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[quote name='Josh' post='539039' date='Jul 13 2009, 01:11 AM']+1 I've never heard any displays of using 3 fingers that have ever sounded as clean or controlled as something done by 2 fingers. My advice would be to start out with 2 and stick to it if it keeps you happy, only consider 3 fingers if your seriously concerned with more speed.[/quote] Violent and Funky - The Infectious Grooves Granted its a triplet feel, but I defy anyone to play that song with two fingers and think its easier than three. Not just once round the groove, the whole song....

Figerstyle is generally a 2 finger thing. I use 3, there are people on here going the whole nine yards and getting the Garrison technique down. That is about as fast as a bass can be played with fingers IMO, but it will take you months and months to get down. I rake, I think its more efficient (just to annoy silddx of course ) but its a horses for courses thing. It probably isnt quite as tidy as strict alternation though. I would recommend using two fingers for popping (index & middle) since that will lead you on to being able to pop double stops and get triplets going too. Works for me. People starting slapping have the most trouble just getting a note to ring properly with the thumb. Points to note:- 1) Your thumb should be like a piano hammer - fast and [b]light[/b], bouncing immediately off the string 2) It should strike the string with the thumb knuckle over the last fret, the string needs to bounce of the fret to get hat slap tone. 3) make a fist, stick out your index finger and thumb (keep thumb relaxed) rotate your forearm back and forth such that your index finger is the axis, your thumb should be flying around, that is essentially the correct 'action' for slapping. Index finger needn't remain pointing, but that rotation of the wrist/forearm is key 4) Yes its tricky, it will take practice Good luck!

If you are in any way interested in tube overdrive then forget the LH500. It is uber clean, but by god is it loud and clear too. Punchy as a punchy punching puncher thingy too. My son has one driving his Berg stack and it is a staggeringly good sounding rig. Thats a 210 and 115 too. Dont know much about the quality of Ashdown cabs so cant comment...

[quote name='Spartacus' post='538906' date='Jul 12 2009, 10:28 PM']Umm is it ok to have no real desire to slap at all? I got told off for it once and it was only becaiuse i was hitting it so hard fingerstyle taht it was clanging off the frets.[/quote] Totally cool by me. Whatever floats your boat mate. IMO any song that can sound great with a slap b-line could sound just as good with the right fingerstyle b-line. Its a question of taste, what the writers are actually after and what really works best for the player too. All I was saying is that most non-bass-playing musicians I meet who want funky bass dont want slap. But (and how is this for ironic) I just got contacted thru myspace by a disco funk diva because of the slap playing on my myspace. And she's from Brighton. So I'll just shut up from now on eh!

Thought about Clover? [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Clover_Stock_XP15.5.html"]http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_sp...ock_XP15.5.html[/url] [url="http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_specialists/Clover_Stock_Apeiron_H.5.html"]http://www.bassdirect.co.uk/bass_guitar_sp...peiron_H.5.html[/url] Nice kit. I tried the XP15.5 when I got my Roscoe (it was a toss up between the two). The Roscoe won for me, but I love that kind of body shape over something more classic... In terms of the switch you will need to make technique adjustments in all probability. I've begun the mover from a moving anchored RH thumb to a floating (constantly muting) RH thumb to damp the extra strings better. Was having trouble with the low b warbling. I've been at it for about 3 practices and its nearly there already! As for switching back and forth I have been so delighted with my Roscoe that I really havent much, mainly over to the fretless if at all. Get a bass that really calls to you and you'll have the same experience, get any old thing and you might find the effort not worth the reward.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='538345' date='Jul 12 2009, 11:06 AM']TBH I don't think I'd slap a bass unless someone else in the band asked me to. And even then I'd ask them if they were taking the piss first. Very few bassists can make it sound good. I'm definitely not one of them, and I can imagine most of you aren't either.[/quote] Speak for yourself mate

I dont think I made myself very clear before. I think MK plays some amazing stuff. He became absolutely irrevocably the poster boy of slap at the time I think Level42 are rather unfortunately cheesy 80s pop (just my opinion), 'jazz funk' (or was it Britfunk); which is the antithesis of deep funk to many if not all the funk bands I've ever played in. As a result one of the first things you hear, at least down in Brighton (whereeveryone takes themselves very seriously and is definitely too cool for school) is 'the bass must not slap, ever under any circumstances, because thats not real funk, thats what Level42 and the Chili Peppers do'. I kid you not. Less often its the Chilis who get the blame. And if you suggest they may be somewhat inaccurate you will be shot down in flames, you will not get the gig. It is that simple. It doesnt matter whether or not they can slap, thats irrelevant, its the simple fact that they associate slap with watered down too clever by half MK (in their opinion) which has absolutely nothing to do with deeply funky grindy bump music. And they are right MK has nothing to do with bump music at all. So IMO MK has a lot to answer for... I've done more slapping in rock bands than funk bands!

[quote name='Rich44' post='537983' date='Jul 11 2009, 04:55 PM']Are Meths similar to rubbing alcohol? Because I usually use that to clean strings. Just loosen then, soak a cotton pad in rub. alcohol then run it along the strings a few times. Works pretty well, gets all the grime off. [/quote] Dunno mate, but I'd rather not get anything like alcohol near my Roscoe's finish - so I'll stick to the tube, plus I facny its a seriously deep clean leaving the strings in there for a couple of weeks at a time, compared to a quick rubbing over (oooh, and indeed, er)

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='537947' date='Jul 11 2009, 04:03 PM']Hi Kongo - what is Denatured Alcohol ? The Major[/quote] That would be Methylated Spirits to you an I sir. +1 to the meths tube solution, works great - I leave one set soaking and have one set on the bass, take a set out for a day bfore swapping (so they thoroughly dry out). Brings back as much (or more) zing than boiling, doesnt temper the metal, and leaves no risk of rust on the core. Result, strings last a lot longer than when boiling them. My DRs on my 4 banger are well over a year old and sound about 4 days old to my ears....

[quote name='odub' post='537936' date='Jul 11 2009, 03:28 PM']I left my old ones on, reasoning that it wasn't worth changing and taking the risk. Glad I did, the recordings sounded really good (to my ears), The engineer did a great job, basically using a Joe Meek compressor, my EBS preamp, straight D.I. and an Ashdown mic'd and cranked in various combinations, when I have the finished artcile, which'll be a while I'll post on here.[/quote] I LOVE Joe Meek comps on bass when recording. I usually go straight in to the HD24 via a Joe Meek TwinQ at my mates studio - it sounds just superb! Not surprised you like the result at all

[quote]“I know it’s probably [b]not ever been cool to play slap bass[/b],” he admitted, “but on that song it just seemed to work, so we kept it in.”[/quote] Errr, nope thats horsep***....... Nothing uncool about slapping a bass, if you do it really really really funky. The likes of Mr King however gave it a very very bad name indeed (esp in various old school funk circles). Damned shame!

[quote name='Josh' post='536845' date='Jul 9 2009, 10:34 PM']These Squiers are proving their worth, and I love mine more so because it's black and blonde. I've just done a quick clip with my Siggery of The Whispers "The Beat Goes On' or "Miami" to the Will Smith fans, I'll stick it up in here and the sale thread. [url="http://www.muziboo.com/Josh535/music/whispers-groove-miami"]The Whispers - The Beat Goes On..[/url][/quote] Oh fantastic, used to play this in a 19 piece disco funk band way back - absolutely brilliant! Top guitar hook on this as well.... Fantastic tone there as well sir!

[quote name='Merton' post='536788' date='Jul 9 2009, 08:58 PM']It's been a long time since I posted on here, but I'm very pleased and excited by my new rig, this one is a keeper: [attachment=28580:DSC01950.JPG] Yet to gig this - first gig is Sat 18th in East Grinstead for anyone who's around! Might have the 5-string multiscale prototype too [/quote] Wow, thats thin! I expected those to be deeper, cool!

[quote name='peted' post='537069' date='Jul 10 2009, 10:05 AM']I used to do a bit of reading music when I had recorder and piano lessons in my youth. Completely forgot how to sight read and can only remember the acronyms used to work out what notes are where. I'm currently working my way through a book titled 'Simplified Sight Reading for Bass' and it's brilliant. Starts out with just the rhythm and learning what different patterns sound like. The first half of the book is purely rhythm based and I've been playing a 'D' constantly for the last couple of weeks The pace of the book is great and I'm definitely learning as I go. Comes with a CD which has the first example from each page on it and am enjoying playing along to it. I'm tempted to skip forward in the book to the parts where you start learning the notes on each string, but I have resisted so far. Would love to get into some kind of amateur orchestra/big band when i've worked my way through the book a couple of times to get the practice in. Anyone got an idea where these types of bands advertise?[/quote] I have the same book, its an excellent starting resource. I'm not too bad at the rhythm part of it, but damn they get tricky in there!

This cab will have done some mileage by the time it gets back to Alex!

[quote name='BarnacleBob' post='536416' date='Jul 9 2009, 01:23 PM']Brilliant!! Worried now in case any of my old bands are in there. BB[/quote] You're npt the only one!

I only once took charts on a gig, it was an Indie band with 'riffs' that were massively meandering chord sequencies. I stuc to the roots plus a little bit of movement getting from one to the other - seemed to keep them happy anyway. I didnt really mind the music, the drummer was fine, but it turned out that the two guitarists insisted on changing the settings on their amps between each song for minutes at a time to get the sound 'just right' - I kid you not, I smoked a rollup between each song, I couldnt believe it!! We parted company after that gig

1) Time, effort, blood, sweat, tears, lots of mistakes - I have an awful memory for structures Writing the structures out, highlighting the catchy bits is uber important for me. I try and listen constantly to the songs, I also write out the structures to learn them away from the music, and spend all that imbetween time (to and from work etc) either listening to or thinking through the structures. The other trick is nailing the groove though, you havent covered that, buit I find its easy to apply too much of me to someone elses idea, rather than playing it how they would, sometimes this doesnt matter, cos what they want is me, sometimes its an issue! 2) Not for a while no, but that is the goal always.... Developing the ability to count and play (beats/measures/phrases, whatever breaksdown the easiest....) is an absolute must!

Thats a very expensive way to toast bread though.....

I'd get a Barefaced Compact if I were you. Its light as a very light thing (though not small) 8 ohm, and very efficient indeed. And £400....

Funny all this talk of getting the roots and joining them together. Having played a lot of the funky stuff, its best done a bit like that (IMO), having various motifs through a song and then stretching out on the imbetweeney bits. Could be a motif at the beginning of every other bar, and in between there is a 'groove' bit which is loosely the same each time, with variations. Never played the same twice mind. Then there are the variations brought about by the dynamics of the song itself. One of the nicest examples I've produced of that style if Flutebeast on my myspace page. Really got to the point where it was a free form thing as the moment took me, lots and lots of interplay going on between the band memebers (although it sounds pretty carefully laid out structurally, at a microscopic level it was very free form). Loved playing that track! I absolutely love that way of playing music, as opposed to the rigid, this note on this string ALWAYS happens at this point in the song, everytime around, but for every single note. I find that very tedious indeed - in fact I think very few people really play like that for longer than it takes to work out a way of mixing it up a bit more!

Less and less. Not cause I'm so great now, but because I simply dont need to do things just to impress, if that makes sense, so what I tend to come up with is usually pretty easy to play. It didnt always used to be like this! I do like to revisit a bassline once I've heard the final vocal though, sometimes I'll leave well alone, somtimes I'll add a few complimetary fills, sometimes I'll redo the whole thing, it all depends!

Were you going into the house cab? Plenty of acknowledged cases of MB heads protecting themselves from a cab with dodgy impedance etc... Just trying to make you feel a little more positive. I wouldn't say they are emotional, just Italian, in that they look after their own first and foremost and are more than happy to surrender momentarily if the going gets dangerously tough; if that will protect them and let them return to fight another day: (no offense meant to any of our Italian brethren who may be reading Not a bad way to be for an expensive head to behave IMO.

Damn that looks the absolute canine undercarriage. This is the one I havent heard (yet). I've played through a few 215s and love the grunt they give, but having played a Compact I would imagine these are approaching Holy Grail in terms of vintage bass sound. Certainly up there with the Berg nv215.... Cool!