Cato

I'd guess it's probably down to your guitarists tone/eq/amp settings. Or maybe he has a dodgy guitar? There are a lot of myths about humbucker vs single coils, most of which can be largely dispelled by browsing you tube and watching people playing Slayer or Metallica riffs on telecasters or pristine sounding Gilmour or Clapton solos on Les Pauls.

[quote name='Spike Vincent' timestamp='1449922304' post='2927984'] I would argue Sting had nothing to do with Punk and New Wave, other than being a blatant band wagon jumper, and add Steven Severin of Siouxsie and the Banshees.Who is not very well at the moment. [/quote] If you buy into the idea that punk was a reaction against the overblown musical virtuosity of bands like Led Zep,The Who & Pink Floyd in favour of a bunch of kids picking up instruments and playing their first gigs a few days later then The Police probably don't belong. I'd definitely allow them in as part of the 'New Wave' though. I suspect that like most things musical labels are largely down to personal interpretation.

Dee Dee Ramone. The first time I heard the Ramones I thought to myself 'ah, so that's how it's done'.It wasn't long after that that I picked up my first bass. I suspect that I'm one of a great many who cut their bass playing teeth playing along to Dee Dee' s lines. 25 or so years on my musical tastes have broadened somewhat, but the Ramones are just about the only band I liked as a teenager that I still listen to regularly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvMhPqg2jCo

Just started watching his tutorials a few days ago, he's a lot easier to follow than a lot of the youtube guys, there's definitely stuff I can learn from him. I almost feel guilty getting stuff that useful for free.

Gibson have a gadget that will change the tuning of a guitar at the touch of a button. I don't know if they fit them to their basses, possibly the string tension on a bass is too high?

[quote name='Old Man Riva' timestamp='1449529336' post='2924478'] An album well worth getting hold of is the Fat Albert Rotunda LP. From 1969 it was originally written as the music to a Bill Cosby TV show. Funky, jazzy, cool and groovy it tends to get overlooked when HH's output gets discussed. Fat Mama is ace.. [/quote] Cheers, I'll put that one on my Christmas list.

I recently discovered Herbie Hancock. The stuff he did with his Headhunters band is fantastic, it's very funky and has some great electric bass lines, although it's rarely,if ever the lead instrument. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAlejqkd-gg

There's no reason you couldn't slap a Gibson Bass.Try one and see if you like how it sounds. The general view seems to be that slap bass sounds best on a bass with a bridge pickup, like a Jazz or a Stingray (though there are plenty of videos on YouTube of people using the technique on Precisions and other non bridge pickuped basses).So most Gibson's I've seen would qualify on that front. As long as you like how it sounds I reckon anything goes.

You should definitely be looking at used basses as well as new. At that price it's the equivalent of adding another £100-£150 to your budget in terms of what you can get for your money. In terms of brands, Squier seems to get nothing but love these days, Yamaha is good call & the lower end of the Ibanez range seems to have a pretty good reputation at the moment. You should go to a shop or two with largish selections,play as many basses as you can to get a feel for what sort of set up and features you like best (including the more expensive instruments) then have a look to see if there is something similar within your budget.

I've only recently discovered Graham Central Station. The first 3 albums are fantastic, up there with the very best funk/soul classics.

Wave of Mutilation - The Pixies http://m.youtube.com/?hl=en-GB&gl=GB#/watch?v=8ttLlMytHXY

Compared to his pop song by numbers earlier efforts, from what I've heard of the newer stuff it's a lot more pleasant on the ears. He's still a complete rooster though.

Very nice, nice price too. If I'm looking at the right model it looks like they went for £700 in the UK, although it looks like they've now been discontinued.

I've got to stop reading this thread. I keep telling myself that £30-40 for something that might turn out to be piece of junk is not a bargain, especially for someone with my very limited technical skills. I'm not going to be able to repair even minor defects. Then the devil on my shoulder starts speaking -'You'll probably have some spare cash after Christmas, you want to try playing classic Motown lines on a p bass with flats, you know you do, one more bass won't take up that much room'. Must stay strong (at least until after Christmas).

[quote name='mr zed' timestamp='1449011658' post='2920153'] There are some really good deals on Reflex's on the gear4music website at the moment. You can thank me later! [/quote] Just had a look, cheers, looks like they've got a few Stingrays in the best of the old colours too. Unfortunately I still need a few more months of paying into my 'premier league bass fund' before I'm going to be able to satisfy my Music Man craving.

[quote name='bonzodog' timestamp='1448831374' post='2918514'] Ive spent a fortune in pmt bham over the years. Great staff but still wish musical exchanges was still open (where most of the pmt staff worked) just for nostalgia [/quote] It's probably mainly just nostalgia but no other guitar shop has ever given me the same sense of excitement and wonderment I used to get walking into Musical Exchanges on a Saturday afternoon as a teenager. It was just the epitome of how a guitar shop is supposed to look.

Hasn't there always been an element of 'boys night out' with bands? My first couple of bands were definitely like that, a group of mates playing music together, partially because we enjoyed making music but also because we enjoyed socialising together. Trying to impress girls (with the emphasis on 'trying') was a pretty big motivator as well. I probably wouldn't want to join a band that mentioned beers and chuckles in the ad these days but then I'm no longer a drinker, as long as the band isn't awful I don't think there's any harm in taking that approach. It's probably more healthy than the guys who get stressed because they take it far too seriously.

Pretty much everything that's been discontinued from the Music Man bass range, especially the Reflex. Can't believe how boring the colour options are now on the Stingrays.

[quote name='bluesparky' timestamp='1448626567' post='2916939'] This t shirt caught my eye earlier and it's going on the list. Not too in your face but obvious to us. http://www.zazzle.co.uk/eadg_bass_guitar_tuning_t_shirt-235305239544153062 [/quote] That was an expensive link. I could have resisted if I hadn't seen the custom colours options on the bass clef t shirt.

For me she's one of those artists who has a blinding and undeniable talent but who's material is just not my kind of thing. I'm pretty sure that's my loss.

I've got loads in 'near mint' condition from the early 90 s, when I was a kid I used to buy a t-shirt at every gig I went to,wear them at that gig, then in most cases never again. There's a drawer full of them at my mum's house. The one that got worn the most, and still gets worn occasionally is the Ramones shirt from the Birmingham Hummingbird leg of the Mondo Bizarro tour in, I think , 1992. One of the best gigs ever.

I've got a few signed picture discs, the most notable of which would be WASPs 'Animal .... Like a Beast' which in its own way is a little bit of heavy metal history. The only thing I've got which is worth remotely more than I paid for it is Arctic Monkeys first limited 7 inch release 'Fake Tales of San Francisco/Ritz to the Rubble only 500(I think) were printed. I ordered it after I went to see them play in the Little Civic in Wolverhampton with around 100 people about 15 months before they started getting massive. The only really big band I can claim to have seen before they were famous.

Graham Central Station. I love it so much I've just ordered the first 5 Sly & the Family Stone albums. I just can't get enough late 60s/70s soul/funk in the last few months,having spent most of my life completely ignorant of the genre.

No harm at all in playing both bass and drums, at least a couple of people here do it.I suspect the majority of bassists play more than one instrument (to some extent), from what I've read in the comments since I've been on here I'd guess a majority probably own at least one skinny string guitar as well as the basses. Try and make practices fun, play along to your favourite music, doesnt matter if you can't play it like the record, concentrate on the root notes and rhythms and in time the rest will come.