musicbassman

You're missing a trick there, @Bassfinger I use P for my regular hit (See right, below) but then some weekends I combine P and J for that little bit of extra (See left, below) 😁👍

Blimey, he's a bit good, isn't he ? A new name to me. Not a big fan of fretless myself, but well worth watching. A lot of intelligent commentary throughout the video, and he does play a standard Jazz bass on a couple of tracks (fretless, of course)

Well, @Strawbs664, suggest you could start by watching this brief video from Tantacrul which gives you a potted explanation and history of the band. By the way, this video was put up 5 years ago when frontman Tim Smith was very ill, but as you may know, he has now moved on to the great gig in the sky 😥

I'm a massive Cardiacs fan, so this appeared in my YouTube feed. Not to be taken seriously, but a great mashup of various people 'playing' Fiery Gun Hand. There is some footage of the actual band playing in there as well. And extra bonus points for the girl being thrown a Flying V at the start of the epic guitar solo. 😉👍

Well, @fleabag, we bass players can 'check' a gitards volume, but that doesn't mean we can do anything about it. We are about as powerless over gitards as any other regulatory authority, like those that control the energy or water industries. So, instead of Ofwat, maybe could be called Offvol. We could send the gitard a strongly worded letter about excessive volume after the soundcheck, that'll show 'em ..........

I'm with @TimR on this. Back in the day I was rather more idealistic and thought bands should be democratic, but with the benefit of rather too many years of playing I can see that this is how bands end up directionless and with confusing set lists that don't really appeal to the band's target audience, or anybody, come to that. But I'm talking about cover bands here, where the usual aim is to get a regular stream of reasonably well paid gigs and hopefully enjoy playing as well. However, for bands doing all original material maybe a more democratic approach makes sense ? Discuss..........

Ah - It now turns out the actual gig is near St Albans in Hertfordshire, so maybe someone based in that area might also be interested in this. There is possibly a permanent gig going there also. They've put this up on Join My Band:

Hi all I'm posting this in General Discussion as it's more likely to be noticed than the 'Bassists Wanted' section. I've been offered a dep on 28th Jan but the band want to do a couple of rehearsals in the Farnborough area prior to the gig as they're running in a new guitarist as well, and this is a bit outside my usual area. Material is mostly 80's post punk and the usual - Oasis, Blur, Undertones etc. Definiitely not soul or funk. Drop me a PM if you're interested. Their current regular bass player is unwell. Thanks 🙂

There's a link to a Youtube clip showing him 'playing' the guitar fitted with this. Sounds like an 8 year old who's got hold of his big brothers electric guitar and is trying to impress his Mum. Utterly deluded. I really don't think other opinions are available.

Oh please God no, I've seen too many examples of roadies hairy clefts over the years when they bend over to pick up a PA bin.......... 😳

Played a private function at Southampton on Saturday with an 8 piece band. Venue is called Roddington Forge, which was a new one to me. But a nice place with a decent sized stage - shame it's upstairs so a bit of a haul for equipment. And the second outing for my newly acquired '96 Stingray - seems to be a good 'un. Cabaret included a magician who performed seemingly impossible 'mind reading' tricks - audience was....... errr...........spellbound. 😉

Rand Forbes, who played a fretless bass in the late 60's in a band called The United States of America. And this was before I even had a bass - I was still a spotty schoolboy fumbling about on a skinny stringed thing then. And this track in particular - the way the bass dances around the main vocal line yet always supports it. Still sounds good today.

A dep gig from hell last night. Playing with a late 50's - early 60's band - I've played with them before and they're pretty OK with the material they do. But last night they had a dep singer, and he was an elderly crooner, who told me proudly that he normally sung at care homes and used " a cassette player with backing tracks" It was appalling. I was already a bit concerned when we did a soundcheck (don't really know why they bothered) and played a bit of 'Blue Suede Shoes' and instead of singing the word 'one' on the first beat of the bar ("Well it's one for the money" etc) he tried to sing with the word "Well" on the first beat of the bar........... It didn't get any better. But in fairness, in some songs he started off in the same key as the band, so that was an occasional bonus. The crowd was fairly well oiled and there was some polite applause after every number, but maybe that was just with sheer relief that the singer had managed to get to the end of the song. At the end, the singer asked for my number as he "could sometimes do with a good bass player" Unfortunately I forgot to give it to him. 🙂 👍

Worked with quite a few different drummers at dep gigs over the past months, and I've experienced - - a drummer who doesn't seem to know that using a ride cymbal has a time and a place, and that it should be used sparingly, not almost continuously in every b****y number. - a drummer who refuses to play a straight four on the floor when that's clearly what's needed. - a drummer who doesn't seem to understand that shouting a 1,2,3,4 count in for the band is supposed to be setting the tempo for the number, and is not just some random timing. Rant over !!! 🥺

This is the key point - getting the right sound is only half of it - getting the clipped sixteenths and the swing and syncopation right is the other half. I love taking 80's and early House synth bass lines to pieces and playing them- yes, a different approach, and an education for me, anyway. 🙂 When you get a bit of spare time, take a listen to Rick Astley's Never Going to Give You Up - this has the mother of all synth basslines

Just run through the 'How Long' track - I find it pretty straightforward to get the right feel using a pick, but I know I'd find it quite tricky with fingers. And the little fills he ornaments the bass line with on the old audio track of 'Yes We Can Can' are really excellent! Anyway, I'm off down the Foam Shop this morning ! 😁

Absolutely - and just look at the size of the piece of damping foam on his P !

That is a serious bass line - never heard this track before. I would suggest that it's all played with a pick, loads of damping and compressed to within an inch of it's life, and possibly partly double tracked/overdubbed as well. I shall have a crack at this tomorrow, don't know how far I'll get but good fun trying, and thanks for the heads up. 🙂

Can I refer you nice people to this thread I started on the Accessories and Misc page on this site back in September? My rather poor opinion of the XT strings hasn't changed, but I've also become a bit disillusioned with the NYXL's fitted to my standard P - having done a few gigs with them I've realised they have a decent bottom end on the E and A strings but sound a bit thin and lifeless on the D and G strings, and really lack any middle at all. For comparison, I also have NYXL's of similar vintage fitted onto my active PJ bass and they sound really good there - the bridge pup picks up the mids well whereas they are completely lacking on the standard P.

What a heartwarming story 🙂 Jeez, I think we all need a bit of uplifting at the moment................. 😳

Maybe these threads should be linked 🙂

How very dare you! 😲 I'll have you know you're talking about my favourite bass ................!!! "those stupid big flat elephant ear tuners" .......but that's one of the best bits !!! 😥

Typical bass players - thinking about the technical aspects and the mix ! 🙂 Actually I was also thinking that the type of music being played would have zero relevance, recognition or emotional connections for 90% of the TV audience.