EliasMooseblaster

Yep, another vote for "either" here, and like several others I'm equally happy to be referred to as a "bass guitarist." Similarly, anybody wishing to refer to our drummer and me collectively is welcome to use "the rhythm section" just as much as I'd be happy for them to refer to our guitarist and me as "the guitarists." I might object to the use of "complete arse," but I don't know if I'd have a strong case against it...

[quote name='Yank' timestamp='1483004644' post='3203987'] Where do you stand on using tablets onstage for words/chord changes? I'm in a new band where vocalists and guitarists use them. I'm old school and prefer to memorize my parts. [/quote] I suspect this thread is going to go the same way as the infamous debate on music stands! For my own ha'porth, at a jazz jam a couple of years ago, I found a tablet with an electronic copy of the Real Book was a lot easier than frantically trying to flip through an original Real Book and rebalance the thing on the stand. But that's a situation where you might reasonably expect some people to be using a music stand anyway. On the other hand, most rock bands live or die by their ability to engage with their audience. In those situations, staring at a tablet for your chords is a bit like putting the privacy screen down in a taxi and then wondering why your conversation with the driver is cut short!

[quote name='alembic1989' timestamp='1482858699' post='3203100'] : SEEKING SEX-SYMBOL TYPE BASSIST!! [/quote] [b] [size=4]oxymoron[/size][/b] [ok-si-mawr-on, -mohr-] pl.oxymorons. Rhetoric. 1.a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in “cruel kindness” or “to make haste slowly.”.

Got my copy on christmas day and I've hardly been able to put it down since - there are some fascinating and beautiful specimens in there! Great job, sir!

[quote name='Low End Bee' timestamp='1482507986' post='3201177'] One lipstick pup per string so technically 4. [/quote] ...and yet only one volume control! It's an eccentric example, no two ways about it, though Bootsy's five-pickup curio is still in the lead on this one!

[quote name='Tweedledum' timestamp='1482476814' post='3200828'] True. OK, back to three pickups. The Fender Rascal comes to mind: [/quote] That's the badger! When I first posted this thread I could have sworn I'd seen something that essentially resembled a Strat bass - thought I'd imagined it, or it had been a dubious conversion job. [quote name='Dazed' timestamp='1482494179' post='3201010'] A few exotic manufacturers spring to mind: Basslab [/quote] Now that second bass (red one) chimes with what I was thinking of...basically I was wondering if you could set one up to blend 1 & 3 to get an EB-3 type tone, 1+2 to get a faintly Rick-esque sound, and 2+3 for a Jazz-type tone. Probably wishful thinking, as all three of those examples have completely different pickup impedances. But I don't doubt it would be fun to play around with!

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1482361779' post='3199992'] Every bass is costed down to the last screw so more pickups equals more expense. Do you actually get a better sound with three pickups? Actually you don't need more pickups to get a better sound. A better or active EQ will do that. Plus if enough people show an interest it will be done. Until the interest is in the hundreds it won't get done. [/quote] This is probably where I got my thinking a bit back-to-front - I was thinking about the tonal variations afforded by a Strat, and how many bassists like to "sculpt" their tone, but then of course a decent active EQ could achieve the same breadth of results and a lot more in-between! (Can you tell I only own passive basses?)

Just a thought that occurred to me: why did three-pickup basses not catch on more widely? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the simplicity of a Precision as much as the next man, but after looking at the pickup configurations on my two P/J basses, I looked at the gap between the front pickup and the neck and thought, "you could squeeze another one in there..." The Burns Marquee and Fender VI are suitable evidence that the idea was tried in the instrument's relative infancy, and Stu Hamm's Edge basses are an example of it in a more 'boutique' setting. And of course, your guitarist will probably have a Strat or similar in his/her collection. I just wonder why more manufacturers haven't tried it.

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1482144846' post='3197921'] Alice Cooper, has the song 'Poison'. The band Poison, are yet to release a song called 'Alice Cooper'. [/quote] That's a good point, actually - I have heard a story to the effect that ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead released an album called [i]Madonna [/i]because they lost a bet with her. Allegedly, if the bet had turned out differently, Madonna would have been bound (at least by gentleman's agreement) to release an album called [i]...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead.[/i]

"[size=4][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif][font=Arial][color="#331333"]It is a Jazz Bass style body that Chavez personally walked up Mount Vesuvius and held under a lava flow at the[b] customers request[/b] [[i]sic[/i]]"[/color][/font][/font][/size] [size=4][font=verdana,geneva,sans-serif][font=Arial][color="#331333"]So can I presume the customer who made this request looked at the results (and/or the wonky neck pickup) and changed his mind?[/color][/font][/font][/size]

Anyone know which came first in a lot of the more well-known cases - e.g., did Iron Maiden/Black Sabbath, etc write the song first, then decide it would be a good band name? (In the case of The Hives, I'd say it's pretty self-evident which way round it was...) For example, I know that Lemmy originally wrote [i]Motorhead[/i] for Hawkwind, and I have heard that he only named his subsequent band after the song because the record company wouldn't sign a band called The Bastards!

[quote name='The-Ox' timestamp='1481739294' post='3194761'] played the slab again today. Whilst the strings were old, it didn't have that same growl. Now I'm nowhere near John's level, but I can get a similar tone to his through a Precision, but I really do think its to do with the amp and application of the player in this case. The strings were old mind you [/quote] I believe he used to put on a fresh set of RS66s before every gig - something about them losing their "sparkle" after a day of use - in any case the harsh clank of a fresh set of Rotos may well have played a part!

I guess [i]American Pie[/i]* is the most far-reaching example...the tricky bit is working out which artists he's singing about at each point! [size=3]*The Don McLean song, not that godawful film series...[/size]

[quote name='Basvarken' timestamp='1480711117' post='3186696'] The first 100 books are sold. To celebrate this I'll share some gratuitous bassporn with y'all Sixties Thunderbird II As featured on page 42-43 of The Gibson Bass Book [/quote] What a beauty - and congratulations on the first 100 sales!

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1481670758' post='3194273'] Kanye. . . [/quote] One wonders whether Kanye is still sufficiently butthurt after Mr Obama referred to him as a "jackass," that he might volunteer to do it...

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1481294778' post='3191309'] ...I've played basses rated at way over the value of my CV that haven't been half as good. In fact, I owned a US Precision at the same time as my first CV, and there really wasn't much in it! The US P was lighter in weight, and just had the edge (slightly) re the output from the pickup - only just. It certainly wasn't 3 or 4 times as good as the Classic Vibe... [/quote] You make a very good point, actually - granted it's £100-150 more than it was a few years ago, but that's still a fair bit cheaper than even your average Mexican Fender, and in my (admittedly limited) experience the Squier CVs were at least as good as those if not better.

If it's another run of the CV '60s P with all the same specs, that'd be great news - part of me still regrets not pulling the trigger on one of the original line (though admittedly I was partly put off by the colour). Though is it just me or has the price been cranked up a fair bit?

[quote name='Happy Jack' timestamp='1481206284' post='3190533'] [Pedantry alert] Well [i][b]tech-[/b][/i]nically of course, if you can be heard then you're acoustic. [Pedantry alert off] [/quote] This is very true, and I hope to be able to extend this pedantry to groups who mime their songs onstage - if we're not actually hearing One Direction singing live, does this reduce them to being a visual band (at least in a live context)?

It's certainly not a term that's defined with scientific precision...technically any drum other than an electric kit or pads is "acoustic," so by that metric you could define Black Sabbath as "semi-acoustic"! Still, based on the empirical evidence I've seen, I think "acoustic" has been commandeered as a term to describe a band that's driven by acoustic guitars rather than electric guitars. I used to play at several "acoustic" nights years ago with an exceptionally good acoustic guitarist - for some reason me bringing an electric bass and amp didn't matter, as long as she was playing an acoustic. But then as bass players, we're used to being ignored!

I still own a didgeridoo, though I haven't played it for a while. Never did the hang of the circular breathing, mind...

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1481100806' post='3189628'] It could be worse - you could be a keys player talking about how bass guitar gets all the glory. [/quote] Meanwhile, on PianoChat: "Honestly, if my left hand were detachable, I wouldn't bother bringing it along, the way he hogs the limelight in the lower register..."

[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1481014525' post='3188891'] Like Oasis, Williams was on top of the pile for a few years in the UK but was unable to sustain the same level of critical or commercial success over the longer term. Now he's half forgotten. Outside the UK and especially in the US he aroused little interest. He has an unremarkable voice while Guy Chambers actually wrote the music to his big hits. [/quote] Funnily enough I do lump him into the same box as Oasis - and not just because I can't stand either of them. Absolutely massive for a few years in the '90s before losing the plot and spending a long time in the wilderness with a few slightly sad-looking attempts to return to fame. As chard suggests above, it does seem to coincide a [i]bit [/i]too conveniently with the release of a comeback single.

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1480953843' post='3188366'] ...even better shout down a microphone and let everyyknow that Dave is a knob or such like ! [/quote] I have known one Dave for whom that would qualify as an important public service announcement...