thodrik

[quote name='rslaing' post='526360' date='Jun 27 2009, 10:47 PM']It's all down to personal choice. I just wish people wouldn't dismiss good players for frivolous reasons.

And regards the dress sense, believe me, when you get older, anything that is clean and ironed does the job, [/quote]

Well, for me just clean tends to do, ironing is a luxury!

Nah, I've always thought Jeff Berlin was a great player, said as much in my first post. I do have some issues with some of his opinions though I think he probably says he plans to piss some people off though. Means more people talk about him rather than someone else! He does approach the instrument in a different way from the slap and pop brigade thats for sure, and for that I'll give him a lot of credit.

[quote name='rslaing' post='526254' date='Jun 27 2009, 08:40 PM']I agree. And he isn't arrogant, it is just our perception of him. He doesn't pander to people.

Just ignore his recent stuff and listen to his earlier playing. The man is brilliant. OK, he has his own personality which might be abrasive to some, wtf has that got to do with his ability as a player?

In spite of his apparent arrogance and displeasure at certain types of playing, he was one the pioneers of the modern slap technique for example. He just doesn't do it and hasn't done for 25 years because everyone else does it! He implores people to be individuals and develop their own style instead of copying everyone else.

And to contradict an earlier post, he never sounded like Jaco.

Jaco never had these sort of chops, whether you like this clip or not:

[/quote]
Fair enough that were around at the same time and in that sense I was wrong and they can both be considered 'pioneers. Yet, they are not that unalike. Same kind of fusion style. Jeff Berlin just uses frets. Still, I'm gonna pick Jaco. No question, regardless of standards of 'chops'. Jeff is a much more disciplined technique wise for sure though. But technique isn't everything...though it helps!

Though, I am worried that I am developing the same dress sense as Jeff...if not the skills!

I always think of the bass gymnastic techniques as like learning karate, great to learn but should only be called upon in an emergency in real life!

While I am absolutely in awe of Victor Wooten's technique, I am far more interested in his technique than the sounds he creates using said technique. That said, he would probably get my vote in this thread. Jeff Berlin, is just a bit too similar to Jaco at times for me to consider him to advancing the instrument, rather he just just being a modern-day master of the instrument. I also don't agree with his advocation of formal music training (probably because of my having to go through quite a lot myself!). I hate the idea of turning the bass guitar into a glorified classical instrument, which doesn't really move the bass into new territory, but the rather the reverse! The idea of using bass as a lead instrument has been around for ages. Mahler used it in the third movement of Symphony Number 1 in the late 1880s.

Also, I don't think there is much more scope for advancing the bass guitar as a classical-type solo-instrument. Although the develoment of electronics and amplification has made it easier to get a bass guitar solo to cut through a band than getting a double bass to cut through an orchestra, the frequencies used on bass guitar still easy to lose, or difficult to make out when playing with a band. Thus, most bass soloists are generally just that, or any other musicians playing have to careful that they don't drown out the soloist. This is not entirely different to the problems facing composers trying to write a double bass solo.

Furthermore, I know that compared to orchestral intstruments, the electric bass guitar is a new instrument, but there are only so many playing techniques you can actually use before a some kind of semi-established 'lead bass' technique develops, much like concert violinists. This would make it very difficult to leave much scope to actually advance into a new territory via technical playing, unless you consider playing faster a new technique! You could argue we have already reached that point now, with players expanding to 5, 6 and 8 stringed basses to try and escaped the limitations of 4 stringed basses.

While, I applaud Anthony Jackson and the Contrabass guitar, arguing that the instrument should have always have had two extra strings because bass guitars are more sonically similar to guitars, rather than double basses, really doesn't advance the instrument. It just adds two more strings to the same basic instrument, albeit in a pseudo-academic 'reinvisaging of history that never happened' kind of way. No matter what, that bass guitar is still generally going to be made out of wood, have pick ups, and possibly even be fretted. Has the seven-string guitar advanced the guitar in any way, apart from letting Slayer get that bit heavier? I really think that there is probably more scope for advancing the instrument in terms of effects and electroncs than there is in terms of technical playing or adding of strings.

In my opinion, those seeking to use it as an out and out solo instrument should really just play the guitar, rather than cutting all frequencies below 300HZ and boosting the treble to ear-shattering levels just so their solo can cut through! However, that might just be my stoner rock tendencies coming through...

you try and improvise something remotely interesting or challenging, but the drummer doesn't follow you and you end up looking like an idiot.

Can't believe I misspelled 'idiot'...drummers fault no doubt.

Think its been said already, but best bet is to get a teacher, at least for a few lessons to at least start with something near decent technique. Helps if the teacher is familiar with jazz-based and classical music as you'll get a broader understanding of the instrument and how it differs from the bass guitar. For me, its always been a lot more than just a big fretless bass. Its like going from driving a normal car to starting to drive a model T Ford. Same function yes, but to really appreciate it helps to know a bit of theory, technique and history behind it.

If you don't want to shell out for a teacher, you should get a tuition book or two. You can't really go wrong with the 'New Method for the Double Bass/Book 1' by F. Simandl. It is dry and old-fashioned, but it does show proper fingering techniques and how to stand and sit, and gives a basic description of the German and French bow techniques.

However, you could just ignore all this and just play around and figure it out by yourself. You'd probably get competent fairly quickly. Must say, a lot of upright bassists I've seen in folk groups have pretty much no technique beyond what they 'presumably' had on electric bass, they just use it because it makes them look more arty.

Oh, and buy/steal a decent bar stool. Sitting down when learning just allows a bit more stability.

And have fun!

Depends on the bass the amp really for me. If its my passive P-bass played with any solid state head, I'll generally run it into an English Muff'n then into a Sansamp Bass Driver into the head. General pretend your going through an Ampeg settings which sounds fine in a rock band situation, but lacks definition for any slap, tapping and solo stuff.

With any kind valve amp, I try and run as few effects as possible. I'd be open to a bunch of pedals, but I'd rather just have a good amp. I've found that a Vigier Excess run into an EBS Fafner doesn't need a lot of tweeking! I turn the bass to between 2 and 3 o'clock, take the mids down a touch around 600 Hz, but depending on the room, yada yada yada...

Obviously, the most telling factor on tone will be your fingers and your attack. Also,string type, string gauge, action height, and pick ups all have an impact on tone..

A good bassist will be able to manage to make an entry level bass and amp sound have decent tone, but I still think that basses, amps and cabinets do play a role.This is especially the case when plugging a bass straight into an amp. I know its subjective, but for me there is a big difference, for example, between a Squier J-bass through a Crate combo and the same bassist plugging a Sadowsky into a Markbass combo. I know there are people that think its more impressive to make 'cheap gear sound great' than to just have good gear. However, I think these people are missing the point. Gear is an aid, not the determining factor on whether you can get a good sound. If you manage to make cheap gear sound good, it just means you are good, and you would sound impressive through most gear. Its just nice to be able to play through something that doesn't require any modding or a bunch of pedals to help bulk up your sound. It leaves you to get on with playing, which to me is the most important part.

[quote name='liamcapleton' post='514643' date='Jun 15 2009, 07:43 PM']My EHX English Muff'n is completely brilliant. Got it off Tayste the other day and it sounds superb.[/quote]

+ 1 on the English Muff'n, I love mine, just so cool.

Would love to try the Malekko B:Assmaster, the Cream Pie and the Wooly Mammoth, but geography and budgets are against me...

A-Side studios (used to be the Practice Pad) do backline hire. Or at least they say they do on their website! [url="http://www.a-sidestudios.com/Home.html"]http://www.a-sidestudios.com/Home.html[/url]

Ummmm. I think CC Music (Used to be Sound Control in the West End) might do some kind of hire, but I'm not sure about it.

There are probaby loads of others but these are from the top of my head...good luck!

I not a massive fan of ashdown, but they do seem to be everywhere! The standard set up in almost any rehearsal room around Glasgow seems to be the ABM Evo II 500 head/ampeg svt 450 on top of an ampeg 8x10.

I don't really have a preference between the Ashdown and the 'faux' SVT. My view is that the Ashdown is great for plugging in a passive P-bass going through a Sansamp and a bunch of fuzz pedals, but if you use a clean high powered active bass, the Ashdown doesn't really provide much top-end sparkle. Even trying to fiddle with the eq seemed to make little difference.

The sub octave thing isn't really for me and just seems to muddy the sound, unless you are playing around the 12th fret on the D and G strings, which provides a sound very much like playing around the 7th fret on the A and D strings. Thus, I don't see the point. Also, the valve drive seems to be so sublte that it makes minimal difference to your actual sound, so I have yet to fully appreciate 'grind'... Furthermore, the dial thing on the front is to me superfluous. I don't believe they are as accurate as they would seem. Several times the amp has cut out on me after being apparently being driven too hard, even though I've had the master volume below half and the gain turned up so far that the dial was almost getting halfway up when I was digging in. That may have just been bad luck with a faulty amp but I still think an LED or two works just as well, if not better due to ease of operation, as an indication of gain settings. Also, why have an active/passive pad if the dial is there to let you easily dial in a sufficient amount of gain. I'm a novice in electronics though, so somebody could correct me on that.

Its these aforementioned things that just make me think the amps are just a bit gimmiky, which lots of knobs and buttons that make little difference to the sound. They run a brilliant marketing campaign, but I personally consider the ABM Ashdown amps to be a step backwards from Trace Elliot (well, the Kamen stuff, not necessariliy the Gibson-era).

I will say that I have not tried the US series valve amp which admittedly does look kinda cool, as well as the Little Giant etc. The MAG stuff also seems to be decent value for money. Hell, compared to the stuff from the US and Europe, you could even argue that the ABM stuff is value for money. I just wouldn't buy it unless I knew I was going to spend the rest of my bass playing days running my P-bass into a Sansamp Bassdriver or VT Bass. It would be fun and it would sound pretty good, but its not really what I want to do.

I tried one of these out a while ago. Well designed bass no question! I didn't really take to the scalloped frets though, just call me old-fashioned! Action wasn't that great though, verging on being spongey, but thats really a set-up in the store issue rather than anything to do with the actual bass. Dual outputs are a cool feature. Just not for me.

I got a Bass pod, the one that became the xt, a while back (think it was about 2002). I have never used it live though. For me its really a studio thing, lots of tweaking is needed before you can get a sound that you really want. Once you get that sound, its great, but it can take ages! The effects are pretty cool and do the job. Never really found the footboard to be that much use though, you couldn't really switch between one sound or another without a big gap where one sound faded out then another sound faded in. Though that might not be case with the new models, but I can't say for sure.

Outside of the Pod, I tried a couple of the Lowdown combos, I wasn't blown away by it, but there wasn't anything seriously wrong with it. Also, I know its for guitar, but the fact that the Spider III has an 'INSANE' button kind of puts me off seriously considering them. I also hate the Variax.

I know I'm new so my opinion might not count for much, but providing there is nothing seriously wrong with it, its a pretty good deal. Was lucky enough to do a couple of gigs with the VBA 400 and was seriously impressed by the sound. Great for rock bass obviously, if your gonna be slapping it might not be the best choice in my opinion. It is really really heavy though, and with the amount of tubes in there, there is always gonna be the cost of up-keep like all tube amps. Still, I would take that deal.

Hi all,

23 year old originally from Orkney (way up north!). I have been playing bass guitar for 11 years and the upright since 15 (my violin playing really wasn't up to much).

Usually play a Vigier Excess II or a '78 P-bass on stage. Gearwise, until this year I only ever had an old pre-Gibson (still Kamen-era) Trace Elliot combo. However, after coming into some money, I finally got hold of an EBS Fafner! The cabs I use are the new Trace ones, the 2x10 the bigger 1x15. Its a bit of a mish-mash, but for me it works! I also managed to acquire a Mesa Walkabout Scout. I'm poor now obviously, but it was totally worth it!

Nothing much more to me really!