El Bajo

I've got an audition for a metal band and most of their songs are Drop D. I play a 6 string, at first I thought no worries as I have the D on the B but having listened to their demos they are very fast and riffy...so the question is would it really hurt my basses neck if I tune the B to a D??? I don't really want to tune the E to a D becasue that will confuse the hell out of me, though I guess I could get used to it with a bit of practice. Thanks

Bromley Cross is my neck of the woods. Are the guys from Drama! still playing with you?

I found learning to read music helped.

Its a shame the song has been played to death becasuse I enjoy playing it, just can't play it live anymore

That was excellent. Kinda sounds like early Chillis when the guitar comes in. Actually no, its how i wish the early Chillis sounded!!!

Once you've EQ'd and looked at the set up, when setting up walk as far away as you lead will let you and see how you sound. I find I sound different than when I'm up close to the Amp. get someone to twiddle the knobs for you until if sounds ok

Get the Muse and Metallica books. Decent bass lines that aren't to difficult to play. they have CDS with them. Some have the bass coming through on a left or right speaker so you can filter the bass out of required, it should say at the beginning of the book. pop along to your local music shop and have a read, then buy elswhere if its cheaper.

left hand dampens the strings

Didnt realise he actually picked the 'hammer ons'. My right hand has been playing it wrong!

About a 7. Not complex but definatly lots of stamina required. I'm playing Knights of Cydonia in a covers band and even though its roots its actually knackering. Really good bass lines.

Great lessons, haven't got a clue what your on about but I'm sure something will sink in subconsciouly.

I love the metallic sound, but when they die, they really die. My B string sounds dire at the moment I need to get that sorted asap.

Got High on everything except Social and Creativity, which makes sense seeing as I'm not in an originals band and lock myself up in the bedroom for hours practicing. The matching music sound was annoying, some sounds could have been anything. But did well with the beat clips

I watched a documentary on Nigel kennedy the other night (he seems slightly unhinged). He, and his orchestra, play with different feel and embelish some parts in some of the greatest 'covers' ever created, i.e. 4 seasons. He says whats the point in getting up everymorning to play if its the same thing day in day out. As long as its sounds ace, do it! Most bands never play it the same live anyway,

If I ever wanted to try out a fretless but didnt want to fork out lots of money I'd go for it.

What a great site. Love little snippets and examples that encourage, motivate and add colour to bass lines.

Anybody use online lessons to supplement their learning. I use the below to learn some Slap bass riffs (so I don't look like a complete tool when trying out basses in the music shop , or during rehersals where I then look up to see if anybody noticed, which they don't ). [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXfS3HYSiZo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXfS3HYSiZo[/url] I need more input...

I don't like the idea of spending 15 minutes on each area, I tried and I spent an hour just on one thing. It could be that I'm a slow learner or that I get absorbed in it and carry on going. Learning to read music is the key to alot of areas. firstly theres the obvious learning to read standard notation, which then forces you to learn the keycentre of a song. Once you know that and you have your hand resting on the fretboard all those scale drills you did when you first picked up the bass just seem to come alive under your fingers. It just made sense to me. The tricky part about standard notation is not the actual notes but the phrasing and timing, well for me anyway. Chords are important to learn, if you learn chords then you can start to disect songs, my learning is still ongoing on this one but Ed Friedlands walking bass lines helped me. With regards to technique, if you've been playing a while and whatever your doing is working then just leave it at that. If its tapping or slapping you're after then just buy abook/or DVD for this one. Chances are if you went to a bass teacher they will refuse to teach you that stuff until you've mastered everything else (mine did). For Bass try Ed Friedlands Slap it, and I also use this you tube channel to learn some riffs: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXfS3HYSiZo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXfS3HYSiZo[/url] Good luck

No idea about the flea bass but Vintage basses are good for the price, I'm looking at the AV4 in white for a back up. [url="http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintageadvance.html#av4"]http://www.jhs.co.uk/vintageadvance.html#av4[/url] but I see you want the EBMM shape. Thumbs up from me!

Don't know yet. Put the bass down for a couple of weeks while the missus has Flu and I have to take care of the baby. Got a few covers to learn for the band and theres a few slapping excercises that demand my attentions. theres also a bass instruction book that I keep starting and stopping so I think I'll spend January month working through that.

I'm the goddamn dali lama of bedroom playing. But, as soon as someone sees me play I get all sewaty and fumble. So in summary, I suck live.

Went straight from 4 to 6, odd numbers scare me. Plus like Truckstop I needed a B string. The guitarist said if your gonna get a 5 string you might aswell get a 6 string so I did, afterall I do everything guitarists tell me. Still play the 4 string at home for practice as it feels so much different and I'd hate to be caught out at an open mic night.

Afteroon and welcome. Nice to see another manc

I cleaned mine down last night and changed the strings. Took them all of to get at the grimy fretboard and boiled the C and B string becasue I didnt have any spares. I was amazed how quickly the neck starts to bow!!!!! Quickly put new set of EBs on with the boiled strings and now letting it rest for a couple of days until I get a spare hour to practice

Top Gun