Painy

Night Fever. Anything that brings to mind an image of John Travolta in his white suit and striking that cheesy pose has to be pretty lame but I do love the bass line. Hmmm..... Maybe its just a John Travolta thing.

For some reason I can never view video clips on here on my phone so don't know if anyone's posted these guys already but I reckon you don't need to look too much further than Kenny Loggins. Add John Parr and John Farnham into the mix and sprinkle with the sound track from The Lost Boys and I reckon you've got a whole gig worth of lovely permed, lycra clad 80s Pilgrim's Choice!

[quote name='OldGit' timestamp='1245191622' post='515920'] Ah now you come to mention it ... several takes on the Danelectro with its round wound strings, a few broken strings put the Danny's out of action (no strings available) and a final take on the Jazz. I remember that issue as I found out that both My Generation and Wishbone Ash's Argus were both done on a Jazz when for years I'd has GAS for thunderbirds to get "that" tone [/quote] It was in Bassist issue #2 with Marcus Miller on the front. First bass mag I ever bought As I remember it the strings used were LaBella Flats.

Did the same thing myself once. Went into a shop to buy a set of strings and walked out with my Warwick Corvette standard 5 active. Justified it to myself at the time with the fact that I had indeed bought a new set of strings but that they just happened to have cost a grand and come with a bass attached

Never been sacked myself but did have to sack the keyboard player in a previous band for constantly being too much of a prima donna! He'd got himself in a spot of trouble and ended up with a tag round his ankle and a kerfew which meant he wasn't allowed out of his house until 9.00PM so was always late for gigs. The final straw was when one night he turned up 30 minutes after we'd started playing and in a foul mood. Spent the whole of the rest of the gig trying to play angry (hilarious sight on keys!) and then had a massive strop when we finished. Even then we had the decency to tell him to his face that it wasn't working out!

In my side band (I just sing with them - no bass) we're currently learning Metallica Sad But True with Stevie Wonder Superstition. Not going from one to the other but a full on mash up. Basically bass, drums and rhythm play sad but true but with the vocals and funky riff from from superstition over the top. Sounds awesome!!! Sadly not our own idea though - check out 'Sad But Superstitious' on youtube!

Was lucky enough to see the first ever live performance of Quadrophenia back in 1996 at the Prince's Trust Masters of Music festival in Hyde Park along with Jools Holand, Alanis Morrisette, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton! Got to stand right at the front and spent the whole of the Who's set watching the Ox with my chin on the floor. I'd been playing for about 18 months and was just astounded that it was even possible to do some of the stuff he was playing on a bass! Such a shame he's no longer with us but if anyone can cover for him I guess its Pino. Guarantee you'll have an awesome night!

Always been rather fond of the bassline from Staying Alive by the BeeGees myself

[quote name='Spaced' timestamp='1371304781' post='2112374'] How d'ya know the advice was great then? [/quote] Ahh yeeeeaaaa. Kinda made the aumption if I'm honest! He could quite easily have told me the secret of his sound was submerging his amp in melted cheese and plucking the strings with his toes!

Marco Mendoza once gave me some great advice about achieving a solid tone in the studio but sadly I forgot every word almost immediately (damn you Jack Daniels!!!!)

Marco Mendoza once gave me some great advice about achieving a solid tone in the studio but sadly I forgot every word almost immediately (damn you Jack Daniels!!!!)

1 - For me it was mainly down to my best mate. He got a drum kit for christmas, decided he wanted to start a band and asked me to join. Being a 'classicaly trained' pianist I thought he meant keyboards but as he was really into Nirvana at the time keys weren't really what he was looking for. He suggested I take up bass as I wouldn't have to learn chords and kindly lent me a beat up old acoustic guitar with only 2 strings which was enough for me to find that following and picking up the bassline was natural to me. 2 - Jason Newstead 'windmilling' in the Sad But True video. 3 - John Entwhistle's playing on the Quadrophenia album.

I recently sold my Warwick Streamer Stage 1 5 string (RRP £4029.00) to raise some cash but to ease my pain decided to get myself a cheaper 6 string with part of the proceeds. Ended up getting a Cort Artisan A6 (RRP £799.00) which whilst not quite a budget bass is still Just 20% of the cost of the Warwick and Cort are certainly not a prestige brand. Imagine my surprise when I found that I genuinely prefer the Cort for playability and sound. Sure the flamed maple on the Warwick was more highly figured and the body more contoured but the Cort is still a very classy looking instrument IMHO!

Last night remembered I was meant to have learnt Jump by Van Halen 5 minutes before I was due to leave for my gig. Fortunately it only took as long to learn as it did to listen to!

I've always loved Glenn Hughes sound on the Feel album - sounds like angry velvet!?! Funnily enough, at last night's gig I finally nailed the sound I've been aiming at for years. My tone had been pretty close for a long time but as I have a new bass I've kinda had to start from scratch and experiment again. Last night I wanted a bit more cut through on the last song of the night so rolled back a fraction onto the bridge pickup (normally like the combination of both pups in equal measure) and it was like everything fell into place! Can't wait for the next gig now to see if I've really got it down or if a change in accoustics at a different venue will make it a one time thing. Can only hope!

Scale is quite a big factor. Using too light a string on a shorter scale bass can give you a flappy low B. On my old 35" scale Yamaha TRB I used to like a 125 low B but on my current 34" scale basses I prefer a 130. They would still cope okay with a 125 at that scale but the 130 sounds and feels that bit better to me. Another factor is which strings you are used to on a 4 string. Might be worth trying a hybrid set to get the best overall feel for you as its not just about the low B and chances are (once you get past the initial urge to play everything on the low B that tends to come with your 1st 5 string) you'll spend most of your time using the other 4 strings!

Upsetting as that 1st ding on your own bass it's still better than doing it to someone else's! I remember when the nut cracked on my brand new Yamaha RBX765a about 15 years ago and I took it back to AOS Norwich to get it sorted. They kindly provided a bass to use (a sea foam green Yamaha Attidude) to get me through that night's gig which was a gesture I appreciated but I really didn't like the bass even though it was the proper expensive billy sheehan job! Still not quite sure how but at some point during that gig the borrowed bass managed to pick up a big nasty deep scratch right on the front of the body! Fortunately when I took it back thay were absolutely fine about it as they had insurance for that kind of thing but I remember feeling really sick with worry on the way there that I'd have to pay for it as I was a lowly college student at the time with bugger all income!

I'm personally okay with people using my rig and we frequently have support acts who will message us before the gig to ask if they can use parts of our gear. If they just asume its obviously a different story though. To be honest I quite enjoy seeing some kid who was expecting to use his beat up old 100watt combo get all excited about playing through my Ampeg rig but I generally say I'll help him get a sound so I can be in control of my gear and keep it safe. Because the eq on my amp is parametric, re-setting it afterwards is a doddle!

[quote name='RAY AGAINST THE MACHINE' timestamp='1369646554' post='2091101'] Get the gas, then you have to make time;) [/quote] +1 on this. Sometimes the novelty of a new toy can get you back into the swing of it then its just a case of keeping it going. Until very recently I was feeling a bit jaded playing in my band and was putting more and more energy into my side project band where I just sing lead vocals and don't play an instrument at all but having just bought my 1st 6 string after years of playing 5 strings I'm now absolutely loving the bass again! Joining this forum has also fired me up too (the missus is none too impressed with the amount of time I spend on here now but you can't win em all) so just being in touch with other players in this way helps you to have bass on the brain. Bottom line is if you have the motivation you'll soon find / make the time!

I also had a green one of these but probably more like 15 years ago now. It was my first 5 string and as a result of playing that bass I've not played a 4 string since unless its having a quick go on someone else's bass! If memory serves it was translucent green with an alder body / ash top, 1 piece maple neck and rosewood fingerboard - all pretty standard stuff but to my eyes these looked that bit classier than the later ones with their opaque laquer. The TRB that shortly after took over as my main gigging bass did feel more refined to be fair but still loved that old RBX!

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1369391955' post='2088627'] Goldfish, real ones, with a small watertight door, for replacement/feeding. [/quote] Reminds me of some footage of the Who from a TV show where Keith Moon was playing a clear perspex kit and one of the floor toms was full of water with goldfish swimming in it. When the host commented on it querying wether it was cruel, Keith Moon responded with the classic "Nonsense. Goldfish love rock and roll!"

Hi. My mate is a graphic designer who specialises in this kind of thing (he recently designed the latest tour T-Shirt for Burn The Headlines where they're supporting Killswith Engage). You can contact him at [email protected] and can see some of his stuff on www.dribbble.com/crarg.

[quote name='Jono Bolton' timestamp='1368990196' post='2083774'] I learned to play on one of those. I don't remember how it played as I was 8 at the time but it was the first bass I'd ever played, owned by my primary school, along with a wee Park bass combo, and it was enough to have me hooked. I guess its all relative really. When I got my 1st 5 string (Yamaha RBX765A) I thought it was awesome and the best bass ever. Got me into 5ers and I've only played ERBs since but compared to the basses I own now it doesn't seem quite so awesome now (although still a decent bass). [/quote]

I was born in 1981 so completely missed most of the music I love by 10-20 years but only in the sense of being there at the time. I think the key thing is that we still have all that incredible music available to us and everything since as well. After all it's music I love because I've been able to hear it so I'm pretty happy with the here and now. Not to mention being born in a time when I never had to worry about growing up with rickets!

I currently have 4 basses but they are all different so kinda one of each; 6 string active electric - main gigging bass 5 string active electric - spare gigging bass (also has a longer strap so more comfy for the couple of songs I play with a pick) 5 string electro accoustic - home practice 4 string passive electric fretless - just because! Can't really justify more than that right now but If money we're no object I reckon I'd still have one of each except in that case it would mean one of each model of every make ever produced Variety is the spice of life!