risingson

[quote name='paulflan0151' timestamp='1395243951' post='2400139'] Starting from the back end of the city centre. Caledonia, Pilgrim, Ye Crack, Grapes (Knight St), Hanahhs Bar (check if theres a band on), Salt Dog Slims (Nice hot dogs), Pouge Mahones, Santos Chupitos, the hidden bar next to Santos Chupito.(Jungle Juice cocktail), The Swan. You can always try Django's Riff and Bar CaVa Although there not really rock bars. Then there's the Krazy House but that's more of a club. Or The Camp And Furnace-Try and catch rockaoke Vs Food Slam, some tasty grub (Piggy Smalls) and karaoke with a live band. Only problem with he Camp is it's a bit out of the way, maybe a 10/15 min walk (if you don't get lost!) to the nearest bars, there are always taxis though. [/quote] Great comprehensive list. Isn't Liverpool just an amazing city to be in right now! There's a hidden whiskey bar on Berry St across the road from the Tribeca pizza place you can check out as well.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1395183766' post='2399650'] Haha! Good bars/venues centrally for a thurs/fri night? Cheers [/quote] Yeh, the places I mentioned.

Not sure about Manchester anymore but Liverpool currently (IMO) is awful for music shops. The Dawsons staff are largely terrible, a few nice guys in there but most of them in my experience have little to no idea what they're talking about a lot of the time. Curly Music has got some longterm great staff but the selection of stuff of gear is really bad, although I've stumbled across one or two great finds in there (mid 60's Jazz refin, an unbelievable 80's Musicman Ray that I should have bought). Usually cheap stuff though. I'd recommend getting out to Hannahs bar or Bierkeller for one of the jam nights though, some mates of mine regularly play in there and they're sick musicians. Loads of good live music in the city right now, check out The Kazamier, The Shipping Forecast.

Love his playing, his attitude to music, his outstanding friendliness to fans! I'd actually count him as a bigger influence on me than I probably realise too, I grew up listening to James Taylor and he's plastered over the majority of his records. Still convinced he'll endorse anything under the sun but who cares when you're that much of a dude with such an illustrious career and the best beard in the history of music.

I've kept my '78 P strung with flats for a while now whilst my '74 Jazz has got rounds so I've got a nice balance of both worlds. I need flatwounds more for what I play now so I tend to lean more towards my P-Bass for basically everything when it comes to my original material, but it's nice to have my Jazz bass when I need something a little less heavy-handed, usually when I dep out for other bands. I love La Bella 760FL's. My only slight issue with them is that they do seem to lack a bit in mid range, not loads but perhaps more than other flats I've tried. I've heard Lakland flats are good in this respect so I might take a punt on them next time I need flats... probably in a few years

I've owned a Stingray 5 with a maple fretboard that I'm still slightly furious I sold, it was an excellent instrument but the lack of necessity for a 5 string coupled with my desire to purchase my current '78 Precision meant that I sold it last year. I now want it back! I'm not convinced you'll hear a massive difference in fretboard wood. The overwhelming sound of Stingrays as you'll well know owning one already is the preamp and pickup placing. I'd go with cosmetic preference personally. Single H is also my personal preference. The Stingray 5 isn't the prettiest bass in the world (although I like it myself), I think the extra pickups look pretty nasty and plus you loose the beauty and simplicity of the Stingray's single pickup design. I could always get enough variation in tone from the preamp. Others will disagree and say you can get more variation in tone with more pickups - I'm just not sure how much variation you need with a bass a lot of the time. The B strings are good on Ray 5's, the thing you'll most likely spend a bit of time getting used to is the G string slipping off the edge of the fretboard a lot due to how close the G string is to the edge of the fretboard plus the rolled edge itself. It's a design fault of the Ray 5, one I could probably live with again but something that should have been sorted out absolutely ages ago. The latest SR5 models have alnico pickups whereas older models had ceramic magnets (even older ones had alnico magnets again to begin with). Basically no one but you will be able to hear a notable difference, but my preference again is towards alnico purely because that's what they use in the Ray 4's. Ceramic magnets go in the Sterlings which I'm not as big a fan of although I've played plenty of both alnico and ceramic Ray 5's that have been great sounding instruments. It's a good instrument if you can get with its slight foibles. It's probably the only 5 string I'd consider owning again anytime soon.

[quote name='Immo' timestamp='1391192918' post='2354495'] My buddy once was on something like Polish NAMM and found Pilichowski. He was teaching some people about playing the bass. My buddy - then already 5 years into playing - never played in front of Pilichowski. But he asked him about some more advanced technique. What was the star's answer? "Kiddo, kiddo... First learn to play correct and then, after all those years, you may start to think about this sort of things." Not the nicest answer to a person whose playing you never had listened to, if you'd ask me. Besides, there are many witnesses who say he considers his technique the only reasonable, good and efficient and tries to force it upon others. [/quote] Not too sure whether I'd call him a 'star', it's the first I've heard of the guy and whilst he's got impressive technique he's not actually doing anything new at all, just rehashing the same slap thing that's been repeated over and over. The advice isn't terrible either, I don't know how it was delivered but if it was with a sincerity then I actually think it's great advice.

Don't get stuck playing Sir Duke (or insert standard impressive bass tune here) like everyone else is my advice, every bass player knows it or likes to think they know it at least so they will have heard it a million times. I think you're thinking outside the box with the ELO tunes which is good but look at something that shows you've got excellent note choice and feel. I auditioned Kid Charlemagne and For Once In My Life for mine which went down really well. Pino's Who Did You Think I Was is amazing but incredibly hard to cop his feel, it's incredibly busy but in a way that only Pino can be. Sure to impress with a bit of practice.

[quote name='Twincam' timestamp='1390241300' post='2343053'] Measured my hand ok from first to last little finger full stretch is 15 cm. But if I turn my hand like I was holding the bass my stretch is 12 cm uncomfortable max. I don't know how that measures up to others lol. I guess I'm impatient and a bit competitive. Anyhow good replies. Feeling more positive [/quote] One piece of advice, put your tape measure away and never measure your hand again. I'm a bass player of 12 years, I've played professionally for much of this time and I have small hands. I can't remember the last time I struggled to stretch as far as you seem to be describing, it's a complete red herring so put it out of your mind. If you worry about stretching in your hand then check out Tal Wilkenfeld, a female bass player who has tiny hands but no limitations in her abilities! What you'll notice over time is that some of the more difficult stretches become much easier in your left hand when you develop a better technique. It's advisable for you to be looking to a competent teacher to show you the ropes of the finger-per-fret technique and such but for the time being stick to your routine of playing. Jumping the gun on stuff will get you hugely frustrated.

Love marmite! But what a seriously nasty looking bass.

I would absolutely love one of these right now! Enjoy the new bass.

[quote name='Absolute Beginner' timestamp='1389908074' post='2339525'] Thanks all for your comments. I really appreciate it. Although, I love playing my Viola bass, I'm not overkeen on the whole neck dive issue, or the fact that it leans forward quite a bit if playing when standing up. In some ways now, I'm not sure whether I should have opted for one of my other bass choices though, ie: Epiphone EB3 Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Just out of interest, does anyone own one of the two basses ? If so, would you recommend them, or do they suffer from the above issues ? I must admit, given their relatively low cost, I could be tempted in buying one of them once I have developed and feel more confident. Thanks again, Fraser. [/quote] My own advice if you were to look for a second instrument would be to go for the Squier. I doubt it will suffer from neck dive and generally speaking it will provide you with a better blueprint on which to practice as a lot of the bass guitars you'll encounter through time will be Fender-derived to some extent (not all, just of lot of them). Both instruments you mention have a 34" scale length which if you've been playing a short scale instrument like your Viola bass will take a bit of getting used to at first, but it won't take too long to adjust.

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1389911906' post='2339586'] Has this been verified as genuine? Only reason I ask is that a similar story went round about the Robin2 in Bilston W Mids a few years ago and IIRC it turned out to be a hoax. [/quote] I know the right people on Facebook have been talking about it who will know the owners (promoters etc), almost certainly not a hoax.

I think you need a degree of musical aptitude to play any instrument but I think that can sometimes be included under the umbrella of really loving music in the first place. In fact the more you love music the more passionate you'll end up becoming about your instrument and it will feed your desire to drive yourself forward when learning. There are plenty of hurdles in place too, for example the frustration of not being able to play right away or feeling like playing scales is a million miles off. You've got to battle through all that. I remember the first time I picked up my new bass that my parents bought me 12 years back and coming up with something vaguely musical right off. I think I was trying to play it like an electric guitar, my older sister who had long been a bass player showed me that what I was doing was fine but I probably needed a few 'technical' adjustments. But don't be afraid to experiment, just bask in the glory of learning a new instrument!

[quote name='4000' timestamp='1389741455' post='2337548'] I'm generally considered a fairly busy player but I've never understood why people have issues with plodding basslines. But maybe that's because I'm a songwriter first and whatever suits the song is the most important thing IMO. AC/DC could be said to have plodding basslines but anyone who thinks they need busying up is barking up the wrong tree entirely. [/quote] +1, it's been discussed in the past but there's nothing wrong with the way someone plays an instrument providing the music being produced is of a high quality and sounds good. In fact it's a pretty shallow means of judging music, unfortunately too many people do it.

[quote name='allighatt0r' timestamp='1389533066' post='2335128'] Also, did I spot a guy playing DB at 3:06? Is that not a bit redundant with Sting plonking away? [/quote] That's Christian McBride I think, certainly moving round like him.

I've got two relatively worn in basses right now that are simply a product of their (35 and 40 year old) history. It's probably a pretty 'fashionable' look to have at the moment and yes they are cool. I'm not always sold on the look of reliced instruments but that's because I kind of consider it cheating!

I don't think the vid posted previously is the kind of clip you can watch to be thoroughly entertained by a bass player doing what he does best. Anthony Jackson (at least as far as I'm concerned) is nothing short of a musical genius but you can't help feeling like he's been worn down enough by the kind of people that stage these bass workshops to finally turn up to one and play. He deserves to be recognised so much more than what he does in that very short clip, it's kind of beyond him to be doing it having worked for year and years to become a true virtuoso of the instrument. It's a shame for him to be judged by the original vid.

I met him in April last year at after the Hiromi gig, Simon Phillips kindly introduced me which was a blessing because he's notoriously shy. Predictably the words failed to leave my mouth as I attempted to make conversation with (and this part is purely my opinion), probably the greatest living bass player on earth today. He has total command over the instrument to the point of total disbelief. His technique is obviously flawless but he executes everything with such musicality that you're left wondering whether the guy is truly superhuman or not. He was really nice, very humble. When he's interviewed I originally thought he came across as a little arrogant and maybe aloof but he's just very sure of his position on music, plus he really does give credit where credit is due and to some unlikely bass players - he counts Joe Osborn and Jack Cassidy amongst some of his favourite bass players which sits nicely with me too. He really bigged up Pino to me as well when we spoke. He's a capable solo bass player but I'm not always drawn to clips like the one above. He's not outside his comfort zone soloing, he has a very unique phrasing that's unlike any other bass player but I think he just truly shines as a sideman and I think it's always where he looks most comfortable and at home. Anthony Jackson and Pino Palladino are my very favourite bass players just for their sheer musicality. Anthony really is the man though!

They're great, Joe Dart is so funky.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1388452220' post='2322258'] Wow that's all pretty impressive! Your cuz is terrific! [/quote] I shall let him know Lord Sausage on here recently did the Rent tour with my cousin too which was also great, we met up after the show in Liverpool. Another great bassist in our BC midsts.