jazzburger

Thanks scrumpymike, I wasn't seriously considering the SWB-1 despite its sonic capabilities until I saw one on eBay last night, which I missed out on (the seller is a member of this forum). The only short-scale bass I played previously was a friend's very battered Fender Mustang which was utterly addictive but with suicidal neck dive - I only ever used it sitting down. I've got an Ibanez GSRM20 on order and I realise I will probably feel compelled to change the pickups even if it's just to have silent electronics. But £160 for the bass and probably £140 for some EMG pickups is more than I would have paid for the SWB-1 on eBay - and that's when I started to do some maths...

Once we all feel safe to do it, a group of us are getting together in the office after work to jam/rehearse. We have drums, bass, guitar, keys and sax. No-one except the sax player and I want to play blues so we plan to start with Watermelon Man - basing it on one of the versions in the YouTube 'StudioJams" series. Should be fun. I'll probably end up practising this on two basses - my old Aria and the Ibanez short-scale that I hope will show up next week.

Some great stuff there. If I ever attempted to play the line to Sir Duke, I'd feel heroic. Enjoy!

I was eyeing an SWB-1 that sold last night and was advertised on this forum and eBay. I hadn't spotted the thing about the strap button not being level with the 12th fret (I just looked at my old Aria and it is level - never thought about that). I was more bothered (bothered??) about the strap button being below the top horn. Does that make the strap uncomfortable? And what's it like playing fingerstyle with those slanted pickups? The technical rationale for that seems to be accepted, but ergonomically I can't see it... If anyone from Chowny, or Scott Whitley, read this, let me say that I love the sound these basses make and if I could walk into a music store right now, it would be the first thing I'd pick up and play (then wipe clean of course).

Welcome Vin. There are worse things in life than being crap on bass - lucky for me 🙂

Hi FFF, these basses keep calling us back... Have you taken to 5-string easily? I keep considering it.

The pure gold liquid jazz-funk that is Incognito. Yeahhhh!

Ronnie Garrett's bass sound blows my mind on this song. I won't give up until I can play this like that.

Bienvenido Neil. Though I don't think I have known true depression, procrastination is something I'm very familiar with. It's great to read your story and know that you have come through a dark time, ready to get out there and indulge your passion. Seems to me there are as many reasons to make music as there are musicians. I'm looking forward to keeping up with you and hearing about your gigs and projects. Que tengas un buen día.

João Peña on the bass. 100% doing it for me for nearly 40 years. Obrigado.

Herzlich Willkommen BK!

I agree bubinga5. I've loved slap ever since I first heard it and if I lash my hard-earned money out on a bass rig, I'll slap the sh*t out of it as often as I like and put it on YouTube if I want. If folks don't like slap, they don't have to play it, watch it, think about it or talk about it. It's like the old "Top Gear is sh*t since Clarkson left" chant. Switch the effing TV off then. Slap isn't the be-all and end-all of bass playing - who ever said it was? I hobbled my own abilities early on because all I did was slap - now, 35+ years on, I'm learning all over again, but that's my choice. I like the subtle approach - like Melvin's here - but that's me screaming in the front row when Marcus plays "Teen Town". Sorry slap-haters.

For the Spyro Gyra fans - Scott Ambush doing a nice job on here

I love me some go-go, especially if Chuck Brown or Trouble Funk are involved. Not used to hearing a Stingray in the mix though. Nice.

Black Octopus is a great album. One of the best-engineered records I've ever owned.

Loving this. Chocolate City records put out some great funk BITD (I don't know if you can abbreviate 'back in the day' - well I just did) 🙂

Yep, funk for funk's sake - and that's plenty for me.

The very underrated Sketch

I just read that the superb fusion bassman Paul Jackson has died. I have loved his playing for damn near 50 years. RIP

What a gorgeous machine. I mean spectacular.

Spiral made me realise how great music could be - how it could break your heart with its beauty and intensity. Carlton BURNS on here. Thinking about it, Popwell doesn't hold back either.

It would have been Manchester, but they don't have the bass in stock so I had to order centrally. Pain because Thomann now has it cheaper and available now. Poo.

Oh dear, my order is with PMT. So far I'm not impressed. I've been waiting a month and I had to ask twice for a price match. Thanks for the welcome - and the warning.

I think the drawing looks great and the choice of wood sounds really good too. What are the good choices for a fretboard apart from rosewood? The Ibanez I have on order has a jatoba fretboard - and I can't say anything about jatoba because after a month it's still on order. It would be really interesting to see how the build progresses. I'm imagining an expensive fat Bartolini pickup on there.