Mykesbass

Quincy Jones , Duke Ellington, and having heard "This Guy's In Love With You" this afternoon, Bacharach & David.

In honour of Spoombung being such a Gent and bowing out of the Overwater/Tanglewood thread I thought I'd give this thread a timely bump!

Hi Spoombung & BigRedX, I really understand, and support your opinions on having less conservative designs, there really should be room for more weird and wonderful. But as one of you admitted, one of your previous forays into the murky world of capitalism didn't work out. How about setting up a new, seperate thread on bass design rather than raining on Overwater's parade and let us dullards support them in what should be a really great commercial venture for a well respected bass company? Cheers, Mike

[quote name='lifer5' post='812348' date='Apr 20 2010, 11:06 AM']I sorry for the error in translation, and thank you "telebass" for the welcome ![/quote] Welcome - better than most of our Czech!

[quote name='Kohpnyn' post='811612' date='Apr 19 2010, 06:05 PM']I get the impressions that 'feel' is one of those words that just means 'something I like'. So here's my contribution:[/quote] I do think there's a little more to it than that - great choice by the way. Like my example of Papa Was A Rolling Stone - OK, its 4 notes, we can all play it but keeping it sweet for 6+ minutes. To me, it is when there's no real virtuosity or no incredible groove going but the tone, timing and relationship to the music are just right. (Sorry, I'm getting to sound pretentious here)

So, did you ever get one?

Missed such an obvious one - Temptations - Papa Was A Rolling Stone - 7 minutes, competing with strings, five or six different voices, a harp, kitchen sink, heavy delay trumpet and yet the same repeated 4 notes just make the whole song.

[quote name='molan' post='809821' date='Apr 17 2010, 08:21 PM']Actually they were here just a week ago! [size=7][color="#800080"]JOY[/color][/size] 2 nights at the O2. I was supposed to go on the 10th but got a gig so had to pull out [color="#800080"][size=7]AND PAIN[/size][/color][/quote] Sorry, someone had to do it

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='808917' date='Apr 16 2010, 09:20 PM']Maze and Frankie Beverly are the business. Where are they now?[/quote] On tour in the US! [url="http://www.songkick.com/artists/415088-maze-featuring-frankie-beverly"]http://www.songkick.com/artists/415088-maz...frankie-beverly[/url]

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='796314' date='Apr 5 2010, 10:11 AM']Maze...what a band, and what a voice! 'Back In Stride' is amazing. The bassist really nails the groove. Thanks for posting. [/quote] Used to work in a record shop (now there's one for the "I must be getting old" thread ) which opened on Sundays as it was next to a market (South East London). If we hadn't sold anything by 10.30 on a Sunday morning we'd put Maze "Live in New Orleans" on and it was an absolute cert that we'd sell a copy! That and Lou Rawls will always be SUnday morning music to me.

I like that a lot - nice gig. Weren't you on here getting all despondent a few days back? If so, nice to see it's all panned out for you.

[quote name='Davo-London' post='807263' date='Apr 15 2010, 04:00 PM']Folks I bought a MIA Precision in 1976 and it cost my Dad £225. I still remember! In money of today this is £1200 at 5% annual inflation.[/quote] That's working on the Retail Price Index - if you go for how long it would have taken the average person to work to pay for it, today's price would be £2,600. Sorry, but the £1,200 struck me as a bit low so I went of and became an anorak for a few minutes

[quote name='Annoying Twit' post='804613' date='Apr 13 2010, 09:57 AM']Could it be like some of the ESP guitars? Where the basic woodwork and finishing is done in China (allegedly) and then it's shipped to Korea (Japan for ESP) to be finally put together and for the latter stages of finishing?[/quote] Yes, I guess "parts - Korean" is very vague but surely "parts" should be more than hardware - a neck (OK I know this one's through neck) is a part as is a body. All seems a bit underhand to me.

[quote name='chriswilliams666' post='804305' date='Apr 12 2010, 10:23 PM']I can't believe someone purchased that for £58! I'm assuming you could "whip" the fretboard off and replace the truss rod, but i personally cannot be f****d on a bass of that value. Gear 4 Music will be laughing all the way to the bank. That is one of their own branded guitars, and probably cost them £20-£30 to import.[/quote] Can't believe anyone is bringing in Korean basses at £20-£30 these days, but then again, £169 for a bass from there sounds very low with everyone moving production out to Indonesia, Vietnam and China as Korea is too expensive.

Had a really bad thought this afternoon - I just know I'm going to get hounded off the forum for this, but anyone who can make a Lennon & McCartney song sound so good must be special

[quote name='Spoombung' post='802814' date='Apr 11 2010, 05:50 PM']I largely agree with you but maybe they're conservative because they aren't offered much variety?[/quote] I'm pretty certain that's not the case - I think the power of the brand and the heritage of certain styles outweighs any new innovations and the builders have responded by giving the majority what they want. I must say though, that in my short time in retail, bass players were completetly polarised into the "old faithful" camp and the exotic custom build camp. There were a lot more of the "old faithfuls".

[quote name='Spoombung' post='802650' date='Apr 11 2010, 02:46 PM']I personally think it would be nice to see some more adventurous, eye-catching designs - more experimentation with body design, shape, contours, colour etc. Something that says "Ah, this is 2010 design".[/quote] Trouble is, most bass players (even more so guitarists) are a very conservative (small c as it's so close to an election) lot, and for every exotic Sei or space age Gus there are thousands of P's J's and Stingrays. Just look at the plaudits this forum gives the Squier CV series. I think with the strong commitment to QC that I am sure Overwater are going to apply and the strength of the brand will make this series a huge success. Could be what I will be looking for in a few months.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='802134' date='Apr 10 2010, 09:06 PM']I discovered the 'That's The Way Of The World' album when it first came out. Changed my bass playing life. I saw them live in 76 supporting my favourite band, Santana, and they just stole the show.[/quote] I REALLY must get my glasses updated - completely missed the t in this post and thought Pete had gone WAY off topic! Seriously, I'm so envious of those of you who saw them back then - I couldn't get tickets for one of the London shows then somehow missed them on subsequent visits. Did see Santana though - only gig I've ever left early!!

Just wish I'd got to see them in their heyday - incredible musicianship all round - great songs, amazing arrangements - don't you just hate 'em?

Way, way, way up there with the very best.

Don't know if lessons will get you sight reading in time, but if you're confident you will be able to play the parts from what you have heard, then sure, give it a go, a local teacher should be able to put you through your paces, and, if you do conquer the sight reading it is such a valuable tool when it comes to earning money from playing bass. Good luck - wish I'd done it!

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='800470' date='Apr 9 2010, 02:18 AM']The most important thing that you must appreciate about 5 string basses, which is largely overlooked by the un-initiated, is a concept that only those who own them and play them "get it" and that is not that a 5 string bass just allows you to play 4 notes below the low E [b]not at all[/b], in fact you are right very seldom it is required for a band playing ordinary songs to play below that, however the beauty of a 5 strings bass and what makes them really really clever is that if you are playing up the neck, say half way between frets 7 to 10 and you need to hit a low F, you would need to jump all the way back to the 1st fret on the E string to get that, whereas with a "fiver" you will save time and hand travelling effor by simply hitting that F on the B strings on the 6th fret or a G on 8th fret and so forth. Essentially, once you have trained your hand/brain (and believe me it doesn't take long, a month or two max) to travel distances across the strings rather than longitudinally across the neck, you will find it a lot easier to play, saving energy in fast runs, which in the end it makes a hell of a lot of difference when you are playing a 12 songs set every night. So in conclusion whoever was the first person that invented the 5 strings bass didn't do it for the simple benefit of adding 4 lower notes but to make life easy for bass players who are having to deal with such a long neck facilitating a new approach to a wider range of notes within a shorter space. On a 4 string bass a 2 octave scale will have you chainging posision almost every 3 notes whereas you can do a whole 2 octave major scale on a 5 string bass with one position change only! Once I got that concept registered in my brain it has been difficult switching back to 4 strings and I know I am not alone as all other 5ers I know out there all share my same feelings. Oh and best ever 5 string necks are Stingrays, no doubt about, no flappy low b, tight as f*** and plenty percussive resonance to boot.[/quote] Without thinking it through as eloquently as the Grand Wazoo, this is how I came to 5 strinq playing. I used to play rhythm guitar in a big band so loads of Bb, Ab, Eb -. When I returned to bass and started playing at jam nights I was completely b*ggered playing in open E - which let's face it, is every jam night guitarist's favourite key. With a five string I was much happier playing from the B string at the 5th fret. The other big plus key is D - on a four string you're almost in the guitar register and too far up the dusty end. Having said all that, after playing a lot of EUB recently, I'm toying with teh idea of giving a four string another go.

Harper Simon - boy does he sound like his Dad (not a bad thing of course).

Have you got the opportunity to try another bass - fretless, acoustic or even a very different model to yours, or plug in to a few effect pedals. Just fool around for a bit. Try some stuff that is not your usual genre (great current thread in Off Topic for inspiration) - I remember trying out the Country setting on a Fender G-Dec guitar amp and was amazed at the Country licks I could come up with. Sorry if none of this is of any use.