thisnameistaken

I spent two hours soldiering on with my double bass and a bunch of Mingus / Duke / Monk charts tonight thanks to the encouragement and help of many at BC (and Bilbo in particular), and sometimes - somehow - it even sounded nice! So a fat +1 from me.

[quote name='BassJase' post='900509' date='Jul 20 2010, 09:39 PM']But I do think what a lot of people are missing is dynamics. Having a lower or higher action doesn't means dynamics, thats down to the volume on your amp and the way you play.[/quote] In virtuoso bass guitarist terms, "dynamics" often seems to be a synonym for melodrama. Soft playing with loud, over-picked, twangy passages bulleted through it most of the time. Vic Wooten and Marcus Miller are especially guilty of this. Orchestral players are much more aware of how to work that stuff. Recently we've been working on a song where I play with a pick for a change, there are a couple of bars in the verse where me and the drummer build up subtly over half a bar to a loud beat 1, then drop away again to let the vocal through, the effect is very obvious and dramatic but what we're actually doing is subtle enough to not even get noticed. We had a guitarist from another band ask us what effect we were using for it last week.

TBH I think my action has changed in response to my playing, not the other way around. I don't often play "loaner" basses, the only time I can remember playing a bass that wasn't my own was at a jam night where some friends made me get up and bash through a tune with them. It was a dirty old JapCrap precision and I broke the A string within about a minute. I felt really guilty but luckily they had spares, and I've never borrowed a bass since!

Yeah I love playing to younger crowds. The two bands on before us last week were all 16-19 year olds and their crowd were all packed up against the barriers for our set too.

TBH it's the first time in years that I've typed the letters p-a-e-d in succession and not been sending an offensive text to our guitarist.

For a professional entertainer that man is remarkably boring. I actually like his playing too, but my god I never want to listen to him speak ever again. Nice to see that men were inexplicably wearing hats indoors even back in the '80s though.

[quote name='JMT3781' post='900298' date='Jul 20 2010, 05:47 PM']i think we can agree that action is completely personal, and people generally have the action set how it suits them...[/quote] And Rich is limp wristed, don't forget that important revelation.

[quote name='Al Heeley' post='887096' date='Jul 6 2010, 10:59 AM']Costello - Pump It Up[/quote] I love the chorus part on that. Bruce Thomas is well underrated.

[quote name='tayste_2000' post='900061' date='Jul 20 2010, 02:16 PM']Means people can use my amp with out messing up my settings, I just walk on and click, also means I know nothing as changed slightly if my tone is wierd one day, an issue I had with the 400+ a lot since it had so many knobs and sliders.[/quote] That's a really good idea.

No I was a child and sometimes during school holidays there wasn't anyone to play with. So I got to hear Henry Kelly announce "Sven, you're playing catch-up" all too regularly.

Try him on this, slap and a great vocal in one:

[quote name='bubinga5' post='900038' date='Jul 20 2010, 02:01 PM']why does everyone think that slapping is all he does? He plays fingerstyle, a horn, plays fretless and plays the piano[/quote] Yeah I went to YouTube and typed in "Marcus Miller", everything on the first page was Marcus Miller slapping, I don't get why people think slapping is all he does. The first result was Marcus Miller slapping Moonlight Sonata.

I like to sing theme tunes that date me for soundchecks. Recently it's been Record Breakers and Rent-A-Ghost.

I keep coming back to look at this, it's chuffing mega.

[quote name='Rich' post='899984' date='Jul 20 2010, 01:33 PM']Yeah, I think you're right. Both my wrists have given me problems and I've had surgery on one, but I have a gtrist mate who has been playing longer than me and using computers at work longer than me too, and has never had a single twinge from either hand. Lucky git.[/quote] Same here I write code for a living, when I'm not doing that I'm playing bass guitar or double bass, or lifting pints which of course people forget requires a similar movement and is actually good exercise for an upright bassist. I've never had an issue with my wrists and I haven't actively tried to look after them, I think I must just be lucky in how my wrists are put together.

It would also be a bit silly to dedicate 50% of your practice time to slap surely, unless you're Mark King? I don't think I've slapped anything (except ironically) since about 1996. I have started using a pick for a couple of tunes recently, surprised our guitarist a bit because I've been playing with him for 2 years and he's never seen me use a pick for anything, but it sounded good so I used a pick for a couple of things. Still can't imagine ever slapping though.

[quote name='ElCapitan' post='899864' date='Jul 20 2010, 11:53 AM']Don't make me fetch the hose.[/quote] That did make me laugh though.

Can I just say I've no idea who this person is and I didn't put him up to it.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='899831' date='Jul 20 2010, 11:24 AM']It's one of these: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Arbiter-Bass-Guitar-1970-Excellent-Condition-Retro-/230496108668"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Arbiter-Bass-Guitar-...o-/230496108668[/url] JapCrap copy of the Kalamazoo mentioned earlier. There was a current auction for one as well but can't find it right now. If it turns up I'll post a link.[/quote] Oh my god you encyclopaedic freak. And only £137? I could actually have one! Thank you!

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='899813' date='Jul 20 2010, 11:04 AM']A Blue Peter moment![/quote] It was more a John Stalker "Wouldn't you like to play outdoors without the constant glare of the sun?" type moment but yeah. Come on Drummer, you've made your point...

When I used to play a lot of outdoor shows I found I couldn't see my TU-2, so I made a little awning for it out of a cornflakes packet and gaffa-taped it on.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='899724' date='Jul 20 2010, 09:19 AM']OT but I really want that tone.[/quote] Sounds like a Stingray to me with the bass and treble cranked. Job done.

I am convinced that someone here is going to know what it is. I want to get one and plug it into a Big Muff and play Mudhoney songs on it all day.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='899775' date='Jul 20 2010, 10:19 AM']I think the problem people have with low action is that you do get the best results with a really light touch. Anybody who is used to playing with a higher action and then dropping the action is going to have problems. You have to adjust your right hand playing style also![/quote] TBH I adjust how hard I pick depending on where my bass is in the mix - if I feel I'm too loud I play quieter, etc. Most of the time I'm playing reggae-ish bass parts so a light touch is what's needed but it still sounds better with the strings higher. And it means if I turn on an overdrive for a heavy part I can dig in and get a nice crunch out of it and still not have the strings bottoming out. I think the problem people have with a high action is that they are worried that they won't be able to play fast enough unless the strings are as low as they'll possibly go. In reality it doesn't make a massive difference, and how often do bass players have to play mega-fast anyway? As for the RSI thing, I think some people are more prone to that than others but I don't feel like I use a lot of pressure to stop notes (practically nothing compared to double bass), and in 20 years I've never had a problem with my wrists. FWIW I set up my basses so I don't get any fret noise unplugged, and I typically use 100 - 40 or 45 strings. So not mega high, but a fair bit higher than most.

Well that is just stunning, there's no other word for it. Congratulations I am proper jealous.