TheLowDown

Glad you have decided to avoid Apple's Beats headphones. They are literately expensive junk (Apple bought them, so no surprises there). They even add weights in them to give the impression of quality. I have some Beyerdynamics DT990 headphones that I would recommend, but they're a little over £50 (I got them on special offer).

I keep on reading that too. It's 42mm wide, which is around p bass size but then someone mentioned that it was also the depth of the neck which made it baseball bat size. I think i may actually give this one a miss because of it's weight. I've read that it's around 8.4lbs, which is pushing it for me for a 4 string. It looks great and is a fantastic value for money bass otherwise.

Woods influence the sound of the bass? Has there ever been any scientific proof or is it just an assumption? The reason why I ask is that there is lots of nonsense sprouted in the audiophile world of "break-in periods" and such like which don't exist except in the audiophile's mind, or that gold cables influence the quality of the sound.

Thanks for the review. I think it looks quite sexy and understated in black.

If you're considering writing a novel or embarking on some other project, it's often a good idea to do "stream of consciousness" journaling where you just write whatever is on your mind. No matter what you start with - the weather, the lockdown, grandma's cooking - it always leads onto more interesting and productive subjects, and quite often you can end up solving many personal problems and generating creative ideas just by expressing yourself. It's a great stress reliever and allows you to reoganise things in your mind so that they don't seem so scary or complicated. Good luck! And take things one at a time.

I've been considering that one too. Let us all know what you think.

The position of the strap nut looks like it could encourage some neck dive.

Try practicing everything using the circle of 5ths, and make it a long term habit. Scales/modes, inversions, arpeggios, going up and down the neck in major/minor 2nds through to octave, or whatever you choose to do. After around 4 months or less they will become second nature. With the circle of 5ths, the sharps and flats go up by one each time.

Cuzzie, below, gets it. The frets don't have to be metal - they can just be markers. Beyond the 12th fret I would want some sort of fret to indicate where they are.

What part of it don't you get?

With frets, the action is going to be high no matter what.

What I'd like to know is, are the side dots on the fretless end where the frets should be? I think that bass would work much better if it was the other way around, and the fretted part was after the 12th fret where it's really difficult to intonate. On YouTube a few months ago, I saw a demo of a bass that can switch between fretted and fretless at the click of a switch. Quite funky!

I thought it was just me! I've got tons of books from years ago, some of which I've bailed on and some I've just not touched at all. It was the same old story - buy a book, have a quick read through it, and then slip it into the bookshelf to be forgotten. Often I buy a book because "it will come in handy when I get around to learning it", but when you have several periods of 'Step 1: pick bass up, Step 2: play it for a bit with loads of enthusiasm, Step 3: then put it down and forget about it for a few years' you end up accumulating a trail of abandoned books. I've got a new rule as of around 2 months ago: I'm not buying any more books until I've gone through the bass books I already have. Now that I'm older I've become more patient with myself and am learning things in a more modular way, rather than in a haphazard overenthusiastic way.

My best was a HB 6 string bass. Fantastic value for money and introduced me to 6 strings, and it's only around 9lb in weight.. For me it's a great learning opportunity and reason to push myself even harder.

I never bothered to learn to play slap because I never found it very musical.

101 Bass tips by Gary Willis. There's nothing in there that you can't find out online but there's some really useful tips that are explained in detail. I always prefer the practical approach.

Yeah, I understand. Many people say that the weight of the bass gives it a feeling of quality and of being substantial. My back, however, doesn't care for such things.

I listen to everything for the sake of learning different genres for the bass, but for pleasure most of those genres don't tend to get listened to.

I always liked Joy Division. Ian Curtis really suited the music, but he couldn't sing for toffee. A classically trained or even a good singer would have been very much out of place.

Favourite rock, eh? As an amateur geologist, I would have to say labradorite.

I personally wouldn't worry about it because it doesn't affect playability. With wood you will always get some sort of variation. I could probably understand it if the bass was expensive because it would affect resale value, but otherwise I don't think it's of much importance. But that's just me. It's almost like a mark of distinction, so it may be something that you grow to like.

The one major thing that really puts me off is heavy weight. Things such as the pickups, the strings, and even the fretboard can be changed if necessary, but often the weight and the weight distribution is not that easy to change. I tend to prefer a lightweight bass, but it's shame that the weight is rarely mentioned. Another thing that would put me off is side markers on fretless basses that are in the same place as that of a fretted.

That's a good price. I paid a little over £15 for the EXL170s

I believe much of it is brand name, custom makes, and frills. Fender, for example, charge much more than they're worth because of their history. Yet their quality is not that good in comparison to the likes of Ibanez, Cort(who make most of the basses in the East) and Sire. When there is a genuine reason why something is priced more, it will be often be because of the electronics, not because of "quality finishing" and other marketing terms.

I think a 3.75inch wide soft leather strap is ideal. It grips well even when used on a 6 string. When i see them on Amazon or eBay they rarely show the underside and tghe edges, but that's the most important part as it shows the material that will grip(or not).