thisnameistaken

The main reason I bought a double bass was for playing with acoustic guitars. It also makes audiences pay attention, which is a plus. It's also nice to be able to go out busking without amplification and keep up with a couple of guitars / voices volume-wise. It does take quite a commitment though; time to learn to play it and build up stamina, and of course a fair bit of grunting and sweating to lug the bloody thing from A to B.

[quote name='neepheid' timestamp='1325165755' post='1480410'] I must be lucky - I get along very well with my drummer, both musically and personally. This is the second band I've been in with him. When I managed to secure his services for the band I am currently in it was a happy day for me. He's not flashy, he's solid and we lock in well together. [/quote] I used to have a drummer like that, I was in three bands with him, but then he slept with my best mate's wife so I can't really use him any more!

To be fair I don't think I've ever seen flatwounds for sale in a guitar shop.

I've always said a band can never be better than its drummer, nobody ever takes me seriously when I say it but I mean it! I'm off to jam with a new drummer in a couple of hours, music college grad apparently so hopefully he'll be just the ticket. New band on the horizon.

Regarding humidity issues - I've got a ply bass and it survived last winter without a hiccup. I was worrying for all the people with carved basses out there when the temperatures were hitting -17C (I would've been crapping myself if I'd had a carved bass!) but mine survived it even living in a draughty (windows here are heritage listed, pretty but pretty bloody draughty too) old house. I don't seem to have to do anything special to keep mine in one piece, except trying (and often failing) not to bang it against door jambs.

Rodgers/Edwards really created a whole sound, very few people do that, they were very smart. It's also nice that in the video above Nile Rodgers acknowledges the Sugarhill Gang track that re-used their tune. It's in the tradition of pop music to do that (reggae particularly, but '50s and '60s rock and roll too) and it's good to see the originators referencing their offspring.

I started about 2 years ago, after 20 years of bass guitar. First up, you can get a good quality beginner bass for around £500, but it probably won't be a new bass - keep your eyes on the used market and you can get something very playable around that price point. If you buy new you will probably have to spend another £100 getting it set up and £80+ on a decent set of strings. Tips for playing the damn thing: Take it slow and steady. Don't even attempt to play the stuff you play on bass guitar - seriously, do not judge your progress by how much of the bass guitar repertoire you can reproduce on double bass, it's a different instrument, trying to reproduce bass guitar music on it will leave you very despondent very early on. Instead work with what you've got: You will have to play less notes, so concentrate on getting the most out of the fewest notes you can play, making sure your intonation is good, and your notes are well chosen! Get a teacher, and practise in a disciplined way. Learn correct technique for both hands, and rigourously stick to that technique. If you find yourself straying from correct technique out of fatigue, stop playing the bass and come back to it when you've rested adequately. This fatigue will set in after only 5 or 10 minutes when you first start playing - this is normal! Don't be gung-ho about it, just build up your stamina slowly. You can play again after five minutes' rest, so make sure you take that rest. Eventually you'll be playing two hours at a time, but you have to build up to it. Oh and have fun. It's the only instrument I practise at home now because it is so much fun to play. You will find it more fun than frustrating if you get a good teacher and learn to play it correctly rather than going the trial-and-error route, you will be more accurate and articulate much faster if you have a teacher, and there will be less guesswork and more confidence. Trust me!

Impressive use of dynamics. Something the modern funk folks totally ignore, especially the slaptards.

Which one of them's in the club?

My 4-string Thumb has the smallest body of any bass I've ever played, and is the heaviest too. It's heavier than my mate's Stingray 5...

I really like basses like this and I'm sort-of looking for a bass like this. Are you looking for a valuation because you're intending to sell it?

I've never had an amp that was pretty. I do at least manage to keep them clean these days but pretty they ain't.

Also FWIW I once took a pair of basses to a recording session - a stock Squier Jazz strung with flats and a '91 Thumb bass with Rotos on it. I tracked everything on the Squier because I'd decided that was the sound I wanted and I'd only taken the Warwick as a backup. When the engineer saw the Warwick lying in the corner he looked worried as if someone else had left it there, and when I told him it was mine he asked me to re-track everything with that. In the end we used the Warwick track for one song and the Squier tracks for everything else. The engineer was pushing to use the Warwick tracks for everything but everybody in the band thought the Squier sounded more appropriate in most cases. I guess we weren't as swayed by the price tag as the engineer was.

We've had this request from a few promoters, I don't think it's unreasonable really - they don't want 'your' audience to have seen you the weekend before in the pub down the street because they won't turn up again the weekend they've booked you. Not playing any other venues for a year though? That's mental. What are they offering you in return?

I don't think I've ever heard 'The Flood'. Mercifully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfXtkyctoR0

[quote name='LiamPodmore' timestamp='1324409508' post='1473972'] Gary Barlow and Robbie are both amazing songwriters, [/quote] Robbie Williams writes songs? Did he write that 'Angels' one? Because that is the shittest song I've heard for years and years.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gipn-ukO3mw

I'm a freelance, I can make my own hours to a certain extent, and work from home if I want to - it's pretty easy for me to fit in work around other commitments. Occasionally I'll have those weeks where I can't leave my desk until something's done, but it doesn't happen as much with my current clients, I got rid of the badly organised ones.

I would rather have the Squier logo to be honest. I would rather my gear looks less valuable, not more - I might have to leave it unattended in the car at some point and the car park is probably dark and has random drunks in it 24/7.

He's a member here.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1324123463' post='1470996'] ... At least artists are actually doing a job of work when performing, which is something the audience can actually relate to. This, I think, is the root of the issue because it's the perception of a vast paying audiences that really matter, not the views of the artists. It's the audience that puts the value on a piece of music (or other art), not the artist.[/quote] +1. Also music just isn't as central to popular culture as it used to be. And that's probably in part due to the quality and longevity of popular music being promoted by the industry. It's unsurprising that recorded music is losing its value when the labels clearly don't value their artists at all.

Yeah sounds like your amp isn't coping very well with the piezo signal. A purpose-built double bass preamp like the Fishman Platinum Pro will sort it out for about £100, and you can continue to use your bass guitar amp.

He's mostly right, but it's not really news. Recorded music as a commodity was fatally injured over 10 years ago when peer-to-peer networking was all the rage, there's no point trying to make any money out of it now. Recordings are marketing tools that if you're incredibly lucky will turn into modest revenue streams, but probably won't.