Burns-bass

I guess these are tools of the trade. While we fetishise originality (down to the solder joint in some cases) these instruments will all have been changed and improved.

[quote name='Stu-khag' timestamp='1502363721' post='3350927'] Watching Lang Lang playing in the living room of a renowned piano competition organiser almost blew my ear drums. [/quote] He's a bombastic player, isn't he? I don't know a great deal of the classical repertoire, but I've alway enjoyed his technically perfect interpretations. I know some people claim he's a little automatic, but perhaps that's snobbery.

[quote] [color=#292931][font=Arial, Helvetica, freesans, sans-serif][size=4]The Gariel Strad of 1717, which was worth £6.3m in 2012 and will only increase in value[/size][/font][/color] [/quote] It's this sort of thinking that causes problems. There is a massive amount of fraud and manipulation in the world of classical instruments. This is a good read: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9616021/The-great-Stradivarius-swindle.html There's a great book out there somewhere about this (it's on my shelf and I can't remember the name). What I think is great is that the instruments are, for the most part, still played. Can't say that about vintage Fenders - including some of my own (sadly)

Scales are wonderful things, but don't be limited by them. If great composers taught us anything it's that pretty much any note can work in a given situation. It's fantastic to get the scales in your fingers, try visualising them in your mind when you're playing. It's a revalation.

Tough way to make money is insurance. They would need to have specified in the documentation about drug use. If you dig out the Rolling Stones insurance policy for the tour they did it's worth taking a look at what is and isn't covered for those guys. Fascinating, if a little odd.

The question is how you view your instruments: as a working piece of machinery or an appreciating asset. It can be both, but the former will (in time) affect the latter, with wear and tear and inevitable changes needed affecting the value of your instrument. I have the jack socket of my 66' re-soldered for example, which now renders it slightly modified, but I couldn't be doing a gig with a crackly bass or my bandmates would have killed me! It's also worth considering how liquid that asset is. The market for vintage guitars is buoyant at the moment, but it crashed after the last recession and with consumer debt currently at huge levels, it could happen again. Then your prized bass may be worth a lot less than it currently is. Markets being dynamic and all that. If you've bought the best player (that suits you) then you should be in a good position. As someone who spent their 20s and early 30s recklessly wasting money this realisation is slightly jarring, as I now recognise that I sound a lot like my dad.

The first thing you've done properly is play the guitar - many people don't, particularly with imported guitars. As the owner of a few ridiculously expensive guitars, I'd suggest buying the one you like the best and that sounds the best. If you want collectibility then buy the most complete and original example. If you have the money I'd plump for the '65, but there were awful basses in all eras and wonderful ones.

I agree with poster above, of use a fretless jazz bass with a lot of Bridge pickup and a hint of neck, played at the bridge with a firm set of fingers. You're looking to play right hand with a lot of attack and the left hand silly smooth in a flowing, fluid motion. Chorus and compression (it's the 80s, eh?). This is all about nailing a Jaco-ish tone.

Just to add to the wonderful comments here, you're trying to play like someone else without trying to establish your own voice on the instrument. This is obviously difficult because you're comparing yourself with (I imagine) some wonderful bass players, and feel like you're coming off second best. Happens to us all, and takes time. If you want to mimic others, that's cool - we all love amazing, versatile players. What changed things for me was working in a couple of originals bands and spending a lot of time learning to sound like me. I went through wanting to sound like Andy Rourke, James Jameson, Jaco (pity my poor parents listening to that), and a whole host of others. Now I'm happy to sound like me. Looking at this from a different perspective, when I first started playing DB I just found myself unable to play without sounding awful. Part of that was (my teacher advised me) nerves and the other half was just feeling tense, which cramped me up and made me sound (forgive me) like sh*t. A massive part of music is having confidence, and that takes an awful lot of time to get. I can pick up an electric bass and I'm fine, but give me a DB and I feel the same as you do.