ambient

Players like Matt Garrison, Gary Willis and Janek Gwizdala use them. They all have tremendous technical ability. It’s mainly for players who play quite fast and intricate lines. It helps to avoid inadvertently dig in too hard. It doesn’t necessarily prevent you from doing so if you want to.

They sound, erm........interesting 😊.

I did read the whole thread prior to asking, just incase someone had explained.

What are loons?

What you want to do would be considered vandalism with some Musicman fans. A lot of what you hear is down to the player, and the particular way he plays.

Thanks for identifying what it was. I did try googling it.

Is this a half-size bass? The guy playing it is Kyle Eastwood.

Then there’s the marvellous players who have them, Matt Garrison and Gary Willis for example. I know what you mean though, it’s personal preference. My favourite normal bassist is Anthony Jackson, his Fodera has just the one pickup and no ramp. If you watch him play he’s using the whole of the playing area on the bass.

Are you in the MU?

That’s it basically. I won’t for instance play at charity events. They’re putting on an event, they’ll be paying everyone else there, so why not me?

Speak to John East, maybe he could tweak the preamp?

I would be surprised if they had. That’s actually one of the things that really bugs me. You often see people putting on events, and advertising for bands and musicians to play; usually for free, or for the ‘exposure’. Yet they’re quite willing and expect to pay everyone else, security, bar staff, waiters, kitchen staff etc. I’m not being at all precious, but I have two degrees in music, whatever I can do is the result of god knows how many hours of practicing, yet I’d still at many events, be expected to give my services for nothing.

How’d you mean? I played on a cruise 7 or 8 years ago. We got free accommodation, all meals, all day to do whatever we wanted, plus I was well paid.

I played a 6 string bass for over ten years. I used it on hundreds of gigs, everything from country and western to weddings receptions to jazz. Nobody cared, all they were bothered about was the playing. It mostly seems to be other bassists who are finicky about how many strings someone has. There was one particular tutor at uni who kept on about me playing a 6 string, he was a d**k though.

It is accommodation and food only, there’s no wages. That’s been confirmed. Whoever does this, assuming they’ll get someone, will have spent hundreds of hours getting their skills together, and they want them to play for nothing. I think it’s terrible.

He/she probably wants you to play in his/her classic rock band.

That’s it. Just smaller to carry and to store, I’m not really bothered about it having a deep tone or anything, it’s purely for solo playing.

Seriously, it’s just down to practicing a lot. I use a variation on the floating thumb technique, my right hand moves down the strings, helping to mute the ones that I’m not playing. I’m also muting with my left hand, using the fingers I’m not using to fret notes. Maybe get a string mute thing too, they help cut down on unwanted string noise.

Practice.

I’m interested in getting one. I played a 3/4 size one for ages, mostly doing jazz gigs. This would be purely for solo bass stuff. What’s a good make?

Keep them down the back of the sofa like everyone else.

I had to revert to claiming money back via my bank a few years ago. I bought something off eBay which never arrived. The guy originally had perfect feedback, after my item didn’t arrive, it seemed that many other people’s didn't. Neither PayPal or eBay wanted to know, NatWest refunded me in a few days. I just had to send copies of the transaction, and screenshots of his now less than perfect feedback.

I’m using .060, .052, .042, .032, .020, but I’m weird 😁. A set of .105 to .045 is a pretty good all round gauge.