ThomBassmonkey

[quote name='Dr.Dave' post='748263' date='Feb 17 2010, 11:57 AM']Me too but only regarding your second comment - I won't be shifting mine. It's easy to use and see , reliable , wouldn't gig without it. 3u shallow rackbag , Korg tuner , GK head - leave me alone , I'm a happy man with the right tools for my job.[/quote] Do you leave a gap for the amp to have a bit of space for cooling? I'm using the same setup (700RB-II and Korg DTR) in a 4u rack case, it's way bigger than it needs to be though and I'm not convinced the head actually needs an entire rack space when the vent extends beyond the Korg and it never seems to heat up (although it's not had any extended use yet).

Try emptying your cache (I can't find the clear cache option in the new FF, but if you go to tools->options->privacy->settings you can set it so that it clears your cache every time you shut down FF, then just reboot FF and if you want, turn that option off). That could help.

New amp, so photos came out today.

I'm using a DTR-1000. Not really had a chance to use it yet, seems good though. Although today it was giving me a bit of grief over my B string, but it was while I was setting up my bass so it was probably all over the place anyway. Remember if you're using a tuner and a 2u head, you should get a 4u rack case so there's room for the head to vent.

It's fair enough for him to question your tone, but you shouldn't have to give up a bass you love. If you and the drummer (and anyone else in the band) thinks it's ok, maybe he should go and buy a bass for you. If he has the problem with the tone and someone has to buy a new bass, surely it should be him? On another note, there's plenty you can do to change your tone. New amp, graphic EQ, FX, different strings, different pickups, different techniques, amp sim (line 6 or the like). There's loads of options and most of them are a fair bit cheaper than buying a new bass and almost all of them won't require you to sell one of your current basses or risk pissing off the missus.

Been raised around music and got forced into piano lessons aged 5 and then keyboard at 11, never got on with them though but I do attribute a certain amount of my ability to being surrounded by music and learning to play at a young age. Started playing bass because a friend got a guitar, I only really started to properly learn to play after getting into Incubus. Dirk Lance completely changed the way that I looked at the instrument. No longer was it a way of pumping out a rhythm while reinforcing the note being played, it opened up runs and other parts and styles. Now I'm more influenced by whoever I play with. Although I say I have a relatively bluesy style (I love blues bass playing, never really been into the music as a whole though) I pretty much just play along with whatever the drummer and guitarist are doing.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='746954' date='Feb 16 2010, 10:27 AM']Nothing clever about it. The pinkie just has a bigger reach. Also, the third finger is dependent upon the second for its muscle power and is, thus, less flexible. If you place your hand flat on a tale then curl your middle (longest) finger underneath your palm, you cannot move the third independently as teh muscle is locked into the finger being restrained.[/quote] Actually, that's to do with tendons and bone structure. Most bassists' 1, 2 and 3 fingers will be fine at fretting. The problem is that the pinky is a lot weaker in general. If you fret the 3rd fret with your ring finger, then that's providing all the strength needed to pull the string from where it usually sits to the neck, then you'll find that the little finger has way less work to do to hold down the 4th fret since it's only moving the string a tiny bit instead of all the way from it's unfretted position. Same thing works with the first and second finger, just that because they're further away from your pinky, it's not quite as efficient as your ring.

I have an ABS case for one of my basses and have to say it's great. It's in a mess now, but the bass inside has never suffered for it. I used to walk a mile and a half-ish to and from college with it over a hill and it took it's toll, but it was still do-able. It's toured Europe several times too and survived the ordeal. Had it for about 9 years and it's never let me down.

My new cab showed up today so thought I'd grab some photos of that with my basses. The lighting's incredibly bad in my front room, so the pics are all a bit dark but the general idea's there. Ibanez BTB406QM (left) and Brice HXB406 (right) basses. Korg DTR-1000 tuner, Gallien Krueger 700RB-II head and a GK 210RBH cab. (and yes, I need to get a vent to fill that stupid gap between the DTR and the 700RB) Close up of the BTB (yes she's a filthy but I like 'em a bit dirty): Back of the BTB (showing a bit of the 5 piece neck and a few rather nasty looking scratches): The Brice:

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='746809' date='Feb 16 2010, 07:04 AM']<pedant> If the root is C, then the minor 3rd is Eb, not D#. I know they're enharmonic equivalents, so they sound the same, but they perform different functions within the scale. "C, D, D#, F" is part of no scale I've ever seen. D# would be a sharpened second (or usually a sharpened ninth in a chord symbol), and you'd usually see it in fruity little numbers like C7#9 (the "Hendrix chord") where it coexists with the major 3rd, causing a lovely little tense clash. </pedant>[/quote] Bugger My version of theory is all based on the neck. I can't read music (used to be able to years ago but it's all gone since then) so I just kinda make it up as I go along.

[quote name='XB26354' post='746407' date='Feb 15 2010, 07:57 PM']I can play all over the neck of a 6-string with 35" scale using 1FPF for moderate periods without much ache, however I wouldn't recommend it (and don't do it) for extended periods as it will cause hand injuries for many bass players. The general guide is that somewhere between the 5th and 7th frets (and lower) is the most relevant place to shift to Simandl. The best training guide out there is Standing in the Shadows of Motown as the bulk of Jamerson's lines use Simandl. "Darling Dear" comes to mind as a great track that uses the "box" shape. No pain, no gain definitely does not apply when playing a musical instrument - if your hands are hurting, stop playing. Er, unless you're playing at a gig or a recording session, otherwise you might get the sack [/quote] I play 1fpf on my 6 string for extended periods through gigs or practices. I play originals though so I have wiggle room if I can feel my wrist stretching. There's very few reasons why 1fpf is 100% required with no workaround, usually there's a different string or a small run you can use to break up the stretching. There's only maybe been one or two songs I've played where I've just had to endure for a whole section (and I've practiced those songs to death, so I'm capable of doing it, I just need to take it easy for the section after or have a short rest at practices). Also raising up my bass helps a hell of a lot with it since my wrist's in a far less awkward position. You're right about taking rests in general if you're hurting your hands (especially your wrists) while playing. It's always worth trying and also trying to look at your technique and see if there's anything you could do to improve it and help with your playing. If you're not careful, RSI can permanently stop you playing an instrument when raising your bass by a couple of inches could've prevented you even having it.

Purely from looking at the picture, I'd expect volume, treble, bass and pickup dial. Shine do make some lovely instruments, their QC is dire though so I'd never buy one unseen.

If it can keep up with a drummer (who I'm assuming won't be mic'd up) in a small room, it should be ok for a big room too.

How high is your bass, what angle is it at and what's the biggest stretch you do regularly in your set (especially around when you start getting cramps)?

Jeez What happens if you trip over the lead and accidentally pull it out? And that's assuming it doesn't pull over the stack and cause a small earthquake. Amps really do vary on wattages, I've been using a 150w Carlsbro for almost 9 years and it's always been plenty loud enough for anything I've tried to do with it without clipping (according to the LED and it's always sounded fine) but it's a bit of a beast in that you can max the volume without any problems then get the gain right to set your volume if you need LOUD. Played quite a few gigs to 100+ people without going through the PA. I've seen some 300w combos (usually Ashdown IME) that can barely even handle a band practice. Sound techs can be pains when they don't know what they're doing. My old band all met through college and two of us went on to start a degree in studio engineering (I only did a year, the singer finished it) so we know what all the little knobs do, if you dare mention that an instrument needs to go up or down though, some sound techs throw a wobbly. Obviously there's a lot that're great about it and realise they don't know what you want your band to sound like and it's not up to them to decide, but there's always a few. Having a similar problem at the moment too because my current band has a flute so in rock venues, noone knows what to do with it. Though most are more accepting of help when they're completely baffled.

I got a phonecall earlier about the cab saying it'll be arriving with me tomorrow (which is earlier than they originally said, so all good). Not had an email confirmation or receipt yet though, but that might come tomorrow I guess. Hopefully it shows tomorrow and I shall be a happy bunny.

[quote name='Killstarz' post='745940' date='Feb 15 2010, 03:14 PM']Is it wrong to just improvise 90% of this song, as i do, every gig we play? should i learn every one of fleas fills (improvs) note for note?[/quote] It's what Flea does, so if anyone questions it, you just tell them "I copy what Flea does exactly"

Had a GK 700RB-II for less than a fortnight and the 210RBH cab should be here in a few days. Streamer or Corvette $$ (need to find somewhere that has both in stock in the midlands.) 5 or 6 string (depending on if I actually start using the c on my ibanez) Hopefully that'll be sorted in the summer.

[quote name='gjones' post='745387' date='Feb 14 2010, 11:21 PM']From my experience of talking to professional sound engineers, is they love bands that don't have a loud backline. It causes feedback by being picked up by onstage mics - which means the vocals and acoustic instruments can't be turned up and end up lost in the mix.[/quote] It's not just the feedback, it's that a sound engineer's main job is to control the levels, it's impossible to do that if you can't turn down an instrument because the amp's up so loud that even with the channel muted it's overpowering. I've been pretty lucky with guitarists in my bands but I've played with some real twits of bands at gigs. They come along with their 100w marshall stack then moan because they can't crank it to get the tone. Most haven't even heard of an attenuator. One guitarist in one of my bands had a TSL100 but at least he realise he couldn't crank it. It didn't sound great but it kept engineers happy.

Still not completely sure I agree with the PA thing, if the drums aren't going through the PA then all you need to compete with is the drums and that doesn't change wherever you are. I see the point of those talking about PAs that sound awful or that have bad monitoring though. It only really makes sense for much bigger venues though as the smaller venues (not pub floor style, the smaller dedicated venues) are usually (but not always) big enough that 300w is enough. Very interesting discussion though. I know it all comes down to headroom, I guess it just varies depending on peoples' mixes amongst other things.

[quote name='deaver' post='745050' date='Feb 14 2010, 06:01 PM']Burns Flyte through a WEM Dominator MkII. Somewhere I've got the photos to prove it, when I can dig them out I'll put them up here.[/quote] Something I've never been able to work out, are the dommies guitar or bass amps? I have a mkIII I'm trying to flog and I've always used it as a guitar amp, but I've wondered if they started off life as a bass amp and went through the same transition as some Fenders. It's cool looking back over the gear from yesteryear. Lots of people seem to be starting out on Peaveys and Carlsbros. I'm sure people talking in a similar thread in 20 years would all be talking about their old Ashdowns they wished they never sold hehe.

[quote name='macmellus' post='744963' date='Feb 14 2010, 04:54 PM']Don't really want to get bogged down here, but my example was for right hand technique, not left. Also your exercise isn't very clear. What do you mean by 'as intervals' and 'higher up the fret'? Are you only using one string? Either way, whether on one or two strings I'm not using all my fingers. What is the actual sequence of notes? Also, what do you mean by 'wrong fingers'?[/quote] Ah ok sorry, I thought you were talking about left hand and I meant fretboard (just missed off the board). I'm basically talking about the first four notes of a minor (in the example) and major scales. So the example in C would be: [code]------------- -------3----- -3-5-6---6-5- -------------[/code] repeated. It's an easy enough riff for people to learn and start to get a bit faster but after a certain point you need to use first, ring and little finger or it's impossible to reach from the D# to the F smoothly. Hope that explains it a bit better.

[quote name='dumelow' post='744913' date='Feb 14 2010, 04:07 PM']why isnt flea on the video for this? [/quote] That's not the version that had Flea playing on it. It's on Jagged Little Pill and there's two versions, that one and the one in this video (apologies, it's someone playing guitar hero but it has the right bassline for a reference.)

Just started another thread on this without looking. My bad. Anyway, I'll post here what I posted there (in response to the other thread). Macmellus, generally I just teach fingering using scales. Students get a lashing if they use the wrong fingers. wink.gif I'll have a play with your suggestion next time I'm on my bass though and see how it feels. Another one I use (for both hands) is (as intervals, I start off higher up the fret[board]) 1, 2, minor 3, 4 and back down (so for example C, D, D#, F, D#, D, C.) Then play about with speed, get them doing it fast enough (once they've got it slowly of course) and there's no real option than use all four fingers because of the jump up from D to F. Same thing with the major scale, 1st to 4th and they have to use 4th finger to 1st for the movement from 2nd to 3rd. Faithless, good point. It's something that a LOT of people do because they think Blink-182 (and other bands) are doing it right. It may not look as cool, but at least you don't have to stop playing after 15 minutes because you have RSI. Plus the extra reach definitely helps. Another thing I see a lot in relation to positioning is elbows stuck into the sides when sat down. __ endorka, are you talking about reach or strength? Both can be problems in terms of 1fpf but a strength issue can be resolved with enough (gentle) practice IME. If the problems stretching then generally some improvement can be made but it's far more limiting depending on (as you say) how the player's hand is built.