Obsidiandesire Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Yes, I'm a young bass player... or at least compared to all you old fogies Hmm... I've just turned 16, I live in bolton, lancashire (wait, it's Greater manchester now =/) I have a Stonewood Bass + A ray pierce bass (both 4 string) Just moved from my mums and an hour in a car being bashed around has done them no good =/ Stonewood buzzes around the 2nd fret, and 14th fret=/ You can fit a bus through the action around the 12th fret on my Ray pierce... I nearly bought a Squire Jazz 5 string with my birthday money, but instead spent it on Bass lessons (up to lesson 3 now!) and a nice upgrade for my PC. Hmm... I have an Ashdown 350 amp, and a Drive 25 watt amp Other instruments (in order of skill) are Guitar, Tabla, Double bass, Keyboard and vocals. I can lay down a simple beat on drums but just don't count it really.... I also know the basics of a few brass instruments (Euphonium to tenor horn range) As far as bass playing skill, I get told often I'm a natural (Will have been playing 2 years on wednesday!!) I'm hoping to go for my grade 8 exam sometime this year (If i can fit it in to GCSE's) and eventually take up teaching bass as a part time job. I like to play with a kind of slap groove based around mainly pentatonic scales (and the few ones i kinda made up myself) My favorite players (in order) would be: Stuart Hamm Billy Sheehan Jacov Pastorius (don't know how to spell that one) Victor Wooten Flea and Les claypool so pretty standard really I'm in a band at school, but they're not dedicated enough really. We've covered Dani California, The pretender, Smells like teen spirit (to actually teach another band in school how to play it :/) and done 4 of our own songs (all with a female singer ) I spent a week in august at the Liverpool Institute of performing arts summer school, where I met the most amazing singer (who sounds like Matt Bellamy off Muse) and made a very very good song (if I say so myself) My main gripes about bass is that it's grossly understated =/ I like to be LOUD (which i know can be bad sometimes, so I try to turn down) and I like to show off but I've not even been allowed a Bass solo in a gig yet with my current band. I had a good one at LIPA though My other main hobby is Computers, and Maths/Physics/space -.- I dabble in photography sometimes too I hope to provide lots of input on this site! But I have to say I'm relatively inexperianced, I still struggle at reading bass clef (although I know where the notes are and all my note lengths and trills/mordents/aciaccatura's etc) and not many scales, and obviously not much on the whole bass scene really. So there's gonna be a lot of give + take on my part [Insert ending with witty statement here] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlbbb Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 That's quite the indepth introduction! Welcome to the boards! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsidiandesire Posted March 9, 2008 Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 Thankyou It saves explinations later:) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dood Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Welcome aboard!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul, the Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 [quote name='karlbbb' post='153897' date='Mar 9 2008, 01:39 PM']That's quite the indepth introduction! Welcome to the boards! [/quote] +1, nice one! welcome along. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 [quote name='Obsidiandesire' post='153896' date='Mar 9 2008, 01:33 PM']My main gripes about bass is that it's grossly understated =/ I like to be LOUD (which i know can be bad sometimes, so I try to turn down) and I like to show off but I've not even been allowed a Bass solo in a gig yet with my current band. I had a good one at LIPA though [/quote] Who says you need permission? Drown out the singer during a verse. Or if you're in a less obnoxious mood, take one when your guitarist takes one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allighatt0r Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Welcome! I'm a fellow young one, although not quite as young (I'm 18), and i must say it seems to me like you're made a much better start for yourself than i have, I've never taken lessons, so my technique is rather flawed, so my advice to you is make sure you learn things the right way, and don't learn things the wrong way and try to convert to the right way And i totally know what you mean about bass players being undervalued. The way i see it, is that we would be missed if we suddenly disappeared, but we're never really noticed when we are there (that is, unless you've got some good trouser shaking going on, but i get told off for that.... ) Also, my brother is a bassist too, and he's at college studying Musical Performance, and he's finally playing with people as committed as him. (Only thing is, all but one of them are not as advanced as him, so he has the opportunity for solos, but the saxophone player has a big habit of claiming all the solos.) Sorry for such a huge post back, but i thought yours was large enough to deserve one back. P.S. I wish we had a female singer. I love female rock singers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsidiandesire Posted March 9, 2008 Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 My female singer annoys me =/ She sings perfectly in tune (though sometimes manages to drift out of SCALE, not key, for example if we play in the key of C and say, hit an E... She'll hit a F# =/) Apart from that she's ok but out of band, we don't get along, think Axl Rose + Slash. Yeh there's a double bass player in my school who turns bass to max on his amp, everything else to 0 and volume to max (which i've banned him from using my amp for that reason) and he gets to play in like the Jazz band / various other side projects going on in our music departments, I had to force the teacher into letting me play in the Orchestra =[ As for bass solo's.... I constantly get told to turn down in practice (i set my volume roughly the same as the guitarist) so one particular practice session I turned my volume controls on my bass to 0 and played along... Noone noticed. On my final gripe: The most often things I hear in school: "Why does his guitar have 4 strings" "What's a bass?" So i've gone to yelling at people if they call it a guitar, it's called a [i]Bass[/i] guitar Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Funk Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 "Why does his guitar have 4 strings?" -> answer "to give the guitarist a sporting chance" or "two of his strings serve a purely cosmetic function" "What's a bass" -> "something I'll hit you with if you ask me that question again" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsidiandesire Posted March 9, 2008 Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 I might actually use them! lol or buy a 6 string bass to really confuse them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allighatt0r Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 [quote name='Obsidiandesire' post='154031' date='Mar 9 2008, 05:28 PM']As for bass solo's.... I constantly get told to turn down in practice (i set my volume roughly the same as the guitarist) so one particular practice session I turned my volume controls on my bass to 0 and played along... Noone noticed.[/quote] I think that's more of a problem of their's than the people in general, I'm sure my band would notice if they couldn't hear me, the other day they said something to me to the effect of "You need more bass, you sound almost like an extra guitarist" So at least they pay attention to how i sound. I personally don't think about the idiots that don't know/care what a bass is/does, and i play to the best of my ability for my own pleasure, and for the few in the room that are actually paying attention to me. Also, if a attractive young woman asks you what a bass is, tell her it was that rumbling she felt in her trousers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsidiandesire Posted March 9, 2008 Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 I like that phrase, I may just steal it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeh Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Welcome to the boards, i think us northerners may actually be out numbering the southerners soon!!! Have you noticed theres a get together in St Annes next week? The Mini North West Bass Bash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsidiandesire Posted March 9, 2008 Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 I havn't. Would I be welcome as such a youngster? Where abouts up north are you from? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeh Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Everyone is welcome Well Bass Players anyway. I live in a crappy town Nr Liverpool..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsidiandesire Posted March 9, 2008 Author Share Posted March 9, 2008 and that would be? I lived in Oxton, Birkenhead for 4 years so I may just know the place Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeh Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 Its not that bad really, its called skelmersdale, Nr Ormskirk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
karlbbb Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 [quote name='mikeh' post='154269' date='Mar 9 2008, 11:05 PM']Its not that bad really, its called skelmersdale, Nr Ormskirk.[/quote] Gah. I feel for you mate. Skem is crap. My Grandma lives in Skem. As does my current roommate (we're living in South Shields atm). I live in Billinge, just down the road from ya! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obsidiandesire Posted March 10, 2008 Author Share Posted March 10, 2008 Yeah an old singer from one of my bands lives in Ormskirk, isn't the internet such a small place? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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