EssentialTension

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1397603993' post='2425677'] I'm not, The reason being that to know the notes "cold" i.e. well enough to be useful in say a gig situation, you cant rely on a system that involves having to work through a sequence from some other note. [/quote] Yes, if someone says C#, then I need to know where they all are without spending time working it out.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1397645100' post='2425930'] Interestingly, you can be very creative doing covers and very predictable doing originals. A lot of Jazz originals are astonishingly formulaic (12-bar bebop blues, bossas etc). Creativity is creativity. Catch this Carpenters song.... [url="http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=t0Wf2SP0rJ4"]http://m.youtube.com...h?v=t0Wf2SP0rJ4[/url] [/quote] Link not working, did you mean: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0Wf2SP0rJ4

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1397586786' post='2425462'] At least he admits it... [/quote] I cant see what's to admit, it's a normal thing.

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1397582226' post='2425406'] ... Pino is the perfect example ... [/quote] ... yes, here he is playing a cover while stealing from Stravinsky ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju_a2-Pve4g

[quote name='cclowend' timestamp='1397568408' post='2425204'] ... I just don't get why some people only play covers. [/quote] I don't actually care one jot who wrote the song (by which I mean the lyrics and the melody) as long as it is a good song that I can assist in performing well. I just don't get why some people think who wrote the song makes any difference to whether the music is any good. For centuries anyway composers and musicians more generally have copied, borrowed, stolen re-arranged, etc. etc. while still managing to call it their own.

[quote name='cclowend' timestamp='1397541018' post='2424866'] The book analogy is a good one. There are thousands of good books out there that have never been read. A sad state. Also, if a book has already been written, why write it again? [/quote] Rewriting books/stories has been standard common and normal for thousands of years. Shakespeare, for example, did it over and over again. Hollywood, for example, also does it all over and over again.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1397517025' post='2424822'] To get back to music rather than continue with an analogy: I doubt there is anybody playing in originals bands who hasn't sat down and worked out some of their favourite bass parts from other peoples' records. I've only ever played originals but I've certainly spent time at home, especially when I was younger, working out other peoples' bass parts. The point is that some people eventually began having their own ideas. [/quote] True, but having your own ideas doesn't necessitate them being good ideas and having your own ideas is not intrinsically good. Besides which, really original ideas are extremely rare because there is almost always a debt, a standing on the shoulders of others.

[quote name='tonybassplayer' timestamp='1397515929' post='2424819'] Just had a couple of hours working some bits out for tomorrow's rehearsal and quite pleased so far. All the lines are very basic at the moment as I am getting used to the chord structures and the format of the songs etc but better to play something simple and solid first then elaborate ( if required ) later I believe. If nothing else it has definitely got me playing more and buying equipment ( collected new practice amp today, fretless arriving Thursday and looking for something effects related at the moment ) Tony [/quote] Very good.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1397513885' post='2424778'] If you don't finish the rubbish one you'll never write a good one. [/quote] ... and you're more likely to write a good one if you've read some good ones.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397503338' post='2424615'] AFAICS every other manufacturer of basses with maple necks and rosewood boards seems to be capable of making them without the necks twisting. In fact this is the first time I've actually come across this explanation. I's have thought it would have been simpler just to season the wood properly before constructing the neck. Does anyone actually have a twisted Fender neck with a slab rosewood board? [/quote] I have a lovely untwisted one.

[quote name='The Bass Doc' timestamp='1397502530' post='2424596'] The second explanation is the most acceptable imo, particularly as Leo Fender told me himself [/quote] Go on, show us the picture again in case anyone missed it. Do you think Leo was correct then because the slab board is still around on my 62 reissue neck?

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397499455' post='2424545'] What's the reason for the "veneer" style board? I can't help but think it would have made the production of the neck unnecessarily complicated - something which would have gone agains Leo Fenders philosophy when it came to building musical instruments. [/quote] Two explanations sometimes given are (1) it was cheaper because rosewood cost more than maple, which doesn't sound convincing, and (2) maple and rosewood expand and contract differently and so there's less likelihood of a problem if there's less rosewood, which also sounds unconvincing. No doubt someone will be along in a minute with a better explanation. And no doubt someone will say that one (or the other) sounds different and better, or not.

Many years ago I was playing in a 'mostly originals' (for want of a better phrase) blues rock three piece. At one gig - where alongside our own songs we did play rearrangements of, IIRC, a Hendrix song, a Willie Newbern song, and a Robert Parker song - as we came off stage a punter says to me: 'That was great.' Me: 'Thanks a lot.' Punter: 'Have you always been a tribute band?' Me: 'Tribute band? What makes you say that?' Punter: 'You played a Hendrix song.' Me: 'Er .. yes ... so?' Punter: 'So you're a Hendrix tribute band.' Me: 'Er... no.' I'm guessing that he was unfamiliar with Willie Newbern and Robert Parker or we would have been labelled a triple tribute band.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397487454' post='2424388'] In which case it's now actually less useful than it used to be... [/quote] Definitely although the price is not bad and no doubt a replacement bigsby could be sourced.

Also in the description[size=4]: [font=Arial,sans-serif]'TAILPIECE Bigsby®Licensed B50 Vibrato Tailpiece - removed when converted[/font]'[/size]

Ah hang on , it's had the tremolo removed. You can see the screw holes.

[size=4]That looks just like a normal Gretsch [font=Arial,sans-serif]Jet Baritone G5265, which although it is called a baritone is commonly tuned E-E and comes that way from the factory.[/font][/size] It's the Gretsch version of a Bass VI. No reference either to whatever JD has supposedly done to it.

'Rolled fingerboard' usually means that the square edges of the finger/fretboard have been rolled so that they have the curvature of an old and used instrument rather than a new freshly cut one which would be squarer - it's a kind of good relicing. But maybe what was meant in this case was the slab versus veneer above.

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1397476541' post='2424216'] I'm endlessly fascinated by these basses. Something I'm not sure of re: the neck - what is a rolled fingerboard, and how does it differ to slab-cut? [/quote] Slab board on the left, veneer on the right. I've no idea if slab '66s were slab boards:

I don't understand why all those who are so unhappy with the Basschat position on this matter don't set up their own website for the sale of supposed Rickenbackers. They could run it as they see fit with no reference to Ped, Kiwi, the ISP etc., and then deal with John Hall themselves. Sorted, and with everybody happy.

[quote name='JellyKnees' timestamp='1397476581' post='2424218'] I'm glad to hear you have nothing against creativity though [/quote] To be honest, sometimes I do.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1397475845' post='2424196'] I think it depends very much on the band.... [/quote] This. Not all so-called 'originals' bands are the same - some of them are not very original for a start - and there is more than one way of playing so-called 'covers'.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1397475104' post='2424181'] If you play in an originals band and are told exactly what bassline to play then I'd agree, because there would be no thinking involved in either case. But to my mind, the difference is usually that you get to invent the bassline, it's YOUR creation, not someone else's. It's the difference between reading a book or writing a book. It's creative rather than just reproduction. [/quote] I apologize for being an argumentative git but ... Rather than 'no thinking involved', when I was in a so-called 'originals' band where I was told exactly what to play (because all the parts were written) I had to think a great deal in order to play things I would not have naturally played. I learned more playing in that band than I had from any band I had played in previously. As for creativity, while I have nothing against it as such, I'd say that it is often extremely overrated. Better to read a good book than write a rubbish one.