Naetharu

Hi folks, Having taken the plunge into six-string bass a few weeks back I'm having a cracking good time learning it for the most part. However, the one I have ( a very cheap Harley Benton 'Progressive' ) suffers from a horribly floppy B string. I've been learning to play Glass Prison by Dream Theatre tonight but it is very difficult to get the tight fast rhythm needed for some of the riffs on the low B since the thing is just wobbling all over the show. Are there any tips/tricks that migth make this one more usable or is it really a case of look for an upgrade to a more serious bass now I know that 6-string is for me? If the latter, are there any suggestions of basses that I could consider, that would not be too expensive?

[quote name='Horizontalste' timestamp='1445603566' post='2892750'] Myelin production is at its greatest during our childhood, teens & into our early twenties. I can see how this is relevant & I'd imagine anyone who started playing later in life or anyone who's tried to learn a second language past 30 could probably relate. [/quote] I'm very very dubious of this kind of idea. I think there is a massive danger that it can dissuade people from trying because they believe that they are at a point that it has become technically impossible for them. I've heard arguments like this for years and I'm yet to see any real evidence aside from anecdotes and general hand-waving. I'm all for people doing proper measured research that is peer reviewed etc. etc. but until strong evidence comes in otherwise I'd err on the side of caution and suggest that it is stunning what people can pick up at all points in their lives. Just as a personal example, I was told that learning a second language at this point in my life would be massively challenging (I'm in my 30s) yet to be honest it was not too bad. I now read/speak German and Attic because I needed to know them for work that I wanted to do. Sure, it was hard work but I doubt any more difficult than if I was younger. The benefit of doing at this age was that I could bring a lifetime of experience to the table and focus my study in a manner that would have been much harder if I was younger - especially for learning Attic since it's not spoken. I've also heard the same sort of arguments presented to people trying to loose weight - told that due to certain 'changes' in their bodies due to having been over-weight that it is impossible to become lean. I've heard this backed up with pseudo-science from trainers more than a few times, yet people do manage to get fit all the time. Same when it comes to playing music. I'd hate for anyone to be put off or otherwise demoralized from learning bass or any other instrument because of bad information of this kind. Finding a proper practice routine and spending time learning the theory along with the practical skills is all important, at least in my opinion. Being a given age, however, I cannot see has any real impact at all.

Hi folks, I've just joined a course via the Coursera website focused on teaching foundation music theory and skills. It's being taught and run by Berklee College of Music and thus the standard of lessons is top notch. The course is free (there is an optional payment if you want a formal certificate) and you can sign up any time before the 30th of this month. Here is the page about the course for anyone else interested in building their musical skills: https://www.coursera.org/learn/musicianship They are also offering courses on music production and song-writing if those spark anyone's interest. All the best James

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1445524975' post='2892145'] Is legend studios still going in colchester round the back of rollerworld? [/quote] Humm, no idea to be honest. I used to know James that ran it back around 1999 but I've not seen him in years. Only just moved back to Essex so I'm a little out of touch with the scene around here right now.

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1445519646' post='2892091'] Here's a list of 300, enjoy. [url="http://www.setlisthelper.com/blog/popular-cover-songs/"]http://www.setlisthe...ar-cover-songs/[/url] [/quote] Fantastic stuff mate, that's exactly what I was after! [quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1445521001' post='2892107'] If you know how the song goes and can recall it in your head, you should be able to pretty much play it on 1.. as in the count [/quote] Aye, this is a bit of an issue since before taking up bass my musical listening was a bit narrow and obscure. I'm well versed in quite a lot of folk music, dance and electronica, and lo-fi punk/indy/anti-folk but my knowledge of 'pop' music is a passing awareness at best. That's not something I am proud of, and one of the best things that picking up bass has done for me is expand my appreciation for music in general and motivate me to listen and play songs well outside of my traditional comfort zone. However, it feels pretty daunting right now given that there seem to be hundreds of tracks that other people know well and yet which seem utterly obscure to me. I'm sure it will come with time, but it's going to take a lot of listening as much as anything else.

Just had almost the same experience a few weeks back - Pioneer Studios in Colchester where I practice have an SVT rig upstairs and wow, what a sound. My poor little Ashdown MiBass rig was not exactly something I loved to start with, but compared to the Ampeg it sounds like a fart in a bathtub. Alas, cost, size and practicality stop me from getting one myself but I did go for a Ampeg SCR-DI box which gets me far more in the right ballpark than what I had before.

Beautiful artwork - it was stuff like this that first got me into music. As a little kid of around 6-7 years old I took to collecting prog-rock vinyls not because I had a clue about the music but rather because the art in the album covers just seemed amazing. In addition the YES albums the others that really stand out in my memory are On the Threshold of a Dream by The Moody Blues and TARCUS by ELP. Amazing artwork and a great conduit into the music, at least for me.

Hi folks, At the moment I'm working on expanding my repertoire and I'm hoping that some of you folks might be able to offer me some useful suggestions for songs that I need to know if I'm interested in finding work in function bands. I'm after the tracks that you would expect pretty much any band to know - some I can guess but it'd be very helpful to get some input as to which songs are essential to the working bass player.

I can't really offer you any advice since pick-up choice is very personal indeed but I would like to point you in the direction of Bass Culture as once to add to your list of possibilities. They're hand-made to order and I was very impressed with them when I tried some out a little while back. They also offer nice little wooden covers which might be pretty cool on a BTB if you happen to like that kind of look. The web site is atrocious however, but don't let that put you off - the pick-ups are top notch. [url="http://www.bassculture.de/"]http://www.bassculture.de/[/url] Also, just worth asking - are you sure that the distorted sound is coming from the pick-ups and not elsewhere in the signal chain? It would be a shame to pay out for expensive replacements only to find that it was your pre-amp/pedal/amp/cab that was giving you the trouble. I only ask as when I tried out a BTB I found it had a really nice clear tone so it surprises me to hear that you're getting these issues. Edit: Might be worth returning it to the store and asking them to check it over or try another bass of the same model first assuming you got it new?

I guess it depends on the style of music and the settings in which it is being played. If you were to turn up to a gig like you describe and crank a 200-watt valve amp running into a 810 cab I doubt you'd be made very welcome. But then, by the same measure the opposite would be true if I were go play a prog-metal gig with a little Phil Jones combo running at conversational volume. Saying that, I do think that the quest for volume is a bit silly. I've been battling with a guitarist who is far too obsessed with volume over the past couple of months. It ended up with myself and the singer having to have a bit of an intervention with him last week and ask him to massively reduce his volume - he was trying to run a JCM2000-DSL100 head (a big 100-watt Marshall amp) into a 410 with the volume cranked to around 3 o'clock in our practice room. The only way you could hear my bass was for me to get it to a level where it was literally shaking the room. In his case he is new to playing in bands and just assumes that louder is cool - when in fact all it does is make it impossible to hear the definition of what is being played. Spinal Tap syndrome I guess. The main factor in volume I think comes down the drummer - for heavy music where the drummer really needs to dig in to get the kind of attack needed to carry the beat it's going to be louder and thus so is everyone else. And to a point that sonic onslaught is part of the tone. Its just getting a balance between loud enough to make it sound massive and yet not so loud that you just make it into a horrible noise.

The argument about cables affecting tone is pretty bogus - reminds me of the fad for gold-plated super-cables when HDMI first became popular. I was living in York at the time and recall being in the local Dixons electrical store when I overheard the salesman trying to shift an HDMI cable that cost almost £100 onto some poor old couple. He was claiming that because it was gold plated and had a braided enclosure it was going to make their TV picture so much better etc. He was pretty grumpy when I stepped in and informed them that you could pick up a perfectly good HDMI cable from Amazon for around £3. Same applies to guitar cables if you ask me. So long as they're not utter rubbish (I'm looking at you cheap nasty starter cable that comes with the Fender newbie kits) they'll all be much the same. You might pay a little more for better quality braiding on them or a nice chunky connector but any attempt to sell you a cable that costs way over the odds is pure snake-oil. On another note, my personal experience is that string type (rather than brand) makes the biggest difference - I have one bass with Black Nylons on and another with Steel Round-Wounds and there is no way that you would confuse the sound regardless of which amp/cable/cab you were using. Beyond that I'd say it really comes down the pre-amp you're using and the speaker/cab you're going through. Cabs in particular make a massive difference. The tonal change between running my bass via my cheap little MiBass 112 and an Ampeg SVT410 they have in the practice room I use is massive. By contrast I'm willing to stick my neck out and say that for the most part the idea of 'tone wood' is a load of cobblers. I've yet to meet someone who could tell me what a bass is made from based on sound alone. They could tell me if it was a P / MM etc. or if it was going into a tube amp / solid state sure. But whether it was made of ash or alter or had ebony as opposed to maple fret-board? Not a chance. Not to say that wood's don't matter - I personally think they made a massive difference to how the bass [i][b]feels[/b][/i]. I love my Maruszczyk with its Alter/Maple body but for me that is all about the comfort and the fact that the bass feels great to play and responds nicely to the vibrations giving me subtle tactile feedback. Anyhow, there's my contribution to this can of worm opening festival!

Hi folks, I've switched over to using an ampeg SRC di and I'm loving it. Right now I'm running it into the front end of my Ashdown MiBass head for monitoring with the do signal going from the ampeg to desk. Since I'm not using the eq on the ashdown I'm thinking it could be better to get a dedicated power amp. I need one that will play nicely with both my MiBass 112 cab and/or an Ampeg Svt 410. Any suggestions on makes/models/features I could look at?

I use the ms60b and it works OK for what you need to a point. As mentioned above you can set it to cycle patches via the foot switch including bypass options. Just keep in mind that if you plan to do this for more than a song or two you are going to have to pause and reset the pedal between songs. For example I have one song we play where I move from light fuzz in the verse to clean in the bridge/chorus and then use a synth & trem for a brief solo. The pedal does this fine, but it then needs to be reset in order that I can use it for the following song which moves between clean tones with an eq and heavy fuzz. There is no way to have it set up so you can just swap between song settings live without getting down into the menues. It does not take that long to do but you will need to fiddle with it frequently if you want to switch sounds often. For me I am planning on moving my ms60b on and purchasing a b3, which is a little more flexible thanks to the three switches. The sounds of the ms60 are great and if you only need a few patches for a set it is great but if your going to be swapping around lots then perhaps the b3 is worth the extra cost.

I use the ms60b and it works OK for what you need to a point. As mentioned above you can set it to cycle patches via the foot switch including bypass options. Just keep in mind that if you plan to do this for more than a song or two you are going to have to pause and reset the pedal between songs. For example I have one song we play where I move from light fuzz in the verse to clean in the bridge/chorus and then use a synth & trem for a brief solo. The pedal does this fine, but it then needs to be reset in order that I can use it for the following song which moves between clean tones with an eq and heavy fuzz. There is no way to have it set up so you can just swap between song settings live without getting down into the menues. It does not take that long to do but you will need to fiddle with it frequently if you want to switch sounds often. For me I am planning on moving my ms60b on and purchasing a b3, which is a little more flexible thanks to the three switches. The sounds of the ms60 are great and if you only need a few patches for a set it is great but if your going to be swapping around lots then perhaps the b3 is worth the extra cost.

Cheers for all the advice folks. I'm going to try and pick up on of the Harley Benton eub to start with and see how it goes.

Cheers for all the advice folks. I'm going to try and pick up on of the Harley Benton eub to start with and see how it goes.

Not a combo but Ampeg have just started doing valve portaflex heads that might suit your needs? I would link but writing on my mobile so to fiddly.

Well after a lot of pondering the Ampeg SCR-DI won out in the end. The addition of the Aux-in/Headphone out coupled with the nice SVT style drive just seemed to work. Cheers for all of your advice folks

[quote name='CamdenRob' timestamp='1444916960' post='2887313'] it will be quite an undertaking to learn an entirely new instrument! [/quote] Aye, though to be honest it's something I would love to do for myself anyhow. I'm just daunted as to where to start. I'd not considered a cello, but I'm not quite sure that is the sound I am after (I'm really looking for nice deep bowed notes). Perhaps I should just get a bigger car?

Hi folks, So I find myself in unknown territory again. An off the cuff conversation at band practice last night resulted in the mention that the band had always wished they could have some bowed bass parts in various songs. I'm actually really keen on trying this both because I think it would be great for the music and as something fun to learn for myself. So, if I'm to go ahead with this I'm going to need an upright bass of some kind and I have no idea where to start - I know about as much about upright/double basses as I do about mute-trumpets - which is to say I think they can sound awesome but beyond that it's all a blank A few points to keep in mind for me would be: (1) I would still need to bring my electric basses to practice/gigs for the most part so size is a serious issue - also I live in a very rural area and so I have to travel to practice/gigs via a small car (Ford Focus) and so again, I need to be sure that what I get will squeeze in there along with a couple of electric basses, a couple of 112 cabs and some other junk. (2) I'm going to be using the bass mainly for playing with a bow. I have no idea if/how much this might impact on my choice of instrument/set-up etc. (3) I need to be able to practice in my flat, which means keeping the peace with my neighbors on all sides. Therefore, something that is quiet without amplification would be good. It does not have to be silent but I'm not going to be winning any popularity contests around here if I start making noises like Barry White doing a violin impression at 8am in the morning. (4) I don't know much about amplification and so any advice about this side of things would be really handy too. (5) Finally, while tone etc. is nice It's for playing at prog-rock gigs so I'm not too fussed about having a beautiful sound so much as simply something that gets the job done for the time being. Any help/advice/warnings/etc. would be much appreciated All the best James

I hear some really great stuff about the BassBone from a chap that gave me a few lessons a while back: [url="http://www.tonebone.com/bassbonev2.php"]http://www.tonebone.com/bassbonev2.php[/url] I've not used one myself but he swore by them for the covers/function band stuff he was doing I've also been looking at this one which seems to have got quite a bit of love: http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/21320-mxr-m81-bass-preamp-review

Some helpful suggestions here: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/271036-advice-on-di-preamp-for-metal/