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I've never really got into the self-titled Jaco CD, but I do like his playing on Joni Mitchell's albums

We have in our neighbourhood these shared spaces for hobbies, a gym, garage, etc things that typically you do not have in multi-family housing. For a small fee, you get access. One of these spaces is for handcrafts, mainly to do with wood. I had no specific idea what I'm going to do there, just enrolled out of curiosity. I've been somewhat good with my hands all my life, so I thought I'll eventually come up with interesting projects. Some weeks go by and I start to notice these piles of misc wood pieces. Mostly scrap wood, knotty pine, the usual stuff. Then I notice this interesting piece of some hardwood with the words "free to use" written on it. I ask around and seems like no one is missing it so I just take it and immediatelty notice some potential for a bass guitar body. I measure, look at the grains and start to feel all warm and giddly inside. Yes yes yessssss.. It barely has enough dimensions for a body blank, but it's doable. I cut it in two pieces and found this nice alignment with the grains to get a kind of bookmatched vibe going on. At that time (it was like one year ago) I was super psyched about MM basses, so I then order a Stingray template set. While I wait for the templates to arrive, I use my SUB to get some rough idea of the body area and start to work on the glue joint. I clean the glue joint with some sanding blocks and razor blades, to get it to fit and not to have any gaps. Time for some Tite-Bond. The templates arrive, I make "backups" since the template material is kinda weak feeling. I use the "backups" to start the quality time with a router. After some passes with the straight router bit and a curved bit for the edges. Quite some time passes between the fotos, wasn't really thinking about documentation. This block is HEAVY, therefore I decided to make it ligher by making a generous space for all kinds of potential electronics setups. Also decided to go without the plate in the front and do everything from behind. The straight line was done using a guide, the rest is basically freehand. I also made a test cover from some other wood that was similar, but it actually came out so nice that I'll actually use it. I'm thinking of doing the attachment with some magnets, so that I can replace for example a battery without screws. Oh, also worked on the belly cut and the cutaway in the front. So here we are now, from this point forwards it gets expensive. I have always wanted to have one bass with a Status graphite neck, this most probably will be that one. Also, I'm really going back & forth with finishing, hardware color, etc overall look & feel. Suggestions welcome This list looks most probable at the moment: - Status neck - Chrome machine heads - Black bridge - Black pickguard or see-through or wood with hard finish - Electronics cover black with grains a bit visible - Soapbar style pickup (no magnets visible) - The body will definetly be done so that grains are clearly visible, looks really nice

Never been a fan of the Chilli Peppers, always seemed like macho American cow poop but this considered interview has changed my view on that a little bit. Book sounds interesting... https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/nov/04/flea-red-hot-chili-peppers-interview-memoir

This: And this: But also this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDrYgT_RzI8 And this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boNCY0Ai44M Some of his playing is over indulgent and repetitive, some just not to my taste but there's no doubt he was capable of some of the most jaw dropping grooves and exquisite phrasing, especially considering he was essentially treading new ground. Bass playing would be massively different today without his influence.

macho American BS is quite far from how I see them... but if you haven't really spent much time listening to them I can see how they would not necessarily appeal. I didn't like them, for years and years. Then I ended up in a RHCP tribute band and started to pay attention, and my view on them changed entirely. You don't need to like them, of course, but the macho american tag is pretty far off the mark, I think (now, if you were talking about Lynyrd Skynyrd... )

How many people read Kiedis' book and felt like slapping him at least on ten separate occasions The guy has been very lucky to make it this far.

I managed to get a signed copy from Waterstones for £20, early Xmas present

Thanks for this, definitely one for the reading list. BTW, Anthony Keidis' book is also well worth a read 👍🏻

Public Service Announcement Please note that the preceding post was uploaded at around 09:47 local time in China where the poster would almost certainly have been on his seventh can of Special Brew since breakfast. That is all. Carry on.

I don't know much about music, I just want something to Dad dance to. Actually there's also the factor of IP lawsuits, economic efficiency and levels of accessibility to music making technology. Lots more people are able to make music. There is less demand for recordings from record companies as more routes to publishing have become available. Record companies have streamlined their economic interests to reflect the reduction in demand for their product. Record companies also have better information on who is buying what and when. Where before everyone worshipped at the altar of creativity and novelty as being the key to success, now it's looks a song that is crafted within certain parameters, a certain look to the lead singer, and a whole load of slick and persistent marketing. Creativity doesn't matter that much to the record company's target demographic (which seems to have been tweenies for quite some time)...so one could argue why even consider record companies as part of the creative side of things any more? Then add onto all of that the fact that song writers/artists are constantly under threat of being sued by anyone with a back catalogue and the remotest hope of establishing they had a significant influence over that song writer's process...which, arguably is impossible to avoid given the amount of back catalogue out there these days. Sure, these factors aren't going to stymie the most dedicated and persistent artist in itself but the business isn't as romantic and glamorous as it used to be. It's a bit of a wet blanket. Anyway, music today is shit. It all went to pot in the mid 90's.

Thanks to my new GK endorsement I've just received one of the first GK Legacy800's to hit the UK! Can't wait to give this amp a good workout thru my 2x12. It sounded great when I demo'd it a few weeks back.... 😉 Also picked up an SKB 12x12 soft case to carry it in 🙂

Last picture (promise!) - got the grille on, and now I am thinking I might put side legs on it as well!

"You'll never play a guitar the same way again.." or words to that effect. The new range is going to be entirely left handed with just one shitty bottom of the range right hander in black only with no options. A small recompense from years of neglecting left handers. That's it, if you want one you have to play it upside down.

You might not like Jaco's music directly but you will listen to and love some bass players who have been influenced by him. He has that broad an influence.

Aye and a lot of them urinate all over their Fender counterparts.

The behaviour @MoJo describes is all part of the GAS. I know my favourite bass is my Aria. It's the first one I fell for, had it for years will never part with it. So why would I buy anything else? So that for a brief time I can kid myself that the new bass is 'the one'. Which in turn justifies the purchase. Self feeding addictive behaviour. Not dangerous unless you plunge yourself and anyone depending upon you into debt. I see it as harmless fun. A voyage of discovery. After all even explorers love their home, doesn't stop them travelling.

Made a fair bit of progress this weekend. The line on the fretboard is from where I realised I'd made a slot in slightly the wrong place. I filled it with a piece of veneer and recut it. The fret itself will cover the off-colour veneer so it should look fine. Though as I write this I'm realising it will be visible from the side 🤣 You'd have to really be looking for it to notice though.

Mr DoubleOhStephen places his finger very much upon the core of the matter. Back in the 70's when sundry outraged Dads exclaimed 'That's not music and what does he look like!' they were simply reacting to the fact that the music they were hearing was not the same as that which they believed to be music, i.e. the music of their youth, namely Big Band music like - I don't know, Pennsylvania 6-5000 or Moonlight Becomes You. The impelling factor in our Dads' minds was the shocking difference between their music and ours. The impelling factor in ours is the shocking similarity. Fast-forward 40 years and one beholds a popular music scene which resembles one of those re-enactment things where people dress up as Roundheads and Cavaliers. Or a Living History Museum where you give a big old copper penny to someone pretending to be a Victorian shopkeeper and they give you a quarter-pound of licorice. Put it like this. If we'd been doing back in the 70's what they're doing now we'd all have been playing trombones and dressing in tuxedos like the f**king Glenn Miller Orchestra. That this situation pertains is testament to an utter failure of imagination and proof - were it needed - of the creative bankruptcy of contemporary popular music. I don't blame the young people, of course. It's entirely the fault of: * Record companies and their craven fear of financial loss, ditto media companies hawking shows like 'Later' * A dilution of music criticism away from the underground and onto the Lifestyle pages of The Guardian * Hand-wringing pinkos who have brought about a widespread cultural rejection of substance and alcohol abuse * Helicopter parents who fear to point out their offsprings' abject shortcomings for fear of causing 'anxiety' If the music scene is to revive itself its youthful practitioners must first learn to tell their elders to f**k off. Their next move should be to indulge in bacchanalian orgies of drink and drugs. Only then should they pick up an instrument and start composing. The rest of us have our part to play too. Rather than continue to venerate the artists of our youth we should jeer them in the street and lob rotten eggs at them. Dibs on Paul Weller, the sad, irrelevant old codger.

There's a cats thread?? How does that work? "Weight 4kg, furry neck, fights like buggery if you try to put a strap on it but has a tonal range from purrr to screech?" Welcome to the forums - but don't get distracted from actually practicing. Like I am at the moment. 😉

No long shaft 500k pots to hand so a mock up while I wait on them. Scratchplate is just paper but I do think it needs one,also help get position for the knobs. Pots will be rear mounted,chrome control plate is optional.

I'd like to play in a Hawkwind tribute...

Hearing that record prompted me to quit the band I was in and get lessons. It had a profound effect on me. For me, there is electric bass pre-Jaco and electric bass post-Jaco. And I love Bright Size Life with Pat Methany too. Mental to think Methany was only 21 at the time that was recorded.

My last band was a half covers half originals band. The guitarists heart was obviously in his originals but the crowds, and in fact ours was in the covers because they were simply better songs. The thing about covers is they don't have to be sex on fire, there is a whole lifetime of stuff that is good and different out there

I got a very abrupt answer when I asked about postage but as i say I love Basschat - I've already been offered another pedal! Thank you so much @RossHetherington this is such a great place populated with kind helpful people.

Seriously, you can see his impact through pop music and beyond. Pino’s bass dominated the 80s airwaves and it was all inspired by Jaco. The sound of Graceland was Kumalo, a man who revered Jaco but took fretless licks mainstream in an album loved by millions. I could go on, but I’d get bored. Game changer? Yup.

I could not wait any longer and bought a legacy in an US-online store. Here I have written down my impressions after about 5 weeks of use. KLICK Sorry, unfortunately only in German.

I've never understood the claimed great divide between 'covers' and 'originals' (many of which are heavily derivative, anyway - there's nothing, or little at any rate, new under the sun). It's simple enough to do both. Just play in a covers band and an originals band. I've done it for years. Make a bit of lolly in one and satisfy your craving to play stuff nobody likes in the other. Job done.

Agree with the above, but worth noting that the 2014 has "'Custom Shop '62" pickups, modelled on 1962 originals and also the modern poly finish is much thinner than the bad old days.

Ahem... I see your quote and counter quote you with (from The Guardian interview) - "The band’s eager display of their bodies gave them a homoerotic frisson from the start ... Early in their career, the Chili Peppers did so in a daring way by posing for the Los Angeles-based gay porn magazine In Touch. “I felt honored that they wanted us in the magazine,” Flea said. “The gay community in Los Angeles were the first ones to really embrace the Chili Peppers.”

Ooooh, a bass from the future. You're not Micheal j fox are you? 😉

Lucrative

He's in my all-time top 5, maybe top 3. But I'd be first to say some of his stuff is hard to listen to or downright enjoy. So why do I rate him so highly? Some, even a lot of what he played is a real joy to me and I agree with Jean-Luc that his work with Joni M stands out and is an easy listen compared to some of the his other music. I'd highly recommend Weather Report, and Heavy Weather in particular. At least take a few minutes to listen to 'A Remark You Made' (and check one or 2 of the live recordings of that track as well). That is one of my lifetunes, I mean an everlasting fine thing. He definitely pushed the envelope, very hard. I'm not sure he always played for the audience, or at least didn't make it easy for them. I think there are easier ways in than his solo album you got - his whole punk jazz thing is generally bloody hard to get inside. Then he has moments of amazing beauty. In my own little bass world he's right there with Jamerson, and Bach. 👍

I love Jaco for what he did for the instrument, but I always tend towards his big-band stuff. If you're not a fan of the solo bass stuff or 'fusion' stuff, try the Word Of Mouth album. Si

Thank goodness for acid jazz which managed to cling on to the public consciousness for it's life until around 1996.

@odysseus Succinctly put. I guess its the attitude I was commenting on, its a horses/courses deal. I am doing the covers band things and a separate originals/rock stretch to play project as well. So covering the bases (basses...). Was nice to play to a packed pub.

He turned bass playing on its head, but each to their own. I dislike any number of bassists, songs and bands that, as a bassist or musician I’m supposed to like.

Is this the bloke that everyone says didn't need 5/6/7 strings 🙂

Well, its a NBD for me, despite throwing you all off the scent with the above post (in case you all told me it was a dog and not worth it!) I bought the bass. Put it on the scales and it comes in at just under 10lbs. The hardcase that came with it has seen better days but the bass itself is very clean, nice example and sounds huge! Thanks for your input and reading suggestions, its sad to see that the company is no more and the company that one of the sons started has also closed down now due to his retirement.

Apparently the book only goes up to him starting the RHCP. I’m sure the first 16 odd years of his life are interesting but I’m not sure a whole book on it gets me that excited. I would like to know about the later years as well. I completely agree, Anthony Keidis’ book is good read.

Our football club PA amp died last week so I used mine as a Power amp driving a 100V line transformer. Worked like a dream.

The ‘not very well hidden’ gem that is the Behringer BDI21. Cheap as chips and punching well above its weight.

Maybe we could throw jam instead?

You do know he plays bass on most of his recordings. I do like the bass very much.

A vajazzle would be a hidden gem? I don't have one.

Hi Lololita, the BassChat cats thread is one of the best😸