fretmeister

I start with the bass tone at about halfway so I’ve got some movement available. Then on the amp everything at noon and then cut the bass as I get louder. And I’ve always got a HPF in the path to help tame the mush.

Those are excellent combos! Get out and gig it!

Sandberg Lionels don't neck dive. They already use super lightweight tuners. The body shape is slightly different from a usual Fender to make them lighter and have better balance. Replacing Mustang tuners with USA Hipshot Ultralites will knock off nearly 1/3 of a pound from the end of the neck - that makes a massive difference for balance. The Mustang shape just isn't great for balance otherwise. Grippy straps can be a help but really all they are doing is causing a weird forward pulling on your shoulder that causes its own problems. Having the bass designed properly in the first place is a far better option.

I started with Stuart Clayton's Sight Reading Bass books, and then using example sight reading tests for double bass. There's lots more available for double bass than bass guitar. Just ignore any bowing instructions! Clayton beginner sight reading Double bass sight reading samples I like using samples / examples because there are loads of them and it means each time I am actually reading something new rather than remembering them from the last time. Then it's just realising it's a language. When you start talking as an infant you copy. Then when you start reading everything is broken down into phonetics - but that is only a stepping stone. As a kid you look at a word and split it into the little parts, but eventually you don't do that anymore and instead recognise the entire pattern. The same happens in music after enough practice - even high speed shred metal runs have patterns! So eventually you don't see individual notes like F/B/A/Bb/C/D/E you just recognise the pattern is the F Major scale. Maybe the Bb has been left out and it's a jump to the C - you end up recognising that too, much quicker than actually reading each note. But the secret really is - 10 mins per day, and play as slow as you need to get every note right. Never be embarrassed if you have to consult a picture with the lines and the note names on it before playing the note - just get it right. There's loads of easy remembered filthy mnemonics to help! It's also a good idea to say the note name as you play it to help reinforce it. As with any skill though - having a good teacher will really help. They can stop bad habits before they start. Good luck!

I've recently sold about £800 worth of pedals and stuff and I'm looking at amps and pedals and absolutely nothing within budget is screaming "buy me"! These days I almost always play one of my 2 Sandbergs so I'm not gassing for a new bass, I like my 2 amp heads a lot, and I refuse to use a pedalboard larger than a Nano+ as I don't want to carry it. I always come back to the same favourite pedals so I don't need more of them. It might be nice if I had a tablet to put my sheet music on. That would be a lot lighter than carrying around folders! The only other thing I look at regularly is some of the Boss Waza Air headphones. Would be a great idea for practice.

I can sight read flat containing keys way better than sharps. That's a side effect of spending a long time in a big band. 99% of the stuff is in F / Bb / Eb with a smattering of Ab and Db.

Sometimes. I don't think they really know what they are doing though!

I think it was on an outtake of the backstage stuff with Metallica with the SF orchestra that had one of the violinists talking to Hetfield.... 'How did you come up with the idea to go from that scale, to that scale but with that mode?' To which the mighty Het responded... "I don't know what you are talking about. It just sounded cool."

I get that - but even at the simple end it really just allows for easier communication between band members. That's the entire point of the rules really - to give a common language for the musicians. Anyone can go from zero to reading Grade 3 in a year by only giving it 10 mins a day. Little and often. None of that 3 hours on a Saturday crap. 10 mins a day. That's it.

It's not just import tax (about 2% iirc), it's VAT (20%) as well. So if you get caught (and it is an offence, BTW) then you'll either pay about 22% on top of the sale price - or the value they think it has if they don't believe the sales document you have. If you won't or can't pay then they'll confiscate it and you'll have a little time to make payment. Then if not it will get destroyed. Your choice!

Wasn't it Strauss that wrote a movement in Ab Major with 8 sharps - just because he wanted to be a massive 'hole?

I'm pretty sure there are a few double sharps in Moonlight Sonata, Bach used them too. Can't think of any Mozart off the top of my head, but it wouldn't surprise me. Think of it as spelling. They sound the same but the spellings are different. Their / There / They're Hear / Here It is the spellings that give the proper meaning and let the other notes around them make sense and stick with the rules of never using the same note name as per Tim's example of F major. Having A in it twice BUT SOUNDING DIFFERENT because 1 is natural and the other a sharp is a nightmare. That's kind of the equivalent of using the word "here" but needing 2 ways of saying it: here and heeeaaarrrr perhaps. The main point is that although Fb sounds like an E, it is not an E if the scale doesn't have an E natural in it. Believe it or not, all these rules make it a lot easier to sight read. It allows clear commands that apply to everyone playing and removes the need for interpretation / thought for any note, and allows for a much cleaner manuscript. I get the "WTF.....?????" reactions. I had that too when I started looking at this stuff. Then I joined a band that had 20% people playing transposing instruments in it. Without these rules playing along with Saxophones and clarinets (both transposing, but differently) would have lead to madness!

I've never paid that much for them - never more than £45.

At this point I'd like to mention that Count Basie / Neil Hefti were genius, but I also regularly swear because of him... And then again when some bandleader has attempted to re-arrange one of their tunes with the aim of making it easier and instead making it a complete fracking mess.

You people need to get into a proper jazz band! This isn't new or weird. It follows the rules of music just as: It's not pretentious bull crap at all - in fact it can make it a lot easier using each note name only once. Far less chance of a wrong note when sight reading.

EMGs. I love them. The J and J-X series are superb.

Over the last year I have been extremely close to quitting my big band. It's run by an educational trust and they decide who is running the ensembles. The last person was not cut out to do it at all. I stuck with it mainly because of a sense of duty (my kids spent many happy years getting involved) and because bassists are thin on the ground there at the moment. I had a little injury just before the end of term summer concert so I wasn't able to do it, and for the first time ever I didn't give a crap. I think bass duties were split between a tuba and a classical DB player. Over the summer holiday I didn't miss it either. Then the emails started about the planning for this term and included news that a new person had been appointed. I didn't know him but others did and were excited about it. With much pushing from my wife I decided to give it another shot. It couldn't possibly be worse than the last year. The new chap is a massive improvement - he's passionate and really excited to be there. The repertoire has improved already. He's a proper jazz nerd and although he plays a load of instruments his main is trumpet. I'm still undecided long term but at the moment I am not feeling hatred when I'm loading the car as I was over the last year and for reference, I only take a short scale, a BF 1x10 and a little amp. It's not like I'm lugging an 810! It's difficult - I'm self employed and I work from home. Without this gig I would probably not leave the house unless I needed to go to the shops for something. I don't have to do anything other than turn up and play. No planning, no admin, none of that. And the rehearsals are on Saturday mornings which is also really convenient. I'm not going to get that in a pub band! So, it's the big band or nothing, and at the moment I'm 45/55% in favour of the band. I hope that improves further, but I have been volunteering at the trust for over 10 years now and I'm also wondering if I've done my bit and it's just time to move on.

You need a catch phrase like Gregor at Bass The World! They've got a great new approach. They have the longer demos - that are never more than 10 mins - but then they do 30 second extracts from it and post them separately. Usually no talking on the short ones, just sound clips. "X Amplifier overdrive" - 30 seconds of filth. "X amplifier slapped" etc. Those mini clips get impressive views. With the shorter attention span of the viewer that might be something to try. Just chop up an existing vid and see what happens?

The compressor might be a bit tame for me then. It seems that only Andertons have one in stock at the moment and I don't have the time to go down to try it. I get the point about the fan, but I often go from supporting a single woodwind to a full band in the same set. A bit of fan noise isn't a problem when the other 25 of us are playing, but in a silent hall with just a clarinet and the bass a fan can really ruin the feeling. Some makers manage to deal with this. My Ashdown RM800Evo2 fan is pretty much silent, for example. Others, like The v2 amps from Darkglass, have reactive fans - even Ashdown have seen the light on the newer ABM V 750, and I believe that new fan system is on newly built ABM iv 600 as well now. Very quiet fans are usually only £10-15 more expensive than the cheap ones that many amp makers use.

@Dood I watched your demo, and really enjoyed it. How compressed did the compressor get? Do you remember what the fan noise was like? ta

I always wanted one of those. When I was young I could have lifted it but couldn't afford it. Now I'm old and can afford it I cannot lift it. Life is a cruel joke!

Never ever say "Jim cannot make it that night" - instead say "I think we are booked for a private event that night" - and then give them your list of currently available nights. They have no way of checking if it is a private event, and it makes you seem more in demand.

I am very much looking forward to this!