Hellzero

This piano hasn't seen the light of day since around 6 months, when I started playing again (and definitely) one with 88 black and white keys. Maybe I'll even sell that Le Fay...

That said, owning this means that I'm easy to convince about Aristides instruments...

I love the Tron model @LowB_FTW! 😍

And their prices are even very decent for such interesting instruments (just check how the body is made). Thanks for sharing, Russ! 😊 https://aristidesinstruments.com/

Repetition is the key to technique, which is the key to ease, which is the key to expressiveness, which is the key to musical beauty. Piano needs a lot of practice to sometimes achieve a very simple goal, so it's a very demanding instrument. Don't get discouraged, just persevere, play each and every day even if it's only 10 minutes and ask an external ear to assess your progress: You'll be amazed by the very positive answer.

I really love your work! Always a delight!

And let's not forget Fender's extraordinary achievement of having offered 7526 different versions of the exact same model each and every year for the Namm show since your 15 years of absence...

Red Eucalyptus: https://www.wood-database.com/lyptus/ Cherry: https://www.wood-database.com/sweet-cherry/ It's one of them, and you can discard walnut. Red eucalyptus is denser than sweet cherry. 😉

Look at this old Warwick with a cherry body:

Except firewood, it looks like cherry to me. Check my Le Fay which has a crazy cherry (as called by the Dobbratz brothers) top and regular cherry for the body itself.

My tutor always says that one of her own tutors (a Russian pianist) was saying that you had to play a (part of a) piece 200 times to start mastering it... He was totally right and she (my tutor) is too (I've learnt more in 2 months with her than over the past years). I'm still learning Ryūichi Sakamoto's Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence (the official Opus piano score, so his last arrangement) and I can tell you it's the plain truth. Furthermore, this piece should be played at contests, because of its inherent composition quality (and complexity) with references to Debussy (his "master"), Bach or Beethoven as well as Japanese ethnic music (another graduating). He was an extraordinary composer and graduated for this from the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, but a lot of people seem to snob him, because of his electronic music background (also graduated for this). To those, I would say to analyse and play his first hit with the Yellow Magic Orchestra : Tong Poo.

Hadrien Féraud who simply replaced Anthony Jackson with Hiromi is a hell of a player, even if, sometimes, he plays too much And as mentioned by Anti, Kinga Głyk is certainly the most promising bassist around (she is Polish, by the way). Charles Berthoud is the best YouTuber around for sure, but even if I admire his playing, his records are really meh, I mean he's a talented player and arranger, but on the poor side when it comes to composition. Concerning the basses, Harley Benton is proposing excellent stuff at super low prices. Amp wise, we entered the fully digital era ultra lightweight items. Everything software based (modelling or sampling) is simply amazing these days. And, sadly a lot of companies have gone away in 15 years and, now, you can't afford a Wal anymore...

Firewood for sure.

Without the true sense of self-deprecation of their early days and the heavy power they were capable of...

Fantastic work as usual, Rob! I also don't understand this kind of electronics in an instrument, but the customer is king... Once again, congratulations for this masterpiece! Do you have a link to the Ubertar pickup(s) used as all I could find is this: https://www.ubertar.com/hexaphonic/

These Harley Benton strings are amazing, a bit more rough under the fingers, but the overall tone is really excellent: https://www.thomann.co.uk/harley_benton_hqs_bass_45_100_flatwound.htm And here is the thread about them:

Ask Lee Sklar...

From a pure technical point of view you'll learn more from the classical pieces than the "pop" ones especially at this grade (next ones have harder "pop" tunes). Furthermore, the classical pieces will help you more for the next grade from the pianistic technique point of view. Pick up at least one classical, the Mozart's Allegro in F, for instance, is really interesting for your technique and it's in 3/8. The 3 pieces you've chosen are the easiest to play and won't make you a better player, technically speaking, which is very important for the future. For your further musical education, you should choose two harder to play classical pieces (the Bartók's Allegretto isn't that complicated) and one easy to play piece (The Tarantella Twist, which is reminiscent to Beethoven), not the opposite or only easy to play tunes... You'll thank me at next grade(s). 😉

Take the curve to -6bB, which is a reference point when it comes to measurements, and tell me it's a cut and boost...

Oki Doki, so it's as far as I can help. Good quest.

Did you try their Le Bass?

Pretty sure, it will sound meh...

The Protection Racket 7051 and the Fender 1225 are around £80 and excellent. That said, the TGI Extreme you mentioned at £60 is a good option too. Check the ads over here as there are often some excellent models in your price tag.

Straight out of the box: If you have a Rickenbacker, yes. If you have a Jazz Bass, no. If you have a P-Bass, it's in between. If you have some high output pickups, it's not that fantastic... Active basses through it sound a bit meh.