Paul_C

[quote name='jono b' post='166445' date='Mar 30 2008, 06:46 PM']I've decided I'd quite like an acoustic bass, mainly for pissing about in the house but also for possibly gigging. My band played an acoustic gig last year and hope to do it again, but I used my Jazz thru an Ampeg, just turned down a bit and with no effects. There was a Tanglewood acoustic in my local music shop that was pretty nice, it was about £250, but I don't know what the model was. Does anyone have one or know of one they would recommend for about £200? My local shop's only a wee one so everything gets sold at full rrp, so I assume I could get it for cheaper.[/quote] I've got a Washburn AB10 I'm selling for £200 ..

I've got a Washburn AB10 I'm selling for £200 ..

It's the only one I've got, apart from a Washburn AB10 which is up for sale

Rotosound 30-90s for me

[quote name='wwcringe' post='162489' date='Mar 24 2008, 02:24 AM']Hi all I found the bassist Bill Clements on youtube after following a link from a different thread... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3h7fH592u8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3h7fH592u8[/url] Firstly, nice playing huh? I really like the tone on this clip, presumably partly Bill and partly the innovative instrument he's using (so a thumbs up to him, and the luthoer, who I found here: www.fretgroove.com). But, my question isn't really related (!) ... can someone tell me about the muting he's using on the neck... ? I've seen plenty of other players that use this too (eg Victor Wooten). It seems particularly common with bassists who slap, and in fact I think I've seen footage where Victor moves the damping from the bottom of the neck a bit further up for slapping/soloing... I presume it helps mute the strings on fast playing where it wouldn't be possible to mute everything with fingers/hand? However, on the clip of Bill there seems to be plenty of sustain (his vibrato helps of course) and he has what looks like quite a lot of material muting the strings (over the first fret?) even though he isn't playing a very percussive style... I'd like to experiment with this, what should I use to do it?? And secondly, I don't slap that much (one of many things I need to learn properly) so is this irrelevant, or is it useful anyway?! Any more thoughts or advice on this appreciated, I've wondered about it for a while! Aplogies if this is a much debated topic, I couldn't find other threads on it but wasn't really sure what to search for. Many thanks, Tom[/quote] it's usually a hair scrunchy, available wherever ladies buy such things

[quote name='Rich44' post='161585' date='Mar 21 2008, 09:12 PM']Remember me? A while ago I mentioned the problem I was having with my bass making a hideous clanging noise when fretting. Well its still not fixed. I have barely picked up my guitar recently because I know that no matter how hard I try, its going to sound crap anyway. Well this is a last ditch attempt, either I get it fixed or Im selling it and giving up on bass (which upsets me but its the last straw now). Ive tried every possible thing I could think of but still it persists. The only thing remaining which I can think of is that its the frets themselves (like faulty frets), which I would have to have removed/sanded down? I really don't know and it must be expensive right? Will converting it to a fretless solve the problem? And bear in mind im still an absolute beginner despite having the guitar 6 months, could I handle learning from scratch on a fretless, or do you have to be good first? Please help or the bass gets it! [/quote] two suggestions: one) take the bass to a decent luthier to look at two) take yourself to a decent teacher to look at your technique

[quote name='jazzbassmm' post='160763' date='Mar 20 2008, 12:51 PM']Hi to everyone, please I need an help asap if is possible! I have bought 3 days ago a Yamaha rbx200f from a member on this forum and he does not told me that maybe the Truss-road head on the bass was broken. The bass was cheap but I did't knew anything from the ex-owner about this problem, that's for me is not correct at all, Anyway now is too late but I want the same to be sure that the bass is broken and in case try to find another neck which i guess will be an hard thing to do.... This is the bass I have bought and in the red circle there is the part that i think is broken. [url="http://www.schizzechea.it/MM/rbx200fhelp.jpg"]http://www.schizzechea.it/MM/rbx200fhelp.jpg[/url] If somebody has the same bass guitar could be so gentle to make a picture of the part I am interested so i will be able to know 100% if my bass is broken or not? Thank you so much for the help! [/quote] why do you think it's broken ?

[quote name='Astronomer' post='160112' date='Mar 19 2008, 09:51 AM']Is there a "proper" way to mute the strings that aren't being played? I play fretted 4 and 5-strings, and there's always just that little bit of background ringing. It's only slightly - but noticably - worse on the 5. Thanks for any advice! [/quote] If your right-hand technique allows you to place your thumb onto the string below the one being plucked, you can angle your hand such that your thumb mutes the string below it, and your left hand mutes the strings above.

You'll be able to hear some in Northampton soon, I'm building an Omni 10 plus a couple of Omni 10.5s as the start of a new part of the arrowheadguitars business - so custom cab building will be available before the year's out. Paul.

Just had a quick noodle with it, off to rehearsals in a minute so I'll try it there properly. As always with these things, there are great sounds and wacky sounds, but on the whole it looks like it'll do all I wanted from it and a bit more besides

I had a Lexicon MPX-G2 which cost me a lot of money, and I only used about three effects, often only the wah. Before the Lexicon I had a Morley Dual Bass Wah, which I liked, and I recently tried an EBS wah,which was nice. I reckon the POD has just enough extra on it to make it a better bet than just getting another wah, though I doubt I'll use all of the few effects it has !

yes, it's the one that looks like a POD with a rocker pedal on the side I've ordered one now, so I'll let you know what I make of it when it arrives.

Anyone tried one ? I reckon it'll do all that I need from a multi-fx, but it'd be nice to know what folks think.

[url="http://www.dolmetsch.com/theoryintro.htm"]THIS[/url] is quite a useful resource for theory too.

My Accugroove had a 12", a 6" and a couple of tweeters in it, so it does happen. I shall have to decide to either make two 12s, or an OmniTop 2x12, or two 15s/OmniTop 2x15 by the looks of things. The Omni12 Tallboy would have been nice, but it'd never fit in the car

[quote name='Bill Fitzmaurice' post='157012' date='Mar 13 2008, 08:58 PM']What's more to the point is whether their responses will complement or detract from each other. The majority of the time the latter is the case. One of the first things you learn in How to Design Loudspeakers 101 is never to mix different drivers or cabs covering the same bandwidth. Yes, I know, that's how it's always been done with bass cabs, but that doesn't make it any less wrong. My advise: don't do that.[/quote] Well the cabs in question are your OmniTop designs, with Eminence Deltalite IIs in. I was hoping to make life easy for myself by having the option to use the 1x15 on its own in rehearsals or at smaller gigs, and both for gigs with drummers. I have just signed up to your forum to ask there, but you're welcome to harangue me here instead To help (hopefully) clarify my reasons, I'll copy a reply to another question elsewhere: [quote]The amp - a Markbass LMKII, is 500W into 4ohms, 300W into 8ohms. The speakers I plan to use, Eminence Deltalites, are 12" 8ohm 250W and 15" 8ohm 300W. I don't like to use a cab of less wattage than the amp, so I wouldn't want to use the 12" on its own if only using one cab, but the 15" would be fine. Two 12s together would be ok, but then I'd have to use both all the time. Two 1x15s is bigger than I'd like, I'm trying to keep things as compact as possible. The OmniTops are simple to build (simpler than the Omni10s for sure). Two cabs rather than one are easier to carry and easier to load if space is limited.[/quote] Obviously if my plan is a foolish one, it'd be easier to know now, before I start spending money

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='156960' date='Mar 13 2008, 07:47 PM']There is no answer to that - it depends on the sensitivity and frequency response of each cab and also which cab gets stacked on top nearer your ears.[/quote] I did wonder if the stacking was part of the issue, the EBS being the one on top. I shall suck it and see then ! The speakers I plan to use are almost identical in sensitivity - 99.9 and 99.2 and frequency range claimed is identical - 54Hz-3.7kHz

If you have (as I'm planning at the moment) two 8 ohm cabs, one a 1x12 250w, the other a 1x15 300w and you're running them from a single amp which is 500w @ 4ohms, will one cab dominate the other, or are they reasonably closely matched ? I remember using a 300w EBS cab with a 400w Accugroove into the same amp, and it sounded like the EBS cab was the more obvious of the two, though that might just have been the characteristics if the two cabs, rather than their relative wattage capacity.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='156633' date='Mar 13 2008, 12:00 PM']Obviously knowing theory doesn't stop you from experimenting with different notes and scales which aren't even described as such by theory. However, to do that you wouldn't need to know any theory either. A person who knows theory MIGHT stick to what they know and have learned as the correct way of doing things and/or the way things have always been done. A person who knows no theory would not be able to stick to standard scales and the like, because they wouldn't know what they are. I'm not saying people shouldn't learn and use music theory. I'm speculating on it's effects upon creativity and development as a musician as a whole.[/quote] You'd be struggling to come up with a scale that hasn't already got a name, TBH. A person who knows no theory might find a few things that work and stick to them, so restricting themselves even more than if they knew a little more. Music theory isn't there to have an effect on creativity, it's a language to describe what it is you've done. Knowing certain general rules doesn't stop you from breaking them - for example, a common song structure might be intro/verse/chorus/verse/chorus/middle eight/verse/chorus/chorus - you don't have to write every song like that, you can do whatever you like. Knowing that songs tend to be written in a single key doesn't mean you have to do that every time, there are ways of changing keys by using a chord that is common to both to jump from one to another, for example, which you can find quicker with a bit of music theory knowledge, or by trying every chord until you chance upon one that works. You might now say that music theory might mean that you find a chord that works and stop looking, so missing out on a better chord, but that's also true of trying random chords, especially if you've tried 30 chords already. Knowing some music theory basics is better, IMHO, than knowing nothing, but if what you do works for you, then so be it - if you never learn it, you'll never know - but having knowledge will only stifle creativity if you choose to let it.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='156555' date='Mar 13 2008, 10:33 AM']If there are melodies that use the movements you've been practising then IMHO you should have been practising those melodies in the first place.[/quote] So you're suggesting playing EVERY melody in every position ? Sounds like a late night to me ..

[quote name='cheddatom' post='156545' date='Mar 13 2008, 10:20 AM']Yeh but wouldn't he do just as well practising his quick melodic lines? What's the point in non-musical practice when you can do musical practice?[/quote] Look ! a kitten ! *runs away*

[quote name='dlloyd' post='156540' date='Mar 13 2008, 10:13 AM']This is where the confusion crept in. The point of technical practice is to develop your motor skills, not to develop musicality. It is physical rather than academic. To go back to the military training analogy, soldiers aren't trained on marching grounds so they look good on Trooping the Colour... they're not trained on assault courses so that they're good at running through tyres and swinging on ropes. They do that stuff because it gives them the basic physical skills and mental attitudes that will help them deal with new situations that occur in real combat situations. The point of playing something like the Hanon exercises is that they give you all the permutations of finger movement that you're likely to encounter in a real situation. If you can play them fluently, you're going to have less problems playing difficult, real life musical passages fluently.[/quote] Exactly. I mentioned in another thread the Billy Sheehan clinic at the Bass Institute, where he showed us a few exercises he does regularly, pointing out that they're not for use on stage, as they don't sound particularly musical, but they are good for building up muscle memory to use to play, in his case, quick, melodic lines.

[quote name='cheddatom' post='155913' date='Mar 12 2008, 12:32 PM']I'm not saying that learning theory is pointless at all. There are enough people here arguing how good it is to convince me of it's merits. The kind of learning method i'm talking about will not leave you aimlessly noodling and pretty much hoping to stumble accross anything. Sitting down and playing by ear over and over again will also develop a knowledge of the instrument comparable to that achievable using music theory.[/quote] You might be developing a knowledge that's comparable, but what you're essentially doing is creating your own music theory, which you internalise such that you can access it without concious effort. So you're arriving at the same point but with a set of skills which are harder to share than if you'd learned the established way of describing things. Just because you know that a particular set of notes works with a particular chord doesn't mean you can't experiment with playing other notes, but you are more aware of where you can jump to next if it sounds startlingly bad

another oddity for you.. a diminished 7th chord is written R b3 b5 bb7 (which is also a 6th)

[quote name='thedontcarebear' post='155769' date='Mar 12 2008, 09:29 AM']I am a noob when it comes to any theory, but why isn't the scale F# G# A# B C# D# F F#? Everywhere says its E# instead of F, I didn't think E# was in the chromatic scale? Haha.[/quote] scales are usually written out so that you have A B C D E F G every time, with marks to show any deviation from that, because the root F# is using the F, the E takes up the slack by being described as E#