meterman

I’m a longtime Captain Beefheart fan, and have tried many many times to get into Zappa, had mates who’d play me their favourite Zappa albums like Hot Rats, or Lumpy Gravy or Zoot Allures or whatever, and insist I’d love them, but.... It’s way too noodly and solo-y for me and I just can’t get on with it. Except for “Trouble Every Day” and this: which I absolutely love ❤️ Surely everyone loves this? Maybe I’m a Zappa fan after all? Did he do anything else like this?

Fender made a short scale Modern Player jazz bass for a time, not sure how easy they are to find now though. A couple I saw on Reverb were €455 and €800. Otherwise for about £107 after currency exchange there’s always the short scale J&D jazz from Musicstore DV 247. These don’t come with a high mass bridge, or Fender pickups etc, of course but... £107! Has to be worth checking out? I’m tempted to try one of these myself.

Percussion (latin / afro / reggae / funk etc) is my main instrument, then drum kit. Then guitar, then bass. I haven’t played my drums in 6 months ‘cause I’m temporarily living in an apartment in a very quiet area. So I’ve been playing a lot more bass too, albeit quietly. But I’m still playing brushes and sticks on a practice pad most days. Can’t wait to get back to it proper, though.

Bet that sounded amazing! I had “Ghost In The Machine” on earlier, just with headphones on, and even allowing for my tinnitus and hearing loss it still sounds great to me. 👍

Mostly The Police. Box set of their five albums on CD, all in neat looking card gatefold sleeves, with a sixth disc of B-sides and non-LP tracks. €16 from the local supermarché. Had all the original LPs when I was a kid. “Zenyatta Mondatta” and “Synchronicity” still sound great to me.

It’s not really a cheat, plenty bands and artists do it. Especially ones from an electronic / DJ / pop background. I played drums for one tour with a band in the late 90s, they had a DAT machine onstage with them that played the samples, breaks, some of the synth bass and keys, plus sound FX etc, that were on their records. On the one hand, it allowed a 7-piece bunch of chancers to be able to pull off the sound of their records on stage. On the other hand, it quickly became very boring, for me at least. Every night, the gig followed the same pattern as the night before, the breaks were in exactly the same places, the solos were the same, everything ran completely on time because of the sheer amount of prerecorded stuff blasting from the DAT machine. There was zero opportunity for improvisation or spontaneity. The tunes were completely locked to what was on tape. I’m used to playing to a click so timing wasn’t an issue for me, although the loudness of the DAT in my monitors got tiring pretty quickly. In-ears weren’t really used as much back then. The main problem was the other musicians not being in time with the DAT machine. The guitarist was spot on. The bassist was not so tight, the keyboard player so-so, and the percussionist largely ineffective as percussion I’d played on the records was on the DAT anyway. I remember at the first soundcheck thinking that if all the band just stopped playing, then the DAT would probably keep the audience happy, there was so much of the original records on there. Bit of an extreme example, but a lot of bands back then had a similar approach. I wouldn’t fancy doing it again now though. But having prerecorded keyboard parts is fine, as long as you can all lock in with them. You’ll find out in rehearsal whether it’s going to work or not.

On a Mustang, once the tension is right, they’re really good. My favourite was a yellowed out ‘78 Musicmaster that already had them on when I bought it. If it hadn’t weighed about 15lbs I’d have kept it, it was short scale dub funk heaven. Would still have one again, mind 👍

Last bass I had them on was a Fender Bullet, but I’ve had them on Mustangs and Musicmasters, and loved the tone. If I ever get another Fender, then tapes will probably go on it.

Depending on the bass, tapewounds can be superb. I’ve had them on a few (mostly Fender) basses and love the feel and sound 👍

THAT is beautiful ❤️ I’ve only played a couple of vintage Coronado basses but they sounded amazingly funky. I nearly bought a refinished single pickup one from a shop in Denmark Street years ago, but it had loads of non-original parts (tuners, bridge, tailpiece, knobs, etc) and the shop wouldn’t acknowledge the non-original bits or budge on the price so I left it. Gorgeous sounding instrument though. And yours looks fantastic. Actually have Coronado envy now 😂

If you’ve got the money and room isn’t an issue then buy whatever you like, it’s not harming anyone. Most basses I had at one time was five but that was when I had a studio, and I wasn’t the only person playing them. Now I’m down to a P copy with flats for most occasions, and a hollow bodied Hofner bass just for fun. I don’t absolutely need it but it’s fun to play and if I ever need a 60’s sound it’s right there. My main instrument is percussion and so I only do occasional bass sessions and gigs but If I joined a band as a actual bassist I’d get another bass straight away, something more versatile, and be done with it. Have what you want, there’s no rules. If you buy something that doesn’t turn out to be right for you, you can always sell it and get something else anyway. New gear is always fun. Don’t overthink it, just have what you want, you might regret it later on if you don’t buy ‘that’ one you wanted!

Yeah, a couple of times in the 90s he was good when I saw him. At V98 festival he took ages coming onstage to join the band who had been warming up the crowd, but once he was onstage, doing the cape routine and the good foot dance, etc, I was really glad to have seen him do his thing. The rhythm section were great, really tight. Others? I thought the Blockheads were going to be decent last time I saw them, but they seemed to be on autopilot, and Derek The Draw was just swearing his head off. I lasted about 20 minutes and bailed. Fortunately it was at a festival I was playing at and there was enough other stuff going on that it wasn’t a big deal but if I’d paid to see them I would have been really disappointed. Saw a John Martyn gig in the mid 90s where he was absolutely wasted and letting his noodly fusion band do all the heavy lifting. It was the only time I saw him play a shocker though, every other time he was brilliant. Brand New Heavies phoning it in at a festival is another one I didn’t see to the end. Smashing Pumpkins at the Astoria was just a white noise thrash, from memory. They looked super coked, mind, so maybe that was it?

My tone depends on what context I’m working in. I rarely play bass in a live gig situation so most of what I do is recording, session work basically. Almost every time I record for other people’s tracks I’m using a P style bass with flats, with the volume and tone on full. I often record straight into the desk or interface and let the engineer EQ and process it to suit the music. If I’m playing or recording my own material I’ll take a similar approach. But if I’m playing for fun, like along to old ska or funk records at home then it’s a Hofner violin bass with flats and foam at the bridge, no treble, played with a pick and palm muting or plucked with the side of my thumb for even more bottom end. Amp settings are usually fairly neutral, I rarely touch them, it’s all about the thump and the boom coming from the bass itself. Overall I’m not too fussed as long as it doesn’t get too twangy or toppy, although I realise I’m probably in the minority here.

Yeah, I think ‘earlpillanz’ is the right spelling. If you find him on ebay and none of his listings are quite what you need you can send him a message and he’s usually pretty quick to respond. I sent him a pickguard last time so he could use it as a template, I think I had it back in 12 days or something, and that was in lockdown 2, so he’s pretty good I’d say.

I had a good experience using Earlpillanz (Brian) - I messaged him through eBay about a custom pickguard for a parts-stang bass and he made me exactly what I was after. About £27 if I remember correctly and turnaround was about 10 days. Last year he cut a pickguard for an old MIJ Bullet bass for me, and every screw hole lined up perfectly and it was a perfect fit. Can definitely recommend him 👍

Good lord, I’ll still be feeling the after effects in years to come 😂

It’s weird, soul and funk are my two favourite genres of music. So it follows that I ought to like slap, I guess? Musician pals always seem to think I must do, but... nah. I don’t hear a lot of slap in The Meters, or the J.B.’s, or Cymande, or the early (and best) Mandrill, or Lee Dorsey, or Dyke & The Blazers, or Black Heat, Ike Turner, The Daktaris, The Poets Of Rhythm, Jungle Fire, Vaudou Game, etc etc... maybe in some of the Sly & The Family Stone records I’ve got, sure, but otherwise I’m not hearing it in the stuff I truly love. Later period funk and soul, and disco, is chock full of slap, and while I like later period funk, soul and disco, I like it despite it having slap bass in it. I love soul, funk and disco but not slap at all. Doctor, is this normal? 🤔

I’ve often wondered if more players do this? I know Jimi Goodwin from Doves plays a right handed righty-strung Precision left handed. And I remember seeing Andy McCluskey from OMD playing a right handed Jazz bass right handed but it was strung lefty which took me a minute to get me head around. Must be more common than I’d thought? Ace T by the way 👍

He’s one of them lefties who plays right handed guitars strung right handed. Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals does the same thing. And I think Bob Geldof might do as well, but I’m not Googling him because I don’t want two years of YouTube Boomtown Rats recommendations. Or even two minutes of YT recommendations for his solo stuff. 👎

Because of this I watched “Shadows And Light” and then “Live at the Victoria Theatre in London” straight afterwards, but I would have really liked to have seen footage from the “Miles Of Aisles” era, not sure if there is any?

When people say they don’t like slap, do they really not like it? I mean, there’s repetitive slap, annoying machine gun style slap, 80’s throwback slap, YouTube bass demo hell slap... something for everyone, surely? 🤔

I final caved in and bought strings for one of my acoustics, a mid-80’s Ibanez. Back in December @Dad3353 had commented on how grimy they were. The last time I’d changed them would have been in 2008 or something. So I went on the Thomann site and ordered some old folks strings for it. Can fully recommend flats on acoustics 👍 Guitar not pictured because, well it’s a guitar and, “burn the witch” etc... 😂

That sums him up perfectly 👍 I saw him maybe 7 or 8 times and supported him once, he was brilliant solo (London Astoria, Soho Jazz Festival, Glastonbury etc) but I saw him once with his 80’s fusion-y backing band (oi, Soprano sax and DX7 synth pads - nooooo!!!) and it almost put me off seeing him again. But then I saw him play the most sublime version of “Solid Air” somewhere else afterwards... oh lord! He was the more astonishingly talented fella when he wasn’t on the coke and phoning it in.

Traffic, Nick Drake and this: