diskwave

I was the biggest Fender snob on the planet and spent years looking for the perfect P bass. Alder body, great neck blah blah. I now play a Classic Vibe P and couldn't be happier, for starters it was cheap... yay! and goodness knows what wood it is..who cares, but what matters is does it sound good and does it feel good...the lettering on the head stock ain't gonna make the crowd shake there whatsit.

I never really believed it but u might be onto something. I probably last played them 20 years ago, trouble is I kind of got fed up with a lifetime playing flats and fancied another bass so unlike before decided to leave the factory rounds which look and feel like d'darrio's and "learn" to play rounds, but they just don't give me the feedback that these old wires give. Once the music begins they just dominate the sound spectrum with a fat swathe of lower mid, its really fat but not mushy...seems great minds.... etc etc

Well if u can find one, those old Musicman 5 inchers are da bomb. Still got mine from 1978. Left it behind at a gig a few years ago......a 90 mile round trip to get it....well worth the effort.

Just put a set of tatty really old D'Darrio flat wounds on my new P bass....flippin eck thump city!. I could not get any sort of authorative tone out of the rounds it came with in fact they sounded way to clangy and scooped, pretty awful, but now with the tone almost rolled completely off the thing sounds huge and great fun playing thru a Motown compilation cd.....

Well it ended up on the other side of the planet so your ok....weird tho cause the neck was the smoothest comfiest neck Ive ever played...but God knows what was up with the body.....E string virtually inaudible..A & D strings thunderous and the G kind between the two....tried everything...nut, bridge, strings, PU's, nothing, even clamped bits of metal to the darn thing to move the resonance....can only conclude the body wood wasn't properly dried out or was sap wood or something, anyway maddening.....Probably the worse P bass that ever left the factory....guess there had to be one and I got it! haha

Brilliant...they need you guys on Strictly.

A little Lee Sklar ditty for anyone who's old like me....warts an all...flippin arthritis.

I think it just never goes away and sometimes when u play a fill or lick to a great tune or even after 45 years u sense that ur technique is improving there's nothing like it...it feels darn good. I swore three years ago Id never even pick up a bass again cause I thght drums would be easier! (I played as a teen) ...haha and here I am plucking away like a good un. Guess u can take the player away from the bass but not the bass outta the player

Cant help noticing this thread has drifted a bit into this band that band chat..to get back on track. My drum room is like the arctic so its no go, so I play bass in our warm lounge overlooking the garden. Even tho I'll prob never play live bass again I absolutely love trying to learn stuff that maybe Ive never been able to get....eg some of Jamersons best gems etc. What I'm saying is I just love playing bass and drums, and even if no one else sees my efforts I know I'm improving, cause you never know....and keeping my mind active.

This is how to do it...no razzamatazz like some others I could mention just good solid instruction......guys a gem, I've learned a lot recently from his site.

Maybe its all to do with what you know. I do still get a massive kick out of playing along to a play list of golden oldies, maybe its cause I did a lot of summer shows years ago so its what I know...But it's interesting to hear various perspectives on what playing an instrument means.

I'm really surprised by the number of posts here saying that the instrument is a means to an end etc and not there just for the sheer love of playing it. In order to try and stay sane I'll click on a 70's/80's pop compilation, wander over to the back window stare at the garden and let it rip.....after an hour I probably feel as satisfied and knackered as a jogger does after a blast across the park and back. Feels good and weirdly cause work has dried up a bit my stamina seems better, I really feel like I'm playing the best I ever have.

I don't have a theory its fact. The more the gear boosts the mid range the more ur gonna sound like Jaco. Ok I'll put it another way. Ur twin active bass cuts thru the stage like a buzz saw/lead instrument and one would imagine that's why you play it...I guess ur not someone who wants to sit quietly underneath the band.

The Jaco tone is any bass tone that emphasises due to very short string travel, ie down by the bridge, the high mid to low mid spectrum with very little high bass and low bass. So the complete opposite of the solo Jazz/Rick front PU and to some extent the P bass sound. And yes we hear it all time in high output twin pu active boutique basses where the active bit kind of allows that tone away from the bridge.

Fair do's and u wont find many if any on the cruiser/pit scene...All I said was that I thought quite a lot of bassists at some point might enjoy playing a P bass...Just curious what do u play?

ha ha...but seriously do it but you'll prob find it weird. First thing is it'll sound rubbish in ur room noodling...kinda dry and dull sounding....but take it to a room full of people chatting and shouting and you'll see what were on about....perfect. 🎶

Its ok...how many times have us olduns heard that....you'll come around, everyone does..it's an inescapable fact everyone ends up playing a P bass at some point.....peace.👍

Yes sorry all went off piste a bit, anyway. The one for me would be the lightweight 66 P I played a few years ago...scuffed to hell and back but the sweetest bass Id ever picked up and way too much money, wonder who owns it now.

Cheers. Yes Indonesian, brand new this week Its a bit of story actually. When I was 16 bk in 76 there was a punkyish band playing locally and the bassist who I got to know played a mid seventies walnut P bass just like this so Im kind of re-visiting the past in some ways, always loved the look.........Its a bit shiny and smooth but feels as good as any of the vintage P's Ive had.

Think I'll leave it there...cheers.

I said robust debate not...well..ummm.. right. Jamerson. The softish typical hit parade P bass tone. JJ Burnel. Thats the Squire clank! Pino. If Jaco slid up and down a fretless neck thats how he'd sound Im old so dont know about the Tim guy And Freddie plays a P bass with rounds so he slaps and plays fingerstyle. I dont think the audience can really here the difference between the P bass slapped and Marcus Millers J bass slapped.

Musicman is just a Jaco tone But fair point forgot about the Hof hollow body spectrum, ok so thats four basic tones. All in the fingers?...I never said that...

👍

I said three with variations, you appear to be saying there are a myriad of exciting new bass tones that we haven't heard yet. Well if you think the trebly twangy Primus tone is a good bass tone then we are on very different pages it seems.