Doctor J

I'm getting Nile Rodgers vs Prince in a mid-80's bare knuckle barfight.

It's the waiting that gets ya

http://basschat.co.uk/topic/202271-click-here-to-sell-your-bass/

Congratulations, Skol, beat some serious competition there.

Sadly, a lot of people seem hellbent on getting an old bass, rather than a great bass, so it's not surprising that any old piece of crap will command what is, in the cold light of day, an absurd amount of money for a mass produced instrument. It's to your credit that you don't seem blinded by vintage fever and are holding out for a properly good instrument. I despair when I think of mates who have sold fantastic contemporary instruments to raise the money for something old and then show up with something no better in quality, tone or playability than a low to mid import instrument and then ask "what do you think?". They know this bass will sell at or near that price, sooner or later, so they don't need to take care of the customer. This is the age we live in, demand outweighs supply and old sells.

No regrets. There has always been a good reason to sell. It's easy to have rose-coloured glasses looking back at gear, particularly the longer it has been since you sold it, but things always get moved on for a reason.

Is a CBS, Fender Japan or FMIC really a [i]Fender[/i]? It depends what importance you put on the brand name versus the importance you put on what made the brand name. For me, Fender stopped when the company was sold to CBS. The innovation slowed and, eventually, ground to a halt and now it's like a band with no original members playing their versions of the hits. It's a tribute band trading under the real name, rehashing the same old thing in varying degrees of accuracy and little to no genuine connection to how the original real deals were made. The spirit, the ethos which made that name so great carried on through Musicman and G&L. To me, their early instruments are more authentically Fender in spirit than something carrying the old logo made in Korea under a FMIC licence. There's more to being authentic than buying the copyright to some timeless designs So, to answer the question, once the hitmakers moved on, [i]everything[/i] after became a copy. Some copies were at least as good as the originals and, for a time, the Asian copies were substantially better than those carrying the name and made in the U S of A. That's when it became open season and the instruments adhering to the design became Precisions and Jazzes, rather that what the logo on the headstock said

In a room of cool people, Eddie would still exude more cool than most.

Good advice above. I would add to say take some of the low end out of the bass drum, it's really sucking up a lot of space, a real speaker grinder. Some mid on the bass would help it come to the fore a little - the bass drum and bass guitar are really fighting over the same sonic space. I think the guitar could use more high end, maybe take out some mid range, make it a little slinky and move it away from the bass and bass drum and fill that space towards the vocals, it sounds very middle-heavy. Adding high end might get it into the same space as the vocals too, which might help tie the voice and instruments together more. I would look at applying some reverb to everything in varying degrees, it's very dry, getting the cymbals, snare, guitar and vocals through the same reverb space should get it sounding more like one composite piece. Record the guitar with less amp reverb, apply it afterwards in the mix. Just to add, it sounds good, don't get me wrong, but it sounds like everything was EQ'd in in isolation, rather than in the context of the other instruments it shares the mix with. Sometimes something which sounds awful solo'd really works in the context of the mix.

[quote name='lurksalot' timestamp='1456654808' post='2991001'] My thoughts would be that I wouldn't want to read anybody elses inspiration and ideas before I had been having a good go at my own , the likes of Douglas have a completed product before I have got my idea together , and I wouldn't want to be have any of my thoughts coloured IYSWIM . that sounds terribly precious but its not meant to be [/quote] I'd agree with this, precious as it is I like this idea, but maybe it's something to submit once the deadline has passed or keep it in a separate thread from the general challenge thread?

Always enjoy reading these every month. Thanks Douglas.

Aside from the eclectic mix of compositions drawn from the same source, which is impressive enough, there is some really tasty bass playing in a few of them too, which is always nice Well done, all, I raise this cup of tea in your honour

I wasn't sure I was going to make the deadline, but I'm in, just. Another journey through the rock thing, starting with a beautiful sunny day and ending in a wall of fuzz as our protagonist goads them-self into being less conservative and trying new and possibly dangerous things. https://soundcloud.com/doctor_j_bass/the-first-time-you-jump

Great band. The first album was great but the second was utterly superb, best listened to as a complete piece, comfortably one of the most adventurous and accomplished from that era. Shame it died, commercially, though. The last one I heard from them was Strangefolk, with great basslines as usual. If there's something new out, I will seek it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEnziTHv7so

I don't play slappa-da-bippa-boink-boink. In fact, I run a sanctuary where abused basses can spend the rest of their lives peacefully, without the threat of shameful thumb abuse hanging over them. They're kept clean and well set-up with good, fresh strings and get played frequently in a non-violent way. Society frowns on slapping children or pets, yet slapping a bass is still flagrantly popular, especially on youtube. It's enough to bring a tear to your eye. You're welcome to donate to Thumbs Down. I'm determined to make a better life for [i]every[/i] bass.

Have the strength of character not to be a brand slave. Basses look fine without logos, [Img]https://docjgear.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/king_1.jpg" class="ipsImage" />

That's one louder. You may be the most metal out of all of us.

I saw a band live called the Jubilee Allstars and really enjoyed them. I picked up their album the next day and it was utter sh*te, every song starting the same way and no energy or soul at all. It really was the same band so I'm guessing I caught them on an off night when they were actually useful.

Your Result 10/10 You're a steel panther, a manowar and a battle beast. All of your sabbaths are black and your killswitch is fully engaged. You were about to rock, now we salute you! I did guess the Slipknot one though

When I was a kid I had an open double fracture of my left (weaker) arm, damaged a load of nerves and couldn't move my little or ring fingers for about 6 months afterwards. After uncomfortable electro treatment, they started working again though I still have limited feeling in them and they don't like to move in cold weather. I started playing bass a few years after that. I got frustrated that my mates quickly progressed to much higher levels than I will ever be capable of. I can relate to your arm injury situation, even if our stories might be different. It frustrated me but I just love the sound of the instrument, that feeling in your chest when those low frequencies shake your ribcage. If you love the sound of a bass, then stick with it. Try working on more basic stuff, say old AC/DC for example - it's not too taxing on the left arm but it will make you a better player. If you can play along to all of the "If You Want Blood" album you're not doing badly. You might progress slower than you'd like but a good right hand technique can really help if your left is weaker, trust me. I'm still never as good as I'd like to be (who is?) and I'm ridiculously sensitive to setup - I just can't function on even remotely high action - so maybe look at how you play the instrument and how your bass is setup. Experiment with strap height, always try to have the bass in the same place when you sit and stand. You might find your arms just work better at certain positions. As I said, if you even remotely enjoy the instrument you owe it to yourself to explore a few different avenues before you break out the kerosene.

I usually either hear something in my head and try to work it out or I just faff around on guitar or bass until I play something I like the sound of. If it's something just for myself, I'd make a rough map of the song to a click track, flesh out the other parts. Often, at this stage, I'd have a line or two of vocals in my head too, a hook. I would do the full arrangement of the song to click, just with a rough guitar track and everything else in my head. Then I'd record drums - up until a couple of years ago i did this literally, playing and recording a full kit in the house but I wasn't playing drums frequently enough to stay at a standard I liked so I sold the kit and turned to midi - and build up from there. I always bounce down rough mixes as I go along and listen to them away from instruments, just see what I can come up with while listening and then try to figure out how to get close to what I envisage the song to be when I record it in the real world. It is all down to the work ethic though, much as I con myself otherwise. I really like the deadline of the composition competition, it forces you to do a bit of work which I'm hoping to take into the 50 or so songs I have in various stages of completion I started recording over the last eight or nine years - when I moved to a rural house with no neighbours so I could make as much noise as I liked. I find the ideas come easily, actually finishing something is the hard part but it's really is down to getting of your arse and grafting. I'm finding writing lyrics very hard at the moment. I want to have something of substance, tell a story, make a point, whatever - I used to write lyrics for a couple of my bands in my youth but it really doesn't come easy any more. Maybe it's an age thing. With the band, generally, it starts with a riff. If I come up with something I'll record it into the phone and then come back and build from the drums up. I tend to leave the arrangements open, just record a verse, chorus and a couple of related bits and then let it be finished with the input of the entire band. Our singer writes the lyrics so I leave him to it.

Sepultura released a couple of belters - Dante XXI and A-Lex. The first based on Dante's The Divine Comedy and the second based on A Clockwork Orange.

Such a wide variety of entries already, well done all I've most of the music done. I'm going to try singing again. I don't like it, but in for a penny... etc. I may need to re-record some guitars after that. The deadline is a real bugger, isn't it? It seems far away but then it sneaks right up on you all of a sudden.

PiL - Metal Box

Very sorry to hear that, Douglas.