Wylie

[quote name='muttley' post='1197241' date='Apr 12 2011, 02:53 PM']I've just bought a s/h Vintage V1004 fretless with maple top for a very reasonable price .[/quote] Good going!

One bass, a cheap jazz bass by Squier. Who can afford all these basses??

[quote name='muttley' post='1182516' date='Mar 30 2011, 12:55 PM']I'm starting lessons tomorrow on a borrowed instrument but I'm keen to get my own bass asap. Buying 2nd hand will obviously get me better vfm in the first place plus the ability to move something on for little loss should I decide to change/upgrade. However, I have no experience in buying a used instrument privately so I need advice from those more experienced on what to look out for. BTW, electronics pose no problem as I'm handy with a soldering iron. TIA[/quote] I would try to ascertain whether the truss rod has been maxed out, and if so, try to learn why. tg

'Footprints,' Wayne Shorter. Everything about that tune.

[quote name='BurritoBass' post='1191197' date='Apr 6 2011, 05:40 PM']My understanding was you can record CDs of covers to get gigs so long as you don't sell it at gigs to make money[/quote] I agree with this. My trio recorded a CD, and we hand it out to whoever will take it, but we paid for the rights of the non-traditional tunes we recorded, and we do try and flog the CD whenever we play.

[quote name='Len_derby' post='1185294' date='Apr 1 2011, 04:34 PM']I can see your point of view here. However, the horribly compressed sound of most CDs doesn't do justice to the live sound of a double bass. If you experience a decent double bass solo live, you'll perhaps see the point. You feel it as well as hear it. So much gets lost with those tacky silver beermats.[/quote] My thought exactly. Nothing like the sound of a double bass live!

[quote name='Dronny' post='1175695' date='Mar 25 2011, 06:50 AM']hi fellow BC'ers Quick intro/background: I've been playing bass since my teens, now in my late 40s, had a long gap of not playing until I got back into it about 5/6 years ago, now playing in 2 bands (one standard functions stuff, the other bluesy/rocky). I feel like my playing has reached a bit of a limit w.r.t. my abilities, or something... I have a reasonable grasp of the basics of theory, but don't sight-read. I want to improve, but with a full-time job, 2 teenage kids (and a dog!) I don't have a huge amount of spare time on my hands. Oh for the days of my youth when I could spend hours learning Rush tracks ;-) I'd like to put some time into improving my playing, I know this will probably involve scales and modes and such, but I'm really not sure where to start, and how to get the best "bang for buck" out of my limited time. TBH I don't think learning to sight-read will be a realistic goal, so I'm looking for other approaches. I'm really fed up with playing the same few blues fills and want to stretch myself a bit more. I've had "learn to play slap" as a new-years resolution for a few years now and never done it, so my track-record is pretty lousy. But I feel the pressure to do *something* new... All advice gratefully received! Dave.[/quote] Getting a teacher made a huge difference for me. I went round in circles with books (you can't ask a book a question) and doing the 1-3-5 and wondering when it would get easy (and interesting!). My teacher is a pro jazz musician and he's taking me from the beginning: chords, scales, arpeggios, the blues in F and Bb, rhythm changes, and READING. My practice is pretty boring, for the most part, but I am learning: how to use the modes, how chord substitution works, how the 2-5-1 movement works. I just wanted to play, and now I have all this work to do! Definitely worth it. Couldn't do it without a teacher, though.

I have a newer Squier VM '77 jazz that I love. So cheap, too.

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1180397' date='Mar 29 2011, 02:32 AM']+1 to the Gotoh "de-Precisioning" the sound. They are good bridges, very sturdy, easy to adjust for intonation, but to me, mine seemed to add tightness to the lows, sharpness to the highs, and remove the chunky low-mids Precisions are famed for, making it seem a bit more hi-fi. In the end, I got to the point where I wanted my Precision to sound like a Precision, so I swapped it back, but it`s really down to the ears of the user. And with regards to Gotoh against Badass, I`ve had those too, and soundwise I didn`t really notice much difference between the two - but my wallet did. If I had to decide on a replacement bridge, the Gotoh would get my vote.[/quote] +1 to this, especially 'a bit more hi-fi.' I like what my 201 did for tone. Inexpensive, too (about $30 over here). It also looks great.

Live with Me (Stones) and opening lines of Clown Time is Over by Costello and the Attractions.

[quote name='Huwberry' post='1156815' date='Mar 10 2011, 11:32 AM'][url="http://www.huwfoster.co.uk/"]http://www.huwfoster.co.uk/[/url] There's still a little bit to add or change here and there, but I thought it was long overdue. Thoughts? I can take constructive criticism, but please bear in mind my knowledge of HTML is very limited. [/quote] I think it looks good in all respects except two: the main page caption font is too small (while all the visual elements are large); and in the bio section, I think a reader would want to hear more about your playing experience--specific gigs, bands, recordings-- than about your education. Not knocking the education, of course. Include both, maybe? Ted

[quote name='MuckedUpFunkies' post='1156994' date='Mar 10 2011, 01:07 PM']Squire Vintage modified Jazz bass. Perfect for everything you just described. If you search the For sale threads you may even get lucky and pick up a MIM Fender for £300 =) Dan[/quote] +1. Also, for small hands, Squier makes the Bronco Bass, a 30-inch model, which is not much to look at but not bad, and quite cheap.

There is a full lesson on how to convert a fretted bass to a fretless on the Simnett Guitars site. Google Simnett Guitars. This will bring up, among other choices, the UK Builders' Forum. Once on that site, use search words 'fretless bass conversion' for the step-by-step lesson. Sorry for the roundabout search method, but I am a Luddite who cannot reproduce URLs.

Basic black, usually, but our violinist recently bought us matching shirts, Indian style (collarless). Silk. Kind of a late Beach Boys look, had the Beach Boys continued wearing matching outfits. When I get a picture, I'll post it and we can all have a good laugh.

[quote name='ezbass' post='1148472' date='Mar 3 2011, 10:20 AM']How much did you pay for your mini12 if I can ask? I've emailed SHX about one of these ages ago but didn't get a response.[/quote] I think the retail on the cab was about $625.

[quote]Schroeders only problem is making you want more Schroeder![/quote] That's the quote that says it! I want another 12 to stack on top of mine, but I don't really need it. tg

Squier Bronco bass, quite cheap, and not bad at all. The trio I was in was turning toward jazz and I couldn't play anything like jazz on my guitar, but they could play whatever they wanted to play. Got the bass and worked out 'Take Five' and some other tunes. I've since had two other basses. I still play guitar with the trio on some songs -- we do two distinctly different sets -- but the guitar doesn't interest me much anymore. Only the sound of the bass, and exploring its harmonic possibilities, interests me.

[quote]There are a lots of very advanced and informative players on bass chat who are always willing to share their wisdom but how many beginners do we have? ... Is there any body else out there like me? Dont be shy[/quote] I have been playing for about two years, but I was not too smart about how I went about it and spent way too much time fooling around. Also I was splitting my time playing guitar and bass, so the bass was no. 2. I've had to more or less start over: stick just with the bass, play scales, arpeggios, and practice rhythm changes daily, whether I like it or not (I don't, particularly--but it works). Got a lot of good advice here and got myself a good teacher, too.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='1136864' date='Feb 22 2011, 06:08 AM']Did you just say you own a Squier 77? I thought the earliest Squiers came out in 1982[/quote] Sorry, ddin't mean to confuse. It's a new Squier vintage modified '77 jazz bass. I usually drop most of the name! (And the conversation has passed me by ... I am quite a few time zones away.) tg

I just put half-rounds on my Squier 77 Jazz and love them; very smooth feeling and flattish sound, but with a bit of brightness. D'addario. Dialing up the bridge PU makes a nice difference.

Once a month, if that. One of our members is a physicist who often travels the planet talking about subatomic particles; the other has at least two other band/group commitments, both out of town. I generally put the songs together, copy music if needed, and try to get the three of us in one room for a couple of hours. Reward, 15 percent, frustration, 85 percent.

Thanks for the link. Very interesting stuff.

[quote name='janmaat' post='1121249' date='Feb 9 2011, 07:32 AM']Hiya, I don't really know why 99% of bands consist of B/G/Dr/Voc, there are so many cool instruments around. I recently formed a trio with electric fiddle and electric cello. I really would love to have a xylophone in my rock band. So my question is, what is your "dream linup" in instruments, and why?[/quote] My dream lineup is the one I'm in: violin, bass, piano. We cover several Wayne Shorter tunes and the violin catches the voice of the saxophone, you might say; same human quality. Because the violin has such a range of tonalities, we can cover quite a variety of music.