Sean

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='1077064' date='Jan 4 2011, 09:54 AM']Then again, a trip to the factory is always a great day out. Rob & Dawn are always very accommodating and it's not unlike visiting the best toyshop ever [/quote] It certainly sounds tempting, Rich but I haven't got time off until February. I'm now starting to think about having the extra string too. I'm pretty sold on a single MM though

Issue 62, page 70! Alex's column. There's a graph missing with a badly cropped random photo in its place and the graphs that are there don't have their axes labelled. Hopeless. Great column this month though and I'm definitely trying the guitar combo hint this Friday and I know it'll cost me that pint!

[quote name='Mlucas' post='1076153' date='Jan 3 2011, 11:38 AM']Nice, I think I'll have to pop down to my local dealer and try it out, from your description it seems like a definite contender, thanks for the suggestion![/quote] Where do you live? I have an orange BB415 that I've modded to make the B tighter - here's the review I did and the extra additions not noted here are new Hipshot string trees. You're welcome to try if you're close enough.

[quote name='martthebass' post='1076492' date='Jan 3 2011, 05:13 PM']You could have a go on mine Sean but I think I'm a bit too far for you (Sheffield). Regarding the balance - it's by far the best bass I've played in that respect, it just eats 2hour sets. The neck pretty much stays in the position you put it in - particularly so if you use both bottom strap pins. Soundwise - well it sounds like a Status, the reduced size doesn't seem to make any discerable difference to my ears anyway; however it doesn't have the clarity/glassiness of an S2 (Rich - OTPJ could wax lyrical here) due to the electronics which to me endears it because it's slightly less 'hi-fi'.[/quote] Thanks for the offer but you're right, Sheff's about the same distance give or take. Am I right in guessing that the electronics are much simpler? It certainly looks that way compared to the S2 which has a lot of switches. I'll probably order one anyway by the end of this month just going on reviews and reputation alone but I just wanted to check it out. I want to keep it simple anyway, just a single MM pup and two band EQ and a more trad sound would probably be preferable. Am I right in thinking that these can be "carry on" luggage in their gig bag? As "carry on" I mean flying Premium Economy or Business Class BA out of say T5 rather than my regular dreadful Ryan Air trips to Poitier overnight where I just wouldn't bother taking anything other than bare essential overnight kit.

[quote name='Chernobyl5000' post='1076439' date='Jan 3 2011, 04:32 PM']anyone had any experiences with the Sterling By Musicman SB14 Bass Guitar?? that's topping my list at the moment [/quote] A quick search of our own site brings this up [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=111905"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=111905[/url] And Ed Friedland does a pretty comprehensive review here

[quote name='icastle' post='1076390' date='Jan 3 2011, 03:50 PM']Could be. I thought Ibanez owned a manufacturing plant that other brands used but it could easily be the other way round (and knowing me, it probably is!) [/quote] Cort make a massive quantity of Ibanez branded stuff and I think Samick made or make some of them. I know that Ibanez have their own place in Japan for the high end instruments.

That's really nice! Beautiful top.

I've recently got myself in a position with work where I'm going to need a portable bass. I've tried the Hohner but didn't get on with it; it hangs weirdly and wants to turn away from you - if you've played one you'll understand. The Streamline looks to have the geometry of a normal instrument and being a Status will be a top quality piece of kit for gigging and general duties. Does anyone have a Status Streamline I could try without having to take a day off and drive a 450 mile round trip to try one in Essex? I've had a quote from Status for a single MM version - currently on 16 weeks delivery, which seems pretty fast to me.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=52452&hl=five+string"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...;hl=five+string[/url] try this thread...

Double mono for me too. Fantastic bit of kit. I love the sort of military spec materials and the way it looks. The attention to detail in the design and the bombproof build quality make it a winner for me.

Nice! The older I get the more I love 70's Elvis stuff!

There are some good free samples on the drumsondemand.com site

[quote name='Joe Hubbard Bass' post='1073681' date='Dec 31 2010, 01:41 PM'][b]It is a fact harmonically that the third works over a major chord in any context.[/b][/quote] So much so that Carol Kaye threw her own homespun convention to the wind and used one as the second note of her original bass line in Bernadette.

Another nugget: Learn arpeggios! It's as essential as learning chords on piano or guitar. An easy way is to do the ii7-V7-I chord changes around the cycle of fifths. If there ever was a "quick fix" to turbo-charge your theory [i]and[/i] fingerboard knowledge in one this is it. Once you are familiar with this exercise you will know all the common chord tones and can go off and challenge Carol as much as you please ;-)

I've fitted an active EMG P to my Spector NS5. Cracking bit of kit, loads of detail and is very punchy.

Anyway here's a nugget to get back on topic: Little and often. Practise that is. Do some every day even if it's just fifteen minutes, it's better than nothing. Smart phone apps for ear training mean you can learn on the bus or train without your bass. Take sheet music with you and practise tapping the rhythm of any tricky bits. There's always an opportunity to get some practise in. Do an app search on music theory and see what comes up, there are loads of cheap and free ones the are useful. John Lay's Harmonic Ear Trainer is good and works like a quiz or puzzle with variable degrees of difficulty. It's helped me loads in working out parts by ear.

[quote name='Joe Hubbard Bass' post='1073466' date='Dec 31 2010, 09:24 AM']It's no secret that much of what she claimed to have recorded was actually played by James Jamerson. This is not meant to denigrate what she did play on; in her day she was a good player, but being a good player doesn't automatically transpose into being a good teacher. Best Joe[/quote] Joe, you'll be pleased to know that Ms Kaye's videos have been consigned to my attic for some years now. Jamerson vs. Kaye? We've had some cracking threads on that topic ;-)

[quote name='Joe Hubbard Bass' post='1073468' date='Dec 31 2010, 09:30 AM']Good call! ...and you can add Charlie Drayton to that list. Best Joe[/quote] I've always loved Charlie Drayton's playing on Talk is Cheap. He and Jordon used to swap drumming and bass duties on stage too.

[quote name='Hobbayne' post='1073221' date='Dec 30 2010, 10:22 PM']Keith? Not Bill?? [/quote] Keith indeed. Keith, Mick Taylor, Ronnie Wood, Willie Weeks, Steve Jordan and a few others have laid down the low end for the Stones all on Bill's watch too! Total derail of this thread and I apologise but for an interesting Stones bass line check out the weirdly dark funk overtones of Fingerprint File from It's Only Rock and Roll with Mick T on bass. Unusually for the Stones the bass is high in the mix and is the main hook throughout the song.

[quote name='ahpook' post='1073179' date='Dec 30 2010, 09:34 PM']can you explain the Root-P4 etc part please ? (tho i feel i'm going to feel silly when you do)[/quote] Over the E chord Keith plays an E then an A then a G# and back to E, over the D chord he plays D then up a perfect fourth to G and down to the major third of the D chord, F#. It's the higher verse bass figure and provides some dynamic against the R5R5 of the main figure.

[quote name='endorka' post='1072959' date='Dec 30 2010, 06:08 PM']We are all agreed on this, at least! I've just checked some of her teaching material. While I cannot find the explicit reference to the major 3rd, there is this: "For Rock and some Pop styles of playing, the most commonly used contemporary bass notes you use for these different chords are... MAJOR - Root, 5th and 6th (also: 3rd, 4th, #4th to 5th as a run, also the 9th)... The above are basically the primary notes to use for creating patterns in all styles of music except jazz." While she does not totally proscribe the use of the 3rd in the above statement, it would seem that she views it as only applicable in the context of a run or fill, much as you describe above. - in the accompanying examples there are indeed very few major 3rds. There are some specific examples of major 10ths, but it is my impression that she views these differently as being used as part of a more "melodic" type of statement than the major 3rd. I'll keep on looking for the major 3rd reference in her work - I am sure it is there, another poster in this thread has also come across it independently :-) Whatever the case, it is a rule I have found useful. I do use the major 3rds in walking lines, but in other music I found that they have a propensity to sound corny. That's just my experience, of course. Jennifer[/quote] Carol gives the "wisdom" about major 3rds on one of her videos, she uses the word, "hokey", I'm sure, to describe how putting a third in over a major chord would sound - I think it's the video where there's all that background noise of trucks and cats crying. This has bothered me for years and though I have pretty much tried to ignore what she said, on occasion she couldn't be more right . The same day I watched the video I had worked out Keith Richards' bassline to Sympathy for the Devil, and remember thinking that Carol was plainly not 100% correct in what she was saying as Symapthy has that wonderful Root-P4-M3-R played over the E and D chords of the some of the verse and it in no way sounds "hokey". As an aside, if anyone else has seen those Carol Kaye "home videos' and wondered why one of the most recorded instrumentalists of all time failed to make a half decent job of producing tuition videos, you are not alone. I know what CK would say though: it's the content that counts etc.

I sliced the ends off a planet waves cable and put neutrik jacks on it as I was unhappy with the the PW ones wrecking the sockets but the cable is cheap and nasty anyway and nowhere near as good as Van Damme. That old bodged cable is in the gig bag as a "spare for a spare for a spare" or the first one that comes out if any strangers from other bands need to borrow a lead

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1072715' date='Dec 30 2010, 01:52 PM']The fingerboard doesn't stop at the nut on any of my Fenders - and the thicker the fingerboard the further it extends beyond the nut. Are there basses (or guitars) where it does stop at the nut? [/quote] Same for three of my Yamahas. The fingerboard stops at the nut on my Spector NS5 but that's a different build philosophy altogether. Rosewood board MMs anyone?

[quote name='endorka' post='1072232' date='Dec 29 2010, 10:37 PM']When playing over a major chord, don't use the major 3rd in the bassline - substitute the major 6th instead. Unless you are playing reggae, in which case the major 3rd is ok. From Carol Kaye - and I've found it to be true almost 100% of the time. Jennifer[/quote] I've carried this nugget of Carol's around for a few years now and it's made me feel guilty about using the Major third but I'm starting to use it more and have decided it's not as "hokey" [is that the word she used?] as she makes out. I would modify CK's advice and say, be careful when using a major 3rd over a major chord, it might sound cheesy depending on how it sits, a maj 6th is usually better. My dad told me not to argue with women or crazy people and Carol ticks at least one of those boxes so maybe I'll shut up!

1. Going through Ed Friedland's Walking Basslines book - absolutely superb primer for linear harmony (joining chords together), not just for jazz playing but any style. 2. Learning to read music - if you can't, you have no idea how useful it is. The better I get, the more I understand how useful a skill it is. 3. Ear training software - there are lots of different ones but plugging away with a good one will have you doing my next one faster... 4. Transcribe basslines by ear. Thinking about not just the notes but how they are played, in what position etc.