Cato

Last year I bought myself a VM70s Squier Jazz. This year I'm hoping to get myself something a bit more upmarket in January. It will definitely be a PJ, but I keep changing my mind about exactly what I want.

I'm not sure any blues we listen to these days is 'authentic'. The earliest recorded blues sounded like this. The Ma Rainey number is the closest to what most people think of as 'the blues' , in that it has a guitar solo playing the familiar notes. http://youtu.be/pgogFa_46D8 http://youtu.be/0-Q1ksUsKxM http://youtu.be/3MCHI23FTP8 http://youtu.be/HU00RnK5SBo In my opinion it's all in the vocal, later interpretations were about copying the force and emotion of the vocal on other instruments (guitar, brass, piano etc). Although I reckon there is an arguement for Blind Lemon Jefferson accidentally invenventing rock'n'roll. Just listen to those opening notes and compare to Chuck Berry.

The other way to approach the opening guitar part on bass is to bung in a few harmonics. Nothing fancy just tap the 12th fret of the g with your right hand just after you fret the first e on the string. Same sort of thing on the fretted g on the 15 fret of the e. 12th fret of the a just after you play the last open a of the sequence. Sounds lovely. Hope that makes sense.

Suggest that the guitarist plays the acoustic guitar bit while you do the first solo. It sounds suprisingly nice played on the bridge pickup of a bass (It used to be my party piece for the easily impressed). You'll be an octave down on the original but you could always use a pitch shifting effect. I doubt he'll take you up on it but it might make him think twice about doing everything himself.

[quote name='spongebob' timestamp='1482081241' post='3197467'] True! ....and can I also add (Sheena's In Love With) Joey Ramoney by Helen Love! In fact, a whole load of HL tracks reference The Ramones, and other bands as well. [/quote] Whilst wondering just how many Ramone featuring songs there actually are I came across this.... http://sabotagetimes.com/music/250-songs-mention-ramones

Bit of a theme developing here http://youtu.be/RYfUuXmdrgk http://youtu.be/wc267Xs-64s

http://youtu.be/Cj8JrQ9w5jY

[quote name='NJE' timestamp='1482011662' post='3197011'] As much as I love the look of the road worn flea, I agree completely! A jazz with MM pickup would be an interesting move from Fender and it would be nice to see a signature bass from Fender with some real unique features. [/quote] I'm fairly sure someone on here has a Maruszczyk that they specced as a jazz bass shape with a single MM pickup.

I don't really think in terms like 'best ever' when it comes to musicians, I think that too often you end up trying to compare oranges with automobiles. Having said that I was lucky enough to see Miles Mosley with Kamasi Washington earlier this year and he impressed the hell out of me. http://youtu.be/I1QNAMgQETY It's a cracking song anyway, but if you want to skip straight to the virtuoso stuff, it starts about 3 minutes in.

Ramones. Although the song was actually called R.A.M.O.N.E.S. Bit of an odd one as it was actually a cover of a Motorhead song from the '1916' album which Lemmy wrote in tribute to the band which they then started performing themselves towards the end of their career. Edit: and here it is, with a guest appearance from the man himself. http://youtu.be/yo7hAyonWqE

[quote name='Fisheth' timestamp='1481829535' post='3195572'] Indeed, yes. My logic was it's reversed to that, so that's where the phrase reversed headstock came from. [/quote] Works for me.

So if the headstock is reversed from the standard, does that mean that the standard would have the tuners on the underside, if that makes any sense at all? Because if the tuners were on the underside then that's normally what I think of as a reversed headstock. Cracking looking bass by the way. My metal days are long behind me, but I've never lost my love of pointy guitars.

This year I've been mostly listening to older jazz and funk. Having said that I was very impressed with 2 Door Cinema Club's latest 'Gameshow'.

Bobby Vega gets a very similar sound with a pick. http://youtu.be/MPzwuiJCSbs I reckon at least 70% of the slap sound is in the ghost notes/mutes. So it should be possible to get a similar effect using finger style.

This is the one I use (and where I learnt it). http://youtu.be/ivbTIW4GE7w Edit: for the record, the bit where he says 'this can happen quite naturally' didn't apply to me. It took me hours of practice to find the point where I was doing it properly without accidentally fretting notes or getting unwanted harmonics or having open strings ring out because my muting technique wasn't up to scratch.

Give us a video example. I use the left hand palm slap thingy, but I got the impression that's pretty standard (I came across it on lesson four of a YouTube how to play slap series), so may not be what you're talking about.

I think the BB1024's come with rail pickups. Problem solved.

It's probably a commercial decision as much as anything for most artists. Given the bitterness and enmity in US politics they're probably reluctant to alienate 50% of their potential fan base.

Is it just the short scale thing that you like about the Mustang? If so there are quite a lot of short scale basses in production these days, you !ay find something you like better than the Mustang.

Paul McCartney and Kanye West.

I think it's pretty standard for the support to be a bit quieter than the headliner. The exception being when I saw Brittany Fox supporting Alice Cooper on the Trash tour, which was the single loudest thing I've ever heard in my life. I swear that when they came on and played the opening chords to 'Girls School' the everybody in the floor section of the NEC took a step back, I could actually feel the air that the PA was moving like a rhythmic wind against my face. I've since wondered whether they deliberately played at half volume during the sound check then maxed it when they went on. As to whether their sound was better than Alice's headline slot, I'll never know. I was partially deaf for five days.

I could live with it. On the other hand if I was splashing that much cash fora premium bass I'd expect it to be perfect so if it really bothers you, send it back.

If you get the chance practice with a drum machine or find some beats online to play along with. If you can't do that before the jam, don't stress. Locking in with a drummer, as long as he/she is halfway competent comes pretty naturally (although it can be improved the more you get to know your drummer). Keep your lines simple at first and my guess is you'll probably click by the end of the first song. Enjoy, it's a fantastic feeling.

That's a beauty.

If you google 'sub ray preamp clipping' you should get a few links to various threads on Talkbass and others discussing the hot preamp issue. It's a well known phenomenon with these basses and there's also a few solutions discussed. The string rattle is a separate problem and could be caused by anything from the nut to the bridge and everything in between, including uneven frets or a truss rod issue.