SumOne

I've been offered part-exchange from Bass Bros and have narrowed down my new Bass to these two: 1993 Fender Japan PB-57 Precision Bass Reissue MIJ. https://bassbros.co.uk/product/1993-fender-japan-pb-57-precision-bass-reissue-mij/ 3.9kg £799 + Lighter, cheaper - More scrapes, including a chunk out of the back of the headstock. 1985 Fender PB-62 Precision Bass Reissue MIJ. https://bassbros.co.uk/product/1985-fender-pb-62-precision-bass-reissue-mij/ 4.2kg £875 + Older (I guess in some ways that's a good thing, not necesserily though), fewer scrapes, Rosewood which I think I prefer the look of and if it is to be believed about it being a bit less bright sounding than Maple then that suits me better. - more expensive, heavier. Although they are a 57 vs 62 aparrently there isn't actually difference in nut width and neck profile etc on these two MIJs, they sound and feel similar and according to Bass Bros it is pretty much down to the look of maple vs rosewood. Any evidence a mid 80s MIJ being better than and early 90s? Otherwise it's a bit 'spot the difference' from the photos and I can't decide, perhaps adding some peer pressure can help persuade me one way or the other?!* I don't think it's an issue for either of them but I plan on adding a Hipshot drop D tuner. *I know the stock/sensible answer is to try them out, but it's nearly a 4hr round trip and I'd need to go in a weekday and book a day of holiday, and the petrol will be significantly more than the £20 delivery cost so postage is much more convenient. Bass Bros are trustworthy and tell me both are fine as far as frets/electronics/truss rod etc. and surely can't go too far wrong with a MIJ P Bass?

I went from 4 to 5 strings a few years ago and have always just had one Bass at a time but I'm finding that there are occasions where a 4 is better for slap: Marcus Miller, Flea, Larry Graham, Les Claypool, Mark King, Stanley Clarke etc. can't all be wrong! (I'm sure there are lots of examples of them playing 5 too, but they often choose 4). That's how I'm justifying getting a 4 string Bass anyway!

Similar to Daft Punk 'Voyager' which was probably made digitally but they are trying to sound like 70s Disco with a bass guitar. I find that a Jazz bass with more of the bridge pickup, compressed, and a mid EQ boost gets pretty close with the right technique.

I'm starting to think that after 60 years of rock there isn't far for it to go that's non-formulaic while remaining popular. Almost by definition it follows a formula of Singer(s)+guitar(s)+bass+drums structured into something along the lines of intro-verse-chorus-verse-chorus-bridge-chours-outro, and tried and tested chord progressions. Go too hard or away from the formula and it isn't popular enough for festivals like Reading. There are performers from outside the rock genre on the Reading lineup this year that would have seemed like something completely groundbreaking if they showed up in on the stage at Reading in the 1970's though, so some popular music formulas have certainly changed.

Picked up these three for a total of £5 at the weekend, best £5 I've spent in a while! The flipside of Uptown Top Ranking:

I'm a bit late on this news - sadly, Chris Meredith died about a month ago. He had worked a lot of big names, including: Yellowman, Burning Spear, Ziggy and Stephen Marley, Dennis Brown, Israel Vibration, Gregory Isaacs. https://www.jamaicaobserver.com/entertainment/guitarist-chris-meredith-is-dead/ I just learned from this interview that he played the Bass for one of my favorite tunes:

One of the best things with the Helix Stomp is when it gets sold and there's a pot of £ to re-buy individual pedals that were sold to get it!

Nice video. It has helped with my P Bass GAS! I'm mostly into Reggae and Funk and occasional low-tuned Doom/Stoner stuff so always go for 5 string J (type) Basses but I've felt for some time that I should own a P Bass at some point to see if the hype is deserved (I've tried them in shops and been un-impressed, perhaps I need longer with them though). So many people say the P has an intangable quality of being an inspiring, fun to play, go-to bass that makes you play in a certain laid back way that I'm going to have to find out for myself.........I expect going from a 5 string multiscale headless active Ibanez to a P Bass is going to be a pretty big jump!

I've usually had good experiences online and in-shop other than once when I'd made a long journey to try a specific Bass that I then found to be making odd electrical noises, I said perhaps it has a low battery, "yeah, could be" was the answer as they walked off and never tried to solve it or follow-up, so that lost them a potential sale as I talked myself out of bothering to solve it or spend £ there on alternatives that day. On the plus side, they have a good amount of Basses and let you get on trying them hassle free, and they have given me much better part-exchange rates than anywhere else a couple of times so I will be going back again.

I prefer wider spacing (19mm) on a 5 string as it gives a bit more space for slapping n popping.

I agree. Remembering/working out that things like 6x # = F# and then needing to remember each of those notes is a # is my biggest hurdle.

I can work it out, mostly due to childhood piano lessons. Not fast enough to play along to though. I can read Tabs faster, they work okay other than when you want to play in different positions and the fact they don't show length of notes/timing and rests, and they don't encourage you to actually know if the note is an A or C or whatever so I don't think they are a particularaly good way of reading in the long-term. Learning basslines from ear and memorising them is good (especially as it isn't the done thing for most bands to play from sheet music) but is a bit like learning singing songs by ear and memorising them without reading/writing words - it is possible but being able to read/write to then memorise makes things easier. I'd recommend learning the basics as it isn't as complicated as it initially looks. Just learning these two charts is enough to be able to do the basics: .....spend a few minutes to apply that to this and play it: And you can say you can read music! Admittedly at the most basic level and there is more to it for complex music, and sight reading is a whole other level. But even at this level compared to Tabs it gives more useful information and lets you play the notes where you want (open strings etc) rather than sticking to the prescribed Tab fret. Also, a good thing I've been taught is to sing out loud the notes as you read and play them 'D D A A B B A' etc. as it is a good way to train your pitch/ear/hand/eye coordination.

My Ibanez EHB 1005 MS:

I'm a fan bands having a dancer as band member: Hawkwind with Stacia, Happy Mondays with Bez, The Prodigy with Keith & Leeroy (in the early days). Or failing that, a lead singer that mostly just sings and dances, like Mick Jagger or James Brown. They can be the focus of attention, then Bass players can get go about their Bass playing in peace. Or Electronic music bands know a thing or two about getting crowds dancing and you don't see Orbital, Daft Punk, Kraftwerk etc. doing much dancing themselves so I don't think it is essential to have dancing Bass players, just as long as the crowds get some sort of visual performance from singers, dancers, lights/screens or whatever else.........then again, this is all a bit different to a pub covers band!

Nice! That's a good idea, unfortunately I got rid of my tape recorder a long time ago. Recorders like yours and reel to reel seem relatively cheap at the moment, I've got a feeling as they get more rare their prices will go up as there's unlikely to be enough demand for companies to start making them again but there will always be some demand for things like you are doing. What mic would you recommend for melodica and percussion? I'm doing home recording of Dub/Reggae with some drums (mostly just Kicks and snares) being samples from vinyl then recorded/sequenced on an MPC One, and the Bass is recorded from my Bass Guitar>Pedalboard>MPC One, and have amassed quite a few small instruments (Bongo, Conga, Steel Tongue, Kalimba, Shakers, Guiro, Harmonica, Melodica etc.) that I've been recording to the MPC via a vocal mic. It's starting to sound sort of how I want - getting away from a 'Clean and exact' purely DAW produced sound with imperfections in the playing/timing and recording actually helping to make it sound more like what I want (70's grimey dub rather than 2020's 'clean' steppers stuff that seems to dominate nowadays).

The Jamaicans:

I was a teenager in the 90's and have mostly followed the Jungle > DnB > Dubstep > Dub & Reggae sort of musical journey (tempo slowing down with age!) so a whole genre of Doom/Stoner metal completely passed me by on a sort of parallel timeline until I saw Orange Goblin play at a festival a few years ago and that also got got me into Kyuss, Sleep, Bongripper, Electric Wizard, Lowrider etc.

Sumac Dub - Le Jardin de Lucy Its a good album for 'clean' sounding dub (I usually prefer stuff that sounds like it was recorded in a shed!).