Yep. But doesn't make for such a good headline, does it. I've played instruments at bass bashes that were lovingly exhibited by proud owners and felt like crap to me. Tried friends basses that I wouldn't play if they gave them to me. So yeah, I'm sure Fender made quite a lot of bad basses over many years, but what does that mean in terms of numbers? Probably quite a few. In terms of percentage of overall production? Not a lot. So what do we say? For every 10 basses Fender sends to market one might be a dog, one might be exceptional and the rest will be somewhere in the middle and are still capable of doing a good job? Sure it's a guestimate but my feeling is that this is closer to the truth than the line, "Every bass Fender made in the 70's was crap". I'd bet that most of these basses (even the bad ones) eventually settled and matched up the preferences of an owner and they both lived happily ever after.

Yep. If you don't want to play a number, try to get it shelved before anyone else has put in the time to learn it. If you just turn up, make a mess of it and just shrug your shoulders saying you never likes it anyway, you'll have upset everyone.

If you have more gear than you can use on one gig then you have too much gear. Keep the bass you've played the most in the last year and sell everything else. Never regret selling what you don't need. With the money buy a better bass than the one you kept, which now becomes your backup. From this point on, your sound is good, so just think about your playing and technique. Do you do bv's? Focus half your time on that.

Me neither. Instrumental bands have to search around and sometimes they chose numbers based on hope or maybe just desperation. I was in one a long time ago, with good guys and good players, but thankfully it never got out of the rehearsal room. We played Cause We've Ended As Lovers amongst a lot of other old tat, including a rocked up version of Apache!

So they say. . . I also get stick from drummers when I question why they all like John Bonham so much!! Don't get me started on Geddy Lee!!! Me too. . . . or I did. I have never been a Pink Floyd fan, until I saw Dave Gilmour's Albert Hall gig on his last tour and I came away loving this song and most of the others he played.

I guess the band leader is a guitarist? I honestly don't know what guitarists see in Jeff Beck. IMO his high point was the Truth and Beck-Ola band! So, think of it as a slow blues, then it's pretty straight forward to play.

IMO you should sell the 410. Keeping gear because "I might get a chance to use it a some stage " is not a good reason.

So what is the comparison between the sound of your Metro and your chambered NYC?

These Studio Jam videos are great. They are a warts and all performances with the best players in the world just jamming. You don't have to like it, but I generally do. Even the ones I don't like I can appreciate the talent on display. Wooten is one fantastic player, but as with the all these "super slappers", IMO they sound much better when they switch to finger style. Locally I've heard a few guys sounding good on Sire basses, but the bottom line is, if you are a good player you'll sound good on anything.

It's good when a plan comes together.

I don't take this story at face value and I would imagine there have been many "issues" with LB which have yet to come out. LB has been a PIA personally and professionally to the band since the 70's. There are years of back story here (some things we know, many we don't) and I guess he has used up all his goodwill. Personally I would have voted not to take him back after the first time he flounced off. I know that when Dave Gilmour was recently touring, on some stages of the tour, they were travelling with nearly 70 people. A world tour like this is a massive undertaking and demands the total focus of everyone involved. That LB wants to do gigs with his own band in-between probably indicates a lack of focus and commitment to FM, which has the potential to put the tour in jeopardy further down the line. How can the organisation that is Fleetwood Mac take that risk? Maybe they did him a favour. Now he has plenty of time for his band! About the "proposed" album? FM has been a "heritage" brand for 40 years and they have all been following solo creative paths since. Seems like the other "creative" guys want to keep the two separate. Why put a lot of modern songs into an FM tour? Nothing to be gained by doing that. It's difficult to judge what's going on. Lot of people jumping to conclusions here. No doubt there is enough material for another Fleetwood Mac documentary.

Good job I didn't make any comparisons or discuss the value.

I've been playing a Metro for a couple of years and there is only one drawback. The weight is slightly more than I'm comfortable with. So I've been on the lookout for a chambered NYC. Last week I finally played one in Guitar Guitar Epsom and I didn't like the sound. It just wasn't as full or punchy as my Metro. I need to take the Metro in and do a direct comparison but that has put me off. I've also tried other Metros and haven't liked the sound as much as mine. What's the polar opposite of a Friday bass? Whatever it is, I think I've got one.

I'm a Fender guy and always have been. A few years ago I played Clarky's CS Pino and liked it a lot. A very, very nice bass but unfortunately I don't play 4 string basses and IMO, Fender haven't yet hit the spot for me with any of their 5 strings. IMO if you want a 4 string workhorse Fender is the place to go. For anything else, shop around. It doesn't surprise me to see that people have not had positive experiences with my favourite basses. That's preferences for you!! From a 5 string perspective, it seems to me that my Mike Lull P and Sadowsky Jazz are basses Fender could only dream of making. Both these basses are a pleasure to play and make just about the best sound of any bass I've owned. Sadly, for my requirements, a Fender seems like a backwards step these days.

Listen to any CD by Keb Mo. Intelligent and well crafted songs, oh and he uses the cream of modern bass players.

I'm very happy to see that you are all back on track. Great news.

If my EQ was set as usual and I wasn't "punching through the mix" I'd start by getting the other guys to turn down. If that didn't work I try turning my master volume up. I use one bass per gig, so I don't swap between active and passive basses. I can't see any advantage in doing this.