Davo-London

Maintain lots of energy on stage. That should get you the gig.

Davo

Yeah, I only knew of him through Brand X, which isn't a bad thing at all. I didn't realise he had worked with so many artists.

That's the sort of fretless bass playing I like to do. KISS and melodic and effective.

There's very rarely a time when you should use pyrotechnics on bass anyway.

Davo

Lordy, 3 Lowdown forum members in a single post.

Have we migrated over chaps?



Davo

Good points. I would talk to the other member of the band who is friends with the drummer first.

Make him understand that your enjoyment is being affected and suggest that another drummer is sought.

Davo

Grrrr. 7-strings? Can't think of a reason to own one.

Davo

The ones I have played have been excellent.

Only tried one road-worn and that was good too.

I would go for a Nash if I was buying one. Gotta keep Fender on their toes.

Davo

I am a bassist of 30 years and a drummer for 6 years.

What surprised me about playing drums in a band was just how much more responsibility sat with the drummer than the bassist. If you screw up a groove, or fill or start too fast (I do sometimes) then everyone knows it. Play a wrong note or get your timing slightly wrong on bass and it is rarely noticed.

Secondly, playing a really good groove requires dynamics (unless you only do metal). By this I mean Hihat accents on the beat or on the and, two different dynamic levels for the kick drum and the ability to play snare and toms with a range of accents and dynamics. Good dynamic playing requires years of practice. It really does.

Thirdly, keeping time is a b1tch. If you start at 150 bpm, you really have to concentrate and count to maintain that speed. The natural tendancy is to slow down as you relax into the groove. Playing slow tempos is in fact more difficult and the tendancy is to speed up. I agree that tempo keeping is about 80% the responsibility of the drummer but you all have a part to play.

Lastly, I would never play in a band with a musician that doesn't practice and want to improve. I have absolutely no patience for "musicians" that don't practice.

From what has been said I would keep looking.

Davo

Listen the internet has meant access to bass suppliers and builders that we didn't know existed. This has opened up the market enormously. We are consuming capitalists. WE WANT MORE STUFF.

In reality IMVHO you need:

- decent fretted EBG
- decent fretless EBG (fusion, modern jazz)
- decent fretless ABG (URB sound)

This covers just about every scenario I can think of.

Davo

Antii

A fellow CB man. What an exclusive club. Lovely D bass BTW. Looks like Wenge neck and Walnut tonewood. Maple veneer and ebony fingerboard? Nordstrand PU?

Davo

[quote name='mashup' post='906993' date='Jul 27 2010, 12:52 PM']Im sure that my technique is fine. Thanks though. The noise isn't excessive and out of place, it's a natural byproduct of 2 bumpy surfaces sliding across one another e.g - Finger tip ribs and roundwound string coils. Maybe i could burn my fingertips down so that they are just nice clean scar tissue lol! It's just more noticeable the more treble is added. Some people feel those nuances add to the overall tone and feel. I however am in search of limiting the unavoidable string/fingertip friction grating sound that is only realy heard when sliding up the strings when dialed in to particular tones which are treble heavy. I want smooth, smooth, smooth but still with enough brightness & clarity for more picking styles. If you have a magic trick that solves this entirely, and it's all down to technique that i have overlooked or missed out on, then im all ears. Cheers[/quote]

First, if you want to use all that tone from your bass do not install flats. Nickel roundwounds are less zingy than stainless steel and would be a good bet. Some string noise is OK. Anthony Jackson gets string noise, so don't sweat. Try DR Sunbeams.

Davo

Dead spots are normally found around the D, Eflat or E on the G - string. The note doesn't sustain as all the others do. I dies quickly. I always check for dead spots when trying a new bass.

Davo

Not a UK luthier, but I can highly recommend Cliff Bordwell. Lovely guy, lovely basses.

www.cbbasses.com

Davo

Whilst in America I bought a 1986 MIJ Squier Jazz. Unbelievably good value and it was £200. Totally undervalued. The early MIJ Js and Ps are incredible value for money as they were basically full blown Fenders.

+100 go Japanese.

Davo

Yeah, I wasn't talking about Jaco getting Jaco's tone from a bass. I was talking about ME getting the Jaco tone. Different thing, i.e. I ain't Jaco.

Davo

This debate turns up from time to time. Luthiers, and my custom bass luthier, would presumably argue that there is a difference. But rather than sticking to just wood, the customer would be better suggesting the type of sound they are after and what they currently like. An experienced luthier would then not only suggest a suitable tone and neck woods but also PUs pres and hardware that would compliment the tone.

So I would say it has be taken in context of the complete build.

I personally prefer the sound AND feel of rosewood necks over maple. That's based on playing maybe a 100 basses. That's not for anyone else to critique or agree with, that's the conclusion that I have come to. Similarly, if I want a Jaco tone then I'm better off buying a signature Jaco Jazz, because that's the only bass I have ever got that tone from.

I agree that wood affects tone. But overall the bass tone has to consider the whole build.


Davo

Quite an amusing thread.

We have:

URB Upright Bass
EUB Electric Upright Bass
EBG Electric Bass Guitar
ABG Acoustic Bass Guitar

I quite like the idea that the bass isn't a guitar but when you look at the stratocaster and a precision you cannot really pretend the EBG isn't a guitar. It would be nice just to call it a bass, but that will also lead to confusion with all other variants. The frets are what makes the EBG a guitar in my view. No previous variant had frets. Of course the fretless is then by inference and association with it's fretted cousin a guitar also.

I voted guitar without reading all the arguements but I now reinforce that view.

Davo

And once you start to look above the £1200 price range I couldn't find what I wanted. And I played so so many basses.

So I started to think about a custom.

Davo

I have one. A Cliff Bordwell Ball Bass:



I had been playing for 30 years before I had a custom bass made and even though there are parts of the specification that I was unsure about and so you really need to be an experienced played IMHO to make it worthwhile.

At the time the dollar/sterling exchange rate was 2:1 and so the whole enterprise cost about £1700, which is incredibly cheap considering the hand built custom nature of Cliff's basses.

It is a gamble in the sense that you cannot try out the bass first. This is diminished by the fan base and the repeat custom that he gets. Further you are getting a totally unique bass, which is uber-cool.

I love mine and really enjoy playing it. It was an extravagance, but it's better than spending money on the kids.

Davo

DR Sunbeams 40 - 100

Davo

I like nickels, DR sunbeams to be precise – so with fretless (alder, maple and rosewood) I go for the Jaco tone i.e. 95% bridge PU and with a slight bass boost – mid and treble flat with Audere preamp. Absolutely scrummy.

For fretted, (walnut, maple and rosewood) I go for the Anthony Jackson articulate sound. Again slight bass boost on Audere pre and then either treble flat, which is pretty trebly anyway with this set-up or treble cut for that woolier tone that’s great with fast jazz playing. But not woolly.

On my ABG I have TI flats to try and get the URByist sound possible. I even lower the tuning to get lots of slap on the fingerboard. This is the only application for flats for me.

Besides, you can get a great woolly flaty sound with rounds just using the thumb and palm muting technique, which is why I never use flats. You cannot add treble to flats on an electric bass and get a roundwound tone, but you can do it the other way round – or very close.

Davo

I've been playing for 32 years and have found MY STRING. I'm not suggesting that anyone else should use them - no I'm just glad that after 30 years of trying different strings I have found the string that totally suits me and gets the tone and feel I'm after. I love them so much they are on my fretted and fretless electric basses. Yum Yum.

Davo

I tune my Acoustic Bass DGCF ie a tone down just because that's the tension I like on the TI flats, I'm sure you could take a 105 or 110 E string down to B if you want too. Playing low tension strings requires a lot of good technique and so you can throw this into the bargain.

Davo

Sure geetarists are the chordists, but when you spend so much time practicing on your own, playing chords is good for your development as a muso. I have small hands as well which probably means that P bass was a bad choice. It's just funny how things work out.

Davo

I'm VERY late to this debate ... but it won't stop me.

I think there may be a link between the simplicity of the P and a demand for straight-forward bass playing. I cannot deny that the P sounds good in the mix. I also cannot deny that my bass playing development has been significantly held back by only owning a P-bass. Chords don't work and I find it impossible to play fast and articulately. If only I had bought a Jazz instead of a Precision 32 years ago I think I would be a different player.

That said, I would happily own a 60's P with a narrower neck. My 70's P feels like a great slab of wood.

So I went from the sublime to the ridiculous and commissioned a Cliff Bordwell Ball Bass as my main fretted bass. They are different instruments, they really are but I'll try and use the P-bass next time I'm in church. I'll need to give it new strings though!

As for Leo getting it right. Well he did alright. I don't think Fender's popularity can be so easily dismissed. There's been plenty of opportunity for other basses to take the No1 spot. But they haven't. And the resale of Fenders is by far the easiest route.


Davo

'76 Fender P

Dunno to all your questions. However, original bridge was in the wrong poistion. I moved it. Then I stuck a Badass II bridge on it for 30 years (my fault) - recently returned the stock bridge. Curious thing is the intonation is better! Explain that if you can. And yes I know how to set the intonation.

The neck is dead straight to my eye.

I wish it was a 60's P though! It might get played more.

Davo