socrates

Just bought a rather wonderful Sandberg California from Carl... item exactly as described and all interaction was quick and helpful. The bass was posted the next day and even the packaging was a work of art... Top chap and thoroughly recommended! cheers, Nick

darn the FSR 74 jazz has gone, overnight... think I even dreamed about it

Surely Herbie Flowers' "Granddad" must be a basschat favourite? No? OK I nominate Bennie Hill's "Ernie (the fastest milkman in the west)" -I actually think that is a good song and any time I hear it I am immediately transported back to my 70s childhood...

Just bought a fretless Westone Thunder 1a from Paul... Childhood dream fulfilled, house now full of badly played 80s bass lines... Anyway top bloke, pleasure to deal with...

In Kaye related news... this is still on iPlayer if you haven't listened already... she was quite a mean jazz guitar player too (she is playing the 6 string as she is interviewed, oddly). Given cheesy or boring bass parts by producers she always found a way to make them interesting and in most cases actually be central to the song: [url="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b05nk25s"]http://www.bbc.co.uk...rammes/b05nk25s[/url] Wichita Lineman is definitely in my top ten recordings of all time, as is God Only Knows (also her...)

How sad... these bass lines seeped into my musical unconscious many years before I even knew what a bass guitar was. Dancing Queen is amazing but also Money Money Money for example - takes a cliched octave bass part and makes it swing in an original way, absolutely central to the feel and pulse of the song...

don't think anyone has mentioned this yet: [url="http://www.musicradar.com/news/bass/paul-mccartneys-12-greatest-beatles-bass-performances-509352"]http://www.musicrada...ormances-509352[/url] Has some nice analysis and links to all the songs in one place. My favorite bit, on Michelle: Remarkably, the smooth and silky bassline which serves as a poetic counterpoint to the guitar chords, riding lightly off of Starr's hi-hat, was thought up in the studio on the spot. "I never would have played Michelle on bass until I had to record the bass line," McCartney revealed to Bass Player magazine in 1995. "Bass isn't an instrument you sit around and sing to."

Yup, RIP Ian McLagen.. stay with me a great bass line though is it just me or is there a bum note around half way through? Just adds to the live and loose feel I always think!

Hi - anyone have any experience of these yet? http://www.ibanez.co.jp/products/u_eb_page14.php?year=2014&cat_id=2&series_id=55&data_id=120&color=CL01 Fancy a cheapo 5 string for trying to learn/tinkering at home - am usually a Jazz/Precision bod so know it will be a leap but I know Ibanez are well respected... any thoughts? Nick

welcome - I have had a similar recent 'call to arms' in the last couple of years - playing both for my office party band and the parents band at my son's school. After not gigging for over 20 years its refreshing to see that some things never change... I am still the first to set up, guitarists still incessantly make random noises/solo at full volume during rehearsals when everyone else is trying to sort out arrangements etc... seriously though it is great to be playing live again even if it means rehearsing in the work gym or at other parent's houses very very quietly after the kids are in bed! It is the only way to seriously up your game in terms of technique and experience the sheer enjoyment/reward of playing in front of others. Oh and the other downside is that now I have half an excuse to buy more equipment that I don't really need... a 150 watt amp for an audience of 7 years olds in the school assembly? Why not!

Just had to add a White Denim track and up the James Jamerson quota with Franki Valli's The Night.. Bernadette already on there so this is perhaps my next favourite Jamerson performance (and I think one of his last ever?)

When I was 20 my band supported the Stone Roses, about a week after the first album came out (in Stratford Upon Avon of all places). I chatted to Mani for a quite a while at the side of the stage (the others were less approachable, although I recall Ian Brown would go into 'monkey mode' as soon as anyone pointed a camera near him). Mani was very friendly and we ended up laughing about good bass amps being 'trouser flapping' loud. We also talked about his incredible semi-acoustic Rickenbacker and how great it sounded. My stand out memory of the day however was the soundcheck - they just sort of ambled on to the stage one by one and started jamming their songs at an incredibly slow tempo... none of the 'testing testing one two' nonsense for half an hour... it was the coolest thing I have ever seen or heard. Oh, and the road crew were the scariest bunch of manc lads I had even encountered (even though they were wearing flares and floral print t-shirts). My only interaction with name bassists since then has been at gigs where I have muttered 'great gig/bass/ playing' etc after the show whilst trying desperately not to look like a stalker...

Ordered and installed P bass wiring kit - all works brilliantly, was very easy to install (especially for a soldering-phobic fat fingered bloke like me!) and vastly improves sound of an old Korean pickup noticeably already. very chuffed! thanks again for super-quick service and providing such a fool-proof package!

What a truly wonderful looking bass, and a great story - made my day! Owning a '74 Jazz bass myself I think there really is a unique look to the aging which relicing doesn't come anywhere near close to I think. I did a build project myself after a similar landmark (turning 40, first baby) and it really is most satisfying (though mine not nearly as nicely done as this, nor vintage)..

Wow I sympathise with this completely - after being a lover of jazz for years but only ever playing rock and indie (and not being a music reader), I was recently invited to play in a jazz trio with a guitarist who has been playing standards for many years and a professional violinist. I felt like an absolute plodder in comparison but now we have about an hour of material and a couple of gigs under our belt the learning curve has been phenomenal. What this has shown me is that even just reading changes is a skill in itself (in lots of other music I think we just think in terms of riffs, verse, chorus etc rather than counting out bars), before even tackling soloing and feel. The guts and confidence to get on stage with a bunch of strangers and pick up a standard off the cuff is something I aspire to one day . . .