Krysbass

[quote name='bass_in_ya_face' post='60390' date='Sep 14 2007, 01:24 PM']I made a concious descision to play the bass, I really don't have any interest in lead guitar and I'm not an extrovert so the bass suits me fine. Plus the fact it looks way cooler also. I've only been learning just under a year but I absoloutely love it...sadly the missues is getting a bit hacked off with the amount of time I play it! I've already acquired two fretted and a fretless and promised there will be no more...but I still have a list of 'dream basses' i'd like if I won the lottery. The aria pro sb1000 (just like the avatar) for openers, a proper fender p-bass and MM Stingray (only got a copy at the mo).[/quote] +1 to that. I also went for bass from the start - love the look, love the sound, love being able to play it hard without worrying about breaking strings. EDIT: I also have serious GAS attacks about that Aria SB1000. Just wish I'd bought one back in the 80's when the price didn't seem so out of reach.

Have a photo on my desk at work of one of my kids having a go at my bass. A few months ago, someone looked at it and asked me if it was a banjo...? Says it all really about the public's perception of the bass and probably musical instruments in general. But add to that the very widespread scenario where so many bassists, including some of the very best ones, came to the instrument from a previous foray with guitar and it contributes to the myth that bass is some sort of cop-out for people who couldn't hack it on guitar (totally wrong of course.) In the face of such adversity, there's only one thing to be done. Let your fingers do the talking.

Just the 2 - a fretted and a fretless. If I got any more basses, it would most probably be to replace one of the one's I've got. I like to keep my gear to a bare minimum - less to look after, but I daresay this attitude would change if I suddenly had a lot of spare cash lying around!

Ditto to "it's never too late". I'm in my 40's, played for my last band about 20 years ago and then nothing since. In 3 weeks' time I'm auditioning for a similarly aged covers band, playing pop and light rock sort of stuff from the 70's onwards. I also have a wife, 2 kids (6 and 11) and a demanding job based 30 miles from home - but I've just got to do this otherwise I'll go to my grave saying "if only....." Since I started playing again a couple of years ago after a hiatus of several years, I've taken it a lot more seriously - practicing more, learning scales etc instead of just noodling and I'm a much better player than I used to be. I've now got the urge to put this to the test. In terms of fitting it round all the other commitments, the band only plays a maximum of 2 gigs a month and when rehearsing it'll only be 1 night a week, so 1 night out a week isn't a lot to ask. The band have asked me to work on 4 tracks - "Sweet Home Alabama" Lynyrd Skynyd (quite challenging if played properly) "Stuck in the middle with You" Stealers Wheel (Again, I'll have to work to play this properly) "When You're Gone" Bryan Adams (No problems envisaged here) "Soak Up the Sun" Sheryl Crow (No probs. here either) The first 2 tracks are ones that whilst I've obviously heard them many times before, I've never previously felt the need to learn them. So this is one example of how being in a band could push you to new levels and thereby progress your playing.

This suggestion is maybe a bit "outside the box", but I've just bought a Boss Micro BR and aside from its main application as a miniature multitrack digital recorder, I'm finding it great as a headphone amp for quiet practice. Better still, it has a built in tuner and effects too, though I just use the clean sound. It handles MP3 files too and you can either create these by USB transfer from your PC or by hooking the Micro BR's line input up to a Hi-fi system - which means you can even convert tracks from vinyl LP's or cassettes to MP3 files.

[quote name='ARGH' post='53507' date='Aug 31 2007, 05:28 PM']NEVER PLAYED GUITAR NEVER WANTED A GUITAR NEVER FELT LOVE FOR GUITAR Bassist from getgo.......with the 9[/quote] +1 My cousin used to play guitar and I was put off straight away because he always seemed to be breaking strings - way too much hassle! When I got into music in a big way, I found I was always following the basslines more than anything else, so the bass was my natural choice. I used to play saxophone, then clarinet at school, but as I never owned either of these instruments, these don't really count. Learned to read music too, but forgotten it now - just play by ear.

Saw Simple Minds at Liverpool last year. This is a band that many people would say are "no longer relevant", but they were on stage for 2 full hours and the energy and the hits the audience wanted to hear just kept on coming. It was probably the shortest 2 hours of my life and maybe the best value for money gig I've ever been to. (Then again, there was seeing Level 42 for the first time for just £3.50....) This is how it should be and it would seriously bug me to pay today's extortionate ticket prices only to be faced with a band that basically didn't seem to care.

I can recommend Sound Control's Salford site. I've heard somewhere that it's got the biggest wall of guitars in Europe and the bass section isn't bad - there were a lot of Warwicks and Fenders the last time I was in.

[quote name='guitarnbass' post='46703' date='Aug 17 2007, 02:21 AM']All depends on the situation. If things are tight, and you're desperate for a new bass or bit of gear, but think it'll piss your wife off, can't you sit down and talk about it? Give her an insight into your hobby so that she's more understanding when it comes to spending money on it. If there's a good reason you need a piece of equipment, and you have the money, there's no reason why your wife shouldn't be down with it, but on the other hand, if you just want a nice shiny new bass for no other reason than that you want one, but still need to redo the bathroom/kitchen, then maybe you should sort that out first. When's the last time you bought your wife something nice, took her out, or went on holiday? We all have things outside of work and family life that we like to pursue, and it's important that we pursue them things, but at the same time, your wife, and kids if you have any, are far more important than your hobby(s), and should always come first.[/quote] +1 to this. Was about to put in my own posting, then realised this says it just fine.

[quote name='Machines' post='46042' date='Aug 15 2007, 08:22 PM']Not possible - the sorting offices have been empty.[/quote] Good point. In fact, I apologise for being so miserable - I should be grateful it's arrived at all!

[quote name='Alun' post='45965' date='Aug 15 2007, 06:11 PM']Anyone else's look like they slipped with the guillotine? The top centimetre or so of most of it is flapping about independently. Haven't had a chance to read it yet but will do soon. Alun[/quote] Mine arrived looking like it's been kicked around a sorting-office floor and possibly reversed over by an artic. The spine's been broken in about 5 places and I'm not impressed. Having said that, not being a fan of Rickys or anything resembling a Fender or Musicman, I guess there's not much I'll enjoy reading anyway in this issue. Roll on October.

The strange thing about BGM is that very few newsagents I've come across seem to stock it. Stranger still is that I didn't even know BGM existed until I spotted just one copy on a newsagent's shelf when visiting the town I grew up in; Portstewart, a small seaside town on the north coast of Northern Ireland. There can't be that many bassists in Portstewart surely? I took out a subscription soon after.

I was looking for a better strap for my slightly heavy Westone Thunder III after persevering with an unpadded, unbranded 3" soft leather strap for a couple of decades. I was gobsmacked by the over-the-top prices of some brands (call me a cheapskate, but I just couldn't justify £30+ for a guitar strap, to myself or to anyone else!) A couple of weeks ago I spotted a strap in my local music store for just £15. British made by Leathergraft of Liverpool - 4" wide, padded and even has suede on one side. It looks well made and feels like my bass has managed to lose a few pounds somehow! The moral of the tale is that a decent strap can be fairly important, but it doesn't have to be expensive - It looks like Leathergraft straps are available from a few online music stores.

[quote name='G-bitch' post='42763' date='Aug 8 2007, 09:41 AM']Well, thanks for keeping the thread alive! I've been put off the line 6 from reviews and comments. The roland is a bit big for my liking but I could give the 30w model a blast, not sure I'm all that keen on modelling shenanigans though. Here's one last thing that I didn't mention, and it's totally fickle - Some of these amps are so friggin' ugly! You know the saying "If it don't look dope, I don't wanna rock it"[/quote] I wouldn't recommend being swayed one way or the other by the reviews on the Line 6 Lowdown Studio 110. People seem to be more or less equally split on whether it's a good/bad amp. It's definitely well worth checking one out for yourself and make up your own mind, regardless of the reviews. It's well put together and IMHO it's one of the tidiest looking amps I've seen in a long time.

[quote name='Hamster' post='39628' date='Jul 31 2007, 05:29 PM']I've seen/heard a lot worse than this [url="http://www.soundcontrol.co.uk/mod_1/pages/mod_1.12/pages/mod_1.12.1/pages/mod_1.12.1.1/pages/index.php?sku=1.1.2.3.1-14-16640"]Lowdown 110[/url] Hamster[/quote] I've owned a Line 6 Studio 110 for about 6 months now - still happy with it, although it does have a noisy headphone output. As well as having all the things a good practice amp should have, it goes quite loud too, or you can hook it up to a pa if its 75 watts isn't enough. I really like the modelled tones it offers, using it with both fretted and fretless basses, but these aren't to everyone's taste, so it's worth trying one out before you buy.

I suspect that if we took a poll, we’d find that most of us took up bass having played another instrument previously. I’m not saying this is a bad thing, especially since some of the most iconic bassists were originally guitarists or drummers etc, but I think the bass is still misguidedly perceived by some people as some sort of cop-out. Sure, you can often get away with playing really simple lines on a bass (depending on your chosen genre of music), but on the other hand the breadth of techniques a bassist has to master to become truly accomplished on the instrument must be at least as, and maybe more, challenging than guitar.

Totally agree - good gear doesn't have to be expensive gear. I happily admit to buying my Westone in preference to the Fender Precision the shop tried to palm me off with (still not regretting it over 20 years later). My £99 Stagg fretless is another good piece of kit - even if I have modified it slightly. I'd really like that AcePro 6-string to turn out to be a well-made bass. The badge on the headstock (or lack of it) wouldn't sway me one way or the other if the bass was well made - I'd certainly have one.

Just looked at the 6-string on the website via one of the links and notice that it's a through-neck. This makes it look even more of a bargain, but you'd need to know that the angle of the neck relative to the body is OK and that it's going to stay that way after 6 strings pulling on it for several years . At least with a bolt-on neck you can always put a shim in the neck joint, but this isn't an option on a through neck and sometimes adjusting the truss-rod isn't enough on its own. If it's been put together properly it should be fine, but even at £189 I'd either want to try it out before I buy, or have a recommendation from someone who's checked one out.

I was intrigued for several months by Music King's ad's in "Guitar & Bass" magazine which always show a really tasty looking 6-string bass for a mere £189 - at this price I'd have been sorely tempted to venture out of my 4-string comfort zone. Problem is, every time I tried to check it out on TheMusicKing.co.uk website, there was nothing there remotely matching the description in the advert!? I gave up looking after a while and had to release my pent up GAS elsewhere. Maybe it was for the best.

I used a Behringer BX108 15w practice amp for about 5 years. Before buying it, I compared it against the Peavey Microbass, which I had actually gone into the store intending to buy. IMHO, the Behringer trounced the Peavey in terms of sound quality and features, it looked better too (really vintage) and was only slightly over half the price of the Peavey. What's more, the BX108 has to be one of the most noise-free amps I have ever used. My son uses the Behringer now as a guitar amp - it handles this role just fine too. I tend to find that it's best not to be too influenced by particular brands - Behringer make some good products, just like some of the big brands make some bad ones.

Learned using a pick but after a couple of years I switched to fingerstyle and ever since have tended to avoid using a pick unless I absolutely have to. I just prefer the fingersytyle sound, feel more involved with the instrument using my fingers and I don't miss the hassle of constantly dropping or losing picks.

[quote name='3V17C' post='32562' date='Jul 16 2007, 03:51 PM']Martin Kemp [i]was[/i] the bassist - it was his bro Gary on guitar.... 99% sure anyway.. peace c[/quote] Not a fan of Spandau Ballet (just feel the need to make that clear at the outset). However, I am a fan of Westone guitars and I seem to remember that Martin Kemp is seen “playing” a Westone semi-acoustic guitar in the “True” video, which seems to have become the only one you ever see these days. Despite this, Martin Kemp was indeed Spandau Ballet’s bass player.

[quote name='bottomfeed' post='32587' date='Jul 16 2007, 04:42 PM']Percy Jones (Brand x, Tunnels) - nightmare patrol & malaga virgen - from the Brand x album - Livestock[/quote] Also Brand X, but this time John Giblin doing the fretless on "April" to be found on the "Product" album. It's maybe not the most demanding bass-line you'll hear, yet it sounds really good (so it's a good one to learn).

[quote name='bigash' post='27963' date='Jul 6 2007, 04:17 PM']I have a left handed thunder 3 which i bought in 83. Thought mine was in good nick but yours looks mint.[/quote] Thanks for that. I've got to admit that I've cheated slightly with the bass's condition. When a great little band I had going at work folded in 1991 when the guitarist and keyboard player got made redundant, I got really disillusioned and the bass pretty much stayed in its case until a couple of years ago! Trying to make up for it now though. By the way, I'm left-handed myself but joined the other side at an early stage in my bass playing career, due to a lack of affordable leftie basses. There was a thread on here about this not so long ago and it emerged that a fair number of us are actually frustrated left-handers.

[quote name='BassBunny' post='27126' date='Jul 4 2007, 07:50 PM']PM'd[/quote] Bassbunny - PM sent back.