tinyd

I can see how the bass might "prefer" certain notes in that it resonates better and so on. But I can't see how this might be the case for flat keys vs sharp ones in general. As you say, you're more comfortable in certain keys than others (as most of us are) and so your hand shape, fingering etc might be subtly better and therefore you stop the notes more cleanly?

One left hand tip that I found helpful when starting out on DB is not to squeeze the string down against the fingerboard - as @Burns-bass says, the thumb is just a guide and you should be able to get a usable note without your thumb even touching the back of the neck (not saying you'll ever actually do this when playing normally of course). To achieve this, you need to use the weight of your arm and your shoulder muscles to pull the string down, rather than your hand muscles. I also recommend starting with the Simandl fingering method - you can modify it later but it's a good way to get your hand shape sorted out initially.

I have a copperhead and I don't find it excessively bassy compared to other piezo pickups that I've tried. I think it can sound pretty good but I have to totally kill the mids on the amp that I'm using and then knock off the treble until the "microphonic" sounds from the strings, bridge etc are minimised.

A quick update to this thread - I finally took a chance on a C2 cab and a Warwick Gnome head (pretty much the same as the TC BAM 200 but I'd heard marginally better things about it for DB). In terms of volume (at home) it's louder than my GK MB150 and has a much cleaner, more usable tone so I'm pretty sure that it'll be good for gigs too. What I really like as well is that the two are very small and light - about half the weight of the GK, which appeals to my increasing laziness when it comes to lugging gear from the car (it also makes a "one trip" journey viable with the DB even if I have to walk longer distances). No gigs for a few weeks but I'm looking forward to trying it out....

I haven't had a chance to play this at a gig yet, but this one is always fun:

Doesn't have to be root notes at all - just some of the many available notes that are below the 7th fret would have been nice

Most of the players are great, but the vids he's chosen are the bass equivalent of

He wrote Relight My Fire as well. The original is a lot funkier than the Take That cover....

I completely agree. There's nothing wrong with a (small) bit of showmanship at the appropriate time, but in general though the best virtuosos show their abilities by working _with_ (rather than playing all over) their bandmates.

On a related note, there was a good piece in the Guardian the other day about "unofficial" band members (people who play with the band, sometimes for decades, but aren't "in" the band). https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/mar/20/touring-musicians-who-play-with-bands-but-arent-official-members-manic-street-preachers-simple-minds I have to be honest that it sounds like a pretty good setup on the whole - getting paid to play but none (or very little, anyway) of the politics, drama, publicity etc.

My theory is that putting in the "wrong" notes in this line is easier than leaving them out - it's sometimes easier for our brains to play a string of notes rather than think about gaps.

What I find is that if I sit down at the bass/piano/guitar after learning (or remembering) some music theory it makes my noodling more directed and interesting. So I see that theory can often be a shortcut to creativity rather than an impediment. But this doesn't mean you can't be just as creative without knowing any theory of course.

I agree with the sentiment that playing it "your way" is usually the way to go. But it's still an education when, as @KingPrawn says, you thought you _were_ playing them just like the original (but weren't)! I remember doing exactly this with Cissy Strut (not just a bass line - it's played on guitar as well). In this case, the original has less notes that my version which helps....

I meant it in the sense of "don't beat yourself up about your perceived failures on the night". I agree that striving to be better is a good thing!

I realise that this may not be particularly helpful, but just more of an observation that trying to compete with people who are playing extremely loudly when they're not at Woodstock / Isle of Wight is extremely hard and not usually a lot of fun. So it's another reason not to be too hard on yourself in my opinion.