Al Krow

Thanks Alfred - and good luck with your writing and teaching! One final suggestion from me (again please do with as you feel appropriate or just ignore!) Have a think about putting the 500 exercises in order of difficulty and by also key signature starting with C. As someone who is new to reading bass clef, finding that the first exercise was in the key of B major with 5# was a little scary 😁

Agree it's a real head turner. Doesn't sound too bad when played by young master freak either!

You're really piling up my "watch later" YT list 😁

Ah ok thanks Wat - yup I should have said VM4 rather than 5 but I seem to default 5 string references these days!

@wateroftyne - enjoyed your YT review. Did you you consider a Sandberg VM5 as a possible alternative?

Would have been great to have had included the Berg neck pup in passive mode on your tone review and compared it to your P basses. Maybe next time eh?

Just to clarify the Berg Obra was using is a TM4 i.e. J / Humbucker set up with no P pup. But I think the point you're making is that Berg wasn't even using the neck J pup which we've been elsewhere discussing whether it can get close-enough to the P bass sound.

It's an ineresting point. On my purely active Spector which blends purely via separate V/V knobs for each pup, if one pup is maxed at 10/10 I only really notice the other pup starting to impact tone at 7/10 and only having a significant tonal impact at 9 or 10, which kinda ties in with your comments above.

Just to confuse, there are a couple of "Toms" at Wunjos and they're both great guys. Had several dealings with Tom (manager) over the years with Ibby basses and can vouch that he is a top bloke!

🤣

What a really neat comparison video! Be an interesting one to put in its own thread and see what folk think. My own order of preference: 1. (D) Fender P 79 rounds pick [3rd one along in the picture / 4th in the video] 2. (A) Fender P 68 flats pick 3. (C) Fender P 78 flats fingerstyle (but would have killed it on a Motown track!) [the 4th one along in the picture / 3rd in the video] For me a very long way behind the other three... 4. (B) Sandberg TM4 rounds fingersytle (actually very similar to my former bass, except mine wasn't relic'd) - sounded insipid in comparison to the three Fenders. Guess it's confirmed that 'Berg TM4s are not for me! @krispn- we were just having a discussion about J pups getting close to the P bass sound? Well this definitely is not a good example! [PS Obra confirmed below he was using the MM pup not the J pup on the Berg] @jrixn1

Hi Caroline. I've been a huge fan of octave pedals but I'd actually say don't go for your suggested approach! You may well find the octave pedal glitching and / or having "latency" issues (i.e. not perfectly in sync with the original note played) and the tone will also likely be changed by the octave pedal from the P bass tone you really like. I wouldn't rule out a 5 string, as it: allows you to play a number of songs an octave down, as compared to a 4 string, particularly those in Eb, D and C (I've not come across too many in the key of B); it makes swapping to a different key a whole lot easier; there are a bunch of fretboard positional benefits from a 5 string and you'll be surprised how often you make use of the notes on the low B string further up the fretboard as well, not just the low Eb and below. Alternatively, maybe get yourself a decent pedal to detune your 4 string into a lower key e.g. Digitech Drop comes recommended.

👍 👍 @alfred arrived safely this morning - looking forward to working through the patterns. Slightly disappointed by the picture of an Eich cabinet at the rear with the Sadwosky 5er obscured behind it - surely it should be the other way around with the Sad in front? 😁 More seriously: is there a sound file somewhere online with what the exercises should sound like? You also mention in your forward that practice with harmony instrument and drummer would be beneficial - agreed; if there was a backing track with these on for each exercise it would feel like a complete course resource and I suspect would allow you to charge additionally for these features. Just a thought.

Checked out his course material which looks good! Although I read music my familiarity is just on treble clef, given that I originally learned on classical guitar; so this could be just the ticket to get me up to speed on low end stuff! I'll wait for another of his "sales" before hitting the credit card though...and in the meantime I've ordered that Alfred Kalfass book Dad has recommended to keep me out of mischief. It can add to my long list of bass books bought with good intentions and gathering dust 😁

Get IBTL 😁

A nicely balancing positive post! If you get chance to do a little recording using your expression pedal, be great to hear.

Yeah making me realise I sold my mint BB 425 for far too little! But at least it went to a mate, who continues to put it to very good use judging from his recent recordings!

Are you finding it's making a big difference? I've certainly felt that to be the case with his Slap bass course I'm working through - which my bandmates are likely to rue 😁

I've not paid for any of Scott's courses as I've found a tutor I really gel with in the shape of Mark from Talking Bass, but more than happy to keep an open mind and return to SBL when I've worked through the courses I've paid for from Mark.These are: Slap bass (3/4 through the 53 lessons) plus Walking bass and Chords both of which I stumped up for during one of Mark's periodic sales, but am yet to start on. So probably about 2025 at current rates of progress and assuming, of course that I don't end up with RSI from the Slap bass course - lol! But whether you're a fan of SBL or not, you've gotta admire the guy for not letting issues with his gloved hand get in the way of his passion for bass, and the fact he has subsequently built a £2M P/A turnover business from scratch. The fact that most of his course content is not his tells me that he is providing a lot of income and employment to other musicians and technicians. And he is making bass accessible, interesting and fresh for so many aspiring bass players. Must admit I'm more than a little envious of the online resources that are available today. I still remember the painstaking lengths to get songs transcribed using a cassette player as a youth!

Nice post, thanks, and be good to hear how you get on. The SBL courses have their admirers and detractors aplenty, but the ArtistWorks are less well known, so it will be particularly useful to get your thoughts on that one. How much did the NE course set you back price-wise?

@LukeFRC...now what T shirt suggestions do you have for this good gentleman? 😁 PS great post earlier!

Close but no cigar - it needs to be a "Humbucker" t-shirt featuring a P pup, not called a "P-style pup" t-shirt, that's far too common usage by everyone on the planet.

The key is to remember that the extra string is primarily there as a thumb rest to avoid that ugly thumb wear you often see next to pups on basses. Surely it depends on what the question was? For example, if the question was: "what sort of bass did Al Krow buy after his previous 5 string?" that would be a perfectly good answer.

Yeah I definitely should have got myself one of those, although I might likely have made a spector of myself. I got one of these instead: Now I've gotta find myself a Humbucker t-shirt with just a P pup on it...proving surprisingly elusive for some reason.

Sadly my experience too - that YT clip paints a very rosy picture of the SYB-5 which I found to be quite glitchy. I guess having been out since 2004 it was always going to struggle when going head to head with the superb tracking of its successor the Boss SY-1.