GreeneKing

The singer is his Bro. They practice together a lot.

I play in a covers band. We've been playing together in a loose way for a couple of years and now we have our first gig in January. Things are okay. Having the gig to work towards has its benefits (I'm feeling very focussed by it) but it's proved a little stressful. We have a lead who plays very loud. Rhythm can barely be heard at times but my bass and rig allows me to cut through the mix pretty well. The lead 'drives' the band and sometimes I think that if I stopped playing he'd carry on regardless. We have a range of abilities and willingness to put work in. I spend many hours a week working on the material. He says he plays by 'feel'. What that sometimes means is that he'll add a few bars into the structure of the song here and remove a few there. This means that I have to think on my feet at times I can get a bit lost getting back into the song. I find this frustrating and solvable. I don't mind if we play the song 'wrong' so long as we all know and we're consistent. In previous bands I would hang in with the correct song structure, verse, chorus, bridge etc and the band would hang in with me. When I raise this the lead can get very angry. To the extent that the drummer had to take him outside to calm him down on one occasion. I'm not rude, I just suggest that we need to get the structure sorted. He will occasionally make a comment on my bass line and I'll simply listen and sort it. I think that he may have issues with perceived criticism and that's causing his simmering rage. I feel that it's disrespectful to 'do your own thing' and expect others to fit in 'on the hoof'. It's not Jazz and I'm an enthusiastic bassist with a limit to my talent. It's also easily sorted to my way of thinking. I tried messaging him to sort it out and his reply was, basically it's not a priority and we can work on it later. I feel like this stuff is the basics and needs sorting straight away. Any thoughts? I'm not a seasoned pro and bands are I find hard work at times (too much ego going on). Peter

Zoot 32” Funkmeister P bass review Over the course of 25+ years and many, many basses I finally concluded that: 1. I particularly love the Precision sound 2. I don’t need more than 4 strings 3. Standing around playing for up to 3 hours was stressful to my back and shoulders 4. I was getting stress injuries and ‘trigger finger’ with my left hand I have many friends who use basses made by Mike Walsh of Zoot (Iceni) bass in Essex. I originally hail from Essex (Mersea Island), and I’ve met Mike on a couple of occasions over the years. I did own a fretless 5 made by him many moons ago. I bought it 2nd hand from a guy in NI and it didn’t work out mainly because it hadn’t been looked after and the cigarette smell wouldn’t go away. Mike offers the opportunity to place a deposit and then make payments as the build progresses. He’s busy now and back to being a ‘one man band’ so build times are creeping up to and even over a year. I had a couple of basses to sell, and the monthly transfer of funds wasn’t an issue. Due to my regular changes to the spec the cost rose steadily! I have a 2008 Fender Jazz in off white with both white and tort plates. I bought it on Bass Chat (Nick Carey). He had the neck fettled by a top luthier (Mr Robinson in Bolton) and upgraded the tuners. I fitted a high mass Gotoh bridge and upgraded the wiring (still passive, VVT) It’s an awesome bass and more than the sum of its parts. It’s also the model colour wise for the Funkmeister and a keeper. Another huge inspiration was seeing Mike Birch’s black 32” scale Funkmeister P finished. So, to start with, a 32” scale. I believed that the 32” scale is the ideal compromise for me. I find 30” a little bit ‘wee’. Ownership for several months has validated this choice hugely. The body is scaled down to suit the neck and it’s also chambered which has made a huge difference to my comfort. I’ve not weighed it yet (I will, for the review) but it’s light! Lightweight Hipshot tuners are fitted with ‘proper’ ears and it balances absolutely perfectly. I wanted a matching headstock, a maple neck, and an ebony fingerboard. No front markers. I initially wanted a John East P Retro. Sadly, John was having problems obtaining the rechargeable battery at the time and they were temporarily (?) discontinued. Mike had a cream Haussel pickup that he suggested I could use. This was a change away from the black that I had in mind, but I thought it would work well with my colour scheme of off-white bass and ‘Colgate’ white plate. When the P Retro became unobtainium Mike suggested a Noll 2 EQ with an active/passive switch and passive tone powered by 18volts. I have heard many positives about Noll and went with that. Things I changed as the build progressed? 1. A zero fret was added 2. I decided that I would like a 3-piece neck for added stability. The centre of the 3 pieces is reversed. 3. The next add on was to add ebony veneers between the 3 neck pieces 4. I had Mike add in his ‘magic’ filter circuit with a switch between the controls 5. I had a 2nd ’tort’ plate made to give me that option I had already specified Dunlop strap locks and Dunlop flatwound strings. I value 4 main things in a bass. It must look good, play well, have good build quality, and have a versatile and strong tonal palette, capable of the job it’s designed for. It excels on all 4 counts. Looks: I love it! The finish is flawless, the ebony board is very black, the matching headstock is stunning and as an added, unexpected extra the neck is flamed maple. Looking down at the neck while playing can make me smile in appreciation as I see the flame finish and the neck veneers.. Playability: Perfectly balanced, light weight (7lb 10oz on my fishing scales), and that slightly shorter scale makes a huge difference to my left hand comfort. I went with Mike’s suggestion for the neck profile and it’s not particularly shallow as per modern trends, but it just feels right. Fret access (I don’t often go there) is very good too. Build: Its fit and build quality matches its finish. In terms of fretwork the neck is very well dressed and the trussrod is smooth and light to turn. The neck is super stable. The zero fret takes any mention of the nut depth away and the neck has a neat 5-bolt fixing. No build issues here. Sound: I generally play through a GK Legacy 800 head and one 8-ohm Accugroove Tri112L cab. I have a 2nd cab (both the earlier models with 2 variable controls on the rear) but I’ve not needed the 2nd cab yet. Bass to amp is via a Broughton tuneable HP filter and a EBS Microbass III. The Funkmeister has a huge range of tone for a single pickup bass. Firstly, and most importantly it cuts right through the mix at very low volume settings on the amp. Passive is pure P bass and active just boosts/cuts the same in bass and treble land. The passive tone works in passive only. I tend to run with the bass control centred and the treble backed off a tiny amount. Either that or passive with the tone set to taste. Mike’s magic filter? I guess it’s a sort of Low Pass filter. It’s a whole lot more than just rolling off passive tone. It gives the bass a real old school tone without taking away any of its ability to cut through. It’s great. It gets used often. The bottom line? I couldn’t be happier. I’m enjoying playing more than ever and much of that is due to the bass. My MiM Jazz and custom Sandberg Jazz with JE Uni Pre are sadly under used. The full spec sheet: Body: Zoot Funkmiester 32" from swamp ash finished in "off white/light cream" hi-gloss Neck: 32" Canadian maple neck with Bi-flex two way truss rod with modern 'C' profile. Finger board: Ebony with M.O.P. dot inlays to side and a compounded 16" radius and medium heavy fret wire Pickup: Haussel P pickup in cream Bridge: Hipshot "Kickass" in chrome Machine heads: Hipshot "Ultralite" with Fender clover leaf buttons in chrome. D Tuner Hipshot. String retainer: Hipshot "Ultralight" quick change E.Q. Noll 2 EQ Active/passive with passive tone and filter with swich Battery details: Gotoh 18Vdc quick change battery box. Top nut size: 40mm with zero fret Bridge saddle spacing: 19mm Neck finish: Hi-gloss to back of headstock matching colour front with smooth satin to rear of neck (playing area) Body finish: Hi-gloss off white with ‘tort' and brilliant white 3 ply scratch plates. Hardware: All other hardware in chrome finish. Price, £1325

I sold Ben a Sire V7 Fretless. The whole thing went perfectly. It was a pleasure. Peter

I sold my Yamaha BBPH to Ash and the whole sale went brilliantly. It was nice to meet face to face and chat for a short while. A pleasure. Peter

I part traded my Fafner for a Sire fretless. A pleasure to deal with a great communication. Shame I was in a hurry with Mrs GK waiting van sitting outside. Peter

It was a pleasure Graham

Seeing that Tony was looking for a strap and realising that I had one spare we had an easy and straightforward transaction with great communication and prompt payment. Thank you.

My EBS Fafner is also in the For Sale section at the moment. An awesome amp that I think is also know as the TD 600.

Thank you 😊 Your last comment is the way I used to understand it. But, as you say the descending interval is a 4th and a 4th sounds slightly different to a fifth. So in terms of the interval being smaller does that alter the overall feel? Perhaps a 5th to a 4th isn’t the best example. A major 3rd interval ascending would become a minor 6th interval descending.

I’ve been working through the early chapters. One assumption that I’ve made for years has been dispelled. If I’m playing a fifth up I assumed that fifth down will do too. I suspect that is often the case but I didn’t realise that the intervals from the root are different. This applies to just about all intervals if you choose a different octave. I like the book. It’s thorough. I’ve got both her books and I’m learning while enjoying the process.