NJE

Why would it be a wind up? I’m sure a lot of guitarists have basses, might be missing something here 🧐

Apparently the book only goes up to him starting the RHCP. I’m sure the first 16 odd years of his life are interesting but I’m not sure a whole book on it gets me that excited. I would like to know about the later years as well. I completely agree, Anthony Keidis’ book is good read.

Not far off, it’s a copy of a 60s bass from Italy I believe. It’s definitely an acquired taste but the original Goya Panther basses this is a homage to are gaining cult status thanks to Janek Gwizdala and Juan Alderete.

A very good friend of mine works in music production/writing/session work etc and he and a lot of friends/colleagues swear by the Sennheiser HD25’s. Apparently they have a very flat natural response and sound fantastic.

When I have hit these kind of patches I tend to just put it all away and do something else for a while. I have been through phases over the years when I just play a lot of acoustic guitar and then eventually I feel the urge to play bass again. I haven’t picked my bass up properly in months, no time, no energy and no enthusiasm. Today I got as far as pulling the case out from under the bed and playing a couple of notes. I also have the urge to learn some Vulfpeck so that might be my next challenge as I am done with bands for a while.

It’s a big chunk of money but it’s a nice unusual spec so I partly understand it. I would be much more tempted if they had just gone that extra mile and made it a nice Birdseye or flame neck.

I may well be wrong but I thought a lot of the skylines Used to have the option to come fitted with an East J retro? I think those are on a standard plate so by default that would make the Lakland fairly compatible. I know John used to make one that fitted on the Darryl Jones plate so silly that it wouldn’t fit a ‘normal’ jazz.

I just heard tonight that my last remaining band (I was playing in 4 at one point) have just found another singer/bad player after I told them I will basically be unavailable while we have our second child. Frankly I am relieved that I will have a gap from the various types of pressure that I have from gigging rehearsing. My Aguilar rig will be going and I may switch bass as well but we shall see. For a while I will have no musical outlet unless I create one for myself, I may well do some courses online but who knows. Gigging is not as enjoyable as it used to be and I frankly get fed up playing the same old crap (mustang sally/sex on fire/hard to handle/insert overplayed song of your choice here). i may well get the urge further down the line to get back in a band if the right people and music comes up, but I’m good for now. 20 years of gigging has left me feeling like my musical life was like a musical equivalent of Phoenix nights, the office and Alan partridge.

I would suggest contacting them, they may want the string back to assess what has happened or ascertain whether they are real etc. I buy mine from strings direct as well and never had any issue in over 15 years.

Bass Direct used to stock Nordy (Nordstrand) basses. They had a stunning 5 string jazz, white with blocks and binding etc. that played like a dream, I was smitten. My wife was with me and I reluctantly put the bass back and picked up a gig bag and strings etc. We got in the car and started to drive off and my wife was quiet, I asked what was wrong and she said “I thought you were going to buy the bass”. I said I would love too but I was short on money and she replied “we could have worked something out”. Aaaarrrggghhh!!! By that point the moment had passed to go back, and I have never seen a bass like it come up for sale or had my wife encourage me to buy a very expensive bass since.

Looks like he is genuinely using it live too.

They sorted the ugly headstock and the ugly logo! Smart move, these actually look pretty appealing now.

I always preferred to be call a bass player, a bassist was always something I thought covered those that played upright and electric bass and was reserved for people who were far more competent than me on both 😄

I went many years playing solely five string basses. I found one I was comfortable with and then committed 100% and sold my four string basses so that I had to get used to it. A lot of people think it’s about the low notes and this was never really the case for me. Yes having a lower octave of some notes was handy like an Eb as I used to play a lot of soul stuff, but it was mostly about playing across the neck and not having to drop down to the first few frets to get an F,F#,G etc. The soul band I played with changed keys a lot and I found the 5 incredibly useful in that situation. A lot of the songs we played used open strings in the original key so it was only a tiny adjustment to change the key and still keep those nice low notes where they should be rather than go higher. Get one and play it exclusively for 3 months and see how you feel when the novelty of the new bass has worn off.

If you just want a traditional P bass with just a split coil that just has a 5th string then the options are a little restricted. i had a squier vintage modified precision v which was a great bass. It sounded like a P bass, fat and thuddy and the B string sounded the same. It lacked a little definition but it’s was a single pickup passive bass so I wasn’t expecting massive clarity from it like a Lakland or Dingwall. The American made precision v is another option, and there is Mike Lull who I believe will make a single pickup 5 string p. if your happy with a J pickup and active eq then you open up to loads more options. My first would be a Sire P5.

A friend of mine recently bought an early 1x15 combo, electric blue? Anyway it weighs a ton but sounds amazing and he paid £90 for it. It has a presence in the sound which I can’t really explain, maybe it’s the mythical ‘heft’ everyone talks about? Either way it’s a great amp for a silly amount of money and after years of moaning about Ashdown I genuinely don’t think they sound any better/worse than any of the high end amps I have used over the years. I also noticed a well respected producer using the same £90 combo as part of his studio recording set up with a mic on it which says a lot for the quality of the sound.

Yup I used to have issues with string life and would frequently need to ditch a new set after one hot long gig. I stopped using Rotos as they were by far the worst for lifespan. Slinky’s were good as they didn’t have windings and boiled up 2-3 times to give them a chunk of extra life when I was a poor student. the biggest revelation was Elixirs 15+ years ago. They feel superb and last me well over a year, and overall save me a lot compared to how many sets of slinky’s I would buy in a year. Notable mentions string wise; Dunlop superbrights last a surprising amount of time considering they are not marketed as a long life string and not coated. They lasted way longer than slinky’s but nowhere close to Elixirs. D’Addario NYXL strings were amazing. Again not marketed as a long life string but went on for about a year with no boiling etc, really blown away with them. I notice D’Addario have new long life strings coming in September and I can’t wait to try them. This is a bit naff and not the best look, but I started using sweatbands on hot gigs so that they caught a lot of what was hitting the bass. I managed to get some thin ones that didn’t look too bad and they worked a treat. long story short, gets some wrist bands and some D’Addarrios or Elixirs, job done.

Usually a couple of chromatic exercises and stretch each hand and fingers without a bass so that they feel loose. Nothing much more than that really but I’m only really playing soul/disco so it’s nothing that requires huge dexterity or speed.

I haven’t exhausted all coated strings but Elixirs always just felt right to me so I stopped searching. I tried and loved the NYXL’s and generally like D’Addario’s ethos, player points and recycling programme etc. so I will gladly give these a test to see if they can sway me on a more permanent basis.

Just spotted an advert for D’Addario’s new ‘X’ strings and I have to say I’m quite excited. I have a big issue with string life and struggled for years until I moved over to fully coated Elixir strings. Just over a year ago I got a set of D’Addario NYXL strings and was genuinely stunned at how well they lasted and kept their tone as they weren’t coated and they didn’t really advertise them as a ‘long life’ string. I will be really keen to get a set of these on a bass and see how well they do. If the NYXL’s are anything to go by, these could last me years 😄 and it’s always nice to explore alternatives to my default Elixirs. This is about all I can find at the moment: https://www.premierguitar.com/articles/29138-daddario-launches-xt-line-of-strings

#1 for me, but with a side order of 5. Say you respect the community and don’t want to be the guy that takes someone else’s gig. Say your always happy to dep, and say if anyone fancies a jam and wants to do something a little different musically on the side that could be fun. In my eyes there is no issue with gigging a couple of bands with different people.

I have had similar at soundcheck, everyone saying the booming feedback was the bass rig in the vocal mics. I turned down to the point I couldn’t hear my rig very well and the morons (also my band mates) trying to do the desk still said it was me. I kept saying calmly it was bad eq and too much gain on the desk and most likely the (quite deaf) guitarist vocal mic. The guitarist who was engineering asked us to fire up again and this time I muted the amp and turned down my bass and then stood with my hands in my pockets to make a point. When the shout of “the bass is too loud on stage” inevitably came I just waited for him to notice I wasn’t playing.....point well and truly made. In general I hate loud bands and don’t think there is any need for it, so I am normally the one wanting to drastically cut the bass volume and kick drum. Along with lead guitar tones that are often ridiculously louder than rhythm sounds, they are usually the two elements that can annoy punters and venues.

Man I feel so lazy after reading this thread. Our guitarist wanted to play it one practice and knew the song to the extent I could hum most of it, so I just took the roots notes and stuck in a few walking bits and little runs and away we go... I don’t think I have ever listened to the original all the way through 😬. I genuinely admire you dedication to get it spot on, I would do the same for other songs but this with load drums and distorted guitar I figured no one would ever be able to hear if I was playing it record correct or not.

Amazing, I have played the vast majority of those with various soul/disco bands too and they are all top tunes for getting people moving. I just noticed you said second set, how long do you guys play for?? I have known one of the bands I play with only need that many songs for 2x45 min sets 😄. Mind you we do tend to extend some classic short soul songs, another chorus here and there.

Try any soul/Motown stuff in Eb. I used my 5 string more for a big soul/disco band than any other genre, purely because the band moved the keys around so much. I could really use the B string then to give the songs some oomph in the lower keys.