velvetkevorkian

One of the nice things about the Todd Johnson technique is that it scales very well past 5 to 6, 7 and probably more strings with very little adjustment, and the plucking hand's position remains the same whatever string you're playing. Jakester, it sounds like your hand changes position quite a lot as you move up the strings- broadly speaking I'd try and avoid that if possible, as it makes it more difficult to play consistently IMO. The way you describe it I find it hard to imagine that it doesn't affect the way you play. Not necessarily a bad thing, and you might find it works for you, but maybe something to be aware of.

I've seen a few people on TB get the Squier Active Jazz Deluxe (I think) 5 string, change the bridge and add an extra tuner. The neck is wide enough that it works, if you're OK with narrow spacing. edit: whoops, you want 18-19mm spacing, which I doubt that will provide. Never mind!

[quote name='wal4string' timestamp='1329255226' post='1539778'] For me double thumbing is just too awkward. The Mark King left hand slap is a far better in my opinion, a bit of a brain bender to begin with but works fine in the end. Check out Stuart Claytons Transcriptions of the Level 42 songs to see how he does it. Love Games is a good starter. [/quote] I'm the opposite- I find double thumbing much easier than regular slap, although admittedly I never play other people's slap lines. Just try and adapt some lines that you play normally to work with the double thumb. I do it at the same place you would slap normally.

Just realised the title does specify Gibson. Oops.

ESP Eclipse?

When I have bought basses (not had a new one in a while now) it was generally because they offered specific features at an attractive price- cheap 5 string, cheap 5 string fretless, moderately expensive 7 string. I didn't have my heart set on any of them specifically before they popped up for sale. All bought sight unseen, so playability, sound etc basically secondary, although if they didn't play OK they probably wouldn't have lasted long.

You can turn them off for more, er, "restrained" gigs surely?

[quote name='leftybassman392' timestamp='1328713081' post='1531527'] Downside is that you need to rethink a lot of your stuff to get the best from it. Is it worth the effort for you? [/quote] I hear this a lot from people, but for me the transition was totally natural, with very little technique adjustment required. That aside, the notes below E are great for filling out the space. Go for it.

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1328554735' post='1529040'] Don't bother....buy a Peavey or Hartke. [/quote] Have you used one?

I don't really like the standard Fly shape but they just brought out a new DragonFly 7 string model which looks very nice indeed. Another $6000 to find somewhere...

I'm sure the Parker's great, but at $6k it had bloody well better be!

It's all about the playability for me, and considering how many strings I need (I haven't gigged my 4 string since getting my 5+ strings). Tone? I'll sound like whatever the sound guy feels like, but as long as I can play it well I'll sound like me.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1328287532' post='1525063'] ive played in lots of genres but ive never NEEDED the technique... to me its like slap. its interesting and has its place, but not a technique that every bass player NEEDS to master. [/quote] Most people don't need it. But if you find yourself in a band where playing 16ths at 180bpm constantly is what's required then it's one way of achieving that. I don't think anyone is suggesting that everyone should learn it. [quote name='Bass_man219' timestamp='1328287920' post='1525075'] I want to learn three fingers to play slayer stuff eventually. Thanks for all the input [/quote] Raining Blood is one of my usual examples for people who say "Why would you need that?".

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1328278471' post='1524856'] Surely if you cant play fast enough with two then you should practice more instead of taking the easy way out? I also don't think that the third finger ever quite manages to get the right sound or control in the playing ive heard. It always sounds weaker and compromises dynamic control. [/quote] It's not taking the easy way out. As ever, YMMV, but to dismiss it out of hand is stupid. It has advantages and disadvantages like every technique. I think there is a limit to how fast you can go with two fingers. For most people, it's not a problem since they don't need to go that fast. It also makes it easier to play faster for longer, since each finger does less work. I don't know what style or styles of music you play, but for bands I've been in it's important.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1328265011' post='1524535'] 3 finger thing has always puzzled me... I dont think Ive ever played a piece and thought 'I'm struggling with two fingers' and then considered adding a third to help. Surely if your technique is good enough, two should suffice? [/quote] Depends what you're playing. I couldn't play fast enough to keep up with the music in my first band so I spent a lot of time working on using 3 fingers. To answer the original question- use a metronome and lots of practice. Play the same songs and exercises you did with 2 fingers, making sure you can play clearly in 2s, 3s 4s etc. There's no shortcut I'm afraid.

Thought that was a Placebo song for a minute there (until the chorus)

[quote name='Prime_BASS' timestamp='1328181120' post='1523061'] Sound better? Practice more. Accessories won't make you "sound" better at all. I go to gigs with my bass amp and cab and sound fine. I have a quality strap that actually makes a difference in me being comfortable. Unless you plan on recording and having a team of sound engineers and producers you won't ever really get what you are afer, as it probably doesn't exist outside of the recording studio. Either enjoy what you, or sell what you dont want to keep and spend it on a nice relaxing holiday. Too much time, effort, money and emotions are spent on searching for an illusive sound in one's head. Just play bass man. [/quote] Yep.

Some good ones here. My favourite: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UU63P50ag0c[/media]

They sit in the rack, unloved, along with all the guitars my gf has acquired and never plays.

Don't need frets for those!

Heh, true. Maybe a 1 string, 1 fret bass with a 42" scale would be better? [only half joking]

You can also right click on the midi item on the Reaper timeline and uncheck "loop item source".

[quote name='Musicman20' timestamp='1327927622' post='1518818'] Personally I would look at a five string you are comfortable with....opens up a new world. Detuning to a massive extent isn't that great, but there are strings out there built for it. I wouldn't recommend tuning 'up'... [/quote] Tuning up half a step shouldn't be a problem. I probably wouldn't bother unless there's riffs that need the open strings though. [quote name='Mr. Foxen' timestamp='1327931739' post='1518941'] tune to the same octave, but eqed to have a complimentary sound, usually in the mids if they are super scooped. In fact, if they are silly scooped and you do it right, you can comletely vanish the guitars which is satisfying. Otherwise Heavy strings and bridge pickup, so you have the low tuning but plenty of harmonics to give some audible. A high pass might be good to not waste power on speaker flap. [/quote] +1

Ah, the first knob is rate. Mistook a k for an H.

The big lettering is Jet Fazer. Not sure of the left hand knob but the others, l-r, are resonance, distortion and sustain. Left hand switch is phaser/vibrato as badgerific says. Right hand switch is something like soft/hard. I can read the Cyrillic alphabet reasonably, but my actual Russian skills are practically non existent. Fortunately most of these are just transliterations of English words!