Leaderboard

I only take my hand of the neck when they stop screaming.

I wanted to put a thumb rest on here but something that could be removed if wanted. I like the look of basses with the extended fretboard but obviously a bit late for this one so I looked at trying to it with drilling and holes in the top. Came up with the idea of using the truss rod adjustment slot on the principle of once it is set it could be covered. Messed around with a few shapes and came up with this from an offcut of the original fretboard ebony: Took a little while to shape but it fits nice and snugly into the slot like this: It's a push fit so can be removed anytime if needed.

Evening all, Last night, I fulfilled a long held musical goal of mine; namely, I attended a clinic held by Jeff Berlin at GuitarGuitar Glasgow. It was something of a drive to get there from Northumberland, being a 300 mile round trip and faced with torrential rain on the way back, but I would do it all again. I hope that I can collect my thoughts here to advise my fellow bassists on why I found this clinic so enjoyable and informative. First, a small precis in which I will explain how I ended up here. I have played bass since I was 13 years old, though when I was about 24 I hit a short slump and picked up a guitar. I never enjoyed myself like I did on a bass and I felt the urge to go back to playing bass. I had always loved the music and playing of Jeff Berlin and I knew he was a respected teacher, but I knew little of what he taught and advocated. I felt like I needed to really change the way I looked at my own playing and what I could do to improve and I ended up seeking out information on the way that Jeff taught. I felt like my playing had hit a plateau for years ago, and despite transcribing ever-more difficult pieces, I felt like I wasn't getting any better or worse as a player. At the age of 27, I picked up the bass again and began to follow what Jeff would refer to as 'music only' education. Following that, I took strides forward in my playing and improved at a rate that I hadn't done since I was a teenager. It was both a musical liberation and rebirth for me. In time, I came to chat with Jeff online and I took part in his reading course and the conference Q&A sessions that were held for the first to buy into that course (which taught me to read music, perhaps my biggest musical failing). Jeff became a friend and I knew that, if he ever did come to the United Kingdom, I would go and see his clinic or show come hell or high water. So, enough about my own journey to this point. I went to that clinic knowing what to expect, though what I want to do is put you in the shoes of one of the forty of fifty people there who perhaps didn't know exactly what they would hear. Entry to the event was ticketed, but free, and was sponsored by Cort guitars. Jeff was funny and warm, breaking the ice and putting everyone at ease. I could feel the room relax as he started talking and he was the perfect host. Although the venue surprisingly did not have any chairs to hand, we were all happy to remain standing and we did so, utterly captivated for around 90 minutes. Jeff kicked us off with a solo piece, asking the audience to name four notes. He then proceeded to improvise a beautiful piece based on that four note progression and he would refer to that four note phrase on a number of times when he played. When he clicked that chorus pedal on, I could not help but grin. The tone and the playing was sublime. I felt as though magic was happening in front of me. Further on through the clinic, Jeff played 'Runaway Train' from his 2000 album 'In Harmony's Way'. He later treated us to an improvisation on a theme from Beethoven's 9th, which had me floored. However, Jeff did not make his playing the focus of the event. Instead, he invited members of the audience to take a seat next to him and would ask them to play something. What followed was straightforward, honest advice that measurably improved the playing of everyone who came up. As Jeff advised and corrected each player, he would ask us in the audience if we could hear an improvement in the music being played and we all replied positively. I appreciate that it must be nerve wracking to sit in that chair in front of your peers to be critiqued by one of the luminaries of our instrument. Like I said, Jeff is so warm and friendly, so adept at putting the student at ease, that every player quickly settled down and started to improve. In focusing his attention on that player in that moment, Jeff demonstrated the sound academic principles he has so long advocated and how they can reap reward for anyone who follows them. As the members of the audience continued to come up, Jeff held two demonstrations that were paticularly impactful and really had the room engrossed. He invited a lady up from the audience who was not a musician and had her take the Cort Rithimic bass provided for the guests. Jeff had her play an E in straight quarter notes, demonstrating that everyone has a sense of time adequate to become a musician. Jeff improvised a piece over her bass line and there and then, not only did she become a musician but she was backing Jeff Berlin in a clinic to a room full of people! The highlight of the educational side of the clinic for me was when Jeff called up a guy who been playing for 25 years but didn't read music. Jeff called for someone to grab a load of sheet music from his gigbag. It was in fact, package 1 of his five part reading course (he did not mention this in attempt to make a sale but I think he could have done so, as it is a great course). Jeff then asked his guest to identify the notes on the page, if he could, and as they worked them ou together, the guest played two bars of his first etude read from the page. As per a show of hands earlier in the clinic, there were a lot of non-readers and rockers in there. I looked around the room and there were smiles all around me as this guy played slowly, out of time, as he read each note. Every mistake was addressed and corrected and the guest had just read his first music, in front of a crowd of strangers. I am not lying when I say that the room was on tenterhooks between every note and you could have heard a pin drop. The round of applause that followed was utterly heartfelt. I left that clinic feeling better about myself as a player, inspired to continue reading, inspired to continue trying to improve. I am sure everyone there felt that same inspiration as me. This really was a clinic for everyone, as there was no barrier to entry. It wasn't just for academic musicians, jazz or fusion players. There was something for everyone; advice that transcends your level of playing and cuts to core of what is at the foundation of being a good musician. Therefore, I would recommend players of all genres, of all levels of skill and experience, to seek out these clinics where they can. Following the event, my brother and I said hello to Jeff. He recognised me from the chats we had had online and asked me why I hadn't introduced myself sooner. He signed the back of my Cort Rithimic bass and we took some photos. I will post these below. I am holding my Rithimic and my brother is holding his 1991 Ken Smith BT5. My brother is also a big fan of Jeff Berlin and a huge fan and supporter of great music in general, so it was really cool to go on this trip with him. I would like to thank Jeff for putting on a really great clinic and for being a gracious host, Cort guitars for sponsoring this clinic tour and to GuitarGuitar Glasgow for giving us an excellent venue. [

That's... different!

You mean people like me who take their hand off the neck? (Narrows eyes, lights half-smoked cheroot, adjusts poncho; Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western music plays in the background).

He may of course be a robber who operates near Belsize Park.

NAD - DG AO900 arrived safely in the post and seems to be working just fine. It's a used one I picked up in the FS for a good price but alas comes without the footswitch! Had a few BC'ers been asking how the new models stack up against the (now discontinued) v1s. I'd say it's a significant evolution rather than a revolution. In particular: The power module delivering 900 very clean watts at 4 ohms and 2 ohms is still the same. The Series 2 models both sport the same clean lines of design and general form factor / size. Key difference between the AO, and the M900 Mk2 and Mk1 AO drive vs B3K and VMT (on both the M900 Mk2 and Mk1) The AO drive follows the feature set available on the Alpha Omicron, including 'bite' and 'growl' switches and the ability to blend the Alpha and Omega drives. The B3K and VMT are independent with no possibility of blending. A consequential impact is that the AO900 can manage just fine with the 'intelligent' footswitch and doesn't need the 'super intelligent' footswitch to fully unlock the amp's features when using a footswitch. So whether the AO is the right one for you should very much be driven (excuse the pun!) by which drive engine you prefer. If you're not into DG drives at all but you just want the excellent 900W clean and flexible EQ that's available from the power module then maybe it might make more sense to pick up a used Mk1. However, this key difference aside, the AO900 and the M900 Mk2 have a lot of the new features in common. The following are all available on the both the AO900 and the M900 Mk2, and are the 'evolution' over the Mk1: Improvements that are 'nice to haves' 6 band EQ vs 4 band, but the 4 band on the Mk1 comes with semi para for both low and high mids. Tied in with 2, sliders rather than dials provides a neater layout, allowing space for the additional two EQ bands. Sliders should also be less prone to being knocked off desired settings accidentally. Aux in and headphone out. The latter has its own vol control which is a nice touch and a choice of 3 cab sims. Built in compressor (apparently based on the Hyperluminal circuit but tbc). Other new features (will likely be less relevant to me in the short term, but maybe the opposite for others) Two cab outputs so no need to daisy chain cabs Both pre and post DI outputs available simultaneously IRs can be loaded USB and midi connectivity I'll shortly be putting my Mk1 up for sale, but in the meantime I've got them set up to A/B and I'll be particularly focusing on the difference between the AO drive vs the B3K/VMT and the 6 band EQ vs 4 band with para mids. Will report back when I've done so.

Since the demise of my regular slot in the rock band, I've been dabbling in a bit of mainstream jazz and latin stuff - trying to get a handle on walking bass but not finding anyone to give it a go with me. Actually, I did, but after saying they wanted me to play with them, they then wrote back and said they had no drummer so it was a no go. Hmmm. Anyway I went along to play bass at the local jazz jam. Very low key, low stakes stuff. Turns out that night there was nobody else on bass, so I had to cover the whole evening straight from the chord charts. On the strength of that I got asked to be the 'house band' the following month, do a dep on a gig last Sunday, to be the bass at the next jam and to join a jazz band as bassist. Shows you can fool a lot of the people some of the time. To be fair, I know the repertoire inside out - but as a listener, or a saxophonist. I'm less secure with all the walking bass patterns - I'm sure the low riders in the audience are cringing. But the drummer at the dep gig said how much he enjoyed playing with me - so there's that. I think the point of this is that I got over the imposter syndrome for a moment and made myself just do it.

Having thought about this I suggest that during the dry fit, a pencil line is drawn all around the baffle where is meets the sides, top and bottom. That will show up any problems when the dry fit is disassembled and will also have shown the error when I glued it together. ít is also probably worth doing that with the braces too.

Apologies for the poor image quality but an opportunity to re-unite twins for a quick shoot (non-identical and parted at 15 months)

Quite surprising how many templates I've ended up for these mini basses whilst trying different things out!!

Hey guys, I just thought I'd stick a quite write up of my thoughts on Jeff Berlin's clinic at Guitar Guitar in Glasgow last night. It was a bit of a drive (300 mile round trip!) from Newcastle, but as soon as Jeff said he was doing some clinics in the UK I knew I'd be travelling to wherever it took to see him. He has been a long time musical hero of mine and in particular a hero for my brother, who is perhaps the most vocal Jeff Berlin superfan out there. First a comment on the venue, thanks must be given to Guitar Guitar for hosting the event, which was free, but for the 30-40 odd people who turned up, there was no seating, so we stood through the whole thing. I don't think they even had a seat for Jeff as they had to send someone out to get one which I think came from a nearby bar, but once Jeff saw there was no seating he stood for the duration too. Jeff brought a backing CD, but upon finding out they didn't have a CD player he just asked the audience to shout some notes, which he then built into a chord progression and melody and soloed over the top of it. Make no mistake, Jeff is on the absolute top level of improvisational ability, his phrasing and harmonic dexterity is beyond comprehension. Perhaps the most astounding thing about seeing him play his bass, stood about 3 foot away from him, is how effortless he makes it look. If I could ever attain even 10% of what he can do I'd be happy. There was some quick chat about Cort and Markbass, but Jeff did make clear he's not a salesman and the majority of the night would be spent not pitching products or dazzling with bass tricks, but instead on deconstructing myths about learning. The core message is as Jeff has preached for years; let go of your ego, accept that you might not be the best person to analyse and direct improvement in your playing and get involved in structured, academic musical learning. As he said, if your car is broken and you need it fixed and you pay a mechanic, you don't instruct the mechanic how to do his job, because he is the expert and has trained to diagnose and fix the car. You could fix it yourself (as you would teach yourself bass) and you might make it better, you might not. I suppose you tailor your level of instruction to the level you want to play at - you probably don't need to know jazz harmony if you never aspire to play anything other than rock or blues. In that sense, I suppose Jeff's method, which is really just classic academic musical teaching, something that has been generally missing for electric guitar and bass, isn't for everyone but his methods can make anyone a better player, whatever level you're at and whatever level you aspire to play at. I've been guilty of having this ego in the past, thinking I knew how to direct my own learning and improve and to a degree it has worked for me and while my technical ability is ok, my musical theory knowledge has lagged far behind and I know I have a lot to improve on in that field. I'm guilty of playing, not practice, which is something I must change. Some of the observations from the night - and this isn't knocking anyone, everyone who played was very brave to stand in front of Jeff and a room full of strangers and play. 1. Rock players tend to overplay thinking this adds "emotion" or "feeling", or that they need to "dig in to be heard". This was leading to people picking notes so hard they were knocking the note out of tune. Playing so hard isn't necessary, especially when practicing. Separating "performance" elements from musical practice is important because practice isn't art or performance. Everyone improved their intonation and timing considerably when relaxed their hands and stopped hitting the notes so hard. I've always tried to practice softly, something I picked up in my electric guitar days from guys like Steve Vai, John Petrucci etc, practicing with tension just makes everything harder, it makes your playing sloppy when deftness and dexterity is what you need, not to mention it increases your risk of stress injury. I think it's a revelation for some that you probably don't need anywhere near as much pressure to fret or pick a note as you might think. 2. Time is inherent and there are very few musicians who don't have good, workable time. This was demonstrated by getting a non-metronome user to play along with a metronome while Jeff turned the BPM up and down, then getting a regular metronome user to do the same and there was no difference between them. Then a non-musician was invited up and she played the intro to "Runnin' with the Devil" by Van Halen while Jeff played the guitar chords over the top. She'd never played an instrument before and yet she was able to play in time with no instruction. There was further elaboration about slowing down music to play it with nuance and help your fingers learn it, but a metronome isn't an integral tool in being successful in this, Further preconceptions such as "locking in with the drummer" were explored in more detail, as time is a shared concept in a band and not exclusive to the bassist and drummer - everyone in the band contributes to "locking in". 3. Reading music can widen the horizons of any player who doesn't read. I don't and I know I need to start - I have resolved to do this. A non-reader was invited up and and after Jeff showed him a reference note on the clef, he was reading 8 bar etudes in multiple keys within minutes. So there is a lot more to reading than that, but the point was to show that anyone can start, it doesn't have to be an unapproachable and impregnable subject. I think I've been guilty of this and I will learn to read - I know I've passed on opportunities to learn pieces of music because I couldn't read it and frankly for a lot of the stuff I like, tab isn't available. As such, I developed my ear so I can transcribe lines fairly well, but I know I've overlooked an important aspect of my musical development by not learning to read. 4. Modes and scales shouldn't be the key and exclusive focus of anyone looking to develop in music. Scales and modes are useful tools but if you don't understand the musical structures you're playing them over, you're effectively learning verbs but not learning to form a sentence. I have seen this to be true with guitarists who can play the harmonic minor scale in a few keys and sound very impressive with their bag of tricks, but can't improvise in other scales or play in unfamiliar keys. Scales and modes are a useful tool but not the be-all and end-all of musical learning. There is probably a fair bit more I've missed, but I don''t want this to go on forever. After the event was wrapping up, Jeff was selling some CDs to finance his upcoming "Jeff plays Jack Bruce" project. My brother bought a copy - although he already has a signed copy from Jeff, a signed copy from Steve Vai and Jeff and now a third copy with a personal dedication from Jeff. We waited at the back of the autograph and photo queue so as not to hold everyone up. Jeff and my brother, Chris have corresponded via the net for some time and Chris has been a vocal supporter of Jeff, or as Jeff put it "The most vocal and upstanding supporter" of his. It was like seeing friends meeting again after a time apart and was great to see. Chris got his Cort Rithimic signed and I couldn't resist taking my Ken Smith BT5 along just to get it in the photos. Jeff spent some time talking to use and we got some photos with him, make no mistake that he is one of the warmest and kindest guys I've met, a true gentleman. It's remarkable to see someone who has such an incredible voice on the instrument backed up by virtually unmatched technical ability be so humble. He wants so much for bassists to improve as musicians and get more from their playing. All in all it was a fantastic night, especially to see my brother finally meet Jeff. It was worth it for that alone. I also kind of have a hankering for a Cort Rithmic of my own now too!

Standard feature of a Jazz bass! If you've not noticed it before, it'll be the room you were in, studios and venues often have a lot more electromagnetic interference floating about then a typical home. You can get noiseless pickups which are usually split humbuckers like a mini Precision pickup crammed into a Jazz casing, but they sacrifice a bit of top end bite. Shielding the bass including the pickup cavities could help too.

For those who aren't familiar with the bass and can't be rrrrsed to watch the video.

I am indeed near Camden 😊 Not in it anymore as I was when I joined BC, but still not far. Regarding the name. I did once meet a girl at a party called Athena who’s opening gambit was to explain at length the history and meaning behind her name... I could only respond with “My name’s Rob... it means to steal stuff” 😐 Anyway... being at work all week and away for weddings for the next two weekends I’m not sure I can be of much help with the amp I’m afraid.

Their last great album imho, mind you they made some fine music in their and were consistently good live.

I don’t mind playing with a sound limiter, as it means we play at a sensible volume, not dictated by the drummer who has hardly any self control. Some have been a bit of a struggle, the one at Braxted Park in particular, but we have rarely trigged one. id prefer not to have them, but I have found that playing gigs with them seems to keep the ‘can you turn it down’ brigade at bay, especially in the clubs, and stops me having to keep saying it. As long as it’s not set too low. I expect I’m in the minority here but I would never turn a gig down just because of a sound meter, even though I know it’s one more thing to worry about. Sometimes worth talking to the kitchen staff and running a lead from there, as normally they aren’t on the same circuit, due to the fridges etc.

Have been playing for three years or so and jam with once a week with a group of infinitely more experienced musicians. Also have been practicing with a 5 piece with a view to start gigging soon. Although I have played a few gigs (mostly successful) and am improving slowly but steadily, I have never had the balls to play at a jam night. Last night I took my drummer along to a local open mic for moral support, and lo and behold, managed to play for half an hour with no problems. Some material I knew, but some the house band guitarist showed me the chords. It helped that there were only a couple of other musicians in the pub so didn't feel intimidated. That was a big deal for me, especially as I'm in my early 50s! Onwards and upwards...

😂 Not one of my best moments. Lets let it slide down the forum out of sight. Bad day and a few beers.

Get the one that makes you look the coolest.

Could anyone tell me the make/model of the bass Mr Severin is playing on TOTP? ...love this track.

...stick an orange up its ar5e?

I've made a little bit more progress on this now. I'm hampered by the weather as I have limited room to work on this in the garage at the moment, and I'm having to do it outside, in between the customary Devon rain. Anyway, the cab is glued, I found that using the front fascia part to help square it up made things a lot easier, otherwise I might have been experimenting with a rhombus shaped cab. Not being a cabinet maker by trade, there was a bit of filling and sanding needed around the joints, but it's smooth now and all that will be hidden under the tolex later. The main thing is, it feels rigid, it looks about right and it's square! I also glued in the spacer bits, behind the front facia and the speaker mounting baffle glues in behind that next.

Don't feel bad Maybe you feel a bit differently, maybe not... I for one I'm very grateful that you share things that you found here. I've come across a LOT of great music in your posts. You can't score 10/10 every time

Got WAAAY too many fret lines!

Absolutely, and is it just me or does it improve the overall look of the bass? I think it just adds to the lovely organic curves of the whole thing. I know I keep repeating myself but that @Jabba_the_gut has no idea just how good he is.

Movingly fairly off topic but it's in the drummer's 'about' blurb, and it's something that bugs me. Surely he's based in Atlanta, if he's based out of Atlanta he could be based anywhere, couldn't he? 🤔

It also helps people come back after injury, and helps those with grip problems too. These are far better features than the twirling, in my opinion.

It’s properly lovely. Makes me giddy. Rehearsal was cancelled on Monday so got to wait until this coming Monday to hear it in a band setting. but I’m smitten.

Or get one of these, this was my first metronome 😂

Liking that

For the benefit of anyone stumbling upon this thread in future, here’s a nice little demo/comparison of a few different brands of flats. The Rotosounds are very bright here!

It looks a bit scruffy for the price.

Had the chance to play this on Thursday - the twin to my own. Outrageous in every respect. Some staggering custom appointments. I’m firmly on the positive side re: bics

Nope to HXFX. Size / PB real estate is a major consideration for me. You've missed off all the things I said it does well which I am using it for and I omitted EQ from above (I'll add that in). It's already paid for itself by: - replacing a Q\Strip, octave down, headphone amp and avoiding me needing to get a Fishman Power Chord! And yes I have messed around with the drive etc. Not yet matched my dedicated drives (hence "jury is still out") but early days. Where have you landed on Stomp ownership, can't remember if you still have one / replaced the one you returned?

I can try! As I said in the above quote it's essential that you sink some time into getting at least an appreciation of what the various controls do, that way you'll know what to adjust and when. Compression isn't usually obvious and that's one of the biggest complaints from certain members of the anti-compressionist league. If you read any of the compression topics on here you'll see there a degree of misunderstanding and a few often repeated misconceptions about the whole subject. My advice is to ignore those and approach the subject with an open mind. And think as a sound engineer, not as a bassist! As you know a compressor reduces the dynamic range of your bass signal. The most obvious benefit of bass compression is to stop the lows swamping the higher frequencies. This allows the bass to sit better with other instruments by controlling its dynamic range. As to how to set it up, this is where you need an understanding of what the various controls do and how they impact the signal. Disclaimer, although I'm an advocate of compression on bass I am in no way an expert the subject, I can usually get the type of compression that I want from most units that I've used, including the Stomp, but a clued up sound engineer may well shudder at my ham fisted approach! Set the ratio (the amount of gain reduction aka squash) to around 4:1 which is a good generic setting for bass. Next adjust the threshold (the point where the reduction kicks in) until you can hear the squash working, then pull it back so it's not so obvious. You'll get better results listening to the effect on your sound by playing along with some other musicians (if they're patient) or a backing track. As for things like attack and release, they're personal preferences. I've never compressed an acoustic bass so there could well be some additional considerations that I'm unaware of. @51m0n did a superb overview of compression basics here. There's also the Ovnilab FAQ section. The above links may well be a bit of a cop out but they'll be more comprehensive and more informed than my limited understanding. I guess I still owe you a coffee 😀

Radio Friendly? Depends which programs you listen to. For me it's anything recorded out of the Stax, Fame, Hi, Atlantic, All American, J&M, Cosimo, Muscle Shoals, Chess, Malaco and Motown studios in the 60' and 70's. That's anything from Mustang Sally, to Respect Yourself, via Heard It Through The Grapevine, Spoonful, Do Right Woman, The Night Time Is The Right Time, Mr Big Stuff, Take Me To The River etc.

Seems like a cool idea. Although I'm a little disappointed as I was expecting a Phil Collins track.. 🙂

I didn't watch it until the end. And I have to admit and feel bad now. !

Nah that is looking and sounding good m, the whole band and not just the bass. You guitarist is a giant tho. That guitar looks tiny in his hands

Ok, so we look a bit bored and stiff... we were missing a guitar and the sax player, and personally I was struggling physically a lot. Not the best night to have a gig... but it was my first with my new bass so here it goes, Sea Bass Kid playing "Smokey Home", one of the tracks in our new CD (almost ready!)

A video from last weekend, first gig on the Sandberg... excuse me my looking bored, I was not, but I was struggling due to lack of sleep for several nights and it was after 1am already. In fact the whole band looks a bit stiff compared to our usual, and we were missing one guitar (and sax!)...

You can play any style of music on any bass. If you are totally new to bass anything we say will probably be wide of the mark. You have to play some basses and find out, first hand, what it's all about. Half an hour in a shop trying basses might convince you that you should really be taking up the saxophone instead!! Anyway, don't make any decisions until you've tried some basses.

A Squier jaguar bass (which has both jazz and precision pickups) with a fender rumble V3 bass amp would be ideal for reggae. The important bit is the strings - you want either nickel roundwound or flatwound strings, and once set up you want to turn the tone knob down.

Poking around the web for some inspiration, I came across this video. Firstly, it has really clear explanations, including diagrams, of the main causes of hum. Secondly, it has lots of easy suggestions for curing hum, including twisting the pickup wires around each other. A peek under the pickguard of my Squier Musicmaster revealed pickup wires not twisted together. Hmmmm - surely can't be that simple, can it? Easy fix, worth a try. Quick twizzle of the pickup twisted the wires together. Result was a much-reduced level of hum! Not really believing this, I fired up the washing machine, and was surprised to find that the the bass really was much quieter. Not only that, while getting all of my washing out of the laundry basket, I found a five pound note. Ha!