Cato

What sort of blues? The 'white man's blues' of Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan is a long way from earlier recording artists like Muddy Waters and Bo Diddley and they in turn are quite different from the really early stuff like Robert Johnson & Leadbelly.

[quote name='Dutchie' timestamp='1479768197' post='3179207'] Some strings have red or blue thread at the ends, what's the puropse of this? Thanks [/quote] The main purpose of the thread (they're also known as 'silks' by the way) is either to identify the make/ model of string, or to convince you to change strings when they start looking frayed. Other than that, the thread wrappings may have served a purpose a few decades ago, but I don't think they do anymore. My favourite brands of strings have no wrapping at all. As to the best strings to replace the broken one with, my only advice is to change the whole set, all four strings , at the same time, otherwise the the new one will be noticeably brighter than the other 3. What are the best strings? That's a personal choice. I like DR hi beams on my Jazz, but other people will have other preferences. The only way you will find our what you like best is by playing roundwounds/flatwounds/tapes of various brands and gauges, which, given the durability of bass strings, takes years. Enjoy the journey.

I don't know what you guys sounded like, but you certainly all looked the business.

I think the neo bit is just to differentiate it from other,more mainstream, R & B. It probably started off as a marketing ploy but has come to mean a specific type of sound from the likes of D'Angelo and Erykah Badu.

I've never stretched my strings on either guitar or bass. I didn't even know it was a thing until I joined Basschat. They generally settle down after a day. Maybe if I ever restrung immediately before playing a gig it might be worth doing, but I've never done that.

I reckon it's a purely aesthetic choice, one which I personally like and would certainly consider incorporating in a theoretical custom build. I'm not even a huge Hendrix fan, I just like them.

I wasn't that impressed with the Dulop SuperBright steels I bought. My problem with them was that I was after a very bright tone and, despite the name, they just didn't have it, so not for me, but other people clearly love them. Though I would say that they are very smooth for ss roundwounds. When I switched back to hi beams I thought I was going to get blisters on my fretting fingers for the first time in about 20 years because they were that much rougher.

I've noticed that on some basses, mainly 24 fret basses such as the Ibanez SR750, the reverse p pickup looks very close to the end of the neck, under the d and g strings, to the point where it looks like it might actually get in the way when trying to pop those strings.

I can't decide if if a cylindrical neck would make fretting hand muting easier or harder. It'd probably require a bit of adjustment on the left hand slap/percussive mute (not sure what the technical name is) thingy though.

[quote name='AustinArto' timestamp='1478944976' post='3172836'] I'd agree Zender had a really nice approach on that early Jamiroquai stuff, really understated souly playing like on Blow Your Mind, really busy but integrated on If I Like It I Do It, he was obviously just brimming with confidence and feeling it. Did he ever do anything else after he quit Jamiroquai though? Seems odd that he effectively disappeared. [/quote] I think his main gig recently has been with Mark Ronson. He played on the album 'Version' and tours in his live band.

I'm a bit of a fan of M.I.A. and she's been quite prolific over the years,but I think this is her only big hit. http://youtu.be/7sei-eEjy4g

Build me up Buttercup is fairly well known over here, I personally don't know sky high but to be fair we live in different countries so it's not surprising that we have different one hit wonders.

I love jazzes, although my next bass is going to be a PJ. I reckon if you get an active jazz with a decent preamp and onboard EQ you can get pretty much any sound you like out of it. A P bass , active or passive doesn't have that versatility, purely in my opinion of course.

[quote name='sprocketflup' timestamp='1478881873' post='3172418'] Embed fail again. Little help please? [/quote] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z618ynL2U5s (remove the s from the https)

More Jazz/Hiphop/Neo Soul than funk, but Robert Glasper is playing Birmingham Town Hall on 20th November.

I'm hoping to get Snarky Puppy tickets, but I need to wait a couple of weeks for pay day and it's possible/likely that the face price tickets will sell out before then.

I had the pleasure of seeing Kamasi live recently. Patrice's vocals are even more stunning live. Her voice is perfect. I really hope she gets a solo album ( obviously with the West Coast Get Down) soon.

This is the one that introduced me to the genre. http://youtu.be/whi2fm2hzXg This as a much more recent favourite. http://youtu.be/U8NFS8WXfCI

This technical stuff is way over my head but there's a video about it here. http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Gear-Tech/en-us/What-the-Heck-is-PLEK.aspx I was wrong about the neck not being attached to the body during the process.

As I understand the idea of Plek is to make all the frets completely uniform in terms of height. Which I think is how they are ideally supposed to be. I'm not even sure that the neck is on the guitar when they do it.

When it comes to technique and the ability to play in a lot of different styles there are a lot of much better guitarists. But in terms of pure emotion and doing the right thing for the song Gilmore is pretty much at the top of the premier league. I say that as someone who ,as a rule, doesn't really like long guitar solos.

Hammer on the roots with your left hand while cracking a whip with your right.

Bit of slap bass always goes down well.

Awesome playing from Pino. From 80s pop to the Who to Neosoul and straight out Hip Hop, it's difficult to think of another bass player who's crossed genres the way he has. Meshell's pretty special too.

There's the Ibanez Mikro bass. https://www.gak.co.uk/en/ibanez-gsrm20-tr-mikro-bass-trans-red/128550?gclid=CjwKEAiAr4vBBRCG36e415-_l1wSJAAatjJZNPqJUgwhLONiSFz6N2SNAhy-iz97ryoRb7CZdaKLvhoC3Uzw_wcB It's 29ish inch scale though. From the description 'The Ibanez GSRM20-TR MiKro Bass is a great choice for people who are: a) Small b A child c) A small child.'