thepurpleblob

[quote name='D-L-B' post='815004' date='Apr 22 2010, 02:32 PM']as for being the "big man", I'd quite happily call you an idiot to your face if you were to make such a stupid comment in my presence. Doesn't mean I'm being the 'big man'. I think you'll find on rereading that the "big man" talk is the first real allusion toward aggression here.[/quote] Let me explain very slowly. * I think debating which player is better is pointless because there's no possible useful metric * I wondered why (seeing as this comes up so often) people seem to keep coming back to this. * I likened it to a variety of competitive sport... * ....like football... * ....a game I don't like. * So I made a light-hearted remark about how I don't understand why people play football (either). I honestly don't understand why this makes me an idiot. Even if I am an idiot (which is entirely likely) I don't see why you felt the need to be so rude. Shame!

V. Nice. Can't go wrong with purple

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='814952' date='Apr 22 2010, 01:35 PM']Fixed.[/quote] Oh, how droll

[quote name='lowdown' post='814904' date='Apr 22 2010, 12:43 PM']Ok then.. That would be Bar stool and Meat Pies. My mistake. Garry[/quote] ...but who made the pies ??

"Plays like butter!" What the *hell* does that mean?

[quote name='lowdown' post='814867' date='Apr 22 2010, 12:19 PM']Arm chair and Popcorn at the ready.... Garry[/quote] Sorry to disappoint... life is way too short to worry about football hooligans

[quote name='D-L-B' post='814582' date='Apr 22 2010, 07:52 AM']Bit of a sweeping statement there. Idiot. I should assume that playing the fastest most tuneless drivel is the reason everyone plays bass then. [/quote] Sticks and stones can break my bones.... but it's easy to be a big man from behind a computer screen. You didn't even read what I wrote. I wasn't even talking about the playing... Ha!

[quote name='Bilbo' post='814728' date='Apr 22 2010, 10:21 AM']I have posted about 30 transcriptions here under the Theory and Technique section. SOme of them are very readable for learners (straight quarter notes etc) and they get harder and harder. Just put 'transcription' into the search tool here and there are loads available for free. With Spotify around, most of this stuff is readily acccessible even if you haven't got the recordings. PM me if you have any trouble.[/quote] Hi Bilbo, I think I've got most of them and been through quite a few. I can almost play "The Fez" thanks to you.... as long as the speed is turned down a bit in the old Tascam TBH... I struggled to find the actual original to listen to for many of them as I mostly wasn't familiar with them.

This stuff is so useful that you should seriously consider starting a dedicated website so that it is all organised more sensibly. Finding the posts is a bit of a challenge in itself at the moment.

[quote name='Doddy' post='814422' date='Apr 21 2010, 10:39 PM']It depends what areas you are looking at improving. I really like Ed Friedland's books-particularly 'Building...' and 'Expanding Walking Basslines'. 'The Working Bassist's Toolkit' is also very good. Paul Westwood's 'Bass Bible' has some good stuff in it. 'Improvisor's Bass Method' and 'Concepts in Bass Soloing' are very good aswell. There are a lot of good books out there,these are just a few that I like. As you said preferably with tabs,I'm going to suggest looking at 'Simplified Sight-reading for Bass'. If you get some reading under your belt,you will be able to get the benefit of books like 'Standing in the Shadows of Motown'. As easy as tab may seem at the moment(i don't think it is personally),you are basically limiting yourself as to what material you can study out of,as pretty much all of the best material is written in standard notation. Also as good as books are,they are no substitute for a good teacher. This would be the best way of improving your playing as you would have someone to point out the mistakes you my let slip on your own,and you will progress quicker.[/quote] Vote +1 for learning some notation. It's well worth the bother. You'll be surprised how much better your technique gets while you've been distracted by learning "the dots". It's not even particularly difficult to crack the basics and opens up lots of possibilities. You can't go far wrong with Ed Friedland's stuff. He's very down to earth and his books tend to contain useful stuff rather than the usual mind-numbing, repetitive exercise nonsense.

I'm trying to hone my reading skills a bit and could use some more dots to read. Has anybody got any sources, links, recommendations? Don't mind terribly much what it is (within reason skills wise - I don't have many) and I don't even mind paying. Very much prefer not to have the tab underneath which is incredibly distracting

[quote name='Rich44' post='814071' date='Apr 21 2010, 06:49 PM']I've always struggled getting my bass to drop D and back again, but most the songs I want to learn seem to be in it. I have tried tuning by ear but I'm pretty tone deaf and I can never get it to sound right. I think my problem is I don't really understand fully the concept of drop D. I'm "guessing" its a D thats an octave lower than the regular D string (i'm wrong aren't I ), but how would this be represented on a guitar tuner? My tuner has opetion for flat tuning and sharp tuning, are these relevant? And also, how do you get back from drop D to a normal E? Cheers.[/quote] What sort of tuner are you using.... 1) Drop D means detune your E string (make it slacker) by one tone (lower). That is it is one octave lower than the (usual) D string. 2) If you have a decent chromatic tuner then it's a non-issue (e.g. Boss, Korg etc). If you don't, then buy one. Some tuners don't like notes that low so fret at the 12th and tune to the D an octave up (assuming your intonation is in good nick). Any tuner is going to have a D on it!

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='814281' date='Apr 21 2010, 09:08 PM']It was impressive in 1985. Trust me, you had to be there.[/quote] I actually remember watching that on TV at the time and being completely gobsmacked. Things have changed a lot since then. Mark King - love or loath him - brought that kind of bass virtuosity to the masses. Even the likes of Pino were just making weird noises on Fretless basses for that guy who sang "Toast". We didn't have a clue who they were until years later. Everybody knew Mark King, though. EDIT: You youngsters need to know how great things were back then - even if it's got nothing to do with this...

What is it about the human animal that we are so obsessed with who is best? Even (especially?) when it involves an activity where "bestness" clearly is unmeasurable. It's the same reason people play football I suppose. Another activity where I can't for the life of me understand why anybody would bother

[quote name='cheddatom' post='812459' date='Apr 20 2010, 12:40 PM']there's a difference between cutting through and contributing to the overall sound. A lot of bands don't need a bass sound that cuts through, the low rumble to reinforce the guitars is enough.[/quote] Very good point of the day. It depends what the band needs. I wouldn't ever forget the old saying, "the bass is just there to make the guitarist sound good" - it's very often completely true!!

It's funny isn't it.... I've been through all sorts of gear and, frankly, with a bit of fiddling and assuming enough amplification (bass shifts more air and so needs more power - physics) I can get heard. However, I always keep coming back to my StingRays. They've always sounded the best across the board to me. A Precision might be better for chugging away on an E string and some exotic Jazz-a-like for fiddling around up-high but for just going out and playing stuff I have always favoured the Rays. I know enough about EQ to know that I don't know anything. What I do know is start with it all set flat and hope that works. If you're boosting bass then you're probably doing it wrong.

Yamaha BB-605 Hartke 1x15 cab (don't remember model number) Gallien Kreuger GK400 head The bass and the cab where spanky new out of "Academy of Sound" in Glasgow. The head was an Ebay purchase. I think by the time I'd played a gig, I had acquired a Yamaha TRB4ii though (more eBay). I don't have any of it any more and I don't remember what I paid for any of the gear.

[quote name='jake_tenfloors' post='807033' date='Apr 15 2010, 12:21 PM']New photo [/quote] If there was a prize.... you win. You just do..... and you know why

I've got two Precisions... a 78 (fretless) MIA which, indeed, weighs a ton and a 96 MIJ which weighs nothing. Both sound like a Precision which, generally, is a very good thing. It's a classic sound. The necks are very similar in profile and very playable. Certainly smaller than the neck on my Stingray for example. I must say, though, the Precision is the fourteen-pound lump hammer of the bass world. It has no sophistication whatsoever. On both basses the pickups don't fit the hole and won't adjust (bits of crappy foam instead of springs!!), the scratch plate doesn't sit flat, the paint finish is deplorable, the wiring was done by a monkey and breaks if you look at it, the bridge was made out of scrap by a farm labourer and the jack and pots are as cheap and nasty as they come. Apart from that, I really quite like them

[quote name='munkonthehill' post='804187' date='Apr 12 2010, 09:21 PM']well if your asking............Its a date hahaha [/quote] You don't look a bit like Peter Hook

[quote name='munkonthehill' post='804168' date='Apr 12 2010, 09:11 PM']sounds bloody mental,,,,a band based around 3 bass players....bizarre[/quote] Maybe it's just my age but I'd pay a tenner to sit in the same room as those three No.... really!!

Is it only me that wasn't aware of this.... Thu 3 Jun 2010 8.30pm Freebass (feat. Peter Hook, Andy Rourke, Mani) King Tuts £10.00 ....other venues too I imagine.