josie

Welcome! Nice basses 🙂

Just got this today. Imho it's fun in Spinal Tap vein as you'd expect. Parody ott un-musical metal alternating with parody ott lush orchestral settings. (I do like the Steely Dan reference in 'Memo to Willie'.) Couldn't hear the bass much, might try with headphones if i can be bothered (probably not).

Welcome!

I've just quickly tried and failed to find an ad I saw for a little square you could stand on which would vibrate with the bass and send the sound back up through your feet. I've only twice (at Bourbon Street Blues in Nashville) played on a raised stage and loud enough that my bassline was coming back to me up through my legs. It was pretty special. I'd love it to happen again. But it was also part of the whole surrounding experience of a small high space (including balcony) crammed with tourists, so my sound wasn't coming just from the floor but also from the walls and the crowd. Ot (thinking about the jam thread) - the first time, the lead guitar asked what I was comfortable with before we started, and we did a few 12-bars and it was all good. The second time, some young shredder just said "Hey Joe" (which I know now, but didn't then) and I just had to blag it (which I can do much better now than I could then). Embarrassing, but I did get compliments from some in the crowd after, which adds evidence that bass players can get away with pretty much anything with a typical audience.

There's a blurry line between "open jams" and "open mics" in my experience. And a lot depends on the attitude of the person running it. I played the blues jam at Matt & Phreds in Mcr a few times and found it intimidating - competitive guitar shredders and no thanks from the guitards or the organiser. Spinning Top in Stockport a bit more comfortable but I didn't really feel welcome. Otoh when we played the Sunday evening om/jam run by @12stringbassist we all felt very welcome and supported. 20 min full band set, and then keys and I joined the jam later. Everyone playing in the jam careful that we were all comfortable with what we were going to play.

Can't find the old thread about this... agreement was, make sure the wall is solid and the screws are long enough, and don't hang them on an outside wall where the temperature and humidity will vary more. Finding an internal wall which is solid enough might not be easy depending on the age and build quality of your house.

Excellent allowance. I hope to be working with my teacher almost every week next year as I have this year - good for me and for him. To be encouraged. Likewise the cost of travel to practices and gigs. I do think excluding straight trades is a bit harsh though. Not that I'm expecting to - there's nothing I want right now, and I'm trying to sell two basses - but a straight trade wouldn't cost any money or increase one's collection. I'm definitely planning to upgrade some strings, so I'm out of the challenge, but I'll try to avoid anything else, and just use and appreciate the wonderful gear I have now. And my teacher will be furious if I buy anything else! I admitted to my Ibby 6, and persuaded him it was ok, as bass stuff is the only thing in life I spend significant money on. But I hide my latest purchase - Epiphone Jack Casady - when he comes round. He's right, I need to spend more time playing the basses I already have. Mr Josie doesn't notice or care.

Welcome back! The low end is the best, after all 🙂 A drum machine can be your best friend. My teacher badgered me to get one for ages and he was right. Without it I struggle to spend as much time practising as I should, but if I dial in a random drum machine track and work on locking in with it with even a simple chord progression, half an hour is gone before I know it. Nothing quite like playing in a real band, but if/when you do, all that practice will be a totally sound foundation. If you don't, you'll still have a lot of fun 🙂

Welcome!

She keeps getting better. Gigged her for the second time last night - unfortunately just at my usual local om, which doesn't have great sound quality, so sounded a bit blurry, but a joy to play, and (rightly) hugely admired both by peeps who appreciate a good 6 and others who didn't know there is such a thing. I'm in love and flying 🙂

Different genre to most mentioned above, and DB rather than electric, but Danny Thompson, "Connected". 12 tracks all with different musicians including Richard Thompson, Bert Jansch, John Martyn, ... https://www.therealdannythompson.co.uk/products/connected

I only put my head above the parapet at blues jams, where a basic 12-bar can take you most of the way, but "Hey Joe" keeps coming up, "Black Magic Woman" and "Hooch Coochie Man" and "Crossroads" are usual suspects too. And "The Thrill is Gone". It does bug me that the bass player is expected to just know anything that comes up. I play as many open blues jams as I can - it's really good experience - but almost all the time either the guitar player(s) just announce what they're going to play, or (even worse) everyone else gets together on the other side of the stage and then someone walks across and tells me what they've decided to play. I've had to learn to listen for the first few bars and then blag it, but that's good experience too and I'm slowly getting better at it.

Matt Woosey Band, Live at Gallagher's Nest, just released. I've seen Matt solo several times (in fact booked a local gig for him on his last tour) but saw him with his band for the first time a few weeks ago. Excellent powerful stuff. The album gets the live energy but with good sound quality and just enough audience applause, not too much. Very good production, good detail in the sound. Classified as "blues", but almost all originals and no 12-bar clichés. His lyrics are clever and intelligent. Deserves to be much better known. http://www.mattwoosey.co.uk/

Strings - I don't know why the phosphor bronze are standard, I've never heard anyone say they liked the feel or sound of them. I have D'Addario chrome flats on my fretless acoustic. Feedback - some pre-amps, certainly Fishman, have a notch control to cut this out, or you could find (or make) a soundhole cover Mine just go on my back in a gig bag same as an electric There's no place on the body you can put a strap button and get any sort of balance - I have a lace at the end of the strap and tie it around the headstock just above the nut, as you sometimes see guitar players do. Only a DB is really going to sound like a DB, but I've heard a good player get very close with a Michael Kelly fretless (same as mine) with tape-wound strings.

Welcome!

Nice! Welcome.

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On impulse just went back to the first LP I bought as a teenager, Eric Burdon and the Animals. Still sounds as good as ever.

What I need to take me to the Next Level is not more gear but more practice.

Welcome! Lots of good support for newbies here, I can say from experience 🙂 Let us know how it goes.

Nice! Welcome.

Welcome! What kind of music do you play? You're in good company here, lots of BC peeps also back after a long break. It's never too late 🙂

Welcome!

I have D'Addario chrome flats on both my fretless basses. When I bought the acoustic (Michael Kelly 5), I decided to put flats on it straight away, and the chromes were the only set of five in the right length in the shop. I liked the sound and feel, so put the same on my fretless electric (GMR 4). I'd describe it as a warm clear sound that works well with slide, which is what I wanted. Flats of some sort are pretty standard for fretless basses, partly because they're not as harsh on the fretboard as rounds. My Epiphone Jack Casady came with Elite stainless steel flats (they call them "groundwound") which feel more slippery and somehow fatter to my fingers. The sound is, I think, a bit brighter than the chromes, but it's hard to be sure because the basses are so different. Again I think flats are pretty common on hollow-bodies. I'm planning to put tapewounds on the acoustic and move the flats to the fretted acoustic (I really dislike the phosphor bronze rounds that are standard for acoustics: harsh and rattly in feel and sound). I'm not, at the moment, about to put flats on any of the solid-body electrics, but I am very tempted to try half-rounds.

I don't expect ever to get my EB2 here from Nashville (where my son is "looking after it for me") but I'm pretty happy with the Epiphone Jack Casady I've had for a couple of weeks now. The three-position tone switch does make a useful difference to the sound but not as extreme as the EB2 baritone. Its other big advantage is that I can relax about gigging it - the EB2 is just too fragile and valuable to take out.