StickyDBRmf

I dig the lamp. And that's one of my basses.

Yeah I saw you. I'm AnDroiD over there. Marty. Damn glad to meet you

I was in a band with a 5 piece horn section and we did Chicago, BS&T, Zappa, Stanley Clarke, other stuff w/ horns, and originals. Someone kept asking for Stairway To Heaven. I kept telling him we don't do that. Next set he's screaming Stairway To Heaven!!! so our guitarist starts Stairway, and we go into "My Guitar Wants To Kill Your Mama". He gave us the finger I couldn't stop laughing.

I now play the Chapman Stick...be prepared for LOTS of questions. But when someone asks "How do you tune it?" I like to say "With these little thingys up here..."

There are quite a few Stickists in the UK go on Stickist.com and say you're interested in the Stick give yer location and see who bites. You might find one or two for sale or at least someone to invite you over and check it out...we are an extremely friendly (and talkative) bunch and passionate and not secretive at all. We want the community to GROW. And there are a lot of us coming from bass. Strings...Newtone is a good source. SE from California is prohibitive in $$$. And you can ask me anything. I play a 12-string Grand tuned Dual Bass Reciprocal de-tuned a half-step, with the Melody a half-step lower, which really makes it matched. In that the fret markers match. It's weird if you check out Stick.com (the Stick website) the explanation is Melody being a 5 or 6 string bass and the Bass in 5ths "sharing" the common low B string. But for me my tuning makes more sense. Greg Howard experiments with DBR and even shows how to "convert" to DBR from other higher Melody tunings, but does it with a Stick that has no markers and he puts tape "off-set" on the Melody...Like I said weird, or complicated, depending on how you "think" (I'm a bassist, I don't "think" like other people) Anyway, I encourage anyone that likes to play crazy stuff or likes to write but doesn't get on with a guitar or keyboard and wants to march to the beat of a different drummer to check it out...

Thanks guys I'll be putting D'Addarios rounds on soon

I should add the Grand is Dual Bass Reciprocal and it's the only one I play daily...

I had to check to make sure I didn't reply yet. Hope I'm not incorrect. This is what's left, or what's been aquired, in order...

Ibanez 8-string, de-fretted with a claw hammer

DanElectro Longhorn Re-issue. The cheap, real re-issue, not the one with "better" hardware

ESP LTD

Hartke Bass P/J w/ burned-out P, defretted w/ a soldering iron (I talked to my luthier this time) 

Ibanez Acoustic AEB5E-BK 3U-01 (it's a cheap one that was given to me, it's fun to hash around on)

And then there are my two Chapman Sticks, one mid-80's Ironwood, and my '08 Bamboo Grand

I keep hearing about Newtones from the "other than USA" Stick community. Stick strings cost a lot of $$$ to ship outside the US.

Why thank you, itu, you have put my soul at ease...

A Helix, an Axe FX,  Greenboy speaker cabinets 2 F-110's & 2 F112's, (there's a licensed builder in Bucks County Pennsylvania, right across the Delaware River from Central New Jersey, USA, where I live), some kind of power amps (maybe QSC), and as far as a bass, since that is part of this fantasy requirement, a NS EUB (5-string). But really the first purchase would be a sequestered house w/ barn so my girlfriend and I could get out of our apartments, set up studio for music and painting (she sings & paints). PRIORITIES

 On YouTube, Candyrat Records, Yasmin Williams (found her on WNYC Studios / podcasts), Yvette Young (Covet) Tosin Abasi (Animals as Leaders) and, suprising (to me) Nirvana. I watched one of Rick Beato's "What Makes This Song Great?" and realized if I hadn't been heavy in my alcoholism, I would have liked these guys. The rest listed are doing interesting/incredible stuff with fingers on strings.( I DO play the Chapman Stick)

D'Addario nickels last forever and have always rocked out for me on any kind of p.u., fretted or fretless (I used fretless in a punk-jazz band and it was FEROCIOUS) and they are reasonabley priced (don't know UK prices, I'm New Jersey USA). Ernie Balls 2nd choice. Again, personally don't dig s.s. and I'm not playing metal (unless I am and then I still like nickel round) and FYI that's also what's on my Chapman Sticks (manufactured specially) and guitars

Hey I got an orphan Ibanez acoustic/electric bass and I'm wondering why not D'Addario nickel round wound, like I have on every other bass, guitar, and Chapman Stick (the string supplier) that I own? What's with the bronze strings? It's not like I'm gonna go to an open mike and play in front of an OPEN MIKE. Anyone give me a reason to put bronze strings on, as opposed to what I'm used to? Am I missing something? 

In 1972 I was not into this type of music, and then I heard it EVERYWHERE, but yeah, I hafta admit this tune is deep. Don Mclean, frikkin' poet...

You're answers are the reason most of us don't have jobs

In the early days of my playing I tried different brands, and compositions, for strings, and then I settled into a gauge set by D'Addario and have used them ever since. Funny, I have a DanElectro Longhorn bass, short scale, and when I went to change the strings couldn't find D'Addario so I got GHS Boomers. I couldn't stand them! I think thy are wound in the opposite direction of D'Addario. I found a short set VERY quickly and the Boomers are still in the gig bag. And then, when I got my Chapman Stick, found out Emmett uses D'Addario. They are specially wound for the lower tension. they're nickel also. And my guitars are strung with them. After the initial brightness wears off (all new strings sound like a grand piano) they settle in with a consistency  that lasts and lasts...

I've found Tide removes even the toughest stains and leaves my basses smelling fresh. And no need to iron!

All my selections are stuff I adore. I have to add one other album & cut. My second Frank Zappa album (when I was 11) was Weasles Ripped My Flesh. (first was Chungas Revenge) Both bought because of the titles. I liked W.R.M.F. alot better. The Eric Dolphy Memorial Barbeque turned me on to E.D. (my favourite horn player). I figured if he deserved a  BBQ he must be IMPORTANT. And the title cut, man I wanted to be in a band that had the balls to end a show like that...

Funny. Some thoughts...When I first heard Chariots of Fire by The Bad Plus I was driving in my car and I had to pull over. I never heard a song so eloquently disassembled before (and what bass!). When I had dance parties at The Animal House I could clear the floor with The Mothers "Billy The Mountain". The Art Bears clears rooms faster than Lysol. This Heat. My mother called Steve Hillage "Rainbow Dome Music" "torture music". Music for 18 Musicians can either be life-changing for people, or make them scream. I practice with headphones as to not offend my roomies. I swear I never know what my girlfriend will like or dislike. She seems to enjoy anything I play on thought. And she really likes bass players

Not logged on for a week, and there's NINE PAGES OF SLAP. Haha. And I had to read it all so my opinion would be INFORMED. Notice how I CAPITALIZE to EMPHASIZE. And being a chef (bass playing didn't pay the bills) I appreciate scalpy & the vinegar analogy and R.Jinman "watching popcorn in a microwave". But, THAT'S IT! It's the FIRST kernel that POPS and the waiting the 3 seconds for the LAST kernel to POP that gets me going. My culinary analogy is it's like black pepper. A little wakes it up, too early in the recipe (and too much) and it's acrid. I learned it (70's) I used it, I don't any more (more of a refined tapping/pinging of the strings when harmonic or percussive emphasis is desired)...but I play the Stick more often. So when I pick up a bass, weird techniques pop out. And when I DO a pop. Or a slap. Everyone smiles. I don't know it's like balloon animals

My first bass was a '73 Jazz, off the rack, sunburst (not painted under the pickgard, like Jaco's) maple neck w/ the big black markers. CBS. I sold it after I started playing a P bass frettless. I HAVE NEVER PLAYED ANOTHER BASS THAT PLAYED LIKE THAT ONE but I didn't realize it at the time how precious that m.f. was. That one just fell off the production line into a vat of fairy juice.

Rick Beato is great. His "What makes this song Great?" is great. Jaco was "other-worldly". He didn't take a "bass" solo. Some of his lines were stuff a sax player would be hard-pressed to pull off. At his best no one is better. At his worst - showboat. 

I bought a Roland HandSonic for the specific purpose of having tabla (and other exotic percussion) at my fingertips. I too am hypnotized by their sound. I live in Central New Jersey where a sizable Indian population thrives and went into a store in Edison where they imported them. (a couple of miles from Sam Ash) You can get a beautiful pair for $175 US. I was intrigued, tried them (haha) but didn't buy. But the store owner was curious with this pony-tailed white boy checking them out and GAVE ME a cd of tabla playing/tutorial! I think I piqued his interest because I learned how to count odd meters in high school with Don Ellis's book (don't remember the name). D.E. was a big band leader/ trumpeter and inventor of the 4-valve quarter-tone trumpet and know for playing complex meters and utilizing the Indian counting system. And I was discussing this w/ him & I was even invited to his temple for a celebration, one of "gods" (that's what they call them) was visiting from India that week! ( had to take my shoes off, we were separated from the wimmen, and me & my two friends were the only white people there) but BOY what a welcoming group! FYI still can't play HandSonic Tabla worth a sh*t...

Anything you can play on the bass, you can play worse on the ukulele

Speaking of male/female musicians and "greatest" anything reminds me of this quote from "This Is Your Brain On Music" -Daniel J. Levitan (highly recommended, was a musician, engineer, and record producer before becoming a NUEROSCIENTIST) "If there are 12 named notes within an octave, why are there only 7 letters? After centuries of being forced to use the back entrance to the castle and eat with the servants, this may just be an invention by musicians to make nonmusicians feel inadequate."