thisnameistaken

Candidate mixes for our new EP.

Alternate your ring and index fingers, leaving the middle finger out. Do that until your ring finger is as good as your middle finger.

I used the velcro that came with my PT. I dropped the board while getting it out of the case the other day and caught it abruptly by my expression pedal. Nothing came off. Maybe I got a good batch of velcro.

Look up Nerve on Youtube, and scan the Effects forum there's a lot of discussion of this sort of thing. At the most basic all you need is either an octaver and/or a fuzz and a low-pass filter. Beyond that, you might want to add chorus, trem, phaser, anything to thicken things up and add some movement. Replacing the fuzz and octaver with oscillators (square waves and sawtooths) can give a more authentic sound but it will be harder to control from a bass guitar. Also fretless bass is useful for portamento / pitch vibrato / unstable tuning effects.

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1000661' date='Oct 25 2010, 11:41 PM']Marcus writes tons of stuff, the entire Miles Davis album Tutu for example.[/quote] Yeah but it's albums like that that put a whole generation off jazz and fusion. Kind of Blue it ain't.

Ah come on Vic is Fodera's main marketing tool, he surely gets whatever he wants from them gratis.

[quote name='Tait' post='1000640' date='Oct 25 2010, 11:22 PM']Good price, Foderas, too. Absolute bargain for the quality.[/quote] Or they are heinously overpriced because of supply:demand. There's a whole thread about exactly this in the bass guitars subforum. None of which matters a hoot to Victor Wooten because he gets all his gear for free anyway.

Are there any sample tracks anywhere? I saw lots of mention of who's on it but no indication of what it sounds like.

The bass sounds clean on that track to me?

[quote name='Chris2112' post='999238' date='Oct 24 2010, 08:03 PM']If you can get away with playing like that, then great! If you find you start to struggle then maybe adopting a two finger "classic" plucking style would be better. I doubt you'll be able to knock out 16th note finger funk with that style but it all depends on what you're playing.[/quote] All the most interesting funk players had kooky idiosyncratic picking techniques.

I try to get an hour in most days, but it won't always be strict practise, often it's just noodling for fun. And some days I can't practise because I am resting my wrists because the tendonitis has flared up again.

[quote name='Chris2112' post='999251' date='Oct 24 2010, 08:07 PM']You might look like a sex offender but I'm not sure about the rest of us![/quote] I was referring to Kai Eckhardt and the other bloke, above. And all the Bass Bash photos I've ever seen.

Anyone else notice that when you get more than one bass player in a frame it starts to look like rehab for sex offenders?

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='999086' date='Oct 24 2010, 05:56 PM']How about this one: I'd say it easily beats SMV (is that what they are called?) but doesn't beat Bottesini.[/quote] Maybe I'm projecting my own tastes a bit here but I think it's easier to find an emotional connection to the sound of the double bass than it is to bass guitar. Especially given that modern active bass guitar sound with ultra-bright roundwounds and the way the well-known soloists seem to attack each string like it just insulted their mother. I do despair when I hear these "greats" with tens of thousands of pounds worth of donated gear and they all make those same stark, shrill noises. I don't know why they all gravitate towards that sound. The double bass just seems to have a more agreeable character to it. It's got a warmth and a humour to it, a humanity maybe. Fretless bass can be interesting in similar ways but it's a cold sound, to me, where the upright is often more homely and pleasant, or alternatively more stately and dramatic. When I pick up a bass at home these days, 99% of the time it's the double bass. I can play the bass guitar to a much higher standard and all my gigs are currently on bass guitar but given the choice I play DB instead.

I've heard double bass duets that were genuinely beautiful, but I've heard way more multi- bass guitar jams that I could only tolerate for a matter of seconds.

Bass guitar is still only 60-ish years old, play it however works for you. Plucking with the thumb never hurt Brian Wilson. We also opened for a band last month whose bassist was really bossing it and he picked a lot like you.

[quote name='beyond' post='998366' date='Oct 23 2010, 07:03 PM']Thanks for the replies and the assurances. I suppose I've been practicing my day job everyday for thirty years without realising it. Thinking about it, if someone interrupts my sales patter (equivalent to walking into the room when I'm playing the guitar) or I actually listen to myself, when I'm speaking (equivalent to not concentrating) it throws me all off balance as well.[/quote] With respect, your day job is a job. You might take pride in doing it well but unless it's a creative job you won't be baring your soul. When performing music, every nuance of your playing is on show for the audience to judge, and if you're serious it's all coming from your "soul". I personally really enjoy gigging with a band that's well-rehearsed and I don't feel any nerves at all, but I do start to get edgy if I'm required to do something under-rehearsed or not rehearsed at all. I think it's OK for singers and soloists because they can drift in and out when they feel like it, but as a bass player you need to f***ing boss it.

Yeah two fingers is fine. I pick with three but not alternating - I use my second and third fingers as "second" fingers, alternating with my index, and the spare one I use to do rakes or switch strings or play octaves or whatever. As for speed, you need to be totally relaxed or you will hit a limit. The more you play fast the more relaxed about it you will be, and the more you play bass generally the more relaxed about it you will be, so just put the hours in.

[quote name='Delberthot' post='998563' date='Oct 24 2010, 12:10 AM']I'd rather play the biggest pile of sh*te in Europe than something that looked bad Yes, I'm shallow when it comes to basses[/quote] What a bass looks like is the most important thing about a bass, unless you're only going to use it in the studio. Would you get on stage where a room full of people are going to be staring at you and not think about maybe wearing something that looks good? It's the same with your bass - you have to wear it while a room full of people are staring at you, it had better look good! FWIW I like Jazz basses but I wish they did a 24-fret model that looked "classic". Currently I'm gigging my Thumb, which I think is pretty understated and natural looking, and I like having the million miles of frets. I wouldn't want to play a bass with garish wood though, like a figured top or whatever. I dress too scruffy to wear a bass like that. It would be like putting on a gold chain.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='997728' date='Oct 23 2010, 03:13 AM']One of the classics with a classic soul bass line... saw him do this in a club in London late 80's and it was incredible... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFnclBOlr6o"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFnclBOlr6o[/url][/quote] I accidentally played that at soundcheck tonight and it was funny to hear our metal-loving singer come in with 'Ba-doo-ba-wee-ooo!' He also featured on a Galliano tune on their second album, not really classic Galliano but Omar's voice is cool.

Opened for spunge at the Duchess in York. Our set went great; we were tight, lively, our trumpet player moved about a bit more which I'd asked her to do, our singer's diction and mic technique was much improved which I'd asked him to do, and everybody got up to check us out so all that went well, but the atmosphere with the other bands was weird. Spunge weren't sharing any gear so we set up our kit infront of theirs and the sound guy (who was great - go play the Duchess it's a good no-bullshit venue, and pretty big) had to lift a cover they'd placed over their kit so he could mic ours - half-way through our sound check one of the spunge guys comes out on stage and yells 'Oh I'll put this cover back myself shall I?'. Then after our set I went to find the band who were on before us, found the bassist backstage and asked 'Did you bring an amp?' and I was genuinely surprised when he said no. So being nice I told him he could use mine, and to be fair he didn't f*** with it, but I was surprised that he hadn't asked me when he arrived, especially given that we loaded in at the same time, or even that he hadn't contacted us prior to the gig to ask about sharing my amp. Very poor. Then during spunge's set the singer announced 'I would thank the support bands but they've already gone home so they can go f*** themselves'. We were all standing at the back of the room at the time. So f*** them. We were supposed to be opening for them at the Cockpit next week, so we were glad we turned it down. I've decided that at future gigs I will say to our singer 'Hey, do you remember that night we played with spunge?'. And I will do this every gig for the next however many years.

[quote name='barneyg42' post='997979' date='Oct 23 2010, 01:07 PM']Damn, drove past the scene on way back from York with a group on the coach and we were bemused as to why the road was closed as the other vehicle involved seemed to have minimal damage and no other vehicle could be seen! Now we know why and it's a damned sad outcome, RIP to the lad, sounds like he was a goodun and my thoughts are with family and friends [/quote] It's a bad stretch of road, looks harmless enough but there are lots of bad accidents there. TBH the A64 all the way up to Malton is dotted with accident blackspots so take care, touring bassists.

That's a bit nice! Also nice to hear a bass that isn't a bright, zingy spiro-sounding thing for a change. Really tasty playing.

[url="http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/8469570.A64_crash_victim_was_rock_musician_Jay_Jay_Winter/"]http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/8469570.A6...Jay_Jay_Winter/[/url] Poor sod.