risingson

[quote name='Chrismanbass' timestamp='1362351663' post='1998919'] hence why i don't necessarily tell people i go to tech when i'm networking unfortunately its too easy to get tarred with the same brush before people know you [/quote] Yes absolutely, it's almost a hinderance in some cases. I don't mean to appear bitter about it all either, I made more than a few contacts and got plenty a gig from my college, it's good experience if you're the right kind of person, but there is probably a bit of a stigma appearing surrounding music colleges.

Perhaps I'm wrong but I didn't find the last M5-24 I played completely dissimilar to my Musicman Ray 5, flat and very manageable.

[quote name='SlapbassSteve' timestamp='1362350818' post='1998896'] I'm currently just about bothering with the third year of a music degree which is increasingly looking like a total waste of time and money, due to an apparent rather snobbish total lack of respect for popular music in all but a select few lecturers... [/quote] You've got to be at LIPA I studied for two years there before I dropped out, for a lot of reasons really but mostly because of the dawning realisation that I wasn't getting anything out of Uni that I couldn't be doing on my own. There is an upside to studying at a music college in as much as it affords you a decent set of contacts for later life, but then you've got to ask yourself whether those contacts you have in your phone could have simply been compiled through your own hard work and diligence working hard freelancing as a musician by yourself. None of the graduates from my year are necessarily doing any better than I am, most are struggling along doing almost exactly what I'm doing which is doing the best youcan to make ends meet. [quote name='Chrismanbass' timestamp='1362351004' post='1998902'] Thats Phil Simmonds he went to Tech Music School however i would say that he's the exception rather than the rule for us that study bass at uni from what i understand phil got that gig by being a phenomenal player and networking relentlessly the whole time he was at uni [/quote] He's not the exception though, that's just what it takes. Working day and night to get the work that he wanted. Too many musicians wandering into music colleges and hoping for the best when they come out, like a degree affords you something and of course it doesn't, it's just a slip of paper in this line of work.

My parents learnt during my grammar school years that grounding me when I didn't do homework was hopeless, the way to really create any kind of meaningful punishment was to stop me from playing my bass. They considered doing it once or twice but they never could bring themselves to do it. I'm 23, nearly 24. Up until March last year my plans were very much to make a living from playing music. This had been reasonably successful up until one or two setbacks forced me to rethink my position and I've had to take up a temporary job to fill a gap between the times that I'm performing and recording and the times I am not. I am probably at the position where I'm almost ready to drop my job and get back to focusing on making my living from music, the hardest question nowadays for people my age (indeed anyone trying to live from being a musician) is how you make that living and what you deem as an acceptable salary to afford you the life that you desire. It's a really hard place to hammer out any kind of living. I know guys who are playing for moderate to big name artists as session musicians making considerably less than I could from playing a year's worth of weddings with cover bands, and conversely I could be playing with my originals band and making moderate to little headway into signing with a decent label and doing a tour, again for very little money. It's got to a stage where I'm now trying to consolidate where I fit in as a musician, am I to be considered a hired gun and make a little for myself or do I push for more with the hope of making something big of myself only to be rewarded with very little in return? There really aren't any easy answers and things are only getting harder and harder, the best I can do is spread myself thin and hope for the best. [quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1362342587' post='1998724'] I'm reminded of a (possibly not true) story about McCartney and Harrison, IIRC, taking a long bus journey across Liverpool to meet someone who knew how to play a B7 chord. [/quote] Love that story, be it true or not, the difference nowadays being that if you need to learn how a B7 chord works then you simply Youtube a video tutorial of it. Music is so incredibly far removed from what it used to be.

Don't know how you guys can bear it to be quite honest! Sounds like a right racket.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1362090045' post='1995768'] in the real world the sound that most artists and record producers want on their recordings is a Fender Precision Bass or a Fender Jazz Bass played with your fingers , a pick , or very occasionally (but basically never) slapped . [/quote] Fixed

Nothing wrong with you, it just means that your taste in instruments has properly refined! Seriously, P-Basses do it far more for me than anything else nowadays. You get a totally fundamental bass sound that can be used on any kind of recording and at any kind of gig. Have all the custom ACGs you want but nothing sounds like a P-Bass other than a P-Bass, there is a reason for their success.

You jammy git! Off to NYC in a month's time, will definitely be swinging by to see the new Queens factory. I'm sure you'll be delighted with the end product matey.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1361873584' post='1992097'] It's a ridiculous quote really isn't it. I feel sure he doesn't stand by it. It's complete bullshit. [/quote] +1, silly, probably said to make an impression but it isn't true. Still though, much as I like 5 strings, it would be a 4 string for me also!

My girlfriend has no care at all about how many instruments I buy and own, she is baffled however about how basses or guitars could possibly sound different to each other but hey, I can't have everything now can I.

Despite recent threads where I've argued a lot over certain past band's lasting influence and how much I've enjoyed their music... ([size=1]The Beatles[/size][size=3]), [size=4]I'm still really really keen on new music and I'm really into electronic stuff like Active Child, Burial, Tensnake and Flume, seeing as it's the kind of stuff that's getting pumped out a lot that I really enjoy I couldn't say I'd be keen to see the flow of new music cut off anytime soon. [/size][/size]

The way I see it is that if he's been a bass player for a few years and played with a band then you've most likely got a good grasp on harmony and chords. All you have to do is build from the ground up and keep a good sense of space and rhythm, not completely dissimilar to his role as a bassist. Lead guitar is a completely different instrument to bass, I don't see them as being closely related at all and it admittedly takes years of concentration and practice to learn the idiosyncrasies of bends, playing over the G and B strings (which will throw him completely at first as the strings are a major 3rd apart and seem unnatural for a bass player used to playing on strings tuned 4ths apart). Tones really matter as well. I suppose he could work at carbon-copying lead parts to begin with and see where he gets to if he wanted to play the solos.

I think that I might hate the tune itself but the bass line is absolutely superb! So well crafted, not nearly as straight forward as you might think, a lot of walking about and countering the melody with what the bass is doing.

In my opinion, alarm bells should have been ringing before you'd even sent the first email[font="helvetica, arial, sans-serif"][color="#282828"] - people who describe themselves as having 'been in the business all their lives' generally make me want to buy a gun and shoot myself. [/color][/font]

Worth every penny - in opposite land.