Hector

Bought an EHX Freeze from Kevin. Even though he was really ill, he still managed to get it sent straight away special delivery (he even got his brother to do it). He was also very helpful tracking it down when Royal Mail got confused. Thanks again!

Just sold my SR605 to John. He made every aspect of the transaction easy, with prompt payment and good communication. He was patient enough to wait a week or so while the dust from the holiday season settled, and I got into the swing of things in a new job. So, don't hesitate to buy/sell - he's one of the good ones!

Assuming you're talking about pizz? And walking or soloing? It's a mixture of things. Most of it comes from RELAXING. Physically, you can't play fast unless you can be very relaxed playing slow. Left hand wise this is really important. Right hand wise - go for 2 finger approach if you need to. Practise string crossings, as well as playing on a single string. Again, very precise slow technique is the way forwards. If you are using 2 finger, you must try to get an even sound between them. You may find you have to lighten up for attack slightly on the fast tunes. Mentally, you need to relax as well - people tend to tense up at tempos they find hard, which makes them more difficult so keep an eye on that. Don't try so hard! Some people tend to feel the pulse in entire bars, so if walking try playing 16ths at 65bpm (which works out to quarters at 260) and seeing if that helps you feel more relaxed. You also need your ears to hear that fast, so if you're walking then make sure you know the tune really well. Have a lot of vocabulary ingrained to help you out. Listen to lots of tunes played at faster tempos. Playing fast is simple on the one hand because it's just the same as playing slow but a bit faster. On the other hand, it requires lots of aspects of your musicianship to be together. Keep shedding away at it - it doesn't happen overnight and requires repeated practise to get comfortable at it.

Anyone else planning on going this Sunday? http://www.rcm.ac.uk/events/listings/details/?id=1236569

Charles Bradley's version of changes is absolutely incredible.

Haha gotcha.

[quote name='The Jaywalker' timestamp='1507219165' post='3384021'] Ah! Some guy (who isnt much of a player) plays a small novelty bass in a novelty band...evidently 2 centuries of pedagogy and received wisdom is suddenly undone...what were we thinking... But seriously, WTAF is it with this "each-to-their-own-and-nobody-should-tell-anyone-anything's-wrong" BS ?!? [/quote] I'm almost afraid to tell you how I play: - a right handed instrument left-handed, without restringing. - use all 4 fingers of my right (fretting) hand in all positions - pizz with my pinky and ring finger together, anchoring on the string below with my index and middle My rockabilly/psychobilly band is getting a lot of fans and doing well on the local pub circuit. So who cares if I play a little unconventionally?

So a 5 string offers you a few notes below the E, that's one (relatively insignificant) aspect of what it does. Much more important is the fact that it means you can [b]play more notes in a single position.[/b] Do you know your 5 positions for the major scale? (https://www.cyberfretbass.com/scales/major/page4.php )Because what you want to do is learn them very solidly, as this is the area that the 5 string excels in. If you don't know them, PM me and we can skype or something Basically, you want to move your hand much less when changing between keys, and very little when staying in the same key. This takes a bit of practice, but it'll get you mega comfortable anywhere on the neck. I would recommend working on the book 'Serious Electric Bass' by Joel Di Bartolo. There's a chapter in there on the 5 major scale positions, and lots of exercises. You can play entire chord progressions in a single key without moving your hand, and once you get comfortable with these 5 positions [i]in every key[/i] you can practise moving between keys.

[quote name='petebassist' timestamp='1499341604' post='3330837'] I tried out my new Lifeline pickup the other night (fitted on the E string side) into the band PA via a KK Pure Preamp. It seemed slightly boomy at times and if I upped the mid and treble [/quote] Better to cut frequencies than add (whenever possible). If it's too boomy take out some of the lows. Either EQ on amp, or if that doesn't do the trick some sort of HPF as mentioned.

Ok, since Adam Wood appears to have signed some sort of NDA with Janek, here's my best guess as to what the exercise is, in case anyone else is interested: Example is a G major to Ab minor arpeggio. The convention is Note, String, Finger. Haven't got a bass to hand so hope there's no mistakes. This is just my way of playing it. (The major arpeggio bit) G E 2 B A 1 D A 4 G D 2 B G 1 D G 4 (Now descending minor arpeggio bit) Eb G 3 B D 4 Ab D 1 Eb A 3 B E 4 Ab E 1 You're then set up to play an A with your second finger, restarting the pattern playing Amaj to Bbmin. It's a neat little warmup, could take you all the way up the neck. For improv/jazz bods, it's useful when playing over altered chords - G alt is just Ab melodic minor over G, so you could go up a G major arp followed by an Ab minor arp to really clearly outline that sound.

Sounds a bit like that diminished arp to minor arp thing he has in All The Good Stuff - that it?

[quote name='AdamWoodBass' timestamp='1497864435' post='3320889'] Top bloke is Janek, met him about 12 years ago and he was really chatty and had lots of time for people. He spent a good hour or so before his gig just hanging out with people then after the gig stuck around to watch some other acts and hang out with some more people. He was sharing a practice technique with me that I still can't get right after 12 years! [/quote] Ooh, what's that then?

Laurence Dixon down in Hernehill has some great basses in that price range. He really knows his way around a setup so would get it sounding and feeling right. Had a little play on one last time I was down and think they'd be a great bass for beginner/intermediate players. I know I keep plugging his work on here, but it's just because I think what he does is great

I'm a biiiig fan of the peterson stroboclip, but I am also totally willing to accept that it's quite possibly overkill. I also have an A 440Hz tuning fork, which I try and use now and again. Just bash it on something, and then press then end to the bass (or clench between your teeth to get the note resonating through your skull if you'd rather). Good for the ear, which you'll need if you have to tune to a venue's (possibly out of tune) piano. It's worth saying that the most important tuner is the one you can't buy with anything other than lots of practice - you! Once your technique is developed and your expectation of pitch is developed through ear training, your intonation is far better

There's also the T Rex offerings: Quint Machine and Tri-Tone Generator.

Hi guys, Building my pedalboard up and having a few thoughts about my signal chain I wanted to run by the BC community. I was thinking of running: OC-2 --> LS-2 And then having in a loop within LS-2: Prunes and Custard --> Mastotron Then sending the loop and original signal blended to: LS-2 --> Aguilar Filter Twin --> Flashback --> CEB-3 My thinking was that I could keep a clean octave/clean bass sound mixed in with the P&C and the Mastotron, to make sure it's beefy enough Has anyone run an OC-2 before LS-2 like this? My main worry was that the Filter Twin might behave differently if triggered by gritty fuzzy goodness, even if blended with a dryer signal. Anyone got experience of running fuzz before the FT?

You could try to moisturise? It will make your callouses a bit more leathery - tough but supple and less scratchy.

Weird way of writing it, but maybe a minor 7 chord with a raised 7th? G# instead of G? So: A C E G# The + symbol I think can mean a raised interval (e.g. Cmaj7+11 = C E G B F#) but don't often see it used in that way cause it typically indicates an augmented triad (e.g. C+ = C E G#). Do you have it in context of a progression? I might be able to give a more accurate answer If it is an A minor with a natural 7 you can play notes from A harmonic (ABCDEFG#)or melodic minor (ABCDEF#G#).

I have a similarly-shaped thumb. Unfortunately the solution I found was just to experiment around with hand positions until you get something that mutes effectively....sorry it's not the solution you were hoping for! It depends on physiology and string spacing etc. Dunno if it's helpful, but I found that experimenting with placing my thumb away from parallel across the strings (i.e. changing the angle between thumb and index finger) eventually yielded good results. Good luck EDIT - Oh, also try rotating the wrist a little bit either way - that's a parameter than can affect how well your thumb mutes.

Popped in for my roughly annual bass MOT at Laurence Dixon's place. Lovely work as ever. As well as his mid range Hungarian basses, he's now doing chinese basses, which he imports and then sets up himself - planing the board, new bridge etc. They're priced at £1000 - not bad considering any £500 bass would need about £500 of set up to be a decent player! He also has a January sale on, so they're at £800

Just bought above P bass from Rich. He was clear and easy to deal with throughout. He ended up being down in London yesterday so we met in person, and he was kind enough to stick around for a chat and got a round in at a nearby pub. Can't think of a nicer bloke to spend 20 mins chatting bass with, let alone buy an instrument from! Cheers Rich. Exactly what basschat can and should be all about