Funky Dunky

I use a merchant on eBay by the name of bassspecialties. I get DR Sunbeams delivered to my door for £20. Can't beat that anywhere. I want to try Elixirs next but they're still a bit pricey. TI flats are just ridiculously dear - you can buy a decent pedal for the price of those strings. I don't care how good they are - that's plain extortion.

I got really really lucky. I bought a '76 USA Strat in '97 for £400 and sold it in '05 for £1500. This was in eBay, and I wasn't asking anywhere near that for but two people started a proper bidding war and when it went for that money in the end I was speechless. As for today? I think a lot of people are simply wary of paying the prices asked for vintage gear. New basses, even at the lower end of the market, are being made so well that there's no need to spend huge to get a good instrument anymore. Money's tight, dudes.

In my limited gigging experience, all that happens is my hands seize up and I start sweating. I grip the neck too tight and fight or flight kicks in. This is, of course, after playing flawlessly at soundcheck. Bugger.

Hmmph. Buddy Rich at #15, MEG WHITE makes the list, no Shannon Larkin? Yip. That'll be a Rolling Stone list..

Keep us updated on your progress. Share anything you've found beneficial, and pick our brains on anything. This is a great place to learn and share, with so many experienced bassists' brains to pick you can't fail to become a better bassist.

I'd echo much of NickD's post, I go with index and middle almost all the way but sneak in a third finger for triplets. I don't think there's much need for a third in general play, you will get by quite nicely without it, but it all depends on you - what's comfortable, and how far you wnat to take your technique. One thing I would definitely advocate, however - and feel free to dismiss this - be proficient with fingers AND pick. Without wanting to open the debate (there will be bloodshed) again, it's good form to have both techniques at a high standard.

This is very true. I waited outside Glasgow Barrowland to get a CD signed before soundcheck one afternoon and when the band arrived, Gary Stringer shook my hand and thanked me for waiting, then said "You want to get yourself a cup o' tea, mate, your hands are freezing!"

Kenwyn is a monster player with an unreal ability to churn out unforgettable riffs. Replenish though - from that backwards guitar intro on Feed Me, I was hooked. Still easily one my top 5 favourite albums and I can't see it being ousted anytime soon. I liked Glow, but felt it all started to taper off thereafter, some standout tracks here and there but Replenish is one of the best debut albums I've heard, conjuring the spirit of Led Zep and fusing it with their own raw magic.

I drum patterns with my LH fingers on desks/chairs/my leg, just working different permutations. Index-middle-ring-pinky, index-ring-middle-pinky, middle-pinky-index-ring, etc etc. Also, Chunkymonkey recommended Greg Irwin's Finger Yoga videos on YouTube as a great dexterity builder. Worth a look.

Eeeeeek...zzzzing.....squeeeeek! Really bloomin' annoying. A web search took me to Talkbass (not a member....it'd be like cheating on the wife!) and the solutions ranged from EQ (which can help reduce it, but doesn't eliminate it, and doesn't help when playing acoustically) technique (which wasn't explained) and face grease (eww! And yes, I tried it, but it didn't help). So, realistically, it's gotta be something to do with my technique, right? But what? I've tried varying the pressure in my LH fingers - no dice. I've tried sliding with different parts of my fingertips - not much difference there either. From trial and error, it seems to relate to my lifting off when executing position shifts - if I don't lift off entirely, I get a bit of squeak when shifting. But this means wasted motion, of sorts, because naturally you want to keep your fingers as close to the fretboard as possible to ensure smoothness, speed, fluidity moving about the neck, etc. So.....do you, or did you, ever suffer from this heinous affliction? If so, how did you eliminate it from your playing? I've heard it occasionally in the playing of some pros, but it's very occssional and never as bad as mine. I'm using Nickel wound strings, btw, and I understand halfs or flats may help further, but I think it's my technique and I want to address that first rather than compromise my tone.

I was 18 when Replenish came out and it was near life-changing. This was the band I'd been looking for, killer riffs, grooves, Gary Stringer's awesome, soulful vocals...and that album had an awesome vibe. Gary's vocals changed and became a bit more West Country and a bit less soulful after the first album and they were never quite the same for me after that. Seen them live about a dozen times and they are easily one of the best live bands I've seen. Sadly Kenwyn House has gone and been replaced by a different axeman, but big Jack holds the groove nicely. There might still be a video on YouTube of them performing Good Feeling on The Word, about 20 years ago, and Jack's rocking a sweet Stingray. Brilliant band, who sadly had their cred somewhat damaged, unfairly, by It's Your bleedin' Letters. (They HATED that - Chris Evans said it was only going to be used once, and proceeded to use it every week for about two years, much to the band's dismay).

Sharay and Andrew Gouche are my favourites, Sharay's feel is just unreasonable, and Gooch is the total package IMO, everything I wish I was in a bassist.

My Sub was £246-ish from Thomann. Love it.

I've been avoiding checking them out because their name irritates me beyond measure (I'm quite childish that way). Just checked them out, and damn, they are good. Joe Dart is tremendous.

https://youtu.be/0S8wBNoiv90 Nice dissection from Rob Paravonian.

Scott Devine (ScottsBassLessons) has a couple of great lessons on YouTube which will help you immensely. Not only that, his playing will inspire you. Check them out post haste.

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1452105700' post='2946507'] http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=LUCKED+OUT "Lucked out" means you were unlucky. I wouldn't say a Fender is THAT bad. Winning any bass isn't that bad. [/quote] I stand corrected.

As you may or may not be aware, I lucked out big time and won one of these beauties a few months back. I was immediately impressed by the playability of the thing, and it sounded superb through my amp (a mere 40 watts of Fender Bronco). Well, I had the opportunity to run it through separates in a studio last week. I also got the opportunity to lay down some bass on a couple of tracks for my mate. This thing................sounds amazing. The CS pickups are incredibly rich and woody-sounding. I keep listening back to the recordings and I'm just knocked on my butt by the tone. Very little dialling-in, either. It was pretty much plug and play with all set flat save for a teeny bit less bass and a smidgen more treble ("Blasphemy!" I hear you cry) and the tone is just beautiful. Couple of people came to listen, and there were some approving nods when I played it unaccompanied. So it's not all in the hands... Seriously tempted to fire a CS Precision pup in my old Jim Deacon bass. Any thoughts on those?

It's actually crazy what Thomann are doing with those Harley Bentons (crazy good). They're doing a decently made instrument which looks really good for the price of a pedal. Good on them, and hopefully this will help the next few generations pick up a bass. I'm having one of those fivers next, I reckon.

Mike Lull Lakin G&L LB100 All superb.

An absolute treat to play, but mine is a 2015 model and that hot preamp issue still very much exists, which is utterly inexcusable in my opinion as they've known about it since the bass was launched in 2012. But buy one. You won't be sorry. Brilliantly balanced, sonically speaking, and as I said, a great bass to play. You can always drop a new preamp in it down the line (I intend to).

I Want You Back SIr Duke I Was Made To Love Her Rio All enjoyable romps on the bass.

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1449607668' post='2925208'] Maruszczyk will build one for you for a very reasonable price... [/quote] How reasonable we talking? I'll be honest here - I won a Fender Jazz bass and it's a beautiful instrument, looks great and sounds even better. But it just doesn't feel right to me, it's not comfortable for me. So I have to find a way to either sell of trade to get the maximum value I can, and get a bass which looks great, sounds amazing but feels right for me.

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1449430678' post='2923487'] I like Sometimes - great bassline and lovely octave underneath them. I believe he played on the early Jamiroquai albums. [/quote] I thought it was Randy Hope-Taylor. Hard to get clarification on that. I think one of them played on When You Gonna Learn, but the rest of EOPE was Stuart Zender. I may be wrong. Trivia time - Jay Kay auditioned for the Heavies back in the 1990s, didn't get the gig, decides to form his own band and went on to outsell them by something like 20-1!