thisnameistaken

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1322231463' post='1448321']as a solo instrument, the bass is pretty damn ugly, the timbre is terrible, the definition beyond playing 8th notes is crap, unless you have lots of treble and avoid the lower notes. That's why some folks are adding strings, playing chords and tapping with two hands, adding treble and chorus, just so their bass playing can sound more like a regular guitar.[/quote] This sums it up for me. There aren't many bass guitarists I'd like to hear soloing. Actually I can't think of any. Even if they're nice blokes really and even if they're very musical, the bass just doesn't sound very good on its own.

[quote name='SteveK' timestamp='1322181942' post='1447783'] Was this in reply to a sexist, racist. homophobic etc post? No, it was in reply to a fairly innocuous post about... (surprise, surprise) bass guitars.[/quote] But he didn't personally attack the poster, he just said he thought he was talking a lot of sh*t. The poster then took the position that BBC was opposed to everything he had ever said - blowing it all out of proportion, essentially - and BBC repeatedly stated his position that he had one narrow but strongly held opinion that he was expressing and the guy shouldn't get so carried away. BBC didn't really do anything wrong, he just expressed an opinion in his own way and got marked as a 'troublemaker' for it. He really wasn't, he was just a plain speaker.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1322070625' post='1446206']so exactly what are Victor Wootens motives for playing a bass solo... hes not very musical and hes doing it to show off?...[/quote] Victor's publicity doesn't seem to have much to do with him being very musical. How's that for a carefully worded reply.

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1322134517' post='1446880']haha, I think I was one of the knobheads you were agreeing with ;-)[/quote] For the record I can't remember who any of the people I routinely disagreed with were. There were a lot of them, but usually it was just one or two doing the arguing and the rest sporadically putting the boot in without contributing anything to the argument. I don't think they got any warnings. But like I said I honestly can't remember who any of them were - even the ones who actually had something to say. And for the record I didn't have a personal problem with any of those opinionated, argumentative people, but the mobs that would form around them I imagined were probably a set of utter pricks.

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1322132691' post='1446826']Banned from off-topic? That's really piqued my curiosity. What did you do? Was I one of the knobheads you argued with?[/quote] I don't think you were. I disagreed loudly with the collective opinion of too many other posters, so my card was marked. I got a few warnings saying that I'd been complained about but nobody would tell me what the complaints related to or who had made those complaints, then IIRC I eventually got banned for telling a christian that it was un-christian to say he would kill someone if they upset him enough. [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1322133380' post='1446848']I also find that, on my netbook, which I use fir viewing at home, the site has too little information per page before I have to scroll[/quote] One new feature could help you here: Hide any signatures that are too large. [i]*hides Bilbo's signature*[/i]

I don't see any of the 'controversial' threads any more because I'm banned from Off Topic, and honestly it's improved the forum for me massively. And it means I spend less of my time time arguing the toss about nothing with knobheads and more time playing bass. Bi-winning.

I've got Silver Slaps which I believe have the same surface as the Super Silvers and I use Pops rosin. With plenty of rosin you can certainly get the bow to bite just fine but the sound - from the G in particular - is not pleasant! In thumb position it's positively horrific.

Don't be put off if you have to take it very slowly at first. When I first started (not so long ago!) I could only play for five or ten minutes at a time before I had to recover. The noises it made in those minutes made me pick it up again though. It rewards the time put into it more than bass guitar does IMO. It's capable of a much broader range of sounds and has a certain authority to it.

They don't really bow very well. Apparently Innovation Honeys would be a better choice if you want to bow your bass, Evah Pirazzis are good but pricey, Helicore hybrids also seem like a good solution. As for improving the sound of your bass beyond trying different strings there might not be much you can do to make a big difference. Get it professionally set up if you haven't already because that should improve the sound, but if your bass doesn't come alive with new strings and a setup I would be thinking about shopping for a new bass.

On bass guitar I pick with my index and ring fingers instead of index and middle finger. Sometimes the middle finger comes into it, couldn't tell you where or why but it gets picked with sometimes. I have no idea how I ended up doing this, and it's not beneficial in any way. Probably just because I never had lessons. This bad habit hasn't followed me on to the double bass, thankfully.

I don't think I've ever seen him do anything but slap, and his slap doesn't sound too great. :/ BTW thanks to whoever was responsible for the new signature-hiding feature, that improves the forum hugely.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1321373365' post='1438377'] Download cost me about £2 (can't remember where but itunes/amazon/emusic are the only possibilities). Its the music that matters, not the format![/quote] I avoided mp3 music for ages because of the DRM nonsense but earlier this year I bought a network drive to use as a time machine backup for my Mac, and then found out I could stream mp3s from it to my phone over wi-fi, or any other DLNA-capable client. Suddenly mp3 became quite interesting.

I've bought KoB once, and someone else has bought it for me once, so I'm on twice-bought. I've probably listened to it twice too.

MCA's Jazz sounds pretty massive on this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdnYzIxQUWE

Nice Stringay dude.

[quote name='fattybassman' timestamp='1320925791' post='1433171']nice one mate yea mate i know lee smith the bass player...legend...think their out on tour at the moment...great band.[/quote] Yeah Middleman are good lads and a great band, they deserve all the success they're having.

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1320883228' post='1432875']I remember a few years back I went to a ceilidh where our beloved mate OldGit's band were playing. He asked me up to play his bass on a couple of tunes so he could have a blow on his sax... he took a solo himself, then turned round with a huge grin on his face and pointed at me and yelled "BASS SOLO!". And the rest of the band stopped, leaving me no alternative than to fumble around aimlessly while the rest of them giggled like schoolkids. I could have killed him. God bless 'im.[/quote] Quality. I've only ever been called upon to do one solo, and I was in a foul mood and had little interest in playing the gig never mind playing a solo, but I think the front man thought it would cheer me up for some strange reason. Anyway I stepped forward and everybody dropped out but the drummer, and if he wasn't such an excellent drummer it wouldn't have worked at all but we'd done a few hundred gigs with eachother and he really listened and embellished everything I was doing and it all worked out better than I could've hoped for - a really violent-sounding fretless solo that led up to a psychotic crescendo and then to silence. Hehe. At a funk gig. Bizarrely the audience went wild, the drummer counted us back in and the party re-started, and they never ever asked me to play a solo ever again.

TBH the only use I make of it is to have an OC-2 either soloed or in parallel with other effects. But while it's only one thing it's a thing I do a lot, so it was necessary to replace the LS-2.

I keep a couple of bits of foam for my Jazz, one sounds a bit subtle, both is heavy-handed. It's good for reggae stuff or old soul stuff, or a general '60s vibe. I prefer foam to palm muting, I find muting with my palm quite uncomfortable.

The LS-2 is fine unless you have a need for switching between both of its parallel effects loops and one single effect loop. It's got a lot of modes but that isn't one of them unfortunately, and that's why I had to replace mine with a bespoke pedal in the end.

I've figured out I need two - one strung with rounds, one with flats. I did have three basses until last week, but I noticed one of them just never got played so I sold it. My double bass doesn't count, and FTR I've decided I need two of those as well - one for busking and one for 'best'.

Hope he recovers before his hospital treatment bankrupts him.