wombatboter

I've owned around 12 Wal-basses and 2 Alembics (a custom Spoiler with a point and a Mark King) I just love those midtones of Wal basses.. nothing sounds like a Wal and that might be a turn-off for some of you For me that's the sound I 'm looking for, I seemed to loose my "personality" when I played the Alembics.. they are more versatile but I missed the character of a Wal. I can cut through anything on stage with my Wal-basses and I didn't have that impression with an Alembic, they seemed to sound more smooth.. hard to describe. It's true that a Wal bass isn't that versatile, you keep hearing those ingredients throughout everything you play... For instance I took the Wal-bass along to a studio-session for some sort of Jesus Christ Superstar-soundtrack bass and the Wal bass just didn't cut it..I had to use a Fender or a Rickenbacker. It's also true that you have to work a bit more on a Wal (the necks aren't that fast) but the sound just blows me away everytime...

A couple of months ago I bought an Adamovic Jupiter bass and I was really pleased with it.. great sound and really lightweight. I got the opportunity however to trade it with another Adamovic which is even better.. I wasn't too keen on playing five string again but this one convinced me : again very lightweight and a joy to play. It is designed to make use of a smaller 33" scale and 26 frets. Pickup placement is slightly off centre towards the bridge providing me with lots of tonal possibilities. The electronics are designed by German company Glockenklang and have the same output in active or passive mode. The pickups are Adamovic/Hauessel design. Controls are 3 way switch per pickup, active/passive push/pull, volume - blend - treble - midrange - bass. The 2 dual coils sit within a custom adjustable wooden playing ramp. Loads of punch and fast articulation which is suited for solo style playing. When I bought it it came with a high C but I changed it to a normal BEADG tuning... Only turn-off which I can find is that the tuning pegs are a bit too close to each other and should have been placed in a different way on the headstock..

Bought a blue fretless BN5 F-Bass from Pierre some time ago.. excellent transaction very honest and trustworthy, thanks Pierre !

Save a prayer..... just a great bassline.

Great... fantastic bass-player

At a gig this weekend...Lately when I see pictures of myself I start thinking "who is this old man ?". Time is moving on :-)

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1320664' date='Jul 29 2011, 04:18 PM']so why are they the best then?[/quote] FYI I rarely am satisfied with anything I do on bass but if it pleases other people that's just great.. When I used to work in a music shop it depended a bit from customer to customer. There were bass-players only playing slap and not even checking out fingerstyle parts, they would just plug in and started slapping (often with a proud girlfriend next to them which seemed to urge them to play even more crazy parts (often sloppy but as long as it was fast..)). Then you had the other type of customer : checking out every sound including slap and often I noticed that these people had a better rythmic feel on their instrument : the timing was better, the phrasing more musical. If one only includes slapping in his style, it is to be pitied... I also know these occasions (like everyone) that you walk into a shop or a hall and it's the only thing you hear (makes me want to leave quickly). I like slap and I try it out in shops but to be honest : there aren't too many occasions to use it in a live setting anymore. I don't want to force a musical idea in a song where it doesn't belong. I just want to be prepared in case I have to come up with something and then I want to have my slap chops together.

[quote name='4000' post='1319767' date='Jul 28 2011, 09:10 PM']I don't slap much. I mainly widdle. But seriously, if I don't try playing a bass fast, how do I find out if I [i]can[/i] play it fast? As I believe Chuck Rainey said, you don't want the instrument to hinder your expression. Therefore you have to see what you can do on it. When I'm trying an instrument I want to see how little it limits my expression, not whether I can play a blues in A; being able to play it with as little hindrance as possible is very important to me. One other thing, people always seem to assume that people playing fast in shops (slapping or otherwise) are showing off/attempting to show off. Why? I'm usually in my own little world (see first para), and unaware of most people around me. I know plenty of other people who are the same.[/quote] + 1... Maybe it sounds a bit too busy for other customers what I play but that's what I do. The things I play in a shop might seem to be over the top but I need to know the response of the instrument to fingerstyle, tapping and even some "fast" slapping. Sometimes I want to be sure that the instrument brings out the best in me and makes fast playing feel easier. If I would buy a Status King bass, no way I'm not going to try and play what it'll be needed for.. If one calls this "slapping like crazy", too bad....early this week I used these techniques during a gig and I got a nice response from the public. I used to work in a music shop and I know what visitors do but it's part of the enthusiasm of certain players...You can't blame someone when he finally has the opportunity to play the bass of his dreams to unpack everything he's got..

Funny discussion... I've seen her play live here in Belgium and she was amàzing... Before, I only knew the youtube vids and her solo-cd and I had my opinion (like a lot of you seem to have around here). I was wrong, she was a lot better than I thought and it was one of those rare occasions that I wanted to stop playing bass after thirty years (and I've seen Wooten, Clarke, Berlin, Miller, Caron, etc...) Go check her out live....you'll never write "she's good but not that good" again.

I watched the episode last weekend with The Noisettes.. If that was supposed to be an "anthem" I'm the King of Spain..sounded like a cheap Motown rip-off with too many words and no feeling at all of "togetherness"...

I know exactly what you mean..I have been playing bass since I was 19 and I'm 50 next year.. I never learned to read, just used my ears and got along with the old chord sheet. It wasn't intented but there must have been something good in what I did since the last 20 years I have played with most of the biggest names around here in Belgium (not that it means anything in the UK :-)) without being able to read.. They send me tapes, cd's and I have a really good memory so that way I was able to play along and gave it my own twist, never exactly copied the basslines..Naturally I missed a lot of "reading" gigs but those were the kind I wasn't to keen on doing so that was ok.. A couple of years ago I wanted to learn to read and I went to a music school but although I had a really good teacher I just froze.. my mind blocked, I saw it all as work and I lost the joy in playing.. I tried it for a year and as soon as I gave it up I felt a huge relief and saw my bass as a thing of pleasure again. I know it doesn't work as an excuse but in the time I'd write something down it would already be in my head.. Sometime ago I had to play with the disco-band Tavares and they had send sheetmusic and a cd to Belgium. I just listened to it for a couple of times while playing along and I got it without any problem. When we had the rehearsal the guitar and keyboardplayer turned up and they were "jealous" that I knew it from the heart and was free from reading while I was a bit envious that they just read it and had invested less time.. I love playing bass but I don't want to try to read anymore... that's my personal choice (like you I've had reactions that I have a good feel and that I make up my non-reading with my other abilities on bass although that's not an excuse..) I bought a book a couple of years ago and that was the best I've ever tried (it is advised by a lot of bassmagazines ) "Sight reading for the electric bass" by Ron Velosky.. Starts really easy and then it works itself up.. might be something for you ?

Until the last minute 4300...then it went to 6400 £...good money for a good cause, great !

Slap is okay but I wouldn't go for the 30-90 gauge... I have used them too but it's just a bit too thin imo and you'll miss some bottom which you still need.. It's a gauge that works really wel in a band like Level 42 but on other occasions there could be not enough low to drive a band. Good luck anyway..

Friend of mine was playing upright bass in a hotel lounge around here in Belgium and while playing noticed Mark King sitting at the bar on his own. After playing his first set he dared to say hello and had a friendly chat with King for an hour who turned out again to be a top bloke who was very supportive..

[quote name='wombatboter' post='1284954' date='Jun 28 2011, 08:01 AM']My guess : 4200 £.... (not that I will be bidding)[/quote] I'm still close...highest bid is now 4100 and less than a day to go. But things will probably change within a couple of hours.

Funny but I think he "overplays" (otherwise he wouldn't have been noticed so often) but he does it so well that it doesn't bother anyone.. A singer asked me once to learn "New York Minute" and when I played it he said that it was just too much and that I played too many notes.. When I showed him that I copied Pino's line note for note without adding anything he didn't know what to say..

Although I'm Belgian I seem to be one of the few people who has understood the question... I doesn't say "Are you jealous of slappers ?" but "Are slappers envious of people with "lesser" skills who "made" it..?" That's a big difference imo..

I'm not jealous of bassplayers who are more "successful"l than I am, even though they have "poor" technique.. If someone can come up with a great simple bassline like "Walking on the Moon" I'm okay with that..who wouldn't ? It bothers me a bit that bassplayers who are a bit more technical are blamed to fill up every gap.. I don't have problems with techniques like slap or fretless or tapping and I fill my days with getting better at it (I'm the best bassplayer in my livingroom) but when I'm asked to play "Fire" or "I will survive" I play exactly what is needed.. I don't feel the need to push an idea into an area where it doesn't belong...If they ask me to be creative or if my musical instinct tells me that the song needs a bit more, I'll be glad to try out something. If a song works with just root notes I have no problem playing these.. The only time when I feel jealous is when a great bass-player plays this one incredible note in the right time and with the right feeling...Then I think : "I would never come up with this myself". This is not a depressing jealousy, it's one which urges me to become "better" in what I do... I try to find comfort in my own playing and I try to find new goals...

Met him last year and he was a nice guy and a great bass-player.

The higher the better..