endorka

I'll be playing with Alan Reed, former singer of progressive rock band Pallas, at the Celebr8 festival in Kingston, London. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRUVHp_vXhk[/media] Loads of other great bands and plenty of complex bass riffage - I should know, I've spent the best part of a week learning it! Info and tickets from here [url="http://www.celebr8prog.com/"]http://www.celebr8prog.com[/url] Jennifer

I would have thought not - there is too much overlap of frequencies between strings to be sufficiently selective. There are only 5 notes on the A string that are not on the D string, for example. One course of action in those circumstances would be compression to even out the volume across strings. Another would be to find a combination of strings that give you a more even volume across the board. Jennifer

[quote name='Hector' timestamp='1365810181' post='2044957'] 4. Some have had success using a tuner during practising to fine-tune intonation. If it works for you, go for it. The logic is sound. [/quote] I did this when I started on double bass, and it works well as a method of calibrating your ear, to help you ensure that what you think you are playing is actually what you should be playing. But over time I became too dependant on having the visual reference of the tuner. In my opinion, you must sooner or later abandon visual references such as the tuner and gazing at the fingerboard if you are to have a productive, rewarding and ultimately more enjoyable experience playing double bass. Far more fun & to the betterment of the music to be interacting with your fellow musicians than gazing at a tuner or your hand all through a gig! Jennifer

I'd echo the advice to see someone about it - in the absence of proper diagnosis & treatment you may end up barking up the wrong tree, taking longer for it to heal, or even make things worse. In my experience GPs tend to know less about these things than sports physios. For what it's worth, some time ago I managed to get tennis elbow from doing bicep curls with a straight bar. It took a couple of months to heal. The problem was not with the weight as such, but the unnatural angles of the wrists & forearm caused by the straight bar. But that was tendonitis rather than a strain, so it may be different to your experience. Jennifer

I'm not concerned about the youtube videos, as has been pointed out people post these for various motivations. The slap one was excellent though IMHO, nice relaxed style. Three comments from my own experiences; 1) Most musicians' concept of busy is too busy for a pop or rock recording. I've fallen foul of this myself in the past, and still do sometimes. It's in our nature; even with great experience, you can't always hear the overview of the music as well as you think, and what works in your musical mind doesn't always work well with everything else. 2) If you are going to have a busy part accepted onto a recording, you have to [b]really[/b] nail the time and feel. It must bring immediate joy to those who hear it. 3) Bass is for the most part an accompaniment instrument. That doesn't mean you can't create special parts; it means that coming up with special parts that fulfil this requirement is particularly challenging. Jennifer

This talk of overdosing on Vitamin A and D got me worried as I usually take three cod liver oil capsules a day. Checking out the figures though, it seems ok - from wikipedia on vitamin D; [indent=1]"In healthy adults, sustained intake of more than 1250 micrograms/day (50,000 IU) can produce overt toxicity after several months"[/indent] [indent=1]"Published cases of toxicity involving hypercalcemia in which the vitamin D dose and the 25-hydroxy-vitamin D levels are known all involve an intake of ≥40,000 IU (1000 μg) per day"[/indent] Each cod liver oil capsule contains 5 micrograms, and the multivitamin contains 2.5 micrograms, giving a total of 17.5 micrograms per day in addition to diet. This is well within these limits, but apparently there are some medical conditions that make one more sensitive to the effects. Check it out if in doubt; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D#Toxicity Vitamin A toxicity starts at around 25,000 IU per day. Each cod liver oil capsule contains 2,664 IU, as does the multivitamin, for a total of just over 10,000 IU per day. Looks like this one is also safe, unless you get a load of it from food as well. Vitamin A is used to promote good health in bones, teeth, skin and soft tissue such as muscle, tendons etc. so it sounds like a useful thing in the context of this discussion. Phew! :-) Jennifer [quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1354759148' post='1890179'] Yup, i was taking haliborange, which is A,C and D, but then i got the cod liver oil tablets which have A and D in them anyway, so stopped taking the haliborange. Definitely don't take berroca, that stuff has 10 times more of some vitamins that you should have in a day! vitamins are only good up to a point! [/quote]

I'd like to second the advice to take good amounts of fish oil & garlic, I also take glucosamine sulphate and a multivitamin daily. These are good for a multitude of things as well as joint health. Also the advice about the pain perhaps being muscular is worth looking into. I've been into strength training and athletics for several years now, and have found trigger point therapy and associated treatments such as sports massage, deep tissue massage, foam rolling etc. very useful for keeping me moving. Joint pain can often be referred from the associated muscle - the muscles for the fingers are in the forearm, and relieving the tension in the muscle with deep massage may therefore relieve the joint pain. It's well worth looking into IMHO. Jennifer

Thanks Daf, I'll try that out. Jennifer

[quote name='owen' timestamp='1351871212' post='1856458'] NS strings=eub tone. Proper DB strings = closer to DB tone. Raise action = even closer to DB tone [/quote] Owen speaks the truth. I have Innovation Silver Slaps on my WAV 4. The standard set don't fit, you need to order a special set, but I they have the required lengths now. Jennifer

[quote name='steve' timestamp='1335697414' post='1634629'] really like this. did the silver slaps approximate the tone Jen? [/quote] Not completely, but they are in the ballpark. The Silver Slaps are not as growly / rattly as this, but with a lower action on my bass and some careful EQ they would be closer to it. By the way, I'm still loving the Silver Slaps. I've just done another Horse tour with them and I like them even more. I had the opportunity to hear someone else play my EUB fitted with them at a soundcheck, and they sounded marvellous. Several other bass players in the audience commented on the quality of the sound. Highly recommended. Jennifer

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1348152399' post='1810084'] Jennifer have you gone all Blue Peter with rigging the thing up semi-permanently or do you just tack the mic on to your bass when you've got recording to do? [/quote] A bit of both. Attaching & detaching the pickup is no bother, and I have the sweet spot marked out with masking tape so I can find it immediately. The long cable is a bit more fiddly, so I have a bunch of velcro cable ties attached to the tailpiece I use to route it down there without actually touching the tailpiece and going "microphonic". It only takes a couple of minutes to attach or detach; if I know I won't be using it for a few weeks I'll remove it, if I know I will be using it for a few weeks it stays on. Jennifer

Ultimately it's about getting a good sound and style, so the tone has to be there, but if the string doesn't play well for you, you may not be able to bring out the good tone and/or play with good timing, dynamics etc. For example, I swear by medium/heavy Rotosound Swings with a medium to high action on the bass, love the playability and sound - especially when new - and play them with quite a bit of force. No problems at all, and my fingers are barely calloused. But I think it's an individual thing, that people have different kinds of skin that reacts to strings in different ways, different playing styles, and therefore different strings suit different people. Jennifer

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1354025816' post='1880994'] A good read, thanks Jennifer! I get neck pain in exactly the same place when I wear my bass too high, it takes days to recover from a 2 hour show! [/quote] Glad to be of help :-) Is it only when you have the bass too high that you get the neck pain? Jennifer

A few years ago I was suffering from substantial neck & shoulder pain from playing bass guitar and double bass. Through research, experimentation and with a good amount of help from some members of Basschat I've been able to fix these problems. Since this is something many bass players experience, I wrote a blog post about it, maybe it will be of help to some others? You can find the post here: http://whatisbest.info/?p=189 Jennifer

I prefer to memorise all the songs, simply because I can play them better that way, and I'll enjoy the experience more. Relieved from the need to keep your head stuck in written music, you can concentrate fully on making music and engaging with the other musicians and audience. No matter how good a reader you are, it still occupies some of your mind to do so... and if it doesn't, you've probably memorised most of it anyway, so you might as well throw the dots away. Soloists in classical music rarely read music during performance, which I think tells us something. But back to the question, broadly speaking I have three levels of this; 1) Completely memorised set. My favourite, but not always possible due to time constraints. 2) Partially memorised set. Most of the set memorised, but reading for a few tricky and/or unfamiliar tunes. A good compromise. 3) Sight reading if necessary, e.g. last minute depping where charts are available, musical theatre, orchestra, big band. If you do several gigs/rehearsals with the same group it is possible to move "upwards" through these as your memory of the songs improves, or "backwards" e.g. if you haven't played with them for some time. It can be very easy to become dependent on written music even when you no longer need it though, and the trick is to have the gumption to leave it behind when ready to do so. On the other hand, if my goal is complete memorising of a set, these days I never go through the phase of writing out cheat sheets, chord charts, or dots, as they just slow the process down. I just make a playlist of songs in the correct order for the set, and play through them all by ear until I have them completely nailed. Do this for an hour or two every day until you have them completely drilled into your head, and it's an amazing experience playing them on a gig! It's obvious when you think about it; this is the way most of us learned when we were obsessed teenagers, and that's the reason you can pick up the bass and play a song you learned back then without thinking, 20 odd years later. If you don't learn the songs with that level of dedication, you won't remember them for as long. Jennifer

[quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1349967169' post='1832863'] .... This was all about 5 or 6 years ago, but I am still a happy customer! I use it as my main gigging bass and love it. [/quote] I'm glad it worked out well for you, Andy sounds like a good sort. The Squier 5 is now my main bass too, I love the huge chunky neck and sound. I like the way you can get a decent jazz or precision tone from it. [quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1349967169' post='1832863'] I didn't put up a build/customise thread as I read so many on here done by some very clever and talented people, and then I look at some of the shoddy DIY I've tried in my house over the years. It is not good! I'm trying to take my time with this one - about 4 years and counting! [/quote] I'd be interested to read about it. From my perspective, I'm not only interested in the perfect builds and customs, but the more earthy experiments as well. As I mentioned, I would have been quite happy with a dodgy cosmetic appearance on my Squier as long as it sounded and played well. That it turned out looking ok is a bonus. Jennifer

Thank you Bert, you are correct, it is SJB-3 pickups that I used. I've corrected the blog now :-) Jennifer

[quote name='BassTractor' timestamp='1349957442' post='1832664'] Thanks for the link! Twas a nice read, and I loved the sound of the bass. [/quote] Thanks Bert, glad you enjoyed it. It's a bass sound I've been after for a long time. Jennifer

[quote name='Huge Hands' timestamp='1349953414' post='1832584'] Glad you got it sorted, welcome to the Squier P5 club! [/quote] Thank you! Glad you are happy with the sound from your Wizard pickups. Are these custom made? Good luck with the EMGs, I getting the pickup cavities enlarged was the only real area that caused me pause for thought. I wasn't concerned about the result, I would have been happy with some cosmetic blemishes, but was concerned that the cost of doing this would make the project uneconomic. In the end the shop did a really good looking job for a good price. Hopefully we'll be able to read about your project when you get it done :-) Jennifer

Hi folks, I've written a blog about my adventures fitting Seymour Duncan SPB-3 Quarter Pounder pickups to a Squier Precision 5 String, various other modifications, and an example of the sound it makes. I'm really pleased with the outcome, read all about it here :-) [url="http://whatisbest.info/?p=5"]http://whatisbest.info/?p=5[/url] Jennifer

Thanks 4to5to6, but I was really looking for books outside of jazz. I already have the Mark Levine book, but don't think it would be a good choice for those who not interested in jazz. Jennifer

Thanks chaps, I'll have a look at these. Jennifer

Hi Folks, I find that many students who wish to learn more about music theory have an interest in jazz, so it makes sense for them to study music theory in this context. However, I've encountered a few who come from a rock or pop background, and I suspect the jazz theory method books will not offer sufficient reference points for study and to maintain interest / motivation. Does anyone have any recommendations for more general music theory study methods appropriate for bass guitar? Jennifer

I've been using the Ehrlund pickup & preamp for quite some time now. I ordered mine direct from the maker since that was the only option at the time, but going to Daf Direct sounds far more convenient, not to mention cheaper! My original motivation was for a superior live arco sound, and it certainly achieved that. I've also used it several times for studio work, usually in conjunction with a microphone. Recording engineers have been universally impressed with the sound quality, as their expectations of pickups are inevitably a nasal piezo sound. As these recordings become available I'll try to post links to them. Jennifer

I think this album is a triumph. At the time of writing, highlights are the hook in "Caravan" ("I can't stop thinking big, I can't stop thinking BI-IG!") and the cross rhythm on the drums during the guitar solo on "Clockwork Angels". Trying to resist buying a ticket for the next tour, but I think this is a battle I'm fated to lose. A design I'm doomed to choose. ...I'm even writing posts in the style of Rush lyrics now :-) Jennifer