jamesbass116

Here's my [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A1TBQLIaoc"]New Video!!![/url] It's of me playing Darling Dear by the Jackson 5. Amazing bassline by one of my biggest influences... James Jamerson. Tell me what you think!

Started playing bass 5 years ago when I was 13. I had been playing french horn for 5 years previously and decided that I wanted to learn either guitar or bass just for fun. Didn't really want to take it seriously. Asked some guitar friends at school and they all recommended I play bass (...didn't want any competition clearly! ). Bought my first bass, a Squier affinity P-bass and a little practice amp... 5 years, 5 basses and 3 amps later I'm still playing and am Studying bass performance at ICMP next year! ...Oh and I still play horn! 10 years and counting... Also, great idea thinking up this thread! I find it really interesting knowing why fellow basschatters wanted to take up bass! James

Thanks a lot Martin! It's truly appreciated I'll make sure to post more videos soon!

Glad to see you got some results from your Hartke rig! I've got the LH500 head and 4x10 Hydrive cab and it really is a great combo. All the bands I've played in have been in awe of my amps tone and power. Hartke really do some amazing rigs!

Here's me playing a Dave Weckl playalong tune! Sorry about the rough quality! Was done on my phone... next one will hopefully be a bit better! [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1BsaCFDMyA"]My youtube video[/url] Please subscribe to my page for more bass videos soon! Also... if you want you can follow my twitter account [url="http://twitter.com/#!/JamesSmyth11"]HERE[/url] Thanks!

Some very strong opinions on slap... Is this a bad time to mention I just bought Stuart Claytons Slap bass technique book?...

Video of me noodling over a Dave Weckl Playalong track.. WARNING: I wasn't really warmed up Sorry about the bad quality. It was recorded on my iPhone! [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1BsaCFDMyA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1BsaCFDMyA[/url]

I refrained and only bought some DR strings: 2 sets of Marcus sig strings for my fender jazz 4 and 5 and a set of the DR orange neon strings (to be used at an appropriate time). Almost bought a markbass synth but did well to resist any impulse buying...

[quote name='molan' post='1162219' date='Mar 14 2011, 07:39 PM']I checked out the Foderas before they were packed away and they all survived without a scratch - which was lucky given the Yin Yang was my personal bass I did have a couple of nervous moments though, lol[/quote] Ahh that was you!! I was the person you let play the bass through the little korg mini effects unit. I wanted to thank you personally but you were in the middle of helping someone else out so I'll thank you on here...Thank you SO much for letting me play on your fantastic bass! If I had the money I'd have bought it on the spot I don't remember being too rough with it I hope

Went on sunday and thought it was a great show. Highs: Seeing TM Stevens TEAR IT UP (anyone know what songs he was playing?) Getting my fingers on an amazing Yamaha 6 string.. the neck was the same width as my 5 Being able to play on the Fodera YinYang bass, what a fantastic piece of wood Getting my scratchplate signed by Stu Hamm ...and being allowed to play my old fender jazz through all the fantastic amps there (EBS/MarkBass/Hartke/Trace Elliott and my new personal favourite, TC Electronic) Lows: Missing Janek's set thanks to the damn trains!! Slap: wayyyy too much. At least they enforced that 30 minute silence today, couldn't even imagine what it was like yesterday!! I'll admit I contributed to the slap noise for a bit but I only did it to test out the various amps and bass's versatility as I'm not actually that good and didn't want to disgust anyone with my poor thumb Not being able to try out Ampeg stuff because of the Chops monster occupying the stall for the whole day. It's all well and good hearing someone else show you how good an amp is, but it could sound completely different when someone else plays it.. Seeing and hearing a guy bashing the hell out of a Fodera Imperial and getting worried whether it was on the verge of breaking. Stu Hamm's set. Started off quite rusty but in all fairness he picked it up for the end so at least it ended well...and I learnt some new jokes! Apart from the minuses it was an AMAZING show and I can't wait for next year! Might try and see if there's a way I could work at it...

Went to bass show today and walked straight into a chorus of slapping. Some of it was amazing but there was just wayyyy too much for my liking! I'll admit to contributing but I only did it to see how the tone varies on different basses/amps, seeing as I went there to find a new Amp/5 String. I did feel quite bad for the Amp corner as they had a slap monster tearing up a Warwick bass in the Ampeg section... Amazing, but you felt somewhat inadequate if you just played a nice simple groove nearby! When you have people like Stu Hamm, TM Stevens and Mark King performing then people are going to be slap happy. Slapping lowlight: Hearing and Seeing a guy literally HITTING the strings on a Fodera Imperial trying to get a sound out of it. Apart from that it was a great show! EDIT: Sorry for posting it 7 times!! got a bit frustrated with the post reply button and my slow internet..

New track on my Soundcloud! Link in my sig and in the Original Post