Burns-bass

You’re better off taking the neck off.

This is great, thanks! So my practice at the moment is: 5 minutes of 2 octave scales (either with a drone or with a play along). Do a different key each day. 5 minutes I IV V exercise in all keys (real player) 10 minutes of positional stuff (Simandl normally, I like these exercises) 10 minutes of a book (so Ed Friedland walking bass, etc) Normally do some Real Player stuff over a jazz-blues in a different key. Play along with a jazz track or two (Equinox and Song for my father are good fun at the moment), but could be Gregory Porter, or anything that comes on my playlist! Does this sound reasonable?

And to slide down the neck too!

Ahh, that song belongs to the guy and sadly I can’t use it so if you can DM me with the MP3s that would be great…

For Fs sake – I looked for this on Spotify! (Obviously not well enough) Thanks my friend, this is perfect.

Walking! I've got expanding, but I've kept the CD 🙂

I’ve got the book but I’ve lost the CD! Can anyone send me MP3’s of the tracks or a download code? Any help gratefully appreciated!

Thanks for the tip off, will give these guys a call. I have musical instruments on my house insurance (and are covered outdoors) but they’ll do everything they can to avoid a payout…

This is great… If you are willing, could you sketch out a good 30 minute practice block would be each day. I’ve been a music teacher for EB, so this is all about technique so that I can apply that knowledge to DB.

This seems relevant here… “When I started to do the deep dive into sparkle guitars years ago, I got offered a lot of them,” says David. “People knew I was buying them and I saw many. But I’ve got to tell you: more than 80 per cent of them were fake! Authenticating them is about using all your senses – sight, sound, touch, texture and even smell. It’s based on experience.

Not sure that’s a factory finish! Looks dreadfully done.

I downloaded the Scale Tracks app which I’m finding really useful. It’s not free (£6.99) but has really helped with intonation so far. Plus you can set it to repeat for a long time and it just carries on…

Gear snobs are some of the most boring people on earth. In many cases, they can’t play much either. What matters is that something does its job. The second it doesn’t, it’s gone.

My guitar is pink which usually stops anyone talking to me about it. It’s a piece of wood, but the best piece of wood I’ve found for me. To be honest, I don’t actually know what wood it is. Or the string spacing. Or neck radius. Or action height. Or whether it’s a 60s or 70s spacing. Or its weight. Or the nut material. Or whether they’re vintage pickups. Or who made the pots. Or whether the truss rod is carbon. But I know I like it.

Classic Roy Budd! Was listening to this the other day and playing DB.

This is a leftover arm from a Pearl cymbal stand I converted into a stand for a NS Wav bass. This was leftover and seems a shame to bin it… brand new, never used.

Did a nice gig yesterday and just did a line check, then we ran through an entire track and adjusted levels on the fly. If it’s a gig where you can soundcheck before anyone arrives, I’ll run thorough all 4 strings top to bottom then a bit of James Brown. Turns put lost people don’t want their conversations interrupted by my noodling!

Hope it works out and keep us updated on what you do (and if you’re happy to share, what it costs). Reckon we’d all be interested.

Crikey, that’s quite extreme! As the expert above said you can strip and oil it, but this would change the feel of the neck (it would be bare wood, not a laquer), so you have to figure out whether you want that. Personally, I’d consider a refret and refinish and the neck would be as good as new. You can even leave the headstock as it is.

I’ve always done this. Run the string up from the bridge to nut between my thumb and forefinger. It helps to break it in a bit and stops it from slipping out of tune too often (to me, at least). An hour on some Chromes today and they’re ready for the gig tomorrow. (Blue Lagoon, Bristol if anyone fancies it!)

There are lots of great refinishers out there. Unfortunately, doing so would affect the value of the bass. So, if you don’t care so much about the value, then by all means! The best thing to do is to tell us where you are based…

It all depends on what you want to do. Some days I’ll spend an hour on structured practice, other days I’ll have a glass of red wine, stick on the WAZA headphones and have a play. The key to achieving anything is setting some goals. Once you’ve defined those, you can work out a plan to get there! Mine are all DB related (although that doesn’t stop me gigging regularly on electric bass!) Send me a DM as I can send you a book or two and you can see how you get on. I’ve got a few bass ones that were going to the charity shop.