Paolo85

This. I am not sure I have seen that video specifically but I have seen many Mark Smith videos including on the circle of fourths. He uses the circle of fourths to teach the neck. But that's not random and not just because it moves through all 12 notes. Chord progressions moving up in fourth are extremely common, if not the most common, in jazz - and I understand in pop as well they are big deal. Mark's course on walking bass has 90% of the exercised based on II-V-I and I-IV-II-V progressions. As many have argued, with the bass, unlike with other instruments, there are geometric patterns and one can find the a fourth without even thinking of notes. Interestingly however, that's not Mark's idea. In his walking bass course (and in all courses) he encourages to also think in terms of notes directly (especially when reaching for a root note, a bit less when moving through chord tones). So I guess it makes sense from his point of view that, if someone has to learn the neck, it's best to do it by using that progression. I'd add as an aside that, as a person struggling with walking bass, and not being very visual, I have found his approach the easiest so far. It's true that, say, a II-V-I is a simple geometry on the neck. But then when you are moving around the chord tones you have to have in mind multiple shapes at once (where, say, the fifths are, and where the root of the next note is relative to your current root, both up and down. Plus maybe adding an extra steps to where the thirds of the next chord are if one wanted to do an inversion. And if you land on a wrong note none of the geometries applies directly anymore). Just knowing where the note is is easier for me. Linking back to the main issue, if I did known the circle of fourths the way I know ABCD.. (I don't) then maybe I would find myself less often wondering "what was the next chord?"

Not bad. Much better than I was expecting and that includes Axl's voice. If somebody had told me that was an obscure track from the Use Your Illusion sessions I would have believed them.

I have no good advice to give on music but, for what I have seen in other "attractive" and overcrowded sectors me and my wife worked in, there are two main approaches to the problem: Case A, the young adult is "all in". She does not want to do anything but playing. She think she'd be unhappy doing something else. Music is her joy and she'd be happy playing anything (weddings etc..). She is aware that few years down the line working odd hours would make it more difficult to spend time with her children should she have some but she accepts it. If that's the case, I would not necessarily start with the assumption that it will be a low-pay career. It should be very clear that this could be the case but at the same time, during the "formative" period, I believe the assumption should be that one works strategically with with the objective of being one of the few that make a good living. This is not just because it may make it easier to be one of the few lucky ones, but also because that makes it more likely that one lands somewhere "at least ok" if things do not go according to plans. That could make a good case for a university as degrees, and the experiences and connections that go with them. Case B, the young adult is very talented, but know that she could make a living in completely different sectors and be happy. She's unsure whether working as hard as a hedge fund guy and at odd hours to play pop hits at weddings would work for her. In that case, yes it could make sense to try for a few years, without uni, and see how it goes. That's what my guitar player did when we turned 18. He was a monster for his age. Played Malmsteen solos at age 15 and had an amazing feel. He tried the music business and did not like the travelling and the pop music as much as he thought he would. I guess for this case B, music-related degrees where one gets transferable skills could also be a compromise. But maybe not.. one could reasonably be of they mind that either they play, actually play, not teach, produce etc.. or they may as well study medicine or whatever.

So, I bought these LaBella tapes on ebay a while ago. There is a sticker inside the package (not outside) that says "MB-2". I had a look now and I suspect that may mean they were made for Rob Allen MB2 basses (which come with LaBellas stock), but that's just a guess. I wonder if they would be any different from other LaBellas given ehat the MB-2 is 34" Thanks

I am sure you thought about it already but some Seymour Duncan Apollo may get you in the ballpark maybe. I was tempted when I had a J.

Thanks, that's all good advice. I checked and luckily it seems some muting comes automatic as I go to fret a lower string. Changing note position when needed is a good idea although hope to get this as a "general skill" anyway

So, I have a problem, and I'd like to know how basschatters get around this. I use raking for the most part and I intend to continue doing it. However, when I have to skip a string after I am alternating, I stick to alternating. By that I mean that, say I am playing a couple of open Ds (so alternating as I am not goind down strings) and then I want an open E, I would alternate to play the E. I find this efficient and not confusing. The problem is that, if I am already raking and then need to skip a string, my brain wants to continue raking. So say, with open strings, I am playing G, D, E, my brain wants to use the same finger for all strings. I am finding difficult to automate the fact that I should be alternating from D to E. So how do you "rakers" (?) go around it? Should I just hope it will come natural over time? Should I learn how to skip a string using the same finger?

Looks like one to me

Hi all, So, what are the differences between these LaBella black tapes 50-105 and the D'Addario tapes of the same gauge? https://www.thomann.de/gb/la_bella_750n_black_nylon_l.htm I have tried the D'Addario a few times. I like them but the G is maybe a bit tinny. As for LaBellas, I have tried the 60-115 and I like the sound really a lot, but while they are not high tension, they are a bit too stiff for me. P.S. as we are talking about the LaBellas, do you know why very very few sellers sell this gauge? Thanks

Zombie thread, I know, but maybe you want to try D'Addario NYXL and let them age. I am not saying they sound like flats, but as far as rounds go, they are very dark and they age gracefully, getting somewhat thumpy over time. With the tone rolled off they give me enough of that vibe. After trying I think eight different sets of flats on P basses and never being 100% satisfied for one reason or a other, I accidentally landed on the NYXL and for now it appears I am sticking with them (admittedly, the fact that they are "normal" tension but very low stifness is part of the reason I like them).

Gsr 200 and Cort Action walnut are two rare cases of cheap low weight Ibanez-shaped basses where one can just drop in a tonerider without having to figure out what to do with soapbars and preamp. I may have to buy one of those one day

I think there's a misunderstanding there. He drops those names because they actually do courses and seminars on the SBL website. It is something to be proud of without doubt. Sean Hurley is a session man playing for famous pop stars, not a specialist in microtonal funk jazz. For what I understand he does a seminar with tips to go through a session. Patitucci, on top of being a top notch player, is a renewed educator. On the website he does advanced stuff but also a course named introduction to cuban music and another one for which I find the description confusing but I think has something to do with getting into the style of The Meters, which also are not microtonal jazz-funk. Other people like Gary Willis do only or mostly jazz courses but the website is known to contain a number of beginner courses or genre specific courses taught by less famous bassists (and Scott himself) - for which one cannot do much name-dropping in marketing emails. It would be difficult to get those courses made by bass players that are more famous than Patitucci and "inspire" the majority of the bass players. They would cost too much, often times they have zero teaching experience, and often lack theoretical background and are unable to explain why they do what they do.

I wonder if people who don't like his voice also don't like Led Zeppelin's rock'n roll, DP's Child In Time and so on or it's just the Geddy Lee variant

For example!

I got a membership to SBL a few months ago. After reading this I skimmed through Scott's own Bass Fundation course. I just skimmed but I found no trace of jazz noodling. Even in the long sections when he shows how to build bass lines using chord tones, when one could naturally fall into jazz, his playing had a clear pop feeling. Obviously, if one wants to learn metal that's not the right angle for a course. I would say chords would have to be touched upon briefly and scales, modes and complex rythm should take priority. At the same time, if one wants to become Steve DiGiorgio at some point chord tones are not a waste of time. There was no trace of jazz noodling also in the courses on blues and preventing i jury I took. Nor in the fretless course - plenty of noodling though, but not jazz and not by Scott. It turns out in SBL there are two hour long courses on metal bass by David Effelson and a 5-hour course on prog metal bass playing. Then there are three seminars on metal (arpeggios in metal, slap in metal, analysing metal basslines). Youtube videos are marketing and I imagine the jazz noodling is a way of saying "I am good, I can teach you". Noodling Slayer bass lines would not be as effective as a marketing tool. I do get a lot of the criticism to SBL - the clickbait, not getting to the point.. but I am under the impression that the crime here is that he likes jazz, or teaches it. I am pretty sure there are worse things one can do

To summarise my post above with songs: there's a world of music that is not really about the groove https://youtu.be/rARGPAkIcw4 (My favourite Rush song) https://youtu.be/NJPAjiSX7Rk https://youtu.be/NU9F126WCUc

I guess it's a matter of taste, which is always fair enough. I wouldn't say I am a massive Rush fan but I do like their 70s stuff, I used to listen to it quite a bit in my early 20s and I like Geddy Lee. Now, if the question is why a lot of people like him (or adore him) and you don't, a couple considerations may be helpful: Space, rythm and groove, the way you get them for example from a funk/soul player, and the way the vast majority of bass players seem to enjoy it, are not a necessity in music. They are just one possible style out of many. Very very important in the history of pop music but maybe less of a thing in the history of music more broadly. If you look at jazz through the hard bop period, most doublebass players would just play quarter notes with a swing - except for ballads. You find in my opinion way more space and rythmic variety in Geddy Lee. As doublebass evolved, groove was not an immediate priority, at least to my understanding. Scott LaFaro with Bill Evans, while he could be seen as groovy in a way, mostly was trying to move the bass away from its role as rythmic section. This went quite far and during the free jazz period Monk lamented that he'd struggle to find a doblebass player who could "swing". Paradoxically, freeing the bass from keeping the time (that is just the beat, as it was originally) did pave the way for the introduction of groove in the modern sense but that was not the original intention. If you look at classical music (which prog rock bands to an extent were trying to imitate) space is plentiful but groove is not a thing. When I started playing as a metalhead I had no interest in groove. I guess I was more trying to create a "flow". I had very mixed feelings about groove and a band like Jamiroquay wold irritate me. Now I like funk but I think to a large extent this is function of the fact that I am back to playing the bass. Also, I think an important consideration is that some players such as Geddy Lee or Steve Harris in my opinion cannot be disentangled from their songs. Bass and guitar riffs largely move together and are the pillar of the songs. There is no such thing as a bass line to be considered "in isolation" while somebody plays chords. In a way, if you like the song you like the bass line or viceversa.

Well, for most people that's the half of the fretboard that actually gets used. I suspect that's also the reason why, reading around, I am under the impression that, if they have to chose, many people would try to get the neck very straight above all, and then play with the saddles. Relief does help lowering action (here I mean it in general) overall. But with a fairly straight neck one can sacrifice "average action" across the neck a bit, getting a better action toward the headstock a worse one in the dusty end. I would be among those that prefer a somewhat straight neck on paper. And I measure string height either at the 12th or at the 15th fret (which I find tend to be almost identical in most cases). I do not try too hard to keep the neck straight only because if I keep a bit of margin then I do not have to adjust the truss rod too often.

I guess a lot depends on personality. There's people that like music "in general", just with some preferences, and people that find a lot of the music being recorded plain tedious. My guitar player and my drimmer when I was a teenager were I believe extremely talented for their age. When I had to stop for a long period for tendinitis they "took the opportunity" to leave our metal band and join a prog band, while also doing some serious studying and working toward a career in music. Within a year or so they were both making a living with some tribute/function bands. The drummer went on to become a session man. The guitar player, who on top of being talented had very good family connections and we were all expecting to do well, hated it so much that he dropped everything, became a psychologist, and just focused on his prog band with zero earning potential, doing gigs in front of not very many people.

Yes, looking better the battery compartment is also in a different place. Is your bass by any chance quite heavy and without foam under the pickups, much like these HBs?

It's very much identical to this Harley Benton... https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_hbz_2004_deluxe_series_bundle.htm

Sorry, just to check if I interpret this right, you are getting 2.5mm string height at the 12th ot 15th fret or 2.5mm relief?

I am in a similar situation, a bit younger, with the complication (which you may or may not have as well) that for family reasons I am not so sure how much time I'd be ok to allocate to a band. On paper jam nights seem to be the thing for me but I am not so good at improvising and jamming in front of lots of people is not necessarily the low pressure situation I'd be looking for after some 20 years without playing with other people. My ideal situation would be a fairly local band of middle-aged mums and dads, little more than beginners, or re-learners, or for some reason hapoy to just reharse together for a while without gigging until the band works alright. I guess such thing may even exist if I am flexible with genres...

I do care about the looks of my basses, quite a bit I think. By that I mean that they have to look nice to me. Slightly or even significantly battered can be ok. A colour that I don't like is an issue. I do not need to own multiple basses. I just like them and the looks is part of the equation. My basses need to sound, look and feel nice - to me - and balance well, without being heavy. I don't see why I would need to own anything that does not thick all the boxes given that there's plenty of basses that tick all the boxes for me (maybe with some minor mods) and cost only a few hundred pounds. This may be down to me not being that refined and thinking that basses that cost a few hundred pounds sound and play great. It is possible that people that buy very expensive basses detect nuances that change the equation completely.

Btw I don't think Squiers are "demolished" by other brands. The Affinities are very lightweight P and Js, with comfortable neck shapes, my Affinity PJ had a very high output P pickup. It also was fraught with issues but for cheap basses that's always a risk and a seller with a good return policy is a must