OliverBlackman

[quote name='Doddy' post='1065258' date='Dec 20 2010, 10:54 PM']I know,I'm sounding a bit harsh,but you come across as having typical teenage brashness,which although it has it's place right now,it will come as a huge culture shock if you get out into the music world beyond your school.[/quote] This is very very very true. I moved to Guildford thinking i was pretty much the bees knees, i too had completed grade 5, been told im one of the better students and was the only person in my town who understood what a bass was. I was wrong, i knew nothing and i was made to feel it pretty quickly.

I dont think any at 15 needs to rush, just carry on enjoying what your doing. When you feel you've got as far as you can by yourself then find a proffessional in london and go to their gigs, talk to them and see what it is that their doing that makes them better than yourself. Reading books and interviews is all ok but it will never compete with the real life experiences. If you want to get really good my best advice would be to leave school after GCSE'S and do a course in music, no matter how much your parents say no. I ended up waiting 2 years until after A levels and i consider myself 2 years behind. Good places to go would be Music College of Leeds, ICMP, ACM ect.

look out for warwicks on ebay, some german streamers can go for around the £300 mark. Also the Rockbass Fortress was a really good 5 string

Maybe think about ordering an Elrick Jazz? (http://www.expatnjs.com/) Theyve been out for a while now and have been incredibly popular with reviewers in the states. A bit pricey i know but with the "Take away" deal it wouldnt be too bad

I think you must have a minimum of 6: 1X Fender P bass (My preference would be a 60's example) 2X Fender Jazz Bass (1X60's, 1X70's) 1X Musicman Stingray (obvs a 70's) 1X5 string fretless 1X5 string fretted (Fodera, Alembic, Ken Smith??? Happy dreams) If you had all these what gig couldn't you do?

[quote name='endorka' post='1058475' date='Dec 14 2010, 01:05 PM']In fairness, myself and several others have also written on the thread advocating this point of view. Jennifer[/quote] Thanks Jennifer, just maybe if the points repeated enough it might be listened to

I agree that funk is a feel but, when you say the "sound of funk", surely you are refering to the origional recordings of origional funk lines. Thats what i would do if i was told to play in the style and sound of funk in a session, and im sure mr pratt wouldn't use them strings on a real session. Of course im generalising, there are some situations where new strings would be perfect for the line, but thats not often what was done in the 60's and 70's. My veiw on whats crap is people thinking you need a good bass to sound good, rubbish!

[quote name='Plux_the_Duck' post='1058249' date='Dec 14 2010, 10:01 AM']+1 to apart from the pushing the strings hard, I find it easiest to get a funky sound when I'm just tickling the strings. what sort of funk sound do you want? you going for the 60s sound or the 70s? I'd get yourself some DR low riders, but most importantly check your technique!!![/quote] I would love to see Jamerson "tickling" strings.

funky_numba. There seems to be a lot of utter crap on this thread. Instead of blaming it on an amp, bass, pickups, set up whatever, it is in reality all about the technique. And by this i don't just mean right hand, the left hand is just as important. On the right hand you want to really push hard on the strings to make sure your pushing the strings for all that they can give, then your left hand needs to be firm to let the note ring out propperly. Someone mentioned more treble and new strings for a funk sound? Really? Because if you look at chic/ sister sledge/ E.W.F, the strings they use are either pretty dead or flatwounds. This gives a really mellow tone which i think favours the low mids. I think at the end of the day, you should try to find a proffessional who can talk you through all this, and hopefully give advice on how to set up a bass too. I think once you have the fundamentals you can then explore how upgrading basses, pickups, and strings may help.

If your new to bass, look into the major's boot camp as theres some really good lessons in there. If i had seen that when i started i would probably be gigging a lot more!

I think im at a very similar stage to you. I had 3 fantastic lessons with Jakesbass and now im just going through Simandl whenever time allows (not much at the minute) but iv got to the third position which redicuousloy is something liek page 17 out of 200. A long but fun journey ahead then The hardest thing i find is bowing while reading, if i learn a piece my bowing sounds great and i barely get any squeaks or rub, but if i read whilst bowing i sometimes get all sorts of noises :@

The pegs were made of a very thin metal although he might have trod on it ....... But i have another friend with an american deluxe jazz bass and his tuning peg snapped off too. I think apart from the most recent models, most new fenders have been poorly made compared to musicman and warwick. Unless you just play in a bedroom i personally wouldn'y buy the bass as a gigging instrument.

[quote name='Conan' post='1049363' date='Dec 6 2010, 02:56 PM']Yeah. I always find inflatable Santas throw my timing...[/quote] i think some of them girls come inflated too

great sound, crap quality. My mate ended up replacing his tuning pegs with 50p coins as the origionals all snapped off

is molan's performance p still for sale? Its a little bit more but god i would be tempted if i could

logic's not too bad

great feel, maybe look at different finger positions in the verse, i can play it all in 4 frets except for going down to the F at the end. Could make it easier and the timing will improve because of it

[quote name='Michaelg' post='1034468' date='Nov 23 2010, 09:25 PM']to be honest, amplifiers are more integral to a bass sound [/quote] I disagree with you as the idea of an amplifier is to make the sound louder, but obviously a 15inch speeker is different to a 12 and a 10 inch. BUT, i watched the video in your sig, and thats a really great sound. Whats the bands name?

Just bought a tokai jazz off here, the only fender jazz bass iv played thats anywhere near as good is a £2k custom shop model i tried in dokota red. But then im sure theres some really great mexican fender jazz basses..... somewhere

[quote name='Beedster' post='1025593' date='Nov 16 2010, 10:23 AM']Reading a couple of threads on here this morning and they got me to thinking about the magic projected onto 60s and 70s Fenders, and the fact that it rarely extends to 80s Fenders, despite the fact that the latter instruments are often way superior in build and playability? OK, there's loads of factors for sure, but is it partly a result of the 80s simply being more associated with other brand basses. When I think about the 80s I always see names like Wal, Ibanez, Yamaha, Steinberger etc., and instruments from the 80s from these brands seem to have some vintage cache, whilst Fenders of the era don't? Just thought I'd chuck that into the maelstrom of speculation [/quote] I think most people buy basses depending on what the heroes play. A lot of great bassists played 60's and 70's fenders, wal's, steinbergers. But i can't remember seeing a picture where a famous bass player is using an 80's fender. Maybe im just too young and am very wrong, having not actually lived through the 80's.

Rockshool are a bag of crap. I would advise taking guildhall. I took grade 5 rockshool, i got a piece of paper saying i had a merit, that was it. With Guildhall i got a marking sheet which said where improvements could be made. Guildhall then is money well spent. Rockshcool in my opinion is a complete waste of it

what are they made like? will they damage the fretless fingerboard easily like roundwounds?

a joke i heard off stu hamm Whats the difference between a jazz player and a large pizza A pizza will feed the family

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1011920' date='Nov 4 2010, 12:21 PM']Right my band are quite established, never going to go anywhere but get some good support slots so I'm happy with that. The guitarist has just graduated as a 'graphic designer' and takes everything far too seriously and basically thinks he knows everything, he doesn't take input any more, if anyone comes up with an idea he will say "I like it but lets go my way" now he is in another band with the drummer from this band (I was in it too but I left because I hated being in another band with him) they had a gig the other day and someone in the crowd videoed it and put it on Youtube everyone in that band was happy that someone took the time, he saw it and sent the guy an email basically telling him where he went wrong in making the video and that the camera should always be pointed at the band. That is crossing a huge line for me so I'm left with a choice I can either leave or ask the guys to carry on without him, the drummer is my best friend and he is pissed off with him too. /rant[/quote] i always see it that there are sooooo many musicians, sack the bugger and find someone with less of an ego