StickyDBRmf

City of Tiny Lights - Zappa

Everyday People. Sly & The Family Stone. One note.

A tuner gets me close, where I used to have to tune "in the room", and I played fretless, so it was a harmonics thing. Now it's that f*cking Stick and I have to to tune to IT, then hope the guitarist is decent with an ear, because it's the ear that matters.

If it still feels like 602 it's 602.

I used to have a brown turntable. But when I bought a black/silver turntable, it sounded so much better with the carpet.

I live in the world of "check the truss, then tune." because I play the Chapman Stick. But, I was always a Truss Twisting Guy. It's not something to be afraid of, get used to it, or take yer basses to the luthier every time the wind blows. What's the worst thing that can happen? Write down where you start, if it's no good, go back.

See! That's why we play bass. Labor, defecation, vomit, as long as THEY REACT.

I really wanted to sound like Chris Squire and Greg Lake but the pick kept flying outa my hand so I gave up...just started playing even MORE aggressively and when I found that old battered upright in the closet at the high school...So now, when I pick up a guitar I use fingers and of course the Stick is tapped. So... And it's Emmett Chapmans Birthday. Just thought I'd say...

One of my first gigs was on a gymnasium floor where I did "Bassically" from Sabbaths first album - I was using a Morley Wah, and there was a girl sitting directly in front of me. She came up to me after and said, "Wasn't that a bit...expanding?" I asked what she meant, she said she felt like "I had to go to the bathroom." To this day I have no idea whether that was a compliment or critique, but I've always thought "Wow. I made someone almost sh*t themselves." The Power of The Bassist.

...and the Fender turntable is STILL stupid!

From a technical standpoint Brown Sugar is just white sugar with molasses mixed in. As an aside, Sticky Fingers is my only favorite Stones album and Can't You Hear Me Knockin' is an Earworm I can live with. Keith wishes they could have gone back to Muscle Shoals to do another album. That album oozes swamp.

As my moniker implies I play Chapman Stick Dual Bass Reciprocal. 6 strings in 4ths, 6 strings in 5ths, lowest note A below low B. Among many other things I can have different sounds on either side but mostly I just play it as a unified instrument. It's highest note is two octaves above middle C. And you can play chords on either side that don't sound muddy. TapTapTap.

OK so I've read most of these bazillion pgs. I'm interested in cutting thru jamming with a drummer & guitar (how can they be so LOUD w/ a 20W amp?) playing a QSC 12.2 will it CUT IT?

Sorry, jumped ahead, missed the center section. Someone should film this.

I'm glad the fish batter was mentioned. Fried food always affects the mix. And as mentioned in the age post, I'm a musician, but I cook for living so I know what I'm talking about.

Of course!

Uh, can you tell me why a "true luthier and genius" would design a bass where the bridge doesn't fit on the bass?

Van der Graaf Generator - Vital Along with Oil On Canvas, could not stop listening to. Also, two of the best bass sounds EVER.

Other than two-handed bass, the other reason I got a Chapman Stick was to be able to play bass & rhythm @ the same time. Because all the guitarists I knew wanted to play "lead" guitar. But didn't know or didn't understand the "concept" of rhythm guitar. "Riddly,riddly,ree" - F.Z.

I dropped a line to a guitarist I hadn't heard from since Covidiffication, someone that could actually play and write songs with. He replied he was living with a girl and had a 10 mo. old child. I asked, "So that means you sold all your guitars for a crib and bassinet?" Haven't heard back so the answer is probably... What is with these people that think there is life without music? "Band Forming Hassles" would be a great name for band.

Saw a movie last night with "The Wizard of Oz" on a tv in the background and it was the part where Dorothy & Co. go prancing into the Poppy Fields and get an opium buzz. It's Munchkin-like singing and watched the credits - the song is called "Optimistic Voices". Can't get it out of my head.

Oh yeah. Also, I have 2 Sticks the second one is the Dual Bass Reciprocal 12-string. So when I got that I traded in my Pedulla 5-string fretless for a powered loudspeaker & had no basses. I missed fretless, so had the frets removed from the Ironwood Stick...and found out that wasn't the solution... Found a Hartke Bass guitar in "as is condition" for $30US w/ a straight neck so pulled the frets out of it. Blah,blah,blah fretless is fun.

A bit of random observation: and NOT a music theorist! Even though I played double bass and trombone in high school band, my first electric bass was fretted, and when I got a hold of a frettless Precision my first rock band rehearsal (w/ horn section) was HORRIBLE...until about the second set, when my ears started to "tune in" (and started to not look at the fretboard, which only had side dots and no fret-lines anyway, but was STILL throwing me off). The Chapman Stick is a beach to play w/ others sometimes because with 10 or 12 strings ranging 5 1/2 octaves even when I get it "in tune" for the majority of the fretboard, if the guitarist is out-of-tune even slightly (no guitarist jokes), the Stick will sound "out", or low notes will be hard to discern. Dave Fiucznski of Screaming Headless Torsos is the reason I had my Ironwood Stick's frets removed. Big mistake in hindsight - not because of the difficulty of playing double-stops and triads in tune (don't get me wrong, it's ridiculous) but because tapping an unwound string is hard to hear because it doesn't have a fret to articulate the attack. But it is a cool modification just the same. Many beginner Stick players have "learning curve" for playing in tune because the string are lower tension, the frets are high, and you may "tap and hold" too hard, or not tap right behind the fret. All the previous observations about a sharp note sharper and a flat note flatter, especially in the blues... A harmonic plucked and slid up or down is one of the coolest sounds ever heard!

And he once killed 3 men in a bar...WITH A PENCIL.

A child might be attracted to the sound and fall into the strings.