philparker

At one of the DB Workshop's I attended, we had a presentation from a D'Addario Rep, who gave a good lecture with video and stills on string production, care & maintenance etc. which was more interesting and informative than I was expecting. Anyway, to get to the point, the company had dissected and examined various old strings that had been cleaned with alcohol related fluids/compounds (as well as other methods) and they were able to depict the deterioration by using fluids to clean the strings, which was quite considerable. Their recommendation was to wipe with a dry, lint-free cloth (which I have always carried out on all my string instruments for the last 40+ years!

From my own experience, it takes less than 30 seconds to wipe and clean my DB after a good practise session: strings, fretboard and body. No fluids required.

Jason heath has just done a comparison of Kaplan Strings vs a new Pirastro Perpetual Strings (to which he no doubt got given for free); but he does a good review of the Kaplans here:

I was fortunate to blag a free set of Kaplans off a D'Addario Rep, a couple of years ago when my new DB was being built (I also blagged some bass guitar strings from him as well).

After a year of using Kaplan lights, I switched over to Pirastro Passiones, which were much brighter, but didn't quite have the speed of attack that the Kaplans have under the bow, so I am switching back to the Kaplans this week and they will stay on my orchestral bass for at least another year. As NeilP reviews, the Kaplans are not as good for pizz as other strings and are best suited for arco, however, I much prefer them to Belcantos or Flexocors.

I've been using Guitar Pro for many years now (I couldn't afford Sibelius!), since Guitar Pro 5. Guitar Pro 7.5 has got many improvements although there are a few minor glitches, as mentioned above, especially with incidentals, but that is more prominent when you are writing with tab, as opposed to score. I get frustrated that you can't write Cb, when it is required and when 'B' is plain wrong. There are a few 'over-rides' but not on Cb.

The notation playback is quite reasonable, certainly good enough for home use. There are lots of free Guitar Pro tabs available online, which users have written, and some of them are good showcases for the program with multi-parts for bands that sound very professional. There are a few tricks you have to learn when writing and the copy-and-paste is very useful for quickly writing repetition.

In summary, I find it very useful, for many different applications and the notation playback is more than good enough for home use.

On 04/02/2021 at 16:37, Eliza Greene said:

I'm going to buy a Nymans, any suggestions for a good brand that's not too expensive?

I use both Nymans and Carlsson and have recently bought the Carlsson from Caswells - they are both similar, but different enough to 'try'.

I have also used 'Pops' rosin, but it is a bit too soft for me.

I've had my bows repaired and restrung by Andrew for many years now and I've promised myself a McGill bow at some stage. I may be made redundant in a couple of months time and if I get a payout, I might be placing an order!

55 minutes ago, randythoades said:

I would consider losing some of the pizz suitability as it would be for me at home more than anything else, but he might like to do a bit of jazz too as they also run a jazz band at school. Mainly for orchestral though. Thanks, I had already looked at the EP strings but a price of £200 + put me off a little!! I will keep a look out for some in the Classifieds...

Another set of strings to look out for, if you don't mind losing a bit of the pizz, is the Thomstik Belcanto, which does pizz remarkably well for what is an out-and-out orchestral string. Although I have found that they don't last as long as the Evah's, when in regular orchestral use - again, second hand. There are often sets of used strings on the classified and if a set-of-interest shows up, you can always post again and ask the community.

I would consider a secondhand set of Pirastro, Evah Pirazzi's, which I think are one of the best hybrid strings to cover both arco and pizz. They can often be had for around the £100 mark and often appear on the Basschat Ads.

As for set up, if you have an adjustable bridge, anywhere from 8-11mm from the E-string to the end of the finger board, to 6-9mm from the G-string to the end of the fingerboard - (not definitive) would be a good target for string height.

There are better strings for orchestral, but the suitability for pizz diminishes.

Good bargain for somebody!

GLWTS

1 hour ago, caitlin said:

thread stealing, just to check, @philparker it's a 4 string not a 5, right? so i can crawl back under my rock rather than pestering you about it?

Yes, it's a 4-string (Corvette, F.N.A. Jazzman); I only play 5-strings these days, and I have too many bass guitars, as well as other instruments, so it will have to go at some stage this year!

40 minutes ago, PatrickJ said:

Thanks for the offer but I'd probably pass on the Corvette.  I had a fretted GPS 5 string a while ago but it suffered from a bit of irritating neck dive that I couldn't get on with.  I wouldn't pass up a Stage One Streamer of semi-hollow Infinity though.

Hey, no problem - I will eventually get around to advertising it. I had a quick look at those on eBay and the Mayones Be-4 looked quite nice for all of those on offer.

1 hour ago, uk_lefty said:

I picked up an unlined Warwick fretless Corvette that is incredibly light and has bags of mwaaaahhh. Decent bass. 

I may have one of these for sale, shortly, - I will post in the 'For Sale' if you are interested, when I can get round to taking photos etc.

Yes, it is - thanks!

This recording, with my old Eminence, doesn't really do it justice, as an EUB, but it was the only track I used it on, as I used fretless on all teh others:

This is a clip I listened to before making up my mind to buy an Eminence:

I've since sold it back to the original owner and bought a Yamaha SLB100 for genuine 'silent' practise. Of course, neither will replicate the sound of a double bass and I play mine regularly and really enjoy the sound and feel and feedback, none of which I can get the same from any EUB. Oddly enouhg, I found the Eminence more portable than the Yamaha even without removing the neck.

If I had a choice of EUB, I would definitely get the Eminence - there is still a reasonable volume unamplified, which was no good for me when I finished an evening shift - or at least no good for my next door neighbour.

59 minutes ago, TKenrick said:

The Jackson Five Christmas Album is a great source of basslines, here's one of my favourites (I think it's Wilton Felder, but I can't seem to verify it):

Transcription here: Jackson Five - 'Up On The House Top'

The link isn't working for me - it just takes me back to the top of this page?

What a lovely looking bass! It's kind of understated in terms of saying 'I'm so good, I don't need to look fancy'. The build quality looks superb.

I must also comment on the finish of the Wal-6, fretted; I thought mine was special in figured black walnut, but that finish is sublime.Great collection!

4 hours ago, FDC484950 said:

I know my way around harmony pretty well and I’d welcome your explanation of why the chords above refer to E minor.

1 hour ago, TKenrick said:

Personally I'd avoid it for as long as possible 😂

As far as American Boy goes, the prospect of thinking of it in E minor but with a Imaj7 chord makes me very twitchy indeed, interested to hear an explanation!

Ok, perhaps I am sounding a bit over-confident, above my ability, and I will certainly stand corrected if I am wrong! Although I don't know FDC484950 - I regularly read and learn from TKenrick and enjoy your breakdown of theory on your site etc. 

I don't believe it is a Imaj7, to start with, I believe it is an Emin7, probably as a Imin(maj7) in a harmonic diatonic chord sequence. I have played the opening on my keyboard to confirm this, however, I still believe the key is in Emin. I have desperately done a search of the score online to check (just now!)

It is in the key of E minor, which is the relative minor of G major, which has F#. I won't go into an explanation of the chord structure because you are better having a grounding in harmonic structure to better understand (apologies, no offence intended)! 

Visually stunning, probably the most aesthetically pleasing bass I've seen on here for a while - I hope it sounds as good as it looks - GLWTS!

I'm also impressed by the floorboards!

Stunning bass - GLWTS!

Bargain for somebody - GLWTS
 

(Covid-19 has a lot to answer for!)

Great bargain for someone - GLWTS!

I just use a drone app (occasionally) and go through all the scales, arpeggios and exercises - I would think it quite a tedious task to go through intervals at a time. There are also some very good exercises you can use, although I don't have any to hand.

On 18/05/2020 at 07:32, TKenrick said:

Leland Sklar showing how to get away with lots of 'dusty end' action in a singer-songwriter setting:

James Taylor - 'You've Got a Friend' Bass Transcription

I transcribed this, without detail of total accuracy, about 25 years ago, but never wrote it down, just committing it to memory, which fades over the years  - so it is nice to see it transcribed accurately. My memory, muscle memory and familiarity of my own transcription have long since been ingrained into my playing of this piece so I'm unlikely to correct the mistakes I made, but then again, I think you have to add your own slant to it anyway. I've always liked this bass line and it sounds much better [to me] on a fretless, particularly the bridge.

I also wanted to say thank you. You're doing a great job - I'm just having a play with Manifestation Destiny. I have the Stuart Clayton notation, but it's great to have a YouTube clip to get me started and also to read the breakdown analysis on your website.

👍