skej21

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1490125817' post='3262450'] This isn't really the right thread to post that, but my 2p: - I would rather play to a drum beat than practice to a straight metronome. - I would not be interested in visual feedback on my timing. I can use my ears to judge how I'm doing, I guess if I can't tell my timing is poor then nobody else can either! Also for some styles a bassist will intentionally play slightly behind or in front of the beat. [/quote] Huge plus one. Additionally, music is either going to be strict in the nature of timing (i.e., required to follow a specific beat which you would use to judge yourself against, making the device redundant as you'd have the metronome and your ears as a reference) or there would be a natural (musical!) fluctuation in timing to the music as the instrumentalists bounce off each other (which, again, makes the device redundant as it would be more important to follow the other musicians than try to keep a strict time whilst everyone else around you doesn't). It appears that this kind of device offers at best, a crutch to the musician who wants to solely judge their timing against a non-musical source or at worst, would create a device that discourages the development of crucial aural skills and natural communicative elements of time/feel. IMO, This video by Victor is a great example of how time should be approached in order to develop overall musicianship rather than just a single skill without application or context; http://youtu.be/f_LKWFvpr0o

[quote name='ThePapabull' timestamp='1489783846' post='3259904'] I'm really not trying to sound stoopid (or play Devil's advocate) but would appreciate your thoughts regarding putting flats on a jazz bass. 1.Is this taboo? 2.Can it work? 3.Does it make any sense? 4. Most importantly can i get that burpy sound from the the bridge pick up using flats? Your thoughts would be VERY welcome best wishes to all paul h [/quote] 1) I hope not as I have done it for a long time, as it was more historically accurate for the '62 Reissue Jazz I had 2) It works great (unless you dislike the answer for #4!) 3) If anything, it makes MORE sense 4) I didn't with mine BUT that was one of the reasons for doing it. I always found the jazz too zingy and the flats subdued a lot of what I didn't like

I have a Harvest gig bag. Haven't seen anything better. I've had it about 6 years and it's still like new.

[quote name='Chris Horton' timestamp='1489613147' post='3258441'] I have uploaded these pictures on behalf of Harry Check out this stunning bass [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/1_zpsknx6emhb.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/1_zpsknx6emhb.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/4_zpsmx2cnzni.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/4_zpsmx2cnzni.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/6_zpsa3gmppji.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/6_zpsa3gmppji.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/9a_zpsqckh27jf.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/9a_zpsqckh27jf.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/8_zpsswrhbx9u.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/8_zpsswrhbx9u.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/7_zpsogu9efci.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/7_zpsogu9efci.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/7_zpsss454dbq.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/7_zpsss454dbq.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/9_zpskzkww9oh.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/9_zpskzkww9oh.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/5_zpsnxuecnwp.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/5_zpsnxuecnwp.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/2_zpsm8z1lywt.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/2_zpsm8z1lywt.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/9h_zps7hm9gdjk.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/9h_zps7hm9gdjk.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/9c_zpsm9dorsfv.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/9c_zpsm9dorsfv.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/9i_zps7a493y2w.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/9i_zps7a493y2w.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/9g_zpshbcayvcg.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/9g_zpshbcayvcg.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/9d_zpsuo7zttj1.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/9d_zpsuo7zttj1.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [URL=http://s1237.photobucket.com/user/cmsb_horton/media/Sei%20Walnut/9d_zps1mkfdwc5.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1237.photobucket.com/albums/ff464/cmsb_horton/Sei%20Walnut/9d_zps1mkfdwc5.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [/quote] That is incredible. *jaw drops*

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1489257095' post='3255576'] Welcome to the club! I currently have 2 ACGs. A recurve DC 5 custom and a Finn 4 standard - each is probably the best bass in its class I've ever owned. Previously had a bog standard Recurve Graft 5 which previously belonged to Merton and Black Coffee of this parish and went to Walbassist after me. It sold me on Alan's work. If his "cheap" line of basses was this good, how good must his custom stuff be? Only one thing that bugs me... is ACGs the correct plural? Should it be ACG? ACGi? [/quote] I think the letter stand for AC Guitars, so the plural is within that already :-)

Here's the classic story that Macca learnt how to do it by playing bass whilst reading the newspaper out loud. I tried it once and i found it almost impossible to do! Tricky skill for sure.

http://youtu.be/Np21rH7Ldto http://youtu.be/7R0D6ryRUqQ http://youtu.be/qm7Xt2Qsjcg http://youtu.be/MJCHeEQV454 http://youtu.be/OqN0jsSeqPo Erykah Badu's album Mamas Gun is good one to check out. Also features Pino :-)

Used to like a low action but recently dragged it up a bit and the difference in tone is huge! Much prefer the sound of the action being slightly higher and I can adapt to it for that reason alone.

I have the FSR MIJ Reissue Mustang bass that was released in October time. Fantastic little bass. Sonically it's very similar to my p bass but the convenience for taking it for teaching (and when I'm practicing at home and don't want to hit my headstock off my computer screen every two minutes!) it's really handy. For less than £500 new, it was a steal!

Surely if an upright bass requires a huge sound board to project and produce a good tone, then it's no wonder that the common choice of a cheap, laminate wood acoustic bass guitar with a (comparatively) tiny body/sound board is going to lack projection and a source for decent tone. I'm yet to play an acoustic bass guitar that A. sounds good unplugged, B. feels nice to play or C. didn't need amplifying to be useful.

ACG Finn SC R Type 5, Precision, Mustang or Fender Geddy Lee Jazz in to; Avalon U5 Mark Bass LMIII 2 x TKS S112 cabs

As someone who regularly deps, this all seems a bit silly to me. I regularly dep for certain bands and I get the call for two reasons; 1) I either know all the tunes already (in which case, the time period between gig and call is irrelevant, as I know what I'm playing) or 2) I don't know the tunes but they know I have the skills to busk them to a decent enough standard to help them out You get paid well for depping a number of reasons (including this) so the only real perceived issue is time. i.e. Is it a problem that they call you 4 hours before a gig or 4 weeks before a gig? Are you flexible enough to be working around this? If not and you'd prefer a more rigid, long-term diary, I'd suggest that maybe depping isn't the best playing solution for you. On the rare occasion the OP's situation has happened to me, I take what I can get. Equally, I have been offered a couple of gigs a few weeks in advance, one has been cancelled so I've booked in another gig and then they changed their minds again and came back but I was committed. I suggested a friend as an alternative dep and still played the second gig they had booked and everyone was happy and we've worked together a number of times since. It [i]should [/i]work both ways.

[quote name='SimonEdward' timestamp='1487883928' post='3243946'] If I may. A positive recommendation for Victor at Bass Gear in Twyford, not too far from me in Reading ~ Berkshire. TBH I prefer to trade on-line (strings, accessories, etc) but for one particular purchase; A small cabinet for use indoors with a class-D head, I thought I would pay a visit - a rare thing (!) A weekday afternoon and quiet. Just me, Victor and a shop full of gear. He set up about five different combinations of heads and cabs ~ nothing too much trouble and left me to my own devices... absolutely no hard sell whatsoever. After about 30 minutes or so, I'd decided on a new Phil Jones 4x5. As Bash Bashers will testify, a ton of Bass for one small cab!! A very happy experience. I don't need much these days but would go again in the future. [/quote] Vic was a great guy and hooked me up with some great gear too but you obviously haven't seen the news Simon. I'll drop you a PM.

[quote name='bazztard' timestamp='1487649827' post='3241496'] yep, great service. But I bet his price is nowhere near the best online price, just sayin, Most people would rather get a good deal than a good chat. I'm lucky in that my fave shop will usually go lower than the best Australian online price. And they give great service, sadly they are slowly dying. I've done my best to help, bought an Epi Les Paul, Fender MIA P, MarkBass amp, Hartke cab, Takamine ABG, about ten pedals, a Tascam multitrack recorder, Yamaha monitors......yeah I've tried my best hehe [/quote] Completely incorrect. Tim has always offered to match the lowest online price for me whilst offering first class service if I have asked. Although I agree with your sentiment, that by driving down the price, you eat into the VERY slim profit margin so a lot of stores are (rightly) reluctant to drop their prices as it doesn't take much to become not worth it (ie, they aren't making any money). This is why I may drive a hard bargain with stores on some items but will happily pay full whack on products I know they make a good chunk of money from (accessories and pedals etc). I used to work in Music Retail so I know how to shop and balance a bargain for me but also help support shops that offer good service too. It just so happens that I've known Tim since we were really young and he also happens to be a great guy who works in a music store and can get my gear now i can't get it through my own store lol!

Tim is a good friend of mind so I've passed this on to him :-) (he's also responsible for a fair few of my recent purchases, including the FSR MIJ Mustang bass I picked up thanks to his hard work and keeping an out for me as a favour. Top lad!)

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1487324512' post='3238904'] Your band plays Trouble With A Capital T? #deadjealous Also one of my top three or four fave Horslips tunes! You need to lobby to get The Power And The Glory added to the set too! Never had occasion to play a single Horslips tune live [/quote] Yeah! Irish function band so we get loads of Horslips and Waterboys in when we can

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1485712623' post='3226030'] I know not many of you understand ambient soundscapes so you have been warned. Probably best to go and do something else while it's on in the background, then you'll appreciate it more. This one was played on my ESP LTD B205 through the usual bunch of effects that mean it doesn't really sound like a bass. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlbRFxZ428s[/media] [/quote] Really nice mate!

[quote name='TrevorR' timestamp='1487277223' post='3238635'] I was sorting out some MP3s for the car and so browsing through my iTunes folder. Looking at the bands I love there were a few which are well known choices... Lizzy, Rush, ELO, Incognito, James Taylor... However it struck my that a very high proportion of my fave bands are ones to which even most music fans might go, "Huh? Who?". Now it's not that my tastes are exclusively limited to the Guatemalan nose flute or something. These are all pretty much bands which have had hit UK albums and singles over the last forty years or so. OK they may be located on a more obscure corner than Kylie, Status Quo or R.E.M. But still it's a surprise so few folks seem to have heard of them. Even here, where a more discerning level of music fanhood seems to be de rigueur ive only ever seen a few mentioned in conversation once or twice. Are there bands that you've long adored that you're surprised don't have a wider appeal or recognition factor? Would be interested to know who is on your list. The ones that stood out for me were seminal Irish folk rock band, Horslips, short lived 90s jangle poppers, River City People, folk/prog virtuoso, Gordon Giltrap, Celtic-fusion band, Iona, and prog-metallers Threshold (tho Rich did give them a fantasy band shout out just now...). I'll add a video by each in the next post in case anyone's interested in checking them out. [/quote] Trouble with a capital T is my favourite song in our set. Great band and a great bass line!

[quote name='AdamWoodBass' timestamp='1485200982' post='3222070'] That's a pretty sensible idea. I don't think that what I have in my head is that "radical" in terms of spec/wood combination etc but it's a very good point on the fact that you just don't really know what it's going to be like until you get your hands on the finished bass. That's why I'm trying to get as many stories of personal experience as possible before I get into it, £3000 would leave a fairly sizeable hole in my finances and I'd be mortified if it turned out to not be a bass that I love. [/quote] I should probably add that my custom spec for my ACG was based purely on experience. I was lucky enough to have access to thousands of instruments due to my job at the time and had been on trips to some of the best instrument makers in the world to learn about how (mainly acoustic guitars) are constructed and the tonal properties of the tone woods used. All of this knowledge plus a few preferences that I had picked up along the way (again, through trying other basses) led me to the spec for my custom instrument and it turned out almost exactly as I had expected. I was very lucky to be given the opportunity to have those experiences before considering a custom instrument but I can honestly say I couldn't be happier with my ACG. I can't remember the last time I practiced with anything else! Good luck with yours and if you need any advice, get in touch!

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1486384793' post='3231252'] Does anybody send the link to these threads to the offenders or their customer service depts?? Lets them know that they're not getting away with poor service and that in the end their reputation and sales suffer. [/quote] Why bother? The only thing they care about is the money. If their sales drop, they'll have a sale or a push to sell more but the service would remain the same. Bad service is countered by cheaper prices. That's how the Music Retail industry works because we all buy from where it's cheapest, then complain about the service after. If we valued service and paid a bit extra for it, the culture would improve in no time!

[quote name='fleabag' timestamp='1486264140' post='3230459'] Not true for me at all I was searching the net for Aguilar soapbars, and GAK were the cheapest. " special order only " ...oh oh, alarm bells But i ordered and they turned up in about a week. [/quote] I'm talking about discontinued products though, not products that are actually available to order...

It's also really annoying that they leave products up on their website that are discontinued as "available to order" and slash the price on it, so they show up as one of the cheapest on google shopping, yet you have ZERO chance of getting the product from them. Just a cheap shot to get competitors price matching something they don't have or getting traffic to their site, even though they know they don't have the product you want.

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1486160216' post='3229820'] Quite a lot of ACGs are flat fingerboard - often to be found at a bass bash near you. [/quote] Yup, mine is flat. I much prefer it to a radius now. Makes all my Fenders feel weird!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1485810386' post='3226939'] Maybe he has a friend of regal persuasion in Nigeria and this was going to be his birthday present? [/quote] I feel sorry for the friends and relatives of ACTUAL Nigerian royalty. It must be a nightmare trying to have gifts sent for special occasions!

[quote name='lownote12' timestamp='1485627724' post='3225467'] No really they are.. Fodera mostly 8<25k$ ; Overwater couple of grand (in Mays), Zon 4-5k (in Trumps!). When's that not midrange? lol [/quote] BARGAIN (compared to the €70,000 starting price for these http://sauvageguitars.com/opm3.html)