thisnameistaken

The cheapest way to do it would be Wordpress. I don't like Wordpress, at all, but it's a cheap way to do it.

I love the idea of an 'unusual' precision bass. It's like the endless stream of Stingrays in colours produced in 'limited' numbers. Oh yes of course you should consider it to be worth double, at the very least, given that it's in trans pukeburst.

My favourite christmas song is still Shonen Knife's 'Space Christmas', a charming story about Santa arriving on his bison sleigh and delivering a spaceship, which the singer intends to use to travel to pluto to eat marshmallows and ice cream.

Is it like alt-jazz, black jazz, viking jazz, or progressive vegetarian grindjazz?

The one thing I do wish I had was a bit more of that purry string bloom sound that it seems only comes out of expensive basses. Mine does it a bit but not nearly as much as I would like. A friend of mine has bucketloads of it but his bass was about 10x more expensive than mine was. I am tempted to take mine to a luthier and ask him for more of that, but I imagine I would get a sarcastic response in return and very little more of that.

I tend to think in terms of just two sounds, really, and they are Paul Chambers and Ron Carter. If I could have both I'd probably be happy, but I doubt I'll ever have either. [quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1355175797' post='1895142']But in general I think you are right, especially once a double bass is amplified[/quote] Since ditching piezos I'm pretty happy with the way things sound amplified. I could do with a bit more of a natural-sounding amp but on the whole it's going so well with the Ehrlund I don't mind having to plug in any more. I used to hate gigging with piezos to the point where I nearly stopped gigging altogether.

I'll go wherever I end up, So long as there's room for my pedals and a mike stand and I haven't got a ride cymbal right next to my ear I don't really give a toss. I would rather not be on the left of a right-handed guitarist if I can help it though because the silly buggers never know where the end of that thing is.

Dangerous territory. You could lose one and never find out.

I guess you could also take a tune with a good bass guitar part and ask if it would have the same feel on a synth.

I don't think the gypsy jazz sound can be done with a bass guitar. I don't think you can make a bass guitar swing like that. Maybe someone can prove me wrong.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1354982552' post='1892624']"He " is not the one who is at fault in certain respects . The greater error is on the part of those who read such significance into one playalong on Youtube and might use it as vindication of their own selves . When you say I am blaming everybody else on the internet you are being far too general in your assessment ; blame belongs only to those who are responsible .[/quote] And I think you too are exaggerating. He hasn't become a scapegoat for all bad bass playing, he has had his video highlighted in a thread on a forum which - I would guess - is no longer being discussed, so his 15 minutes of infamy has already passed and they will be busy criticising someone else by now. I did have a look at some of his other videos. He can play as competently as practically any bass player is ever required to do, but he plays with no imagination and no soul, there is no special spark in his playing that makes me want to listen to him. I imagine this is probably because he spends all his time playing along to records instead of developing his music.

[quote name='mentalextra' timestamp='1354989290' post='1892731']Also, electric bass players are worrying about our strings, pickups, electronics and amplification; what does a stand up bassist worry about?[/quote] All of those things. Strings make a massive difference to your sound, unlike electric bass where most roundwounds sound pretty much the same, and a good value set of double bass strings is about £80 (most sets cost more than that) so imagine how expensive experimentation is. Pickups are also a real minefield, and there's the option of mics instead (even more expense), specialist amplification for acoustic instruments is, again, way more expensive. We also get to worry about the instrument developing cracks either from accidental damage or from something as innocent as low humidity in winter, most double basses that have been played professionally for a couple of decades have clearly had the neck re-attached so it's worth worrying about that happening too because it must happen to everybody at some point. There's also the worry that if you accidentally bump the bass the wrong way while changing strings the soundpost might fall down and your bass will be unplayable until you get it re-set. Stuff like that. There's plenty to worry about, trust me.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1354976467' post='1892527']I am equally aware as any of you as to what the shortcomings are in this chaps playing in absolute terms in this clip , but what I think is wrong is that people have singled out one Youtube playalong video and made it totemic of bad taste and over-elaborate self indulgent bass playing .[/quote] Well he could've avoided that couldn't he. This is what you get when you publish videos of yourself showing off online - you're going to get thousands of people who know you're nothing special publicly discussing how not special you are. The difference in our opinions is that you blame everybody else on the internet for it and I blame him. [quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1354976467' post='1892527']if people feel justified in slating this chap so mercilessy then I look forward to hearing their own playing and can only wonder why they are not playing for a living , because if you are of so much of a better standard than the playalong man is capable of then you should have no problem making a career .[/quote] When I was 20 I joined a band that played original funk tunes and spent a couple of years touring and that was my full-time job. I was playing the same sort of material he plays except our music was all original and I did a better job of it than he does. I agree with you if the standard of playing on Youtube is anything to go by I would have no problem making a career out of it, but I wouldn't enjoy it.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1354907326' post='1891973']My sentiments entirely . The chap is running through some ideas ( as we have all done from time to time ) , not presenting a manifesto for how the bass guitar should be played .[/quote] He published it. It's not like we rooted through his personal storage and found videos of him playing along to disco tunes - he actually wanted us to see him doing it. It's not like anyone's completely slated the guy anyway, but for the record I don't rate him at all, or his band.

The bass guitar in most music doesn't require a lot of technique, it's more a matter of learning what to do with it that takes a lifetime. So yeah there's plenty of scope to learn another instrument at the same time.

[quote name='project_c' timestamp='1354909965' post='1892010']Can you name a few examples? I'm interested in both the make of the valve pre, and the effect it has has on the signal. When you say 'character', are you talking about breakup / grit, or full on distortion? Or just a bit of a boost to the signal? Thanks.[/quote] I'm no expert, it's just a friend of mine who I often record for has a pair of SPL Gold Mike pres which he loves to use on everything, and they do sound great. It's not so much about adding valve overdrive or boost (although you can surely do that if you want), but just the warmth and fullness you get from putting your signal through a good valve preamp. It's hard to describe but if you had one in an aux send and you gradually turned it up it would be obvious the simply-betterness you get back from it. They are probably overkill if you're just recording bass (and there are a lot of good cheaper options), but I like kit like this because it gives you a recording you don't have to mess with much, unless you want to.

I usually record direct too, but a good valve pre can really give a track character, even a bass track.

[quote name='endorka' timestamp='1354897071' post='1891802']1) Most musicians' concept of busy is too busy for a pop or rock recording. I've fallen foul of this myself in the past, and still do sometimes. It's in our nature; even with great experience, you can't always hear the overview of the music as well as you think, and what works in your musical mind doesn't always work well with everything else. 2) If you are going to have a busy part accepted onto a recording, you have to [b]really[/b] nail the time and feel. It must bring immediate joy to those who hear it. 3) Bass is for the most part an accompaniment instrument. That doesn't mean you can't create special parts; it means that coming up with special parts that fulfil this requirement is particularly challenging.[/quote] On point 1: I often wish I could get more feedback on what I was playing. Other players usually just tell me it's good, which either means it's good or they're not listening. I'm not intimidating enough to get good feedback based on fear so I can rule that one out. Regarding point 2: Agreed, and you need everybody to really nail it, not just yourself. I remember one band I used to do back in the '90s, there was 9 or 10 of us, and we had this one tune that was really busy and the guitarist was pushing to drop it because it sounded pretty awful. I asked everybody to really concentrate on the timing for one more run through in rehearsal and suddenly it just popped out perfect, and it didn't sound unusually busy. It became a big favourite live for both the band and the crowd, but if a couple of people were less than 100% on a given night it could be pretty weak, usually if someone had been drinking (sometimes me. Haha, 'sometimes'). Point three: I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks it's difficult! And again part of the difficulty is down to other people and their ideas of what the bass should be doing. I find guitarists in particular tend to fill any space you leave them, which can be very destructive if the space is what you intended, not 'space for another guitar lick'.

On a tune like that where the arrangement has been pre-ruined I don't suppose it matters if you over-play. The original was about as bare-bones as a hit record can be, so once your guitarist opens up with the wah wah pedal then what the hell, everybody else might as well go nuts. But you're right, it's less obvious how much he's overplaying when everybody is overplaying.

I don't think so, but if you think it will add to the price then it would make more sense to auction it than sell it on here.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1354893832' post='1891736'] Here's a video of him playing a very busy line in live setting and to my ears he pulls it off in a convincing manner , even if it does sound a bit 1980s ( not neccesarily a bad thing ) : [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oI0s2uFERqA[/media] Sounds like a pro to me . [/quote] Sounds like a very average function band to me. I bet they can turn any song into a tiresome funky blues jam.

1/4" female jack should be a good enough name, also known as a tip sleeve connector (stereo jacks are tip ring sleeve or TRS). Maplins might do one. If not I imagine OBBM could knock you one up.

[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1354883508' post='1891563'] Thanks for the advice everyone. Flats and foam looks a good option. [/quote] With the pick you should get a good Carole Kaye sort of sound. If you want more of a softer attack you could always try a felt pick.

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1354875715' post='1891426'] Thomann does Spiros for £116 but point taken on Evahs [/quote] That's a good price from Thomann I think my last set were over £130 at the cheapest place I could find online. Might have been Thomann actually.