tauzero

Anything by Flanders & Swann or Tom Lehrer, because bassists really should get out more.

"Fever" if it's a fretless. The end bit of "Chain" or bass line from "Summer lovin'" for fretted. Unless I'm feeling in that kind of mood, when it'll be Toccata and Fugue in Dm, BWV 565 (not 566, which is another T&F in Dm but not the famous one).

[quote name='bigjohn' post='169918' date='Apr 4 2008, 05:27 PM']I might be tempted one day with a B string - maybe. Sometimes I wish my bass went down another note or two but it's very rare, most of the time I'd naturally play around "wanting" to go deeper than E and not even notice until I thought about it. I'm not really fan of tuning up or down, I'm used to my bass being EADG, and play mostly by ear. I find it harder to do that if I tune down sometimes, although I get used to it relatively quickly. I think I'd need another bass that I kept constantly tuned down if I were to do that. For me the best bass lines are relatively simple - and 99.9% they don't need anything lower than an open E. But then - I'm a rocker [/quote] That's why you should consider a 5-string. You need never go below the bottom E, but it means you can play a walking bass line in E with your middle finger firmly on the B string 5th fret, so you can do your damping on the left hand rather than the right and you can play the same pattern for the E as for the A and B. We don't actually do much stuff in E (and I use the one an octave from bottom anyway) but it's nice playing a 12-bar in A that you can keep the boomy lower-string tone in by playing it all round the 10th fret rather than having to move from 5th to 10th. Anyone who spends a lot of time on the open E or playing bottom F or F# should consider a 5-string. Please note that I only say "consider".

[quote name='lwtait' post='169913' date='Apr 4 2008, 05:16 PM']not really. i listen music like blink 182, zebrahead, good charlotte, new found glory etc. im not going to try and pretend any of them have good bassists. i wouldn't reccomend listening to them if you wanted to hear good bass playing. im saying you should seriously listen to him because his bass playing is so unique and you can learn a thing or two from him, rather than listen to him because his music is good.[/quote] I don't listen to music for the bass players, which is why, at 50, I am completely unconscious of 99% of the bass players that people rave about. I listen to music for music. I don't consciously listen to bass lines - sometimes a bass line will actually impinge on my consciousness, mostly it won't. In the covers band, I don't give a flying f*** what the original bass line was unless it's actually really important (ie. I've actually noticed it while listening to the track), I'll play my own. Which reminds me, I really must learn the bass line to "Sunny afternoon" by the Kinks for the next time my mate wants to do it on the open mic night.

What I don't understand with all this going on about his chops is that no-one seems to have noticed that the songs were utter, utter sh*te. What f***ing depressingly bad music there was for almost the entirety of the Friday night programme. James Taylor - great. Mike Trovey (?) - didn't know when to stop developing a theme and move on to the next one. Only Ones - crap performance of pretty decent material (the guitarist was particularly bad). Black Kids were like Waterboys colliding with Human League rather messily. Adele - Vicki Pollard. Estelle - anonymous formulaic crap.

[quote name='Smash' post='169731' date='Apr 4 2008, 12:23 PM']Does anybody know where I can find the width of the necks of Warwick basses, especially at the nut end? I like Jazz necks or fast slim necks and someone a while back told me I wouldn't get on with Warwick necks as they are thick? Is this true? Reason for asking is all these cheap Warwicks are unbearable GAS, I don't really need one but..... they look so nice.[/quote] If you want a fast slim neck on a Warwick, there's a JD Thumb for sale at the moment (on the sarf coast, IIRC). That's if it's not gone yet, absolute bargain.

[quote name='lwtait' post='169408' date='Apr 3 2008, 08:21 PM']i realise that I'm not the first to say this, am im sure im not going to be the last, but jaco only used four strings.[/quote] And Nelson only used sailing ships and muzzle-loading cannon, and Fangio only used front-engined cars. Some of us have no desire to emulate Jaco. In fact, some [1] of us haven't even heard him... [1] Or is it just me?

DAMHIK[IJKOK] = Don't Ask Me How I Know [I Just Know, OK] ETLA = Extended Three Letter Acronym (we'll have no pendantry here) IIRC = If I Recall Correctly SWMBO = She Who Must Be Obeyed Possibly useful although not interweb or IT based: HIGNFY = Have I Got News For You ISIHAC = I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue

[quote name='OldGit' post='154402' date='Mar 10 2008, 11:55 AM']You've probably sorted this by now but if you found a source of white lettraset-type lettering I'd be interested .. I used 2mm white lettraset dots as side markers for years where the standard ones were too small to see easily but when I went looking for white rub off lettering this time I failed miserably ...[/quote] Try W H Smiths and Hobbycraft.

40-60-80-100 (+125) for me, except for the 7-string. Normally Elites, but there's a set of Warwicks (red label IIRC) on the fretless. All sorts of music and styles.

[quote name='bremen' post='168910' date='Apr 3 2008, 10:25 AM']'If for instance the real maximum rated power (6400 watt) would be used the pressure level would reach 160 dB, but I wonder who could survive. Not even the house built in steel & concrete maybe would stand up.' Which of us, if we had the cash, wouldn't want to do that to our basement![/quote] Anyone who owns a teenager. Who would want to come home to a pile of rubble?

[quote name='OldGit' post='168920' date='Apr 3 2008, 10:43 AM']Doesn't someone on here build Omni's for people?[/quote] There's [url="http://www.arrowheadguitars.co.uk/basscabs.html"]Arrowhead Guitars[/url] which is Paul_C who has just started up doing them.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='168809' date='Apr 2 2008, 11:11 PM']Now how the fook do you happen to stumble across something like that?[/quote] Someone mentioned it on a motorcycle email list (on which the concept of "on" and "off" topic is completely alien ).

[url="http://www.royaldevice.com/customita3.htm"]A full range speaker system[/url] that doesn't quite approach Bill's normal levels of portability, but has a well extended bass, suitable even for Doodle.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='166622' date='Mar 30 2008, 10:04 PM'] For me the Synergie is an interesting bass - similar in concept to the Harvey Citron AE Basses but a bit more elegant. There are two versions of this a 'conventional' solid body with a single pickup and the one shown here with a chambered body and a Schertler system.[/quote] It had overtones of the Shaftesbury Ned Callan (or Cody) to me (and I've only been able to find a photo that doesn't show it well):

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='168213' date='Apr 2 2008, 10:34 AM']If I bought a bass online, I would hope that its new, ie not been in some other blokes house or at his rehearsal. I have the same issue with my missus.[/quote] I remember that Diana had to be checked over before marrying Charles for similar reasons. [quote name='BigBeefChief' post='168213' date='Apr 2 2008, 10:34 AM']On principle I only return items to shops if they're defective. She buys things with the attitude "its's ok, I'll see what I think when I get home, I can always return it".[/quote] Ah.

[quote name='Moody' post='167924' date='Apr 1 2008, 09:50 PM']Left Fender Jazz Bass Fender Rumble 25w practise amp (encourage anyone who is looking for a 25w practise amp to try this out!) Lefty Acoustic Bass if I buy it in time[/quote] Is that Fender Rumble a lefty too? I should be there, plus the future Mrs Zero. Plus a JD Thumb, a couple of Tsais, and summat else - possibly the twin-neck if I can get the setup sorted out by then. And the GK 200MB.

[quote name='burray' post='167702' date='Apr 1 2008, 02:28 PM']Where's the best and most reasonable place to get fret lights fitted? And how much? OOORRRR, where is the best place that sells basses already set up with the lights?[/quote] Get some stick-on ones? [url="http://fretlord.com/"]fretlord.com/[/url]

[quote name='tauzero' post='167611' date='Apr 1 2008, 12:37 PM']I remember someone on alt.guitar.bass saying that every fretless player ever was influenced by Jaco. [quote name='bass_ferret' post='167620' date='Apr 1 2008, 12:44 PM'] More bollocks from the Jaco publicity machine. For an esoteric artist they sure worked hard. Jaco did not invent the fretless bass and they were available to buy when he took the pliers to his Jazz. I am afraid the first person who did take the pliers to their frets was bass god (not) Bill Wyman.[/quote] [/quote] That was rather my point. I'd been playing fretless for 15 years before I ever heard of the bloke. I've still only heard one of his tracks. He seems OK to me so I might get round to listening to some more some day.

[quote name='OldGit' post='167297' date='Mar 31 2008, 09:53 PM']Well open mic nights can vary but they can be a good place to network for a band or just other people to jam with.[/quote] I have a wonderful time playing at the Roadhouse on Thursdays. Which brings me on to the regret, a musical and a personal one. I wish I'd known 30 years ago that the future Mrs Zero could sing, as we could have got a band together then, and because it might have bound us close enough together so her dad couldn't split us up. There have been gaps in my musical life which I shouldn't have let happen, but I was something of a victim of circumstance and rather went with the flow instead of trying to do something more about it.

As a general organisational thing - know exactly where the studio is and where you'll be parking. Make sure you have all the equipment you need and don't go overboard taking lots of extra stuff. You want to have a nice stress-free setup so you're in a calm frame of mind for the actual recording. Consider refreshments. Non-alcoholic ones... Have somewhere planned for food or take it in with you. The studio work I've done has been demos similar to what you'll be doing - one was done live straight to master (it was never intended to be more than a demo of us playing live, so that was fine). Everything else followed the formula of whole band playing to lay down drums and guide instrument and vocal tracks, then bass, then keys and guitars in whatever order seemed logical, then vocals and backing vocals. I've always DIed the bass (except for the live one), generally using some flanger or chorus on it. Enjoy it and try to relax. It's fun...

I remember someone on alt.guitar.bass saying that every fretless player ever was influenced by Jaco. Who knows, if I ever listen to any of his stuff, perhaps it'll influence me.

Not exactly "couldn't bear to part with" - a g*itarist I used to play with about 25 years ago gave me the remains of a DOD 280 compressor. PCB and jack sockets were there, can't remember if the footswitch was and I took it out to use or if the footswitch wasn't. No back on the case. After having it knocking around the garage for 25 years, I tried it out the other day by soldering the output direct to the output jack socket. Hmmm. Anyone want the remains of a DOD 280 compressor, compresses but is somewhat noisy? There's a couple of leads of mine that I've had for a long time that have finally succumbed. I like the jack plugs though, so I shall switch them onto newer cable. Oh, and there's all the dismantled bikes that I really should do something about.

[quote name='Moody' post='166828' date='Mar 31 2008, 12:03 PM']I've been chatting this morning with the dear Mrs Moody - she works in Performing Arts at New College Nottingham (the old Clarendon College) - We can use one of their performance spaces on Saturday 4th May (tbc - system was down)[/quote] It's always possible that I'm wrong, but isn't the 4th of May a Sunday?

[quote name='TheRev' post='167029' date='Mar 31 2008, 04:34 PM']It's also worth considering the Aria SWB Lite one. Thomann have them for about £750. Whether it's better than the NS Wav is probably down to taste but what I like about it is that it has a body rest and endpin (the Wav uses a cymbal stand type thing I believe) so You're not rooted to the spot.[/quote] That has its advantages and disadvantages. My first EUB was a BSX, the predecessor to the Flip range as far as I can tell - 34" scale and tripod stand. From that, I went to a Palatino VE-500 which has an endpin. It was rather heavy though, and the end pin was a bit of an inconvenience as with the overs band I only played it for a few numbers and with the barn dance band there's gaps between the dances while the future Mrs Zero shouts at the putative dancers to bend them to her will, which all meant that a stand would be more convenient. I now have an NS WAV-4 which I like - I briefly had an overlap of instruments so I was able to compare the necks of the WAV-4 and the VE-500 and although they're noticably different, I didn't have a preference for one over the other (I'm very inexperienced on EUB which may be one reason for that). I would actually like the NS end-pin and stand, but I think it needs the CR tripod, and the total cost of doing it is around £350.