TheLowDown

Finger exercises and warm up for around 15 minutes with the metronome. Then arpeggios, walking around the fretboard singing the notes with my eyes closed, and then i'll open the book that I'm learning at the time. At the end I may do some jamming to varying rhythms and time signatures with the metronome or a drum track so that i put into practice inversions, quickly finding the notes and intervals on the neck and making up basslines.

Playing arpeggios - major, minor, dominant(though not for triads because there's no 7th), half diminished - daily appears to have helped. It kinda sinks in like osmosis. I find it difficult to hear the difference if playing quickly, so I tend to let the note that's different ring out more. For example, for 7th chord arpeggios I will play the major arpeggios(root, 3rd, 5th, 7th) and then the dominant(root, 3rd, 5th, flat 7th) arpeggio, but I will let the 7th ring out a little longer because that's the note that's different. I will then play the minor(root, flat 3rd, 5th, flat 7th) arpeggio followed by the half diminished(root, flat 3rd, flat 5th, flat 7th), but let the 5th ring out longer and with emphasis. Stew, I definitely recommend trying to sing the note as you're playing it when practicing arpeggios(chord tones being much more important than scales for us bassists) and scales so that you can hear the collection of notes where the chord toens comes from. Even if you have to go into a soundproofed room. Many of us feel the same way about our own voices.

It's only boomy in passive, as mentioned above. It's not at all boomy in active mode. The range of tones is actually very versatile, although I rarely change the settings once I've found something I'm happy with. . Good luck with the Ibanez 👍

I was just listing the negatives, and every bass has them. If they were a bass to reconsider I wouldn't have bought 3 of them.The Ibanez has plenty of downsides too as the only practical advantage of it is its preamp(there's no passive switch on the Ibanez), and you're more than doubling the cost for that. Paying more doesn't necessarily mean a better bass. I unscrewed the screws but it doesn't alter the height - it just removes the screws, so I don't think there's any foam in there. I'll have a look later.

That's not what they're saying. As mentioned, they could have chosen any instrument, but they chose the bass because bass and guitar are seen as being similar to many people. The message says nothing other than "hey guitarist, why don't you try a [instrument] instead".

Yes, they definitely look alike. But to be fair, apart from outlandish designs, all basses fit into one of a handful of design templates.. The Yamaha RBX JM2 also looks like many that have gone before it.

I have both the fretted and fretless. They're surprisingly lightweight for a 6 string. The active/passive push-pull button can easily be knocked so you need to watch for that, and it's very audible. In passive mode it lacks treble. No shortage of low end with this one. The stock pickups can't be raised or lowered.

I don't think this is meant to be a slight on bassists. They could have chosen any other instrument to indicate that they shouldn't be playing a guitar, just so happens that the bass is the guitarist's bro.

I suspect so. Come to think of it, the lighter weight quotes seem to be taken from the black version. I have the HB B-450 and B-650 too, and the depth of the neck on them is almost half that of the MB-4. The tuning pegs are like huge metal monoliths, so they add to the weight too.

Sunburst. Maybe they're heavier. I've seen the bass quoted as being around 8lbs which is a good kg lighter. I expect there to be some variance in weight between basses, but surely not this much.

My MB-4 arrived today. It's much heavier(4.5kg) than I expected it to be for a 4 string, and is even heavier than my HB 6 string! The neck is chunky, but playable.

That photo is still on the website https://harleybenton.com/product/mb-4-sb/

I'm well aware of Thomann. It was suggested on a YouTube review of the MB-4

There's some decent Harley Benton 5 strings as well as the Sire M2 range.

Because there's a market for them. They have quite a unique tone that people like, and they're really easy to handle and play, less chance of neck dive, generally lighter. There's not much not to like.

I've heard that the pics that they use are slightly different to the bass that you receive due to legal considerations.

Yup, well it didn't happen all the time but I'd noticed it at least once.

The finish is actually brown even though it looks red. The progressive series is old but I like them. So much so that i bought 3 of them. They're really lightweight, flexible with the pickups, and can provide a good upgrade platform if necessary. There seems to be an issue with them eating batteries though, and I've noticed that with some of mine, so I only use with in passive mode. I think the feel of them is fantastic though, and awesome value for money.

I'm the same. Choice is overrated 😃. I often find that once I've got a tone I like I've never change it, and I don't see any reason to ever change it. Most tones sound good to me so long as it's not that nasal jazz bass bridge pickup sound, then I'm OK with it.

I think 8lb for a 4 string is quite decent. It's definitely on the lighter side of things. Basses like Ibanez SR300 and Sire M2 are about 7.8/7.9lbs and they're some of the lightest. Plenty of 4 strings that are over 10lbs. Perhaps they put dumbbells in them, otherwise I don't know how they manage to weigh so much.

The volume difference with the B string could be a twisted string. Happened to me once. I'm not sure otherwise.

Height of pickups?

There's a Thunderbird copy by Harley Benton for around £170 if you want that shape. Heavy as hell though. Perhaps they include a zimmer frame. https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_tb_70_sbk_deluxe_series.htm

Stew, any idea how heavy it is? Thanks.

I'm not a collector of basses, so I would consider the Gibson to be hugely overpriced for what you get. It's also way too heavy and unbalanced for me.