Mrbigstuff

Overwater might not be out of budget. My 2017 fretless jazz had optional extras including a flamed top and I believe that was below the £2500 mark. In fact I was looking at a Fender Jaco artist bass before it because I thought the Overwater would be really expensive but it was around the same price. Always worth sending Chris an enquiry

When you get to these price points it’s very specific to what you want from the instrument. Martin uses more exotic woods, Sadowskys are perfect for someone who plays a variety of shows, neither hold value very well. As someone who plays mostly in my bedroom, I prefer something more exotic so I would probably favour the Sei. However, I actually favoured Overwater when I had a super jazz built, and the other bass I really want is a 5 string Ken Smith Black Tiger.

Agreed. I made my first visit this year and while the shop is small they have some unbelievable stuff. I also found them very kind and despite it being busy they made lots of time for me. Unfortunately the girlfriend won and I came away with nothing but in the spirit of Arnie, I’ll be back!

The thing with P basses is it depends a lot on the strings. Flat wounds are my favourite, but there is even a big difference in tone between Thomastiks and Rotosounds. To me while Thomastik’s feel nicer, they completely lack warmth and character compared to the Rotosounds. I also get a very different flavour from Roundwounds. With sets of nickel and steel, the bottom end isn’t as thick or as present compared to the flats. So when trying a P, you should take the strings into consideration. I also hate the fat C necks, so I’m lucky mine came with a shallow B neck. It’s a MIM 2006 P with Lindy Fralin P/Us.

A 1979 Fender precision that was wrong in every way. The only two original bits were the body and neck. The body weighed close to an anchor and the neck was chunky with holes in it. The pickups were as plain Jane as you’ve ever heard, and the foam underneath them had disintegrated so the pickups had effectively sunk into the body. The bridge had rusted as had the strings which might actually have been original but they would have been better used as a saw blade. The case wasn’t original and only had one working hinge and no latches. At £500 I thought it was worth a try... it wasn’t. Also those Hofner violin basses are horrible to hold.

Did anyone see the 75 Jazz bass on Facebook today for just £1250? Why do these bargains only come up when I have no money and bills to pay rather than when I'm looking for a new bass. Is it just me or does this happen to anyone else?

Don’t leave a pint on top. Someone’s done this on my rig before while laying their set, and I got a bit angry and got fired from the gig afterwards. But even now I’m still more upset that someone didn’t care enough about another bass player that he left a pint on my rig!!!

I'll kick things off. My dream setup would be my fretless Overwater Jazz, a Ken Smith Black Tiger 5, and a vintage Fender Jazz. Amp wise I love my Markbass combo but the Aguilar DB751 through a DB810 is something else. I've had Hartke for while and didn't rate it anywhere near the warmth and definition from the Markbass and Aguilar amps. Bass wise my Fender P bass covers most stuff but I also have a Sire V7 that is fantastic. I've had both Warwicks and Musicman Stingrays before and sold them both on fairly quickly. The problem is that once you get to high end it's all personal taste as the differences can be quite minimal.

Where are you auditioning for? Different colleges will expect different skillsets and skill levels depending on how few spaces they have available. Places like BIMM or ACM have much lower standards compared to somewhere like RCM.

Yeh, but if you're at a jam and the keys player says the tune is in Gb you don't want to have to think "that's the same as F#" because if you learn the scale thinking about both, you won't have to think when playing either.

Ready aim improvise is a popular choice book wise. Or if you like funk lines there is one that I had with loads of 4 bar patterns, can’t remember what it’s called though. Really though the ability to improvise comes from learning scales/ arpeggios (chord tones)/ and theory to a point where you no longer need to think about it. It’s hard work but makes a huge difference to the way you play music. You say you’re a pattern player, well everything is created from a scale/ chord so that’s a good place to start. Another idea is to copy something else in a song. So say the guitar, keys, horns, or strings, or even singer plays a line, you could copy some of that to the bass as a fill.

Only heard great things about Hamilton. I tried to get tickets before Christmas but it seems to be impossible!

What a great way to start playing bass. I seem to be working backwards through time and genres, and big bands are something I know less about.

Amazing, serves me right for being so impatient and not looking properly! Thanks for correcting.

A nice resource Ian, it I was looking for bass clef parts rather than the full arrangements. Guessing there aren’t many big band players on basschat?

I'm looking to practice my reading and walking lines and wondered if anyone had any big band charts they could share?

I was dismissing the reference to it being "nonsense". I don't actually like all things Jaco myself, although I can't actually play half of it.

He actually studied violin books which is where he claimed to find most of the harmonics from. Bassists were already tuning using harmonics before that anyway.

As I've not got much going on today I'll offer a thought. A common analogy for music is often that it is like a language. So, say someone is speaking Chinese and you don't understand it, does that make it nonsense? Of course not, if you learnt Chinese you would probably understand it. It can be argued that it is the same with music. If you learnt and enjoyed jazz vocabulary that is similar to those that influenced Jaco, the chances are you will then enjoy it because you can relate to it.

I would love a Ken Smith Black Tiger 5. Played one once and it was the most luxurious bass I've ever played, just perfection! This one was apparently at Bass Direct

Looks a little like a flamed Zebrano?

My 'Bass of Doom'. [attachment=255621:IMG_1370.jpg]

So nickels wear less than steels? I generally use steels so I had a set on the bass when I got it, but I was shocked at how quickly the board marked. Might be worth buying some nickels and tape wounds I guess and comparing?

I’ve played one and it was sublime. Not been a big fan of Musicman stingrays after having a 3eq one in the past, but this bass completely changed my opinion. The neck felt wonderfully smooth and the tone with everything flat was warm and punchy throughout. And they look stunning.