dmccombe7

WAL custom 4 string (circa 80's) Mesa Subway WD800 amp Mesa Subway 210 & 115 cabs I'm a simple man. Dave

Sorted and thanks for another Jeff Berlin song

Can't get the transcription to download @Bilbo ?

Think you may be right. I'm happy to go with that. Neil's a hero of mine and a huge influence. Dave

Saw that bass advertised and it was a beaut. Well done. Stunning colour Dave

Are you on commission @Cuzzie ? My goto font of all Sandberg knowledge and always appreciated. Dave

The Panther bass was the first Sandberg i had ever really paid attention to. Saw it in Bass Direct but couldn't justify the cost at the time. Will need to try the VS4 at some point as i def want a nice P bass. Could be down to Fender Vintera or VS4. My band mates tell me to stick with the VM4 as it does everything and sounds and plays fantastic. I like the simplicity of one ick up passive basses. No batteries and a simple tone control. Life should be simple............like me. Dave

Any experience with the VS4 passives ?

Before starting to play bass i had never tried to isolate a bass line so had to work at that. I originally took lessons for 12-18mths and from there it was a combination of ear or music sheet if i could find it. There were a good few shops in Glasgow that sold music books etc back in late 70's. After a few years i could get most songs i was trying to learn without too much trouble. I was practising 2-3hrs a day after work and longer at weekends for at least 2-3 years when i got fed up with band politics and focused on my own playing. Some songs i could work out on paper without even lifting the bass. (simple ones) Nowadays its back to hard work learning again as i took a 15yr break from bands and lost interest in playing the bass at all. I think its a lot easier to learn new things and perfect your learning process at a younger age. Maybe i was just more of a bass geek back then These days i'll use anything i can to learn a song as easily as poss. Music sheet, bass tabs, ear, youtube or even hand written notes from mates. We have so much choice these days. Dave

Nice one

Yep have to agree that is very nice looking bass. I would buy one of them.

I'd never really noticed that until i heard the isolated bass line in this thread. When i went back to listen to the original recording you get the picture of Neil throwing in some off the cuff fills on the day. They virtually get covered over in the mix tho. Its the same when you hear a lot of the isolated bass tracks. John Entwhistle had some and Geddy too i've heard some odd notes or missed notes. It was a different way of recording back then tho. Still one of my fav bass players and that song is one of the classic rock songs IMHO of course. Dave

its good that you have 2 candidates that are so close. Could be a difficult choice for you. All the very best Dave

Its on my favs in toolbar of laptop now as i regularly use it for help with some of the more difficult songs i like. Plus some songs i had forgotten about over the years like Theme 1 from Cozy Powell Over the Top album. Aaahhhhh memories of my younger days when nothing was difficult or i just ad-libbed to make it fit Dave

Cheers @Bilbo just downloaded for my files and will hopefully have a wee go today. First glance over it and it looks very much like the original copy i had from someone on BC back in 2012. Dave

I use a VM4 in a 70's Glam Rock covers band and it will also work very well in a classic rock covers band. Has more depth than my Fender J bass. The Humbucker gives the P pick up that little bit of edge to the sound. I would say a bit more hi-mid tone than treble like you get from a Stingray. That might be down to my Mesa tube amp tho. Great basses and you won't be disappointed. Dave

I got asked to play that at a charity gig event and was first time i had used my fretless WAL bass in a rock song. It really suited the early Whitesnake songs. Great song to play and again lots of wee fiddly fills you can throw in. Dave

i use Jeff Berlin as an example mainly because i like his style and most bass players will have heard of him, usually thru BC. I understand the feel thing as i struggle with Reggae music as i just don't have the feel and Hit Me was more about the feel for me too. That's what took me longest. I've played mostly rock / prog covers over the years with occasional stints at originals Prog but i found the originals bands i was involved with simply didn't have the drive or push to get out and gig with the songs. Recent yrs all they wanted to do was record loads of songs. I don't see the point of just recording, its just not me. I'm happy to record songs and then get them out to a live audience. Its more fun for me that way. Now i mostly enjoy doing covers or tribute band material. Think it took me all these years to realise its where i'm happiest. I would still like to get a Prog covers band on the go but doubt that's gonna happen now at my age but i still dream of it a lot. Dave

I did that for about 15yrs and got back into it when i turned 50 (now 60) I decided that being in a band was a form of stress relief for me and it was going to take priority over work for a change. Having been picked up for stress at my work medical i was put on a stress consultant therapist type thing. Worked a treat until you fall back into same old trap after about a year. My work couldn't argue with me now tho as i just told my bosses it was my way of dealing with stress of the job and it was important to me to ignore calls. Happy days long gone now since retiring LOL

You stretched yourself for Hit Me so you can stretch a bit further and go for a Jeff Berlin type song. Now get your finger out and get some practising done. You know you can, no excuses now. To be honest if you managed Hit Me then there's nowt wrong with your ability so i can't see you really having a limit as such. For me the limiting factor is whether i want to spend the time and effort on a song i will never play live. I generally only do these things for my own benefit just to push myself. The Rock bands and cover bands i play in generally don't need an exceptional bassist, they just want a good, solid, reliable bass player to hold the band together. Sometimes you simply don't have the time to learn exceptionally fast songs just for the fun of it, but i do try. Dave

I like a nice high mid sound to give me that little cut thru a mix in rock bands. The flats are great but they bass always sounds as tho its just "there" and it holds the songs together really well but i struggle to get that bit of edge with them. Dave

I might actually go down that route myself. I like the fact the flats i have on my Sandberg VM4 last for ages but sometimes i would like a bit of zing on the top end. The Cobalt flats also sound interesting. Dave

Thanks for being so honest and open. Its something that i never really thought about. I've always just made the assumption based on myself that its down to not practising hard or long enough. Weird that i think that way as i have come across guitarists that are limited in ability and i just know they literally couldn't practise more to improve. Its was just their limit. Cheers Dave

Obviously i don't know you, so don't take this personally because i haven't seen or heard you play. I don't know what your limiting factor is so I'm just throwing in my own thoughts. I struggle with Jeff Berlin fast lines and probably my limit at the moment is a step down from him. I can take some of his songs and work on them and eventually i will get most of it but i need to put in a lot of work to get there. Its not an overnight thing because i need to strengthen my fingers to maintain the stamina to keep it going. I also needed to change my technique to follow his hand positioning. That all takes time. (Talkng months for me.) On the other hand take someone like Steve Harris from Iron Maiden. Not technically brilliant bass lines but the stamina required to keep that pace for song after song is incredible. There is his 3 finger plucking technique to contend with. I'm curious what the limiting factor is for you. Is it a physical thing, commitment to learning fast songs, or willingness to spend months learning new techniques and building stamina. My limiting factor is I struggle with spending months trying to get faster and increase stamina.I get bored quickly too As i said don't take it personally its just me being curious. 👍 Dave