Leaderboard

I don't usually publish NBD posts but I just took receipt of this new Maruszczyk Elwood 6 and I am truly bowled over by the build/sound quality. It completely stacks up against my Fodera Emperors.

A late report on Tuesday’s gig in Coulson at the Tuesday Night Blues Club. This was a Del Bromham and Friends rather than a Stray gig. It didn’t get off to a great start when I belted my left hand pinkie loading my cab into a car. I immediately iced it and added some cocodamol to my man bag! A nice jam free drive to the venue and quick set up and sound check. We had Simon Taylor doing the sound so a decent result in that department was a given! I used my old AVRI Jazz procured from Old Horse Murphy of this parish into my Bugera and Schroeder 2 x 12. We had a great night, decent crowd and went down a storm. Finger was painful but I soldiered on! Happy Daze! Ouch! Of course the electrics are fine! the changing cupboard! Job done!

It's odd and also fkin annoying when you might express a lack of interest in so and so's display of fretw@nkery and the immediate retort is that you must be jealous because you can't do it. Thing is I bet many people can do all this flashy shyt3 but choose not to because they have the good manners not to.

It brings to mind a Tom Waits quote… A gentleman is someone who can play the accordion, but doesn’t.

The Shoop Shoop Song (Yeltsin His Kiss) - Merry Clayton/ Cher/ Betty Everett/ etc

I have a new temporary housemate. It's an original 1963 Bass VI. Well, almost original. It's missing the bridge and the neck pickup isn't working, and it has been missing strings for years now. Oh, and it has some moisture damage on the bottom of the body. I'm going to try to restore it. The steps I'm going to take: -Clean it, put some oil in the fretboard -Get a cheap bridge to get it strung up with a set of Fender 250B6 strings to see what the neck is going to do when I slowly build tension on the neck -Check why the neck pickup isn't working -If the neck isn't warped, get a good Staytrem bridge for it -See if I can find some new foam for the mute -Give it a decent setup and set of Labella strings Now I have a few questions so far: -Would a cheap Jaguar or Mustang bridge fit this gorgeous instrument, just for the time being to check the neck? I was looking at this bridge, which is made for a 7.25" radius neck but would it fit the body? Setup isn't important for now, just tension on the neck -How to properly build tension on the neck Alright, time for pics! A bit hazy because it's dark here at the moment.

At the London Bass Guitar Show a few years back I tried out a bass and, trusty pick in hand, played Warhead by The UK Subs. I was amazed to have a good few people watching me, couldn’t work out if they appreciated someone who wasn’t slapping or were horrified at such ruffian behaviour though.

They do have a shortcoming, he has to add more coins between songs.

FTFY 😉

Bet they deliver a clean sound…..

Tsk! Should be stacked vertically! 😄

We had a guy turn up who wanted to be Jimi Hendrix. He said he played in the original keys and the original arrangements, so I had a listen to the records and was ready for him on the next jam. He didn't play in any original keys and didn't play any discernible chord structure, but he did play the most awful, distorted nonsense on 11 for his 2 songs. The band leader now knows I prefer not to play with him any more.

My experience is that it's very varied, some times you will play well known songs like Brown Eyed Girl etc, other times you will play something you've never heard of before. If you are a visitor rather than a member of the house band, it is a lot easier as you can play what you know. When i've played in house bands there is a lot of improvisation and watching other musicians for changes. I have never done a Jazz jam night and most of what I have done has been "popular" songs which do tend to follow similar chord progressions and structures, a few differences here and there, so after a while you do get a feel for it! I did one night have a man talk to the band leader about playing a 12-bar blues, he kept asking if the band knew how to play blues in A minor and saying how he's tried to do jam nights before but none of the musicians have ever been able to keep up with him playing in A minor... band leader reassured him that we were all competent musicians and that we would be able to play blues in A minor as he requested... Drummer counts 1, 2, 3, 4... the house guitarist, keyboard player and myself all play A minor... the singer/guitarist who had requested that we play in A minor then proceeded to play a B major... turns out it wasn't any other bands fault that they couldn't play with him in A minor... he couldn't do it himself apparently! Needless to say after that seamless start, we all shifted up a tone and sharpened our thirds and it sounded a little better! There can be awkward moments but it is great to push yourself as a musician and move you out of your comfort zone in terms of different styles of music.

Walls Come Kremlin Down - The Jam

Hi Dave, I do not use an amp for acoustic gigs. I walk in with my Gibson ES-335 or my German made Hofner Club bass and an instrument stand and DI right into the PA. And not to rub it in, I don't drive to gigs anymore. The guys pick me up in the van. How are you doing Dave? Blue aka Daryl

This is what King Tubby turned into A New Normal In Dub on his latest album

Something different. Kazakhstani Domra from Yerzhan Zhamenkeyev vs Kyrgyzstani Komuz from Zakirbek Duishenbek Uulu and then they swap instruments. Both sport splendid headwear.

I recently joined a 60s band and though my Sandberg Lionel sounds the part, I had an urge to get a more 60s style bass. I play short scale basses these days and thought perhaps a violin bass. Then, last Saturday, I popped in to see my mate, who owns Aire Valley Guitars. I didn't expect to see anything in the retro bass department, although he does get some unusual and retro stuff in. Anyway, the first thing I spotted was a brand new Guild Starfire I bass. I've always liked the look of the Starfire II bass but thought the Starfire I looked slightly odd, with it's split coil pickup. Well I had to have a go. This is a centre blocked semi acoustic, with a 1 1/2" depth, arched mahogany body, that is bound back and front, with unbound f-holes. The split coil pickup is controlled by single volume and tone knobs. The volume can be pulled out to change the pickup from series to parallel wiring. I first played the bass acoustically and got a reasonable amount of volume, for such a thin body. The bass does feel nice and resonant. The action was nice and low, the frets are well done and the bass was easy to play, with a vibrant feel, that gave me a lot of pleasure. Before I plugged it in, I put the bass on a strap, as I can not deal with neck dive. I like my bass in a diagonal position and to my surprise, the Starfire stayed put, on releasing my hands completely. That was with a very flimsy, 2 inch strap. Now it's home, I use a well padded 3 inch strap and it really is solid as a rock. Plugged in, the single split-coil pickup sounds nice and full, with plenty of clarity. The tone rolled off also sounded useable, even though the passive tone control isn't the best I have used. But mostly I have my tone on full, almost always. The series/parallel knob, when activated, kind of thins out the tone. This could be quite useful in some circumstances but I'll be leaving the knob down, as I much prefer the thicker sound. The bass comes with D'Addario EXL165 Nickel Wound Bass, Custom Light (.045 - .105) strings. I had thought of changing them for D'Addario Chromes or GHS Pressurewounds but these round wounds sound really nice, especially if I play an inch or two nearer the neck, than I usually do. Once the newness is played out of them I have a feeling, they will be just right. This bass is built very well. It is solid yet light and has a nice finish. If I was being picky, the inside edge of the f-holes look scrappy and there is a miniscule cherry red blob on the body binding, near the heel of the neck. You have to look close to see these though and the dark, transparent cherry finish is rather lovely. I am rather looking forward to taking it to the next band rehearsal, on Wednesday. (Sorry, I forgot to remove the plastic covers from the pickup)

I can only tell you of my own experience, but many years ago I marched into a music shop fully expecting to buy a Sandberg TM. To me it was obvious that the TM with the coil splitter would cover everything that the TT did, and then some. I sat down and played through the range of Sandbergs they had in stock. The TT with both pickups blended at different levels had tones that the TM couldn't match. I bought the TT instead and 12 or so years later and I still have that bass.

Yes, the BDI21 has a mid-suck if you have the Drive and blend knobs anywhere but fully anti-clockwise. The sweep below shows a 5-6dB suck centred on 700Hz will all controls at 12 o'clock. It is worth noting that you need to up the level; control to get to unity gain, that is, when the output is the same level as the input. If you do turn off the offending controls, with all the others at 12 o'clock, except Treble backed off to 10 o'clock, you get: A very nice flat DI with a built-in HPF. Of course, there is a modification to get the mids back, and I will be modding mine soon. I will report on that later.

Another isolated track where the actual bass sound is much more scratchy & gainy than would be expected. Seems all these pros that we love & revere knew a bit about less than clean bass sounds.

Jaco on intonation/fret markers/difference with double bass scale: 10.00 - 10.35. Alternating and raking: 26.32 - 27.42:

Incredible playing as always, what an amazing talent. 😵‍💫

Naw, that's a badge of honour 🙂

On a similar subject, a lot of people seem to assume that a professional bassist who plays a very simple part in all their songs has no talent. It may be that they have the ability to play something far more technical but the songs are better without it. I'm fairly sure someone like Jay from Bad Religion who has been playing simple root note parts for 42 years has learnt to play a few other things off the clock and is probably extremely competent.

I think it's good to look at musicianship from a perspective of someone who doesn't play any or such and such an instrument, i.e. being able to see the wood for the trees. Problem with playing bass or guitar is if you're too close to the instrument you praps don't hear what the punters want to hear. I don't play the violin, trumpet or piano but want to hear something melodic and memorable. I have eff all interest in listening to a load of high speed runs up and down the scales however expertly done. I enjoy quite a bit of bass slappage - when its Marcus Miller, Larry Graham, Louis Johnson - but outside of funk or other dance music it mostly sounds utterly shyt3 particularly when done at NAMM type shows by members of the public.

I was once thanked by a band leader for not slapping. I smiled at the compliment, but didn't tell him I didn't slap because I couldn't! I wish I could showboat on bass. That would mean I had more technique that I could use to be a better player when not showboating.

They are part of his new band project - Frontloader🤭

Rationalised a touch following an atom upgrade to include the tuner capability. Bit lighter, fewer pedals and everything fits on a pt2 now...see how long this lasts I guess... I do like the h9...but I also really like the MERIS mercury 7...

All wired up and working now. Woohoo! The red LED between the Behringer and the Zoom is the tell-tale from the power distribution box underneath.

Pat Benatar..... "Hit me with your best shot". Sounds like "Hit me with your pet shark". We play it in our theatre show and I may, or may not, have sung it like that on occasion

I'm exactly the opposite; I can create and make stuff up but put the dots in front of me and it'd be like a sketch from French & Saunders.