12stringbassist

Under-rated... Bruce Thomas ex of Elvis Costello was certainly rated at the time, but has fallen out of the public eye now. I'd say the same for Colin Moulding of XTC - a total genius and innovator on bass, but XTC are gone now and he's largely forgotten outside of their fans. I miss them terribly. Nick Seymour of Crowded House was mentioned and he is a true jazz bassist in a pop band. His bass parts are little adventures for the ears - Fantastic syncopated little counter melodies that can't be second guessed, such as Don't dream it's over - try humming along with the bass part on that . I don't know how he gets some of the sounds he does - on Whispers and moans for example. I love his work on their albums up to Together Alone. After that they went a bit meh. Tom Petersson of Cheap Trick does some amazing stuff and gets little recognition except for starting the 12-string bass ball rolling. Jim Lea of Slade - a ridiculously good player, consigned to be remembered mainly as the one at the back on Merry Christmas everybody. A criminal underestimation.

If there are parts of certain songs he is fluffing, offer to go and play through that part of the song until he has nailed it. With bands I have routined songs with, we have played chord sequences back to back until they are spot on with solos or arrangements as we want them, left it to play something else then have gone back to it and done it again. Drilling something in and playing it til it's right is the only way. Anyone is capable of fumbling a part occasionally, or being a little clumsy, but if it's happening so much that accuracy or consistency is an issue you need to decide when enough is enough. It's quite possible to help someone improve without making them feel bad about it, so go gently. Good luck with that one.

Metallica going after Napster wasn't popular, but when people are passing on your performance and you're not being paid for it, it's pretty galling, especially if you are paying for a huge staging and transportation bill and the lost revenue would have gone some way towards payng that.

I generally take 3 with me. One for first half, One for second. Plus a spare in case I need a fresh neck to play.

It's quite probable that Prince will never release another official live album or DVD unless his live shows stop appearing regularly on bootleg sites and Youtube. He often plays unreleased songs in his set, so his future album releases can be affected too. He's not much different to several other artists in threatening legal action against bootleggers. His persona makes him a similar target to the CEO of a certain US guitar company mentioned on here. As with That Charmless Man and any other musician, Prince has every right to protect his product from copying and unpaid distribution. I believe that he was paid quite a fair whack for the rights to give an album away with The Mail on Sunday.

Fantastic disciplined bassline. Doesn't interfere with the piano at all. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPVgujGcmTY[/media]

Interesting topic. I know that basses and guitars are a lot better now in terms of ease of playing and affordability than they were when I started learning in the 70's. It never fails to astonish me how kids half my age sit in a bedroom and learn their favourite tracks like I did and they are playing some Joe Satriani riff from hell, whereas I was copping riffs from The Sweet. [i]And they are doing it accurately. [/i]The bar has been raised, which is all good. There are a lot of aids to playing that weren't there when I started - videos, DVD's, YouTube. 99.9% of the time now if I have to learn something, I sit down with the track and break it down by lsitening to it til I have it. The kids can get online demo's of how to play a lot of the stuff they want to learn. I still prefer my way of doing it. Listen and do something approximate - not parrot fashion. If I want to change it Ia bit do. There is [i]often[/i] a lot of slavish recreation by kids, to show they have leanned it 100%. I wouldn't want to start again now. Everything has pretty much been done now.. In the 50's they were INVENTING IT, which was the hardest thing of all!!

Dean Rhapsody 8 string. Lovely bass - I should use it more often.

Hamer were bought out and I believe the brand name is no longer in use. Tom bought this one on Ebay recently and has modded it very slightly. I have two Hamer 12ers and they both hold their tune pretty much perfectly. They are swines to re-string, though!!

He's not used a Hamer for a while - this is from a recent Miami show.

I can recommend the Dean Rhapsody 8.

They have some very interesting ideas on pricing. Some of that S/H stuff IS hard to find, but a lot of it..... man, they got to be having a laugh. I won't be visiting them at any point soon.

That said, I regularly host a jam night and lend out a very good sounding Squier P bass to those who turn up without one. When plugging anyone in, I tell them the amp is set as it needs to be. That has always worked. If it stops working, I will put the head on a table behind the two bass cabs. I may bring a second bass for my own use, though the Squier is fine. I once supported a 60's Merseyside chart act and their bassist - ex Eurythmics, apparently) politely said he'd like to use my rig (then 2x TE 715's). The mix was good overall and I told him the rig was set right. He cranked it up after a few songs so the gain light was constantly on and then flipped the volume up a lot. It drowned out the rest of the band. I had no difficulties in walking onstage and re-setting the volumes mid-song. He was as angry as hell, but I said his amp was still in his car if he wanted to play silly buggers. Another support slot saw a 70's two hit wonder band ruin our guitarist's Fender Twin reverb by setting it to 'stun'. Their bassist used his own rig.

[quote name='DogHammer' timestamp='1369394248' post='2088662'] At the gig on Wednesday, we were on first, out of a total of 3 bands. I brought my Mark Bass Combo to use, DI out to the house PA too. We did our soundcheck, and then the next band went on to do theirs, and straight away the bassist plugged into my amp and soundchecked with it. Same with the 3rd band. Now I don't mind lending the amp out at a gig, as ever, help a fellow bassist in need but I didn't get any 'Oh can I use your amp' or anything like that. Just rock up and use it no questions. I did make the point of going up and saying 'Oh you using my amp are you' and change any of the settings at your peril. Am I being a bit tight and funny? or should I have been consulted? [/quote] Damn right they should have asked. It may have been an idea to politely say it was going to be packed away after your set.

I own a black RV5 and the only issue I had with it was the bar over the strings was a very flimsy construction and may as well be taken off, but it needs something to hold the A string down. The sound is superb with a bit of treble rolled off. Great for the money, but needed just that little bit of attention.

I think he was watching his hands because there are new songs in the set and with a TV camera on him and a squillion people watching every note for mistakes, bad fingering, alternative runs etc to analyse, no wonder he's careful !!

If Ric made a budget range, it would probably start at £1200, to cover their losses of orders on the normal range!! While people out there are still GASsing for Rics, that is exactly what they will sell. The chances of us ever seeing a RickenSquier are just below zero percent. Please let us know what wit and wisdom the charming Mr Hall comes back to you with.

In a lot of the kind of music he works on, you'll find a bass part actually isn't needed, as the music is simply not worth releasing, so there's no point in brightening it up woth a bass part.

Bass guitar solos should only be played if you are : a] John Enwistle - deceased b] Jim Lea of Slade - retired c] Geddy Lee - in an arena with people who expect that sort of thing anyway Otherwise they are the devil's work. I get very embarrased when asked to go all widdly on bass and I just play the bass part a bit louder or faster or both.

Bassist available for working band. Based in Bolton. Big repertoire 60's, 70's and so on. Glam, classic rock a speciality. Gear vocals transport - reliable, quick learner. I have first shout on a good drummer with a PA system and contacts with a decent agent. No metal or grunge etc! Thanks. www.ianedmundson.co.uk

He's not my guitarist anymore, sadly. He did angst over one at a guitar show some years ago. I had to drag him away from it, as it was phenominally expensive.

I think they have done some of these as a Trujillo sig - possiby with an altered spec.

[quote name='Bo0tsy' timestamp='1380985992' post='2233139'] @12stringbassist - I'm loving the Streamer Chrome Tone, is that a custom shop model? [/quote] Hi, They were a listed special limited run item. Quite decent spec / price. Great big sound, superb looking, too. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMCRv6rPBlw [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On8TrQ-lv08[/media]

I bought this Westfield P bass for £75.00 for other people to use at a jam night that I run. It's so nice to play and feels and sounds just like a fat 70's P. Will have to think again about letting mortals touch it.

I love my two. I didn't always like Warwicks, though. I played one (can't remember what model) at a jam night and thought the neck was like a tree trunk (far too big). However, I came a cross the Streamer Chrome Tone and had to try it because of its utter glam rock-ness. Later on, I came across a one-off custom shop Thumb NT and fell for that, too. Tastes can change. I think some Warwicks are maybe seen as being [i]'of a certain period'[/i] - like Mark King's Jaydees.