dc2009

Boy, she's purdy - congrats! Do you work for Darkglass, TorVic, is that not their logo?

[quote name='silddx' post='1293791' date='Jul 5 2011, 07:28 PM']Is this how we treat people on here? Tell them to f*** off because they are impressed with someone? Joey's a very talented multi-instrumentalist as it happens. I have seen him on bass before and although he's not Anthony Jackson, he plays with great feel and spirit. So on behalf of some of the other members on this thread, sorry to the OP if you got the impression we are all c**ts. [/quote] Mine was a joke, sorry if it was not taken that way. It was in the vein of the lack of helpfulness of the thread to anyone who hasn't seen jordison on bass, there wasn't even a video!tiv Also hadn't realised it was a relatively new guy's thread, no offence intended TMB!

[quote name='4 Strings' post='1293604' date='Jul 5 2011, 05:00 PM']Had some fun the other night, a youngster's band with plenty of Dad's around, bass player had a Bongo 6! It was huge and a real Musicman (any copies of those yet?). I couldn't help but have a little fun counting the number of strings he used, he used two for the first three songs, eventually two others chimed in a couple of times. Didn't use the top two at all. So although the 5 and 6ers may be more useful, not by much! (I get away with a Hip Shot at Csharp)[/quote] In my old metal band my lowest 4 strings got used frequently, with my G only seeing action on maybe 50% of songs, so I guess I could've got away with a 4 but it would have to have been strung BEAD! 6 String bongo that thing must've looked like something from outer space! Please tell me he had it in that metallic orange with that weird stripey brushed metal effect look pickguard

Seeing as I used this after wateroftyne's one the other day, it seems fitting to repeat it:

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1293140' date='Jul 5 2011, 10:18 AM']Not read the whole thread so sorry if its a repeat but I don't like 99% of Alembic basses. There! I said it! I liked the series 2 shape that Flim Johnson uses (and love his playing) but, having trawled the net recently looking for examples of Alembics, I found that most of them were plug ugly and, more to the point, most of them I heard sounded really icky to my cloth ears. Wouldn't say no to trying some out but, from what I have seen/heard to date, there are very few Alembics that I would cross the street for. I am willing to be proven wrong, though.[/quote] Same here, them and those statuses that mark king had, just don't think they look very appealing!

[quote name='skej21' post='1291713' date='Jul 4 2011, 01:16 AM']Just to make it 10000000% clear. That spotify playlist is only for music in which Mr Pino Palladino plays bass! He never played in Atheist (P.s. There is another playlist somewhere that is a general "Basschat" playlist but I don't have it on my spotify, so you'll have to find it on the forum somewhere!)[/quote] Ahhahah, I was on about the other playlist because I thought you were, I will put atheist on the other playlist then perhaps, and wont tamper with the PP one, although it would be amusing to see your faces when it came on on shuffle!

[quote name='skej21' post='1291642' date='Jul 3 2011, 11:24 PM']I was REALLY suprised/impressed with the Daniel Bedingfield track! Immense bass line. SO much so, I've put it in here.[/quote] Now that, is some cracking bass. Tempted to put some Atheist on the list, the music will be disliked by most but the bass in undisputably fantastic. Check out And the Psychic Saw

[quote name='dood' post='1291650' date='Jul 3 2011, 11:29 PM']Waaaaaiiiit a minute! I think I have a startling discovery! The percentage figures in the OP are based on items for sale on eBay. Welllllll, it seems to me that it's not 10% of Bass players having 5 and 6 string basses for sale.. It's actually 90% of bass players are getting rid of their 4 stringers because 5 and 6 strings are far more useful!!!![/quote] :-D

[quote name='Doddy' post='1291219' date='Jul 3 2011, 05:46 PM']If you are playing a slow ballad and you need to play a semibreve (or two tied together),you don't want the note to die after 3 beats. I'd much rather have an instrument that has good sustain,because I can always mute the strings and make the notes shorter.[/quote] I'm with the pro here. And my Warwick does sustain for days, and whilst you don't need it, when you're perhaps playing a note that lasts a few full bars, and then another one of the same type, it's nice to find the note has barely faded when you come to play it again. Think also of the intro to Hallowed be thy Name by Iron Maiden, when you play the open notes, the bass easily sustains the note, when you play the fretted note, you should want IMO the sustain profile to be as close to when played open as possible!

[quote name='4 Strings' post='1291574' date='Jul 3 2011, 10:41 PM']You say around 10% are for 5 string basses, probably about right. Someone mentioned about noticing 5s and so they seem more, I agree. There certainly are plenty of fives around but in my experience 4 is 'a bass' and a 5 is 'a 5 string bass'. Also, in my experience and sweeping statement here, 5s are played by people who are gear enthusiasts. That's my experience. Greg[/quote] 10% was simply based on percentage for sale on ebay at present, and taking that as typical of the market (which I think is a reasonable assumption). I think your generalisation is somewhat correct, many 5 string players, such as myself, also own 4 stringers, which they might not talk about so much! Though I also happen to think that most bass players are gear enthusiasts in general, the ones who aren't (the ones in interview who just say, gimme this bass and that amp and I'll be away) are often converted guitarists and aren't all that enthusiastic about bass playing, not saying your gear enthusiasm is directly proportional to your bass enthusiasm, but it is a correlatoon with some I think.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1291541' date='Jul 3 2011, 10:19 PM']no chorus, no bridge..i see where your coming from.. but mindless and no direction..? its a journey not a journey with snack breaks...[/quote] All of course IMO but: mindless - because I didn't think much of it sounded good together, or that the riffs/lines/runs/sections were particularly appealing/catchy/something I'd want to listen to again. The one guy was saying how he thought a three piece meant it didn't sound muddled and rubbish, I disagree no direction - because I didn't think it flowed particularly well either (and I don't just mean intro verse chorus bridge), and didn't really grow or swell or decline in any kind of atmospheric sense, was just there EDIT: he's still a great bass player and light years ahead of anywhere I could ever aspire to ability wise, just not a musical fan!

[quote name='Doddy' post='1291524' date='Jul 3 2011, 10:13 PM']I don't think it's a matter of the scene calling for 4 string Fenders,I think it's more that most of the guys in these bands really don't give a sh*t about gear (and playing in some instances.)[/quote] Yea perhaps, none of the bands listed were exactly my cup of tea either. It's either your reason or mine or some combination of both (IME the scene calls for Fenders and Rics based on looks, never with sound as a consideration). Still those bands so rarely even bother with the D below E, let alone any lower, never any need to deviate from a 4er (although a few do play in Eb because they have sh1t vocalists).

The bass playing was great but I didn't hear that much of it because I had to turn it off, that music was just so mindless and lacking in direction it felt as if someone was taking a cheese grater to my soul. Sorry, just not even remotely close to my thing.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1291343' date='Jul 3 2011, 07:34 PM']4... people who think neck dive isnt a design flaw[/quote] Not sure if it's you necessarily but, people who think a thunderbird neck dives (or can not be stopped from diving if it is an old model and does so naturally)

[quote name='louisthebass' post='1291423' date='Jul 3 2011, 08:39 PM']I'd say that 5 strings & upwards are classed as ERB's. I was stunned when I saw a 5 string in use the first time at the 2nd Bass Centre Weekend in 1988 (Joe Hubbard & Tim Landers both had Peavey 5 string basses). It was another 8 years before I got my hands on one! (now I've got 4 of 'em!). I'd still say the 4 is still the standard - a lot of the major bands (KoL, Kaiser Chiefs, The Killers, Coldplay, etc) still have bassists using a 4 quite happily. Cheers, louisthebass[/quote] Valid points though the main bands that have been cited are all much of a muchness, with the exception of perhaps coldplay all can be said to be modern day indie-pop, and coldplay are the same if not something very similar) - as I said earlier, this scene calls for almost exclusively 4 strings and almost exclusively fenders at that (a few rics too I guess) - many other scenes where the bass conformity is not so necessary, I would say 5ers are quite often becoming the weapon of choice for the bass player.

[quote name='chris_b' post='1291325' date='Jul 3 2011, 07:14 PM']There have been 5 string double basses for over 100 years.[/quote] This much I knew, is it also the case with cellos too? How many frets do they have? Or distinct notes per string, before some smart alec says none.

[quote name='jazzyvee' post='1291181' date='Jul 3 2011, 05:03 PM']Ashdown amps and cabs are a big disappointment. I've been using them recently in the rehearsal studio's and they just sound lifeless and wooly. Trace Elliot stuff. It seems that whatever you plug into them comes out sounding the same. Whenever I've gigged and a trace elliot amp has been on the back line to use. I can never get my sound from them. Turning the controls on my bass doesn't seem to have much affect on the sound that comes out of the amp The sound only seems to chang markedly from the controls on the amp. Not for me at all. jazzyvee[/quote] But the trace sound is amazing! I hate the markbass head in our rehearsal space, I like their stuff and their combos are nice (if perhaps too bassy), but not a fan of the head, the VLE thing is like a crapometer, always have it on zero.

Mmm, asides indie where 4 strings (and fenders) seem an absolute must, I think if you watch a pop performance on a show nowadays the bass player will invariably have a 5, perhaps something ultra-high end or maybe simpler. I think I see a lot of ray 5s used in modern pop music, as they keep the traditional enough shape but somehow seem to less obviously have 5 to the eye?

[quote name='Doddy' post='1291036' date='Jul 3 2011, 02:41 PM']I think that the bass is still considered to be a four string instrument,for the most part. A few weeks ago I would have said that the five string had pretty much become the 'new standard',but a couple of weeks ago a guy came up to me and was all "Wow,a five string".....so I guess in some circles the five is still not particularly common.[/quote] So is that in the general musical world, but what about the perception in the bass community, is it different? And you think it'll change in future?

[quote name='mashup' post='1291017' date='Jul 3 2011, 02:26 PM']Yeah, i think Grand Wazoo suggested the Squier 50's P basss becuase (a) It is light & ( It may fit my style of music perfectly. It's definitely a great suggestion & i shall try one in the week, but definitely need more suggestions - Can never have too many![/quote] Can't recommend Dean enough, or failing that ibanez. The bodies are thin in profile, the body horns are invariably thinner too, and the necks are almost always hugely thinner than on a P, also the tuners are typically plastic and lighter, that's weight saving all round in my book. They can also be found with Bartolini pups or others, are readily available in active or passive forms without paying through the nose to get one over the other, and are IME consistent in what to expect when you pick one up (compared with the variations in Fenders based on slight model differences, location of origin etc). EDIT: just checked, dean's current take on my bass, which is a bit old, but seems to be the exact same thing is just over 8lbs. Light as you like!

A quick look on ebay shows that there are currently just over 2000 basses on ebay, of which over 200 come up when you add in the search term '5', the numbers are almost identical when you narrow it to about electric basses, which are just over 1000, just under 100 are 5ers, and just under 50 are 6ers. Not counting the odd 7/8/more string basses of which there may be a few in that number, it is clear that 5ers and 6ers make up 10% and 5% respectively of the bass market. This is a pretty high figure, and I would say that actually you see quite a few more than even those percentages at gigs. So are 5 and perhaps 6 string basses becoming the norm in lots of music, or increasingly prevalent to the point where you think in future they might make up 50% of the market? Discuss.

[quote name='escholl' post='1291009' date='Jul 3 2011, 02:17 PM']am i counting that right, 15 strings? at what point does it stop being a bass and start being a harp? [/quote] A harp has no fretboard, though I think I'd rather learn the harp than play that huge hunk of crap. The biggest single course bass I can just about see sense for is a 7er, a Conklin or something, but even that is a bit far. I think I may get a 6er at some point in the future, but 5 is pretty much right for me.

[quote name='Ed_S' post='1290993' date='Jul 3 2011, 01:53 PM']100% agree - I had (still have) major issues with my neck due to extra growths of cartilage here and there, and I had to stop playing my super long scale, super heavy 5 and 6 string basses as I was in constant agony that only prescription painkillers would touch. I moved onto 4 string Precisions for the weight and also the comfortable body shape and scale length, and although of course I still feel it, I can do a 3hr rehearsal without too much pain these days, where before it would take me the rest of the week to recover. Also means I can still do all the on-stage showy stuff to a certain degree, which is good! My only bit of extra advice would be to make sure you get a good, wide strap, and take some time trying it at different lengths to get it as comfortable as possible - that, coupled with the way a Precision naturally hangs on a strap in the first place, really helped me.[/quote] He said you need a P bass for police sounds, not for lightweightedness, I'd argue a P is one of the more heavy basses I've played, especially for a 4 string.