bassbiscuits

In terms of equipment, not much really. I find headphones are better than speakers because you can separate out the various studio sounds going on a bit better and often pick out the bass more easily. Other than that, just patience and lots of listening. I tend to listen to a track a few times so I know roughly how it goes, and start to notice phrases and runs that help me understand how it's working. Then try playing along a few times, stopping to write down anything off the wall or tricky. Learn those parts, then run thru again. Once I've got it sketched out nicely, I tend to listen on the bus to work etc (without playing along) to then pair up what I'm playing to what's on the track, and gradually keep refining until I'm happy we are playing the same. Then just keep practising along to it until you can play it without the track for guidance.

Probably because it's very easy to get it sounding good very quickly, and is familiar to a lot of studio folks. Adds up to making it an easy bass for everyone involved to work with.

I got some pyjamas so I can get a good night's sleep and play bass properly the next day. Does that count?

Basses do look great hung on the walls like that. But I keep mine in their cases/bags which take up the same amount of room whether they're full or empty. Keeps them free of dust and away from small children too!

I went to see them on this tour in Birmingham and remember him doing that. Excellent stuff.

Good song and works well in terms of acoustic guitar and a singer. I don't think there's much in there for a choir to do tho.

I actually use La Bella flats at the mo, but that's only cos I've gone down a different avenue tonally.

Yup - another Rotosound user here (among other things). Used Swing Bass roundwounds for ages and liked them. Currently using D'addario EXLs purely due to what was available instore when i needed some strings. Perfectly good strings.

Aye - just read the rules and I'm up for it. Certainly tier one and possibly tier two. If anything I'm looking to sell a few bits so as long as I'm not foolish I shouldn't then be in position of having to replace anything! Already got more straps and gigbags than actual instruments. Oh yeah and sod all money, which should help keep me on track.

Agreed re Metallica - the three Cliff Burton albums are great. Bon Scott-era AC/DC pre-1980 were way better than anything since, and Guns N Roses original line-up topped anything they've done since. From personal experience I'd say Stereophonics too. Having seen them live in their early years as a trio and thinking they were great. But have had progressively less interest in them since Stuart Cable went and they got bigger and glossier and added more members.

Out of curiousity, does anyone on here have a Sandberg California TT4 (version 1 Fender Jazz shaped) creme white, passive, rosewood board, matching headstock, slight relicing, from about 2015? I used to own it and rather with I hadn't sold it. It went to Bass Direct in a p/ex against a Fender Jazz (which I later sold anyway) back in early 2016.... The one that got away for sure.

Best - probably my secondhand MIJ Fender Mustang bass. Bought initially out of curiosity but has quickly become a mainstay and my go-to bass. Very likeable. Worst - not actually worst, but certainly my least used, would be a Boss bass overdrive pedal. Really wanted one, had all sorts of ideas to use it, and then after a couple of goes just relegated it to the back of the drawer. Turns out I don't really use overdrive after all...maybe it's day will come tho.

Never. I've been playing 30 years+ and gigging regularly for about the last 20 and i've never had an amp die. I've had them making farting noises and clearly not quite right, but i've managed to get thru the gig well enough and got them repaired. I do have a little DI box so i really should take it with me to gigs...

Yes definitely add No Brexit to my list too. I'll raise that to seeing Trump removed from office too.

Four-bedroom house with a large leafy, south-facing private garden and room for an outdoor hot tub. A small holiday home in France (south or southwest somewhere ideally), again with a grassy, sunny garden or patio area. A studio room at home, and some time to read the manuals in peace. A French passport. A resident nanny to take the kids off my hands from time to time.

To echo the other posts here, the string tension should normally feel lower on short scales than on long scales. I've got a 34" precision, and a 30" mustang, both fitted with La Bella flatwounds (both sets are 43-104 gauge) and the Mustang strings feel significantly more bendy than the Precision. Then again, both basses are nicely set up too which helps. Well done on your purchase tho - Mustangs are brilliant little basses.

I've switched to lighter basses over the last few years (40 is now a distant memory...) and annoyingly the two basses I'd been using that were dead heavy were also great sounding ( a P and a J bass ). But a bit of trial and error has ended up with me having three basses now all under 3.9kg and all big and full sounding, regardless of their weight. Weight is one thing, but not everything.

A red tort pickguard for my mustang bass. It ain't gonna happen but it's what I'd like. Can't justify spending £60+ on it tho.

A bit of peace and quiet hopefully.

Balls. That's horrible. I'm in Leicester so I'll keep my eyes peeled.

Ah I love JC basses. I had a 2007 goldtop one until i sold it this summer to fund a Fender Mustang bass. The neckdive was spectacular, but yeah i used a 3.5inch wide rough suede strap which went a long way to reining it in. Lovely sounding thing TI flats on it. Great bit of kit, and got me noticed on stage too!

I've dropped off my Schroeder 1210 for a once over with a techie and hauled out my Aguilar GS410 for a practice instead. I barely use it as not doing gigs that big nowadays, and was thinking of selling it. However, I had forgotten how great it sounds, and it's such a good match for my LM3 and MiJ Mustang with flats. Sure it ain't a valve head and huge cabinet. But it sounded warm, articulate and really punchy and snarling. V nice indeed. God knows what my neighbours made of it!

I used an Orange AD200B head and Ampeg 8X10 cab at a festival a year or two ago. What a sound. But I'd never be able to carry that around, or really want to.