uk_lefty

Any plans for a lefty with a maple fretboard....?

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Luckily not had this pleasure at a gig yet but I would try to judge whether it's someone interested in basses, interested in showing off to their drunk mates, or someone trying to steal from me. Recently had my nephews round and got paranoid about my basses but then thought the other way, how crappy it would be if I didn't let them play my instruments so I set up an amp just in case. They were on best behaviour and ignored the guitars. When my child comes along (soon) I really want him or her to show an interest and I will indulge that, even if it does lead to a few dings in basses.

Started with a cheap bass and a cheap "learn to play" book that included tab but no cd. That was hard. My uncle got me a heavy metal book to learn to play songs like iron man (not actually iron man, but something that sounded like it) and so on. I did ok jamming along to tapes in my room but the real breakthrough was playing in a band. Massive egotistical guitarist wanted a bass player who would just play the riffs so I got in the band straight away, but playing with him and a fantastic drummer I learned about timing and feel and grew in confidence to try things. Went from playing along with sixty mins worth of cassette songs to playing five string fretless in a power blues three piece within a year. I was a teenager, I had the time

Japanese Fender. I have a Japanese Fender 1970 reissue (Sid vicious white with black pickguard) alder bodied, rosewood board. Mine has a Steve Harris Sig pickup and its the perfect live bass for me. I am toying with the idea of adding a big mm pickup at the bridge but that would just be showing off.

Can buy 1x15 cabs really cheap second hand, get an old peavey or something equally indestructible

I'm probably below average. Can't read music, can't play more than one Beatles song, but I am happy playing what my band needs in the way that I feel fits best. I'm not a great bass player but I'm the right one for my band. I would like to be better but I can't spend hours practicing unfortunately. Its funny though because I don't see it as competition. If I was a golf player I'd want to be "the best" but as a bass player I just want to be appreciated. Take Flea for example, to some people he's untouchable and the best and greatest bassist ever, others don't rate him. Leads me to think that in the arts there's no such thing as "best" overall

Have had some very intimidating punks walk up mid guitar solo and ask us if we can play some Nirvana... Didn't really fit with our blues set. We didn't eject them because they were a lot bigger than us. But then the guitarist looks at me and goes "want to sing anarchy in the UK?" Which made their eyes light up and filled me with dread having never seriously rehearsed it. I firmly refused.

A wah pedal or "bass drum" type effect for an acoustic soloist that produces the electricity to power itself. A bit of a re hash of the dynamo powered bicycle light?

I bought a Kramer five string fretless from musicyo for my eighteenth. I paid a third and my parents paid a third each. I wanted a quality bass to replace my tanglewood p that I had learned on. I was in a very good band (I was the weaker link by a long way) and just heard Pearl Jam Ten proving fretless can work in rock. The opportunity to buy a lefty five string fretless at a low price was just too good to turn down. I've been through loads of basses since but this one will always stay. Learned so much on that bass and it still surprises me every now and then

Have often fancied one but can't quite bring myself to it. I enjoy the Beatles but have not learned any of their songs on bass other than come together. Can't help feel it's only for tribute bands due to the distinctive looks, though I know the sound is distinctive and what should count more. I'm shallow. Most people don't even know what a bass is.

Rondo music do solid body uke basses at a typically low price. There's also loads of child size electric basses on eBay (New). Unfortunately no idea of quality on these, but hope you get something ideal soon.

Nice! Always secretly fancied one of these. How do you find the pickups? Quite an odd one to put flats on.

We're going more 80's with the new songs we're adding. I play a Hohner B2A (headless, naturally), and will be bringing out my fretless Kramer for some songs that need it and some that don't. Those are the 80's-ist basses I have. I use a Hartke VXL, Mooer thunderball, Jim Dunlop bass wah, need to add a chorus and an octaver. All goes in to either a Trace Elliot, an Ashdown or a Peavey depending. Typically we play bluesy rock stuff and my P-Bass covers that. We did a shortened set for an event recently and played an hour of "stuff to dance to" and covered it all with my jazz bass for the versatility without wasting time changing instruments between songs.

Radiohead or the Doors. Maybe the clash. Red hot chillis to an extent. Hard to pick a favourite.

Started on bass for usual reasons, all my mates at school played guitar, I could write lyrics but was no singer... So bass it was! Later took to guitar after a chance encounter with an ex pro guitarist who told me to learn guitar so that I understood chords, he was shocked I hadn't started on guitar. Bought an acoustic and have done some duo stuff where I have played guitar but always have and always will considered myself a bass player who owns a guitar, not a bass or guitar player.

Good tip! I think the plan is to create a page for the band where we can put out some "teasers" of twenty to thirty seconds of some songs so people can see/ hear what we are about. It's just whether anyone on our kind of local band level has found this successful, or is it best to use it to then embed tunes to a Facebook page and the actual soundcloud page isn't as important....?

Interesting thought came to me... My band uses sound cloud to share jams, good and bad so we can listen to them through the week and work on specific parts. We have a handful of random people listening to these and "liking" some songs. Probably with them being covers they're searched for a lot. Is this a good idea? People can hear some pretty ropey sessions this way! My main point is - is soundcloud a good way to promote the band? Any tips on getting the best from this? We are a local covers band who do festivals and parties, etc. Not looking for the big-time, but want to add a few new venues to our regular gig list. Thanks

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1472679405' post='3123322'] Also, a touch of Wishbass about it. One of the higher spec ones, obviously [/quote] Beat me to it. I expect actual workmanship went in to the wal though

My band is looking to cover some 80s songs which have nice synthy bass lines. I'm trying to get a "softer" synth or fuzz sound but struggling with the current set up. I have a mooer thunderball fuzz which is too harsh for the sound I want, also an old zoom 506 which has wacky synths I just can't get on with. Are there any budget recommendations for the softer 80s synth tones?

Yes and No. I am a big believer in changing strings to get something different out of the bass before looking to modify. Flats on a jazz sound very different to rounds. In the past I've played a Warwick bass, Warwick black label strings through a Warwick amp and that worked best for me. I like fender strings on a fender jazz (flats or rounds) for the low price but found they wore out quickly, then I tried EB slinkies and pyramid funk stainless and got something more fitting what I need. I also like la bellas and DRs. My headless bass has ghs strings... I guess it's the cheaper way to experiment with your bass. Next up one of my basses is going to be strung BEAD with old flats.

[quote name='josie' timestamp='1471550242' post='3113962'] my 3yo grandson insists on carefully playing all the guitars every time he comes round. [/quote] Yes!!! I wouldn't put my basses away when the nephews and niece visited and I won't have them out of bounds for my child either. I think if kids are told they're not allowed to pick them up and have a play they won't become interested in music.

My wife likes some guitars but five basses and an acoustic guitar in the living room has admittedly got too much. She has encouraged me to spend on nice instruments that will last and are visually striking as well as sounding good. I am trying to convince her that our first born will be a left handed bass player but she isn't getting that yet. Amusingly I have her my bass the other day and tried to teach her the basic riff from another one bites the dust. She took to it and at one point said "explain that again, I'm going to get really angry if I don't get this perfect!" Which was a lovely moment

You've given me a great idea!