solo4652

I'd like to respond to some of Jakenewmanbass' comments about TABS, since I find myself disagreeing with quite a lot of what he says. Apologies for the clumsy quoting - I can't seem to get the Quote system to work. Operator error on my behalf, most like. "Tab can give a limited insight into what notes are used to make a piece of music work." TABs have the facility to give a lot of instrument-specific information about note lengths, bends, hammer-ons, slides, volume changes etc. Please see my post number 36. "Nobody ever did a gig where the music was played first time through from TAB and if you consider that, for eg, a film score orchestra will play a score for recording at sight and get it in one, two or a few takes there is no room for error when the day costs 30 grand." Frequently, my covers band plays a song to a giggable standard after just 1 or 2 rehearsals. We all use instrument-specific TAB systems and our ears to learn our own parts beforehand. For me, that's when TABs are useful. Granted, it doesn't cost us 30 grand a day to hire our rehearsal rooms, but we don't want to spend money unnecessarily. "I can see that it's horses for courses if you aren't working at that [orchestral] level but my inclination would be to say, if you're not going to need to read to play then learn the parts by ear..." And then what? I have trouble remembering the bass parts for our 35-song songlist, so I use TABS to not only help me to learn a bass part, but also to remember it later. "If you're using TAB as a place to get you started then in my view you're making a really important disconnect with the nuance of the process of learning that makes the difference between an estimation and an in depth authentic representation of a line" I treat TABs as a start-point for what I eventually end up playing. I supplement these TABs with a lot of listening and re-TABing to end up with something that's good enough for the music I play and the settings where I play them. That process of finding TABs, listening hard to the music, agreeing/disagreeing with and amending the TABs means I make a strong connection with the music. Furthermore, I am not necessarily aiming for "an in-depth authentic representation of a line" when playing Say you love me at the Dog and Duck. "If you use TAB then in my estimation there is a risk of a half arsed mediocre result because you're only dealing with a small proportion of the info..." I would suggest that exactly the same argument could be put forward for dots as well. Steve

@Ambient - post no 42. Actually, there are TAB systems for lots of instruments that don't have frets. Here are 3 examples Recorder; [url="http://i40.tinypic.com/125nhid.jpg"]http://i40.tinypic.com/125nhid.jpg[/url] Harmonica: [url="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jEfnezCBEVM/TxYxwx_xaYI/AAAAAAAABXM/dj-0L5PhaWU/s1600/photo-794279.jpg"]http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jEfnezCBEVM/TxYxwx_xaYI/AAAAAAAABXM/dj-0L5PhaWU/s1600/photo-794279.jpg[/url] Piano: [url="http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/I1jnWz3bSrI/maxresdefault.jpg"]http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/I1jnWz3bSrI/maxresdefault.jpg[/url] It seems to me that such instrument-specific TAB systems can be useful to help somebody play that particular instrument. That's why I use bass TABs. Where they may be limited is when different instruments need to play together, and when players of those different instruments need some sort of common language to coordinate activities. Maybe that's when "dots" may have an advantage and maybe that's why Bilbo finds them useful in his orchestra pit, Ambient's tutor finds them useful for writing and composing for string and brass, and Ambient used them to send some music to an Oboist. All good stuff. Since I don't do any of those things, I'm more than happy to use TABs for the instrument I play. Horses for courses. Each to their own. Live and let live etc Steve

To answer the OP's question directly; "Yes - I think you're wrong." Again. I do get frustrated when people dismiss TABs as being too simplistic. TABs [i]can[/i] give information about note lengths and even muting, bends, pull-offs and volume changes. See the legends here: [url="http://tabs.ultimate-guitar.com/p/pink_floyd/money_ver2_btab.htm"]http://tabs.ultimate...y_ver2_btab.htm[/url] It's rare to find a TAB written using these legends, however. I don't read dots. When learning a new song, I'll look up the TAB on a number of different websites to get me started. I'll probably end up with something cobbled together from different TABs amended with my own interpretation and playing technique preferences. If I can't find a TAB, I'll start with a chord chart, and a recording and write a TAB for myself. From Bilbo's posts, it seems he works in orchestral pits and finds dots helpful for that. I play in a pub covers band and I use TABS, chord charts, my own notes and my ears. He has a system that works for him and I have a system that works for me. Maybe dots are better when there's a need to share and discuss music with people who play different instruments, and TABs work perfectly well if you don't need to do that. Each to their own. Live and let live. Steve Edited for naff typing skills.

"Genuine signature unfortunately no certificate." [url="http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/epiphone-gibson-gs-special-guitar-signed-by-paul-weller/1073536854#photo-content"]http://www.gumtree.com/p/for-sale/epiphone-gibson-gs-special-guitar-signed-by-paul-weller/1073536854#photo-content[/url]

I have the GKMB500 and I use it for soul, pop, country, blues, rockabilly. It comes with a footswitchable bass boost, so you can easily shift between clean and motown-y tones without even having to fiddle with the head between songs.

Not sure whether this goes in here, or Ebay Forum, or Cabs for sale or what. Mods feel free to re-post. Soundslive have GK Neo 112-II cabs for sale at £257, including delivery. http://www.soundsliveshop.com/p/Gallien-Krueger_Neo_112-II_Bass_Cab/GK-NEO-112-II?CAWELAID=1854418071&CAGPSPN=pla&catargetid=1831862285&cadevice=c&gclid=CNCYnNHs5L4CFYsfwwodkL0Awg

Ahh - thanks for your advice. The control cavity is not shielded at all. I'll tape the cavity and overlap the tape at the top so the control plate sits on the overlap. Not sure I quite understand what you're saying about the pickup cavity. The pickups are a fairly snug fit inside the pickup cavity. Any harm in taping the underside of the scratchplate - belt and braces approach?

I'm just about to shield my newly-acquired Jazz with aluminium tape. Given that it's a Jazz rather than a Precision, will I need to tape the underside of the pickguard, or is it more important to tape the underside of the control plate? Or both?

I use floating thumb whereby I slide my plucking-hand thumb across the strings for muting. A downside is that I tend to be constantly pushing the strings down with my plucking-hand thumb which then means I'm prone to bouncing the strings off the last fret if I get a bit excited. So, using this floating thumb technique, the last fret acts as a sort of ramp, reminding me to strike the strings more softly. Also, I find that this floating-thumb technique means my plucking hand wrist drops so I can get a good contact between the side of my thumb and the strings. This then means I'm hitting the strings from above, rather than plucking the strings, and that again can lead to strings bouncing off the last fret. Maybe a ramp would force me to pluck rather than strike, but the last frets seem to do that job for me.

The Vintage AV4 arrived today and I've been fussing with it all afternoon. Here are my initial thoughts: Body finish is good. The body is as large as my Fender P and, with the chunky neck, the impression is of a physically large bass that has an older 50's vibe about it. Rosewood fingerboard was very dry and needed some oil. Maple neck is at least as wide and deep as my MIJ Fender P. Neck fit at pocket is very tight, with no gaps to speak of. The neck extends under the pickguard and two of the neck bolts were too long and pushing up the pickguard from underneath. Some washers under the bolt heads fixed that. Loose bridge screw needed the superglue + cocktail stick fix. The action was way too high, as supplied. Adjusting the relief was a real head-scratcher since the truss-rod nut is quite a way down the neck and needed an extra-long allen key which I had to buy from the car parts shop. Still, it worked and I was able to do a decent set up fairly easily with some Status halfwounds. Plug in to GK MB500 + Barefaced Compact. Bearing in mind I've never played a J bass, the difference to my Fender P was immediate. I was able to get a nice full, plummy tone by mixing the pickups - probably a bit more neck than bridge sounded good to me. I really liked how I could get the action good for me - normally I have to set the saddles pretty high to avoid fret-bounce at the dusty end, but with this bass I was able to straighten the neck and set the saddles so that the action wasn't crazy-high. That's a bit of a first, actually. Little bit of noise from the pickups but nothing intrusive. Might do something to shield the cavity at some point. Before I knew it, I'd played through 15 songs without constantly fussing with the setup. Noticeably more mids and overall clarity than than my P bass, as expected. So far, so good then. This particular bass needed a few screws tightening and a bit of oil here and there, but that's OK. After a good setup, it's playing nicely and I'm enjoying the tone options from the pickups. I really like the 44mm neck (same width as my G&L) and that's the main reason I bought it as my first Jazz bass. For the money, I'm very pleased indeed. I'll take it to band practice on Monday. Steve

Thanks. I would have preferred a white one, but it was Hobson's choice.

Thanks for pointing that out. Do you mean this one? Says 38mm neck in the blurb http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/bass_guitars_detail.asp?stock=09111214593528&gclid=CNn4r8aI1L4CFXLJtAodongAJg

Thank you for the offer of the P neck. I've decided to buy the Vintage AV4 rather than cobble something together from parts. It would be just my luck to buy a neck that doesn't quite fit a body, with all the ensuing faff. I'll see how I get on with the Vintage and, if it converts me to Jazzes, I'll have to decide whether to keep it, or replace it with something better. Maybe, I'll be happy with the Vintage AV4 - it certainly gets good reviews. We'll see.

It's a beauty - Blueburst with contrasting light body binding, Maple neck, Rosewood fingerboard.

Sure - will do. I'll need to sell either my Pro-Martin Kasuga Scorpion copy or possibly my G&L L-2000 to make room for it. Or maybe I can hide one under the bed, or some such thing.

Oh stuff it - it's only money, after all. Bought the Vintage AV4.

Or buy this and start modding? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-AV4-advance-bass-new-old-stock-RRP-349-half-price-wowow-/371071977859?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item56659d0983

Hmmm - build your own. How about I start with this loaded body: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOADED-1994-Fender-Japan-Standard-JAZZ-BASS-BODY-J-Bass-Guitar-Sunburst-30-OFF-/191149748223?pt=Guitar_Accessories&hash=item2c8169afff and then add a P neck to it? Surely somebody here on B/C would have a decent P neck to fit it?

Vintage AV4, Alder body, 42mm neck, £219 at GAK; http://www.gak.co.uk/en/vintage-av4-advance-bass/7253 Hmmmmm. Anybody played one?

Yes - I thought about putting a P neck on a J bass, but I wondered if Fender had done that. Do all Fender P necks fit all Fender J basses?

I've almost always played P-type basses. I'd really like to try a Jazz, but I find the 38mm necks too narrow. Is there such a thing as a Jazz bass with wide, P-style neck? I know of the Fender Frank Bello (PJ layout), but I don't particularly want an all-black bass. I have a G&L L-2000 but I'd really prefer a passive bass. 4-strings. All suggestions gratefully received.