project_c

Not to mention the most important factor- the internet has put an end to many things. Even in the 90s you could still have a band, a record label, run a record shop, publish a zine - and make enough money to pay your mortgage. That's all gone, and it's been replaced by collecting likes in the hope that you'll make some pocket money from advertising, by posting click bait. The internet is responsible for killing a lot of culture and livelihoods.

There are a lot of things to take into consideration: - hardly anyone under 60 wants to hear classic rock any more. Especially on a night out. Why would they? If you're under 25, that's old people's music. Meanwhile the over 60s are getting to an age where going out to see bands is becoming less of a priority. - the music industry has killed itself. The big dream of becoming a famous and perhaps well paid musician is dead. There's much less to inspire young people to play in a band or even to pay attention to bands, apart from the sheer love of music. There are hardly any 'heroes' to look up to that play any instrument. People are posting stuff online because that's sometimes the only appreciation they get. - there are many other forms of entertainment and there are many other (better?) ways to hear music on a night out. Taking some MDMA and listening to perfectly produced electronic music on a state of the art sound system in an air conditioned venue full of fashionable people will understandably appeal to many people a lot more. (I am not condoning drug use, but it's just how it is). - young people have much less disposable income right now than old people. Getting a few beers and a pizza and hanging out at a friends house playing video games is a lot more affordable than paying to see bands and buying expensive drinks.

Some really amazing stuff on that channel, i think they used to have a site where you could pay to watch extended sessions, or something like that. It's very inspiring in places, and to be fair it does have some pretty boring elevator music moments too. But overall the level of musicianship is pretty astonishing, even with the less exciting tracks.

Some pickups don't like being near computer monitors. Try to move around and see if the noise changes, and if you have any dimmer switches, turn them off. Could also be an issue with the interface or the pickups, but in any case a DI box with a ground lift fixed a lot of hum issues for me.

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, lots to think about. The size is a top priority because of the commute thing, and even my car is tiny, it's a 2 seater so not even a back seat to put stuff on. Re. the Kala basses - I tried one and hated the feel of it, felt like I was yanking at spaghetti on a tiny guitar... but that's just my impression of the feel of it, sound wise they're great. Like the look of the NXT Omni a lot, going to look into that. The 'swivel' issue on some EUB's puts me off a bit, but without trying them it's hard to say how much it will bother me. [quote name='tayste_2000' timestamp='1493253917' post='3286964'] I've got a KK Baby Bass KB-1 I've been thinking of getting rid of if you're interested, I got it as an easy to move Double Bass alternative for practices but have decided just to suck up the hassle of moving the real thing [/quote] I do like the look of these, I'll drop you a PM.

Lined for me, but only because I play a lot of stuff in the high register where intonation becomes really tricky. It's tough even with the lines. Up to the 12th fret i'd be ok with unlined.

My 83 P weighs more than a headstone, I'm just going to get that shoved in the ground above my coffin. Practical and cost effective.

How about some of those Camden bands from the late 80s / early 90s? Silverfish, Milk, Headcleaner, Faith Healers, The Love Blobs, The Telescopes, i bet nobody remembers them..

I'm looking for EUB recommendations, I need to find one that is playable / giggable, gets as close to upright jazz kind of vibe as possible, can handle public transport & silent practice (so no hollow-bodies). Size is top priority, needs to be as small as possible and fit into in a very small home with a very small home studio. Budget - not sure, would prefer under 1K, but let's say not much more than 2K.

[quote name='The Jaywalker' timestamp='1492186352' post='3278578'] A large part of your issue, rather than using playalongs, is the standard of backing you're getting when you perform. If the piano barely plays or drops out and the drummer does that awful hi-hat thing then that leaves little to no harmonic or rhythmic context for your solo - perfectly good phrases can sound less logical as a result. There's an NHOP interview where he references this by saying something like "plinky-plink-splat...who the hell can play a solo over that!" It's not 1952 anymore: bass solos dont need to be unaccompanied unless we ask for it that way. Tell the guys you play with that you need the same backing as anyone else, just at a lower dynamic. Could be some issues if the piano player is still subconsciously listening to you for changes and form (commonly happens), so be prepared for the odd form mishap etc as you all get used to it. Once the mental leap has been made to supporting you rather than being supported by you, then things should work out better for your solos:-) [/quote] This is all very true - I hate being abandoned during a solo, one of the pianists I play with is particularly bad at this, his comping and general feel and time is crap, so the band usually supports him and without the bass he either fumbles around a lot or just plain stops playing. I've spoken to him about it and it's going to change slowly, but it will take some time. Can't really fire him because in that particular band, he's the leader. Every other musician in the band is great, but we have no guitars which means he has rhythm section responsibilities, and he is neglecting them, probably through lack of ability more than anything. Having said that this is not quite the point I was getting at. It was more about the tools we use to practice both our solos and our walking lines, and the fact that they cover up too many mistakes and sloppy playing. It's not so much about our note choices, more about the quality of the playing itself. Since I started this thread I've changed they way I practice and I now just use nothing but simple hi-hats playing a straightforward pattern to test of how my solos sound in isolation. It has highlighted a lot of issues.

[quote name='MisterT' timestamp='1492809645' post='3283474'] Became a bit 'black' for my liking - always revolving around opression and such. I've never judged funk (or people for that matter) on colour, but the program did and I feel sorry for whoever thinks it's a colour thing. Hope that's not too controversial but it's weird being white and being conditioned into thinking you like 'black music'. WTF? [/quote] That's a bit like saying Hip Hop is a bit too 'black' for your liking. It's just fact. White people have been embracing / kidnapping (depending on your outlook) black music for a long time. The music itself is not necessarily about race but it wasn't white people that invented funk, or hip hop. Or jazz, or blues, or rock & roll.

Travis Carlton's own band, on a very 70s era Headhunters / Herbie Hancock / Crusaders tip. Not much showing off, just straight up grooves but Travis is such a great player. For anyone who likes that kind of thing, here's a Spotify link: https://open.spotify.com/album/6ghBpnwxGXxm66rn6qPmEJ

Fair play to her, she's a kid, she's enjoying herself, it's ok to be a beginner and put yourself out there. Having the confidence to play to an audience is half the battle. Would be much better to encourage people who are trying to make something of themselves rather than beat them to a pulp.

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1492029183' post='3277378'] I didn't realise Jack Bruce was using one until I saw the clips on t'telly. It's already been said, the eighties coloured the public perception of what fretless was supposed to sound like. The great "mwah" is what does it, in my humble bumble. Like the DX7's bell tones, the uniquely characterisitic sound was overused to the point where it became annoying. Neither instrument has to make that sound all of the time however. Anyway... what about the DX7? Fretless has never gone away for it to need a comeback but we still are unsure if we'll ever see that keyboard on a stage, brazenly declaring its manufacturer and model name, ever again. I blame the theme tune of Eastenders for killing its popularity through over exposure. [/quote] The DX7 had a huge revival around 10 years ago, Native Instruments released a virtual version (called FM7 I think) which also became very popular in electronic music circles. 80s synths in general are still popular. The 808 is still the most popular kick drum sound of all time.

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1491983523' post='3276871'] Yes indeed. The odd thing I find about a low action set-up, and related "fret buzz" - is that on some basses, I can really hear fret buzz when amplified, and on other basses, it's less noticeable. I'm really not sure why this should be? I mean, it sort of defies logic really, doesn't it? If you get fret buzz on two basses, if you hear it clearly when amplified on one, you should surely hear it to the same level on another bass... discuss! lol [/quote] The type of frets and the condition they're in makes a bit of difference. I have an old P with worn down frets, it doesn't buzz unless the action is around 1mm at the 17th fret, which is too low even for me. Also new roundwounds, and leaving the tone wide open will probably make it more audible.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1491948354' post='3276773'] You are entering a whole new universe with your playing when you start playing Jazz. A solo is not a pretty prepared thing but needs to exist IN CONTEXT. Playing along with backing tracks of any kind is useful but, yes, you need to be able to make it work in real time. You need to get your head around theme and variations, question and answer phrases etc. I recommend you find some real Jazz players and have a chat about what it is you are trying to do. [/quote] Thanks, I am aware of this and do play with a lot of jazz players, and have done so for a while but I am not at a stage where these things come without significant preparation and learning. I am still learning the language, and will be for some time, so I can't just pull stuff out of the hat without having some framework prepared in advance. It's not about having a pretty ready made solo, it's more about having a set of options ready in advance. The call / response stuff and fully improvised stuff you're talking about comes much later but it's what i'm working towards. It's easy for guys that are many years deep into playing jazz to forget how long it takes to get to the stage you are taking about. I understand exactly where I need to be but to get to that takes years of learning and transcribing, and applying the stuff you learn and transcribe. Think about the actual process behind being able to come up with the example you posted. To get to that stage, those guys have internalized a wealth of information which probably involved memorizing licks, solos, chord progressions etc.

D'Addario XL tapewounds will fit a normal nut and they will feel like a light gauge set, I have them on 3 basses.

[font=Helvetica][size=3]Like almost everyone studying and playing jazz, I would be screwed without iRealPro, it’s invaluable to my practice routine as well as for jam sessions. But I’ve noticed that there’s a problem with using this stuff and being too reliant on it. [/size][/font] [font=Helvetica][size=3]When I’m learning to walk over a tune, or working out a solo for it, I normally have iRealPro running in the background with the bass turned off. I get to a stage where I have a decent solo down and can walk through the tune without too many issues, then I go to a jam or rehearsal, and discover that my solo is sloppy and full of small mistakes, and doesn’t sound as good as I thought. The same applies to playing along to Aebersold backing tracks. My solo will sound great with the backing track, but live the same solo is sloppy. [/size][/font] [font=Helvetica][size=3]This has been bugging me a lot recently, and I usually just put it down to nerves ‘on the night’ affecting my playing, but after some thinking I turned off the drums in iRealPro and replaced them with a click on 2 & 4, and lo and behold, my mistakes were more audible. I then turned off the chords too, and realised that my solos sounded disconnected and abrupt in isolation with just a click track. [/size][/font] [font=Helvetica][size=3]Essentially the backing tracks were giving me a false sense of being on top of the tune. When you make a mistake, the backing track just flies past it, and the drums cover up sloppy playing really well.[/size][/font] [font=Helvetica][size=3]The problem is when you take a bass solo in real life, other instruments tend to drop out, and even the drums can give you no more than a single hi-hat, and your solo has to stand up to scrutiny even when there is no support or backing behind it. So your solo has to sound decent even if it is completely in isolation.[/size][/font] [font=Helvetica][size=3]I’m sure this is obvious to more seasoned jazz guys but it’s a big game changer for me, I’ve changed my practice routine and I’m re-visiting all the tunes I know to iron out mistakes by playing all my solos in total isolation, with perhaps just a click on 2 & 4 to make sure I don’t drift out of time. So I guess my point is - don’t be too reliant on this stuff, it’s great but it will fool you into thinking you’re playing better than you are if you’re not careful.[/size][/font]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1491905751' post='3276291'] Quite, but, whatever the generation, there are those that appreciate 'speed-freaks' and those who prefer a more posed approach. I listen to John Mclaughlin, for instance, but don't think that the frenetic style translates well to bass at all. Hats off for the technical ability, but, to me, completely off the map, musically. Yes, I'm old, but wouldn't have liked this in the '60s or '70s, either (and there were those that tried..!). I would like to have a more dynamically balanced set, as uber-speed becomes tiring quite quickly. Not my taste at all, I'm afraid. [/quote] Sure, and I agree, but it's a thread aimed directly at "Thundercat fans", saying 'i don't like it, the old guys are way better' is not really appropriate. I hate metal with a passion, but I don't go through all the metal threads explaining to the metal guys why their music is not as good as mine. They have their music, I have mine, everyone's happy, that's that.

Every time there's a discussion about this, someone old has to chime in to say 'he's not as good as the old guys'. If you're in your 60s, you need to get over this stuff pronto. New talent takes nothing away from old talent, it's not a race. We all love Chuck Rainey, it doesn't matter in the context of a conversation about another musician. It's like saying Chuck Rainey is talented, but he's not as good as Paul Chambers. And Paul Chambers, he's not as good as Brahms. A. It doesn't matter and B. the context is completely different. Get comfortable with the fact that generations have their own interpretations of music.

Strings will make a difference up to a point but they won't alter the overall voice of the bass as much as the pickups in my experience. If your pickups have a high-mid bump, that nasal tone will still be there regardless of strings. I've just recently gone through this with a PJ that had way too much treble and high-mids for my taste and replacing the P pickup has made a huge difference and completely fixed the problem.

Changing the pickups will probably have the biggest impact. Some pickups are voiced with way too much treble and high mids, even on PJ's and P's sometimes. And then you have to also deal with the stupid amounts of treble on most amps as well. I will never understand why bass equipment has to have so much treble on tap, I spend way too much of my bass-playing time fighting against 'crisp highs' (= nails on chalkboard) and 'punchy high-mids' (= annoying nasal honk) in various rehearsal rooms.

Whatever you do, avoid the hand trolleys from Homebase. They are junk. I had to get one in a hurry a few months ago so it was my only option that day, didn't realise it was so poorly designed that you can only push it in front of you, if you try to pull it it buckles and falls over. Not good at all.

There's also the whole thing of music being a form of art and self expression. If you took a great painting and looked at individual brush strokes out of context, they also might look sloppy, but in the context of the whole thing they fit perfectly. A perfect clean straight line might be technically impressive but it might not be what the painting needs.