Vibrating G String

[quote name='risingson' post='1014957' date='Nov 6 2010, 06:55 PM']Not really. There are classical players I know that have played for the sake of playing, their upbringing and level of education requires them to learn an instrument to a high standard. One violinist I knew was technically very proficient from a young age, but the soul and passion in her playing wasn't evident, and that can't be dressed up in any level of expertise. You need to love what you do, not be coerced into it by a pushy parent or teacher. A robotic and stiff performance will most certainly be apparent in a live situation.[/quote] Yes but he'd still be better at math. I'm not saying education will bring soul, but merely improvement over the level of skill without education. It's quite a different statement to say education will make someone soulful and that's far from my claims. I also think that if learning something makes you a worse musician the original assessment of skill was wrong.

[quote name='risingson' post='1014410' date='Nov 6 2010, 09:00 AM']It's like maths. I'm sh*t at it, but should I read up on it, practice it daily and perfect the way I read and write it, would I be good at it? I'd know about it and be able to bore you to death talking about it and I'd probably have a good understanding of it, but I'll never be a mathematician.[/quote] But you would be much better at math. You may not be the best but you can be much better. With enough study you could get to the point where the average person could not distinguish you from true genius. It would take someone with your new level of skill to make the distinction.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1014290' date='Nov 6 2010, 07:11 AM']Are we near the end of the 4 page who is better readers or none readers thread quota yet? [/quote] Readers can play without looking at their fingers. A useful skill even for punk rockers with 1 string basses.

[quote name='Truckstop' post='1014269' date='Nov 6 2010, 06:49 AM']I'd agree that a sound knowledge of theory could possibly impinge on your ability to groove and think abstractly. Also, I'm curious as to whether the Beatles got so big due to the image they created, or to the music? I always wonder that.[/quote] My opinion is that the Beatles music is praised in the most part because of the success of the image. The Beatles early rise to fame parallels the rise of Justin Beiber. Pop stars singing to little girls that made it really big and then phased into more complex stuff. Humans have a tendency to deify those that create what we like, so Rush fans tend toward the Geddy is the bestest ever kind of stuff etc... I don't think the Beatles are bad and I love some of the tunes but I think the genius labels lauded on them wouldn't exist without the haircuts and screaming teenagers. Since I do have a degree in music I'm of the school of thought that says knowledge is always an improvement. I can't think of a single example of a musician who's musical ability decreased with knowledge. There's lots who swear by the ignorance method, almost always in rock & pop, but when I listen to their music I just hear the ignorance. I never heard McCartney was anti theory before, that surprised me.

[quote name='silddx' post='1014186' date='Nov 6 2010, 05:45 AM']Yes but come on guys! This is pretty basic stuff. I know what things sound like and can sometimes put names to them, it's not rocket salad is it, for someone who's played that long. Can you tell the sound of a minor scale from a major? Most musicians can. BUT, if Wakeman said "Chris! Would an A[i]b[/i] Diminished scale work over a D Minor chord sequence modulating into E Major?" would he be able to answer? That's the sort of thing I mean by THEORY. Not, knowing the sound of a whole tone scale, most of us could probably sing that couldn't we?[/quote] Judging by this answer I would say he knows more theory than you. That may be wrong but you can see how wrong it is to say someone doesn't know theory because they don't take every opportunity to flaunt it like Wooten flaunts his flamenco slaps. He clearly showed facility with the topic at hand and might have been toning down his answers for the mouth breather that asked him what kind of pick he uses. I think you need to reassess your assumptions on Chris. Or at least phrase things as a question and not facts.

[quote name='lowdown' post='1013136' date='Nov 5 2010, 04:53 AM']That might explain why George Martin did a lot of the arrangements and string writing on some of the lavish productions. I think he was known as the fifth Beatle.[/quote] As were Billy Preston and Bernard Purdie, at least in some circles. So watching the linked video with Chris he plays something and then says that's an inversion. Right there he's in the top few % of all performing musicians for theory knowledge. He also says he couldn't just rip off a diminished scale but he knows the sound of one. How many rock greats even know there is a diminished scale or two? I think his humility is being mistaken for ignorance here, he clearly has a decent grasp of theory that is well above average.

[quote name='daz' post='1008816' date='Nov 1 2010, 11:15 AM']I mean really. What is the point.[/quote] What's the point in wearing Spiderman underwear? You get to pretend you're someone you're not. Not my thing but it doesn't really bother me. I put them in the same pigeon hole I put breast implants in. Fun to look at but I don't really want to get my hands on them. I don't fault any maker for trying to cash in on the trend. What really makes my head hurt is when people claim it makes a huge difference to the tone. Stay in school kids! I have noticed a correlation between relics and insecurity over your instrument choice. When forums have to make special rules that certain things can only be discussed in a positive light it's gone too far IMO. Since it is a fashion thing it will probably one day go the way of fluorescent spandex and skinny white ties.

If it's happening on 3 very different basses I think it may be a technique issue. If you play fingerstyle you may be playing the E harder than the others because there's no next string to stop it. Have you played on 5 strings and found the problem goes away? Another long shot could be your hearing has lost some high end and bass just seems louder.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='1006117' date='Oct 30 2010, 02:29 AM']not recently i guess!!![/quote] No it was a while ago but judging from my investments and the prices of guitars going down I think the stock market is still outperforming guitars as an investment. The average return for the S&P 500 since the 1950's is around 10.8%. That means the investment doubles around every 6 to 7 years or so. The average guitar collector has done much worse. Sure there's individual anecdotes of some doing much better but if you choose investments based on best case scenario then the lottery is your best bet Yet another thing to consider with guitars as investments is you have to put in a lot of time. If you assign an hourly value to your time spent on the hobby you might see how little your time is actually generating. When I look at the prices of my collection I see increases as simply reducing the cost of my hobby and not so much as income.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='1006067' date='Oct 30 2010, 01:16 AM']Also thought of.... JV squier-[/quote] Ooh, I'd like to change my no Fender advice. The Japanese squiers from the '80s have gone way up in price. Back in the '80's they were known as the secret Fender bargain. Now there's a few Squiers that are getting raved about for quality and tone. They're dirt cheap and plentiful enough that in 10 or 15 year lots of people will be saying they wish they never sold theirs. The people buying them now are often in there teens and twenties and will be moving into disposable income in the coming years while the current rage of pre cbs guitars may be coming to an end like their expensive predecessors, accordions and clarinets. And I bought my T40 for $100 in 1986. I modded it so much I literally only had the neck left in the end which will hurt the collector value. I once saw a post, on talkbass I think, where someone compared buying vintage fenders new versus putting that money in the S&P 500 in the stock market and the stocks did much better.

[quote name='Bassnut62' post='1006029' date='Oct 29 2010, 11:44 PM']Personally I would rather own a good bass than some stocks or shares. Shares can evaporate before your eyes, but like property, a bass will still be a bass whatever the investment world does.[/quote]It's funny how we give completely contradictory advice That says something about the value of free internet financial advice. [quote]I would say that any bass that you want to see appreciate well would have to be all original, in desirable colours and woods and be a top of the line model, ie. US built for American instruments, preferably with original case and tags if poss.[/quote] I feel you should buy the bottom of the line line as the greatest increase in Fender prices has been seen on the entry level models like teles and strats and not the top of the line jaguars and jazzmasters. It's the peoples instruments that inspire nostalgia.

If you want to invest in instruments and make money buy wholesale and sell retail. For the price of a good pre cbs bass you could buy 200 of your own design from China. Mark it up like a KSD or Skyline and see your profit right away. Call now operators are standing by. But buying your favorite toys and calling them investments is just kidding yourself. A good index fund like SPY or MDY will give you a better chance of a good return with out a miracle needing to be fulfilled for a profit to be realized. An instrument means you have to profit more than the cost of storage, probably shipping twice, insurance, maybe an appraisal. That could be 1/3 of the instrument price just to break even and you have to hold it a long long time. You can be seriously burned if down the road someone points out it's had a refret or someone changed the capacitor. Since every transaction includes the risk of losing everything in shipping you have to factor that in. But if you insist on instruments what kind of return in what timeframe do you hope to achieve? You have to rule out any new bass and only buy used. Don't buy anything that's already expensive which means no Fenders. Buying a Fender is buying high in the market hoping it goes super high. A bass that has increased in value in the 400% range over the last few years was the Peavey T40 beating any Fender. Another plus side to buying cheap basses is you're not going to be burned by fakes. Buying a consumer item that in general devalues and hoping to get one that defies the norm is a bet stacked against you.

Fender doesn't have easy ways to identify the exact year. Many are assembled from parts made over numerous years and serial numbers are not consecutive. The best you can do is generalize. Some of the books & experts disagree too. Much of the identifying info is simply made up. Whenever you hear someone tell you something exists in one year but no the next they are making that up as Fender didn't make changes to coincide with model years. Even things like logo changes from spaghetti logo to the block type can't be pinned to a date as the overlap can be years. That said there are things that define one era over another, 3 bolt necks, fingerboard woods, truss rod stripes etc... but you have to keep the lines vague and not pin things to an exact year. Wikipedia can probably give you a good general idea of the changes in each model.

[quote name='jakesbass' post='999119' date='Oct 24 2010, 10:26 AM']the bit I have highlighted is something I've been saying since the first MM solo album. (Bass solo that is 'the sun don't lie, he did a vocal soul album prior to that) These guys are great players but lack the compositional ability of the guys they are usually sidemen for[/quote] Marcus writes tons of stuff, the entire Miles Davis album Tutu for example.

[quote name='silddx' post='998825' date='Oct 24 2010, 05:27 AM']Mmm, sorry to point this out, but there is a certain loftiness, a bitter arrogance in your post. You are not considering that others may feel differently and not aspire to the goals you have for the bass.[/quote] [quote name='silddx' post='998845' date='Oct 24 2010, 05:41 AM']Oh man! That is absolutely unspeakable! Your mate bought that??[/quote]

[quote name='d_g' post='1000316' date='Oct 25 2010, 11:02 AM']I have flats on it at the moment.[/quote] Unless you plan on keeping flats change those before anything else. I would suggest a nice nickel roundwound, unless you play very hard it will be a long time before they damage your fretboard. Once those are changed and set up right your rattles may be gone and you might like the tone. For me the bridge and pickups on the MIM are quite useable.

How much was it? I'm very fond of the old ESP's, that pickguard not so much I wouldn't be surprised if that was added later. From the ones I've played I'd go along with The Burpster's guess of matching a quality Fender or better.

Here's a page full of Kleins, and also a ripoff clone made by someone who's reputation is about as low as it gets. But the pictures are pretty. [url="http://www.edroman.com/guitars/klein.htm"]http://www.edroman.com/guitars/klein.htm[/url]

My friend and I both have LMII's. He has a Schroeder 1212 and I have a 1x12 with the angled speaker and no tweeter. I think the LMII goes well with the Schroeder's but can be a bit too honky needing some more EQ than I'm used to sometimes. Like MythSte I found the Schroeder sounds great with a GK 1001RBII, really a magical combo and very loud. My favorite cab for the LMII is an Aguilar 1x12 which is my main rig for one cab, when I use two cabs I add the Schroeder. The LMII weighs a 1/3 of what the GK does and that's a big selling point for me, even more than the GK sounding a bit better.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='996654' date='Oct 22 2010, 12:34 AM']Snake oil?[/quote] Perhaps Oh all right, totally! A silly solution to a problem that doesn't exist. Reminds me of a Klein too. It's all been done before.

Like a pull tab on a can of soda the functionality is brilliant. And on some of those super thin birdseye necks very important.

There are a lot of great 5 string jazzes from Japan. Moon, ESP, Fernandes and others made great stuff. Lots were made in the 1990's. I have a Fernandes LEB J5 that plays and sounds like a boutique job but I paid just $250 used. I think the tight B string thing is a bit misguided but that's for another thread If you want more tension, use a thicker string. I use a 120 on this bass and play with a light touch and it sounds massive. This one has 17.5 mm string spacing at the bridge and a smoothly rounded slim neck.

Hi, I wasn't referring to the fret size but the fret work. Crowning a fret is the same process no matter the fret size. Ironically one of the biggest selling points for narrow fret wire is it's intonation, if you don't crown the frets and only file them flat you lose that and they all play sharp.