risingson

The best guitar sound I've heard on a record, period.

Pino Palladino or Nathan East. As far as I'm aware Nathan East is probably the highest paid, he was getting close to £750,000 a year for playing with Phil Collins alone, and I should imagine Pino would be fairly close to this also, perhaps more. Ricky Minor, Freddie Washington, Darryl Jones and Will Lee will also have the most profitable session seats.

[quote name='urb' post='1047079' date='Dec 4 2010, 08:16 AM']Well forgive me I could apply your second paragraph to both Marcus and Kai's playing, I agree the first clip of Kai I posted is a little obvious but FYI he played a passive 65 P bass until very recently a grooves like a mutha bitch on it - but again it's each to their own - I hardly ever slap in my band but I do it on occasion when I get a solo just to get heard! And while I love that Freddie Washington tune and his playing is wonderful - you're earlier point about slap dating songs is particularly true of this track - from 1982. I just don't think it's worth having so many "the bass can do this - but it can't do this" views - I'm not a fan of tapping really but if it's done well and it's musical then surely it's just another way of producing notes on the instrument - not some political statement? I think I agree wholeheartedly with your original point though about doing some rudimentary slap stuff just because it sounds a bit flash - when it reality it's as old as the hills and has no music in it... that I agree with 100%.[/quote] I agree with all of this, although I would say that although the Patrice Rushen track was released in 1982, it is a timeless bass line that's been sampled many a time because of it's distinctiveness in later years. Actually there are quite a few Marcus Miller tracks he played on of the same ilk. Grover Washington Jr and Luther Vandross are two fairly obvious guys that have had Marcus play with them and then been very heavily sampled. And my gripe doesn't encompass slap bass players per se, just the growing assumption that bass players are to be measured by whether or not they can do it... considering it takes up such a small fraction of what goes down on a record this gets to me.

[quote name='urb' post='1046823' date='Dec 3 2010, 09:08 PM']I agree - I love really well played slap that is both groovy and melodic - w***ing away in E is easy compared with stuff like this: It's just another technique that can be used and abused just like any other - Kai Eckhardt is also another master of melodic slap/groove stuff that sounds great and totally groovy as well: This is particularly beautiful Hope you enjoy... no need for more ranting! Cheers Mike[/quote] Sorry Mike, none of those clips are my thing at all, but each to their own. If I'm going to listen to slap bass I'd prefer to hear this. Sick tone that doesn't sound like every other player with an active preamp in their bass, memorable playing, tight and very musical. On the whole the kind of slap I like to see. Maybe I just don't buy into the showboating slap technique as much as some.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='1046998' date='Dec 4 2010, 12:51 AM']The only thing worse than bad slap bass is bass players complaining about slap bass. It's not all about thumping 8th root notes on P basses but hey-ho, different vinegar strokes...[/quote] Not quite... note that I wasn't complaining about slap bass (why bother? People are going to do it anyway), but people insisting that basses must be demo-ed in order to show their slap capabilities. Why? It's not necessary. A bit of slap, maybe, but not a whole video's worth.

Even though it is a fake, it's a shame because the colour is marginally more appealing to my eyes than the standard natural that is usually seen on the MM's. Fender need to assess their product range, cut it down and start offering more in the way of colours and options and I think they could make a killing doing it.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1046671' date='Dec 3 2010, 06:43 PM']The sad truth is to some she is. A beatles song was on the radio today and the lad (Same ellie fan as earlier post) had no idea who they were, He is 20 years old and thinks it because of our age difference. Im 33 not 63![/quote] I'm 21, I know who the Beatles are and I know that the reason she's as big as she is is down to good PR and gimmickry. Ironically both terms can be applied to the Beatles' early career, but the one word that can only be applied to the latter is 'talent'. The point being that audience size is indicative of very little in this case. Ellie Goulding is good (she's a friend of a friend), but only comparatively to the rest of what Radio One are calling music nowadays.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1046640' date='Dec 3 2010, 06:07 PM']Certainly got a bigger fanbase than most of us thats for sure....[/quote] Unfortunately by that logic Lady Gaga is the new Beatles.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1045908' date='Dec 3 2010, 01:51 AM']I must admit about the only bass guitar I am considering buying at the moment is a custom Sandberg J. Probably JJ, probably a 5. If I knew exactly what I wanted I would've ordered it already. They look like great basses I must say.[/quote] The three or four Sandberg Cali's I've played have sounded consistently better than their more expensive Sadowsky Metro counterparts I've tested and for much cheaper also. Not slamming Sadowsky's, this is just my opinion of course.

[quote name='KevB' post='1042008' date='Nov 30 2010, 09:42 AM']Merry Christmas Everybody (Slade) [url="http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/s/slade/merry_christmas_everybody_ver2_btab.htm"]http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/tabs/s/slad...y_ver2_btab.htm[/url][/quote] I only read the intro but it's wrong, walks down to a D in the original, not a G on the 3rd fret of your E, THEN walks around G, Bm, D chords in the verse. Unfortunately IMO it's why tab can't be trusted. It's one of my favourite Xmas tunes though

Just to clarify something here. This post wasn't a rant about slap bass and whether it's acceptable or not, I'm happy to concede that whilst it's not my thing a lot of the time, it will of course be of interest to other players. But I don't want to watch a 7 minute video of someone demo-ing an instrument by slapping, especially not when they're a terrible player either with no timing or feel. It's just of no interest to me.

A bit of a rant here I guess, I appreciate not everyone's going to agree with me here, but here goes: Every demo and every video of a bass player on Youtube or elsewhere on the internet deems it necessary to damage your insides and your sensibilities with a slap bass solo in E, usually performed with more concern about technique than about notes and timing. I wouldn't usually be so bothered about this but I've been doing some preliminary research on some new bass guitars I might consider buying, everything from Sadowskys, Dingwalls, Laklands etc. and I just keep running up against players who think demo-ing a bass guitar has to involve slapping the living crap out of it. It's just not what I want to see from a good demo, I want to see a decent player making a good go of playing some real bass guitar, but it rarely happens without that player trying their hand, usually badly IMO at playing slap bass. Slap seems to be in most bass player's repertoire nowadays but I can honestly say there are very, very few bass players I have heard that have ever impressed me using it as a technique (honestly, I could probably count them on two hands tops, maybe even just the one). Most of the time all I see are sloppy performances with little attention paid to timing and musicality and it bores the hell out of me I'm sorry to say. What's more when it comes to actually playing on a track, slap bass immediately dates the sound of a record by 20-30 years, and with that in mind and the fact that very few players use it on records any more why is it necessary to demo a bass entirely slapped?? Answer - it's not. I'm fine hearing a bit of slap every so often, it's inevitable I guess, but it does very much irritate me that there are videos and demos out there from shops and reputable luthiers alike that rely solely on some bassist who thinks he's got all the slap chops in the world but ends up sounding dull, tonally plagarised and wholly uninspiring. Rant over!

I started out as a finger style player exclusively, but have found that over time it has become necessary to use a pick to acquire a good understanding of modern bass playing, as well as certain sounds and feels that simply cannot be performed with fingers alone. Anyone who claims pick playing is an easy way of playing bass is not only wrong, but also very ill-informed. Equally if you're worried about only ever getting one sound out of playing with a pick then you probably need to practice a little more and experiment with other kinds of picks. I'm not a massively technical player, in that I don't tap or slap much, but I'm pretty happy with the way I play and technique is not an issue for me. [quote name='LawrenceH' post='1042922' date='Nov 30 2010, 08:44 PM']In all seriousness I can't think of any tracks I like that use one...thinking...Carol Kaye on Pet Sounds? Doesn't sound too challenging though.[/quote] Oh dear, point missed entirely here. Carol Kaye was the foremost session bass player of the 1960's, possibly of all time if I'm not mistaken. Not even Jamerson or Chuck Rainey were as prolific. There's a good reason she can be heard on 1000's of records. Challenging doesn't even come into it, how challenging a part has nothing to do with how a bass line contributes to a good song.

Bobby Vega is one of the the few players whose technique genuinely interests me as well as his musicality. He's just an excellent player with a great sound, particularly love his pick playing.

[quote name='daz' post='1040571' date='Nov 28 2010, 10:58 PM']Just a little food for thought: If i recal correctly Stuart Zender says something like (and I'm massively paraphrasing here) ' I used a five stringer when i first joined Jamiroquoi, so i could emulate what had been done before I joined, but it wasnt really me. Now I have an established place in the band I am more likely to use a four stringer with an octave pedal'[/quote] I'd wager that Zender stopped using 5 string basses because they became a little '90's', but now using a vintage Fender is trending higher than a fancy Warwick 5 string with LED markers. To be honest his background with Jamiroquai and later solo work was very modern R&B influenced and at the time 5 strings were the thing to be using.

I've been exclusively a 4 string player for the ten years I've played. However I would very much entertain the idea of getting a 5 string next time I buy a bass, for a few reasons; 1.) I don't have to set up my current 4 string basses for lower tunings 2.) it will save me faffing round with more than one bass during future gigs and 3.) I need the extra low range. [quote]Bit of a nerve about the learning to play before going to an ERB maybe? Oh well.[/quote] Someone already quoted Anthony Jackson a few pages back, but his basic argument is that why should a player be learning on a 4 instead of a 6 string bass? To him it makes more sense, the way the guitar evolved catered for six strings and being a direct ancestor of the guitar it seems like a natural progression for bass guitar design to have taken... and the only reason it didn't was because Leo Fender made popular a design that took equal influence from upright. As a result, he spent hours fixing his Fender Jazz bass's intonation problems when he played in drop tunings, and this frustrated him endlessly, hence why he went to Carl Thompson I believe to design the world's first 6 string bass guitar. I don't necessarily agree with this argument. I suppose it's a bit like saying 'why haven't cars always had power steering because it makes more sense than not having it'. But I don't disagree with it either. I don't necessarily know if it's in a beginner's interest to purchase a 5 or 6 string instrument as their first bass guitar, but as long as they learn how to play it does it really matter that much?

I absolutely love Yamaha basses, excellent construction and the 5 strings always have tight, focused low B's. Enjoy!

[quote name='Mog' post='1034061' date='Nov 23 2010, 04:14 PM']I know a lot of players who are going back to or switching to Fenders because of reliability. Nothing got to do with brand or image. They just want a simple bass that does the job night in night out, can take being knocked about on the road and sound great every time. In fairness to fender they pretty much nailed it first time out. The only other brand I'd have that much confidence in is Yamaha.[/quote] +1, without adding too much more to what is clearly an ancient thread, plenty of good players play Fender because they do the job. Engineers all over the world past and present love Fenders because they get the job done and sound great. There's no undermining the fact that Fenders have provided the backbone of modern music, no other guitar manufacturer can claim this.

[quote name='MythSte' post='1034007' date='Nov 23 2010, 03:32 PM']Oh you bet! Its "open mic" on mondays but last time they just had a guest drummer and a few guest singers, it seemed a bit of a personal circle on stage so I didnt want to get up. But yeah, I'll look forward to that - And if you want to try any of my gear just give me a shout! The Mesa scout cab and Trace Twin valve is a particularly sweet little setup![/quote] That sounds excellent mate. Will do my best to make it over and when I do I'll let you know.

[quote name='MythSte' post='1033994' date='Nov 23 2010, 03:22 PM']Ive only seen bands there on a monday night, Guy playing a nice lakland through a GK rig - If that was you your a cracking player! Hannahs is a great bar, let me know next time your out? [/quote] Hmm not me I'm afraid, I'd be the chap with the Fender and the Eden rig! Could be a new chap. I've not been down to play this term but if I do I'll most certainly give you a shout. Always nice to nerd it up about bass in between sets

Alright matey! From your neck of the woods also, used to study at LIPA. Welcome on board. EDIT - Mythste, I didn't realise you were so close matey. I dep at Hannah's bar sometimes on a Thursday night with a mate of mine's band on Hardman Street, would be good to see you out one night!

I sound like me, I don't try and sound like anyone else and I never sound like anyone else!

Billie Jean. This thread is full of bass lines so many people aren't going to know but I can guarantee that's the one that's the best known.