risingson

I'd say I'm not a fan of metal, but it's probably not true, loads of artists I listen to border on metal. The Smashing Pumpkins for example... but I can't get into most of it, I've got to say. More power to you though

Yeh I like Jojo Mayer, he's done what I want to do but on drums, basically. Technically great as well. As for the Boards of Canada, they're my favourite of all time. Absolutely stunning music. I don't know how much you like house and minimal and whatnot but Cobblestone Jazz are great, as is Ricardo Villalobos. Nice to meet another bass player with similar taste in non-bass related music! Haha

Totally with you on Four Tet. Also love Burial, Boards of Canada, Cobblestone Jazz (all the bass done on a Roland SH-101), M83, Modeselektor... all generally sampled parts or synthesised bass parts! What I like is trying to capture the quantised feel of synthesised bass and doing it yourself on bass instead. It's a lot of fun

I think Tal Wilkenfield has had a big impact on bass recently, but I couldn't name one player in particular that's struck me as amazing that's come to prominence in the last 10 years apart from Paul Turner (who incidentally has been playing for much longer anyway). Zender was great also but he's been out since the very early 90's. Tom Barney's playing with Steely Dan is supreme as well. I love Julian Crampton btw, but I don't think that video did him a lot of justice, he's better when he's sat in the pocket!

[quote name='Maxcat' post='405694' date='Feb 10 2009, 07:51 PM']I do a lot of backing vocals with my band and I find that finger style is easier for me than plectrum work. Might be because I also sing playing an EUB. Got to know the bass part inside out first then concentrate on the vox.[/quote] That's cool, I definitely don't find it easier doing it the other way round! I think it takes a big talent to do it, it makes me have a lot of respect for the likes of MacCartney of Phil Lynott.

I had big problems doing this (I guess I still do), but once you know a bass line inside out and don't have to think too hard it gets easier. Playing with a pick I think makes your brain do a lot less work in trying to decipher the difficult coordination as well... if you think about it you're only really moving your hand up and down with a plectrum, where as if you're playing with your fingers it requires a lot more concentration. If you rhythmically complicate your plec technique it gets harder again though!

I love that stuff, and I'm a massive French house fan. Just finished a transcription of a Chaka Khan tune called 'Fate', with Anthony Jackson on bass duties. Thomas Bangalter from Daft Punk sampled Hiram Bullock's guitar part from the tune and dropped it in his tune 'The Music Sounds Better With You' under the guise of 'Stardust'. If I can figure out how I'll post the transcription of the bassline, but here's the original song anyway! [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslSBcjtkps"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslSBcjtkps[/url]

[quote name='Prosebass' post='403873' date='Feb 8 2009, 10:31 PM']Good point , and better put than moi....[/quote] I didn't want to sound like a bit of a knob! I totally got your point originally. I guess I just love my Fenders!

[quote]as for a serious bass player...i can tell you are one because you slapped my wrist... i only referred to a bassist who was more concerned with playability and sound rather than headstock shapes and decals as for the money angle...i apologise..its easy to talk outside the box and disregard practicalities...so i better let that go as not good grounds for argument...ie there are better basses so why dont you have them??[/quote] I guess my point was that it's such an individual approach to what sort of bass you would like. I would generally think that Fenders provide likable playability to suit most people, but I understand that might not be the case for everyone. I meant that I was 'a serious bass player' in the least arrogant way possible (I'm sure my drummer might argue that I'm one of the least serious bass players going ) but you get my point. I'm just happy with Fender is all, I like them a lot. I just think that people build their ideas on Fender under false pretense sometimes (not that I'm saying you have). Fender's nail i for me... but I still probably wouldn't say no to an MTD or an F-Bass right now though...

[quote]Fenders may be the Ford Mondeo of the bass world but then there is nothing wrong with Ford Mondeo's[/quote] I wouldn't even agree with that, it's not a fair analogy (although I do see your point). Fender would more accurately be described at the Ford company itself, rather than one of it's base models... a company that gave the world the most usable means of transport to the masses and a company that gave the world the most usable electric guitars at the time. That to me would seem fairer. [quote]serious bass men wont fall or stick in the fender rut or gulley when they can have much better engineered instruments albeit at a cost..which does say something about the whole scenario[/quote] I'd like to know what a 'serious' bass player is... if you looked up 'serious bass player' in the dictionary, who would fall under that particular description? I would consider myself a serious bass player and I'm very happy being stuck in the Fender 'rut' as you call it... most of all because I can't justify spending more money right now on a new bass that would make me appear in the eyes of other musicians 'a more serious bass player'... I get along fine with my Jazz bass. Don't get me wrong, I totally understand why people might not like Fenders, but often the arguments that people come up with as to why they don't like the brand itself are generally born out of a mish-mash a misinformation and half opinion that summarise nothing, basically. The 'serious bass player' argument, for example, is tosh.

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='402778' date='Feb 7 2009, 01:21 PM']The 3 nicest basses I have ever played are Fenders. I don't want to look like a space man when I'm playing so I hate all this carbon fibre sh*t. I also refuse to put batteries in a bass guitar. Batteries are for TV remotes and my girlfriends rampant rabbit. I also don't want to sound like a guitar. Just a dull thump suits me. Quirky basses f*** me off. The people who play quirky basses often have quirky hair. And probably wear trainers with a suit, just to look quirky. Just because you've got no personality and your parents ignored you, don't try and make up for it with a silly quirky guitar. Spikey metal basses. What a load of sh*t. Everyone knows the mettallers at school were the geeks who played dungeons and dragons. Having said that, a lot of those goth birds take it up the arse, so maybe their on to something? Still, get a hair cut, take of your cape and get a f***ing job that doesn't involve breeding snakes or working in the IT department. I genuinely couldn't give a f*** what its says on the headstock of a bass, I just think Fender got it right. Other manufacturers (like those c**ts at Warwick) seem to think "how can we make a design different from a fender?" as opposed to "How can we design a great bass?". I played a Burns the other day. That was alright. Different but still comfy and doesn't make you look like a c***. Although I do look (and act) like a c*** naturally. Fender copies. Fair enough. Don't see the point though really. I know Vintange do some decent cheaper copies. Wouldn't get one of these expensive ones though. Most of them take batteries. f***ing hate batteries. I've stopped using pedals because of them.[/quote] That made for entertaining reading... and I'm not even being sarcastic. I don't really mind what anyone has to say about Fenders usually (unless their opinion is misinformed or not impartial). I really love the feel, design, sound and usability that comes hand in hand with simplicity and good looks IMO. Fender's current QC control issues are a separate issue altogether, I don't subscribe to the idea that because their QC in some aspects of the company isn't great that this should be some sort of deterrent against the company, a company, that in all fairness introduced the world to what the electric bass guitar is still thought of today. To argue that tonally a Fender is boring also doesn't strike me as too much to think about. I've heard countless records now where the Fender electric bass has provided the backbone of that track. Motown, Stax, Capital, Atlantic, Beach Boys tracks, MASSIVE amounts of bass lines have been recorded on Fender basses. On the other hand, I probably wouldn't ever go out of my way to play something made out of carbon fibre, anything with a clinical sounding preamp, or anything more than 5 strings, because I'm just so sold on the idea that all I'll ever really need out of a bass is simplicity. All I need is a bass to compliment my playing and to be honest, Fender's usually tick all the boxes for me on that front. Also worth noting is the fact that Fender don't really hold up much influence in the bass world right now. Sure there are companies that take Fender's designs and evolve them with their own ideas (Sadowsky, Celinder, Nordy's, blah blah) and make great sounding instruments, but it's sort of their own tangent. Then there's companies like MTD or Roscoe or whatever that really try and branch out with their own ideas concerning what a bass should sound like or look like, which is equally admirable. I guess Fender is more of an idea that people either subscribe to or don't now, I think this is especially true of bassists. Just my opinion, like. x

There's no doubling with the synth on Virtual Insanity, and there's no effect, just a lot of compression which sort of became Zender's hallmark. It's a really great bass part, and the breakdown in the middle sort of sums up Zender's feel for me at that time. Very unique. I think you might be getting confused with Deeper Underground... the background to that track is that Zender DID record a part for it (and for quite a bit of Synkronized), but after he left the band, his parts got scrapped by the ever increasingly difficult frontman that is Jay Kay. Deeper Underground was completely synth-bass, I'll assume put down by Toby Smith just before he also left. Likewise, Canned Heat, Plannet Home.... synth bass again. EDIT - the only tunes that Zender did not play on the first three albums was 'When You Gonna Learn' (Andrew Levy from the Brand New Heavies played on) and the ALBUM version of Space Cowboy, who as mentioned before, was by a guy known as Mr. X. Stuart mentioned that he was left pretty sore after Jay Kay got another bassist in to play, and remains a bone of contention I would guess. He did play on the SINGLE version. /Zender nerd-ery

That's cool. I did look at going to LCM, but kind of fell for LIPA, plus the fact it's not massively far away from home as well should I want to go back for a roast on Sunday! If you ever play over here in Liverpool then give me a shout, I'm all up for seeing good bands...

Meshell's Celinder was amazing, I'd love to ut an order down for one if I could. Tal Wilkenfeld is a superb player. [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=wK03pYCLJho"]Tal Wilkenfeld[/url] Pino Palladino with D'Angelo. [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=m4XI6LXCsH8"]Pino Palladino[/url] And last but not least, (I know he got posted about above, but he deserves another mention), Paul Turner from Jamiroquai, my favourite bass player right now. I met him the other day, he's an incredibly friendly guy and very informative. Stuart Zender is still my bass hero, but it doesn't make Paul anything less than an incredible player. [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=pKO8rnKg94o"]Paul Turner[/url] EDIT - no idea how to embed videos so there's the links!

Mate I'm over in LIPA in Liverpool doing Music in my second year. I know one or two people over in LCM. Hows your course going?

Been posting on here on and off for a couple of weeks, I like the forum a lot! Not introduced myself though... My name's Liam, I'm a bassist (obviously...) from near Liverpool. I'm in my second year of Uni here in Liverpool at a place called the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts studying for a Music degree. I've been playing bass for about 8-9 years now. My current rig I'm enjoying a lot is an Eden WT-800 and 410XLT cab with a good old U.S Jazz Bass, various pedals if I can be arsed... I never leave my Boss OC-2 far behind. Hankering after a Sadowsky 5 at the moment quite a lot, probably would like to invest in one in the next few months. I play a lot round the north west with my band but sort of up and down the country when I can too... where ever is willing to pay a bunch of delinquent musicians basically! Nice to meet you all

He, just listened to this. Pretty odd to be honest. I'd say it's too far removed from the traditional role of bass usually, but I don't think it matters... if you find it easy enough to express your musicality that way then who is anyone to complain!

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='395237' date='Jan 30 2009, 10:51 AM']Marvelous quote, Liam.[/quote] Haha, thanks, I try my best

[quote]You don't do any of this instead of developing your ears; you do it AS WELL AS. In fact, it helps you develop your ears because, if you are reading, you need yours ears to tell you that you are playing the right notes at the right time and in tune, not your eyes to tell you your fingers are geographically in the right place (this is particularly important for fretless players). Readers aren't better than non-readers, they are just better than they probably would be if they couldn't read. If they have bad time, its because they have bad time, not because they can read.[/quote] Exactly what I think, which throws up a lot of constraint on classical players who have been brought up on a diet of non-deviation from the score in front of them. I'm sure if you threw Anthony Jackson a robotic-looking bass sheet, he'd throw in some choice examples of good musical restraint and taste. It's all about the player in front of the music, not the music in front of the player.

I remember watching a band a couple of years ago, this bass player strolled on and plugged a lovely new Spector into an Eden rig, and sounded awful. The second band that came on after were a reggae band, the bass player pulled out this battered Tanglewood, didn't touch the EQ, and had one of the best bass sounds I've ever heard. More often than not, it's a good player that makes for a good bass sound. I've heard Peavy Milestone's that sounded great in the hands of a good player. They can equally sound s**t, so it sort of swings in roundabouts.

I'm still only fairly young but my take on reading is that it's not as important as getting your ears together, which I honestly think is infinitely more important. Every good musician should have a good understanding of harmony, melody and rhythm, if you can read then great, you'll get a lot of work doing it, but it's not the be all and end all. However... there is no doubting that the likes of Nathan East hasn't got by all these years on just ear training. Most of the big session guys like Will Lee, Nathan East, etc. can read like monsters, mostly because they've come from a classical background and then moved onto bass playing. Freddie Washington in particular is supposed to be more or less unearthly in this department. Pino Palladino is quite the opposite, saying he gets by more using his ear having never been a great reader, which is equally admirable. So it's probably not everything to be able to read... but it would help to learn if you want to be a serious player.