Fat Rich

Thank gawd for that, if I order another custom bass I'll make sure it's not going to be ready around Christmas time. Hope it's everything you were hoping for!

I don't know anything about Jaydees but I like Status basses a lot. The older ones (Graphite neck up to mid 90s) have a full on 'Status' sound whereas the newer ones are much more flexible, particularly the S2 Classic. The Kingbass feels too small for me but is a great bass with a slightly snappier tone. The various wooden necked Statii from the 90s was pretty good but lack some of the oomph and wow factor of the graphite necked basses. Best to try a few if you can and see what you think. Good luck!

In the past I've tried to replicate the tones of Marcus Miller, James Jamerson, Billy Sheehan, Jaco, Anthony Jackson, Jeff Ament, Victor Wooten (and probably others I've forgotten), not in a band situation but to get a feel for their techniques and note choices. Some of that has probably carried over into my core sound but it's such a mish mash of influences and has evolved so much over the years it's probably irrelevant now. Now it's the band or the song that defines what tone I go for, if there's space in the mix I'll generally choose something a bit more hifi but if I'm competing with a few guitars and keyboards it's more about the low end thump. But not always. At home I'm more into getting that classic Fender P sound, classic Fender Jazz sound or Musciman tone and exploring the subtleties of that. Basically getting the best sound or sounds out of a particular bass or amp combination. I find it inspires me to play different phrasing and styles than if I just had one sound. Maybe I just haven't found "my sound" yet!

I did all my Xmas shopping online at the end of November (9 items), none of them have arrived yet despite dispatching next day (All but two have arrived today 18/12/10 - Well done Royal Mail)

Good find! Just bought the album on itunes, pretty good stuff.

[quote name='Steve Amadeo' post='1059364' date='Dec 15 2010, 10:46 AM']I used D'Addario half-wounds on a fretless with an ebony fingerboard. they felt and sounded superb.[/quote] I've just started using these too and very pleased with them. You can use roundwounds but if you're a bit heavy with your fretting hand you're going to eventually damage the fingerboard. Maybe try coated roundwounds like Elixirs. the coating might soften the string a bit and cause a bit less damage.

Status Hotwire Halfwounds on Phenolic fingerboards, they're quite bassy sounding strings and tame the brightness of the phenolic. D'Addario halfwounds on wood fingerboards as they're a little brighter without being over the top.

The only signature bass I've ever owned is my knackered looking Marcus Miller Jazz, but the more I look at it the more I hate the way the larger control plate looks. With the stock Fender preamp sounding so average I've taken the battery out and I run it through a Sadowsky outboard preamp instead so I'm tempted to find a suitable offcut of ash and fill in the giant hole in the body and put a standard bell shaped Jazz control panel on instead. So it'll be a de-Marcussed MM Signature bass.

You're in for a tense couple of days! And then the moment when you're about to open the case and wonder if it's going to be as good as you hoped....

Probably real fretless although I couldn't hear it too clearly on my PC speakers! Sounds very 80s and similar to Eric Serra's playing on Subway and The Big Blue soundtracks (although it's unlikely to be Eric on the Bowie track).

[quote name='skej21' post='1055215' date='Dec 11 2010, 06:09 PM']I've never understood why people who write bass books cannot just split tab and notation into two sections. Normally, the book has just notation, or it has notation with tab situated directly beneath, giving people (usually bass students ) the temptation to look at the tab when they start to struggle. I wonder if one day someone will write a book where they just, essentially, have two books in one. Part One - Your music/book written all in standard notation. Part Two - Your music/book written entirely in tab. This would allow people to cross-reference (like looking up the answers in a maths book at the back) to see if they are playing the right thing and would allow each individual to play along with either tab/notation depending on what they prefer. It would also remove the problem of having tab and notation right next to each other for people (i.e. teachers/instructors) who don't want tab to be present when using the material with students. Just an idea though, don't know how practical it would ACTUALLY turn out to be [/quote] Exactly what I was going to write... I think you'll limit your market without the tab. But many of us would be better readers if the tab wasn't just below the notation in most books, maybe the tab could be a pull out section or printable via an internet link or on the CD if the book already has one.

Not a great slapper myself but at the last Status bass meet up everyone else had astonishing slap chops. Their basses all had light guage strings and low action so that might be a place to start with one of your basses. I use medium to heavy strings and as long as they are fairly fresh they sound great but probably don't allow me to play super fast, not that I really want to. I get some stunning slap sounds out of my active Status basses, but also from my passive Fenders although running them through an outboard Sadowsky preamp really brings them to life. Oddly I've not got a good slap sound out of my Stingray yet but I've not had it long. Maybe try a more scooped EQ on your amp? If you have a parametric EQ you could try giving the mids a small lift and experiment with the frequency centre to get the right throaty burpy sound. But most of it is just down to timing and muting, make sure no strings or harmonics are ringing in the background and concentrate on note lengths too. If you don't play much slap it'll always start off a bit sloppy but you'll soon zero in and start getting a tight sound.

Thanks for all the interesting replies, will go pick shopping as soon as I can. So far it seems that most people are holding the pick firmly whereas I've sometimes been holding it looser like a drummer holds a drumstick. Probably why my timing was getting really sloppy although I haven't started speeding up through songs yet. Will try all your tips on palm muting and let you know how I get on. Cheers!

I've always been a fingerstyle player but I've recently wanted to become a bit more versatile so I've started playing with a pick (and also a bit of slap, but that's another story). I'd tried playing some simple rock stuff with a pick in the past but got really bored really quickly so gave up and went back to fingers. However, having seen this clip of Bobby Vega: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r_kvjO7xsc&feature=player_embedded"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r_kvjO7xsc...player_embedded[/url] I started playing my usual funk lines with a pick and loved it. However, as it involves lots of string skipping and muted ghost notes so it's proving to be a bit of a challenge, it seems the more I think about what I'm doing the more out of control it all gets! So in case I'm picking up bad habits or approaching it all wrong I thought I'd get some opinions here. 1. How hard do you dig in with the pick? Not much - similar volume level to fingers? A bit - louder than fingers, about the same level as slap? A lot - really loud and twangy? 2. What are your favourite pick guages and materials? I'm surprised at how different they all sound. I've tried the pink Dunlops .96mm that sound a bit scratchy, some old Ibanez picks with grip holes that sound very scratchy and some green Dunlop Tortex .88mm that sound a bit warmer. Scratchy seems to be a recurring theme here - I guess this is down to poor technique? 3. How hard do you grip the pick and how flexible are your finger and thumb? In other words do you let the pick move relative to your finger and thumb or is there no movement at all? 4. For funkier lines, how much palm muting do you use? I've also watched this [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi051x69UxE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi051x69UxE[/url] and I just can't get the palm muting consistent so I'm concentrating on just getting the basics down and then hopefully the muting won't be too hard to incorporate afterwards. It seems like I can get all sorts of tone by varying all the above options so it would be good to know if there is a right way of doing it (there probably isn't!). I have my action fairly low at the moment and I'm not digging in with the pick enough to get much fret buzz, I'm also not gripping the pick very hard so there's some movement between it and my finger and thumb and I'm picking somewhere in between the bridge and neck pickup. It seems like there a lot of pick players here so it'll interesting to hear your views! Thanks in advance.

Usually don't change them unless they're completely dead, apart from my used Status S2 which had the lightest strings I've ever seen on a bass. So skinny I couldn't play them and the truss rod had been fully slackened off.

Bonkers!

Wow, great collection!

You could also try raising the pickups a little, if they're way too low that might muffle the sound a little. Maybe your bass needs a setup generally. Funk is all in the fingers as has been said already.... try playing closer to the bridge, more bridge pickup than neck pickup, more tension in your plucking fingers particularly the finger joints nearest your nails, try digging in a bit more (but not till it hurts) and make sure you're fretting the notes cleanly with your other hand (close to the fret but not right over it or you'll get a muted sound). Muted notes are very important too, try playing some of your existing grooves but keep a 16th note pulse running through with muted notes wherever you're not playing an actual note. Start off with too many muted notes then experiment taking some (or probably most) of them out till it really groooves. For funk playing timing and muting is all important, make sure you're not just starting the notes in time but also stopping them in time too with no strings or harmonics ringing in the background. To start off, concentrate on playing cleanly and precisely, then when you've found the funk you can tastefully add some slop here and there to make it super funky! And listen to as much funk music as possible. Good luck!

Getting funky with a pick: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r_kvjO7xsc&feature=player_embedded"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r_kvjO7xsc...player_embedded[/url]

Wow, love the chrome pickups!

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='1043166' date='Nov 30 2010, 11:40 PM']See! I told me so! Thanks, Mr F! Edit- That's got 7 strings! Hope those "P"s have got blade/s for polepieces...[/quote] It looks like a Wishbass so it's probably irrelevant if the pickups work!

It's cos I've got big hands, my fingers keep tripping over each other.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1042883' date='Nov 30 2010, 08:19 PM']Bobby Vega uses a plec and sounds awesome. He can play any style but when he plays with a pick it's as funky as hell.[/quote] Bobby Vega made me start learning to play with a pick. I'd always tried to play straight ahead rock lines with a pick before and found it boring as hell so I played fingerstyle all the time. Now I'm playing all my usual funk lines with a pick and loving it. Also been trying to get to grips with slap, it's good to learn new styles and techniques as it usually develops your everyday playing in ways you never would have thought of otherwise.

My old Status 6 has single coils, but in soapbar casings with a dummy coil to cancel the hum. The later Status 6s have humbuckers as far as I know. Maybe soapbar 6s are more popular because they just look better proportioned?

I ordered a DVD which it turned out was out of stock and unavailable although it's still on their website last time I looked. Took several months to get a refund, they were very apologetic and helpful on the phone and eventually sorted it out but ultimately a bit of a rubbish experience.