Spoombung

[quote name='Cairobill' timestamp='1328269625' post='1524657'] i saw you play that bass (before the body refit) at Southampton University many years ago with Stump. It sounded fantastic. Your approach to bass playing was like no one else and I liked that a lot. I seem to remember we had a drunken conversation in the bar afterwards too! [/quote] Very kind of you! Everyone's being nice today!

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1328269422' post='1524652'] I do like the look of your P-shaped Wal, Kev - BTW, really liking the Whispering Foils album [/quote] Very kind of you, Clarky. How's it going with the AFR?

Nearly thirty years together...

I had severe food poisoning when I did this (live in front of a grey army of OAPs) and could hardly sit on the stool.. which might explain why a lot of it is rather out of tune! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjbqdf-cJN4

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHJPs6Rvwkc[/media]

I'm getting warmer... Half the trouble with bass is knowing what position you played it in in the first place..

For some reason I am experiencing a sort of snow blindness of the ears today. I can't figure out what I'm playing at the end of this phrase: [url="http://soundcloud.com/spoombung/part-of-riff-12-which-is"]http://soundcloud.com/spoombung/part-of-riff-12-which-is[/url] My latest stuff is littered with these clashes and note clusters. I improvise them on the spot... then have to learn them later for rehearsals and gigs. It's causing me headaches. There a G a Bb and a Gb in there somewhere...

[quote name='JellyKnees' timestamp='1327058494' post='1505735'] I think it depends entirely on the genre and style of what you are trying to write. If you are writing 'traditional' songs in the singer-songwriter mode, which have a formal harmonic structure i.e. songs that stick closely to the 'rules' (whatever they are....), then possibly no. If however you are writing music that is more riff or groove based, or you are doing something a bit more off the wall then most definitely yes... [/quote] Good answer.

Extremely nice to meet the sliver-haired and good-humoured Mr Clark outside liverpool street station... and hand over my bass in the pouring rain. His matching blue shirt and tie seemed to inspire trust on their own. Clarky was a delight to deal with: great communication, prompt payment and extremely friendly and chatty throughout. Highly recommended!

I experience wrist pain when I switch between different basses with different neck dimensions. It's often the [i]adjustment [/i]that causes the problem for me.

The double bass hand position places no stress on the wrist whatsoever. A conventional bass does, however - that's why you're experiencing some discomfort. I don't know much about the Thumb bass but I think you should look for a bass that pivots on a more upright angle - pick something with a long horn that goes past the 12th fret. That should help.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1326924855' post='1503972'] [color=#282828][font=helvetica,arial,sans-serif]And there are quite a few nice notes to chew over.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica,arial,sans-serif]Garry [/font][/color] [/quote] There certainly are. He's okay - dextrous and nimble in a conventional way. The overall effect - the music - does not excite me.

[quote name='Killerfridge' timestamp='1326889601' post='1503219'] My personal favourite Yellowjackets/Haslip piece - Spirit of the West [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gQyl2NiYk4[/media] [/quote] Oh God, he's one of those people who [i]chews[/i] his own notes. Yuk.

Ugh, pure cheese. I don't get the James Taylor thing. Americans love that brand of mush. Makes for a very dull song, IMO

The guitars (rather than the basses) are works of genius - but they all look great

Wow, this is a bit of a test of my memory. I realise I just can’t remember the names of all the cheap Jap Fender copies I’ve played over the years. It’s a bit like taking note of cars and model numbers… I just have no interest. I have very few photos to jog my memory too! [b]First bass: Some sort of Jazz copy[/b] (hand painted brown with a banana neck and a half inch action) cost £40 sometime in [b]1977[/b]. Can’t remember the make. I remember having £38 and the seller would not let it go for that price. I came out the seller’s house empty handed and when my Dad (who was waiting in the car outside) asked 'why' he reached in his pocket and gave me the extra £2. The trouble was I couldn’t afford an amp. Pretty soon I realised the bass was rubbish and my guitar playing friends were also unimpressed. I actually spent more time smelling it, posing with it and caressing it - pitifully. My parents were either unwilling or unable to help buy me an amp (Perhaps my Dad thought he’d helped me enough giving me £2 already?) and my mother even complained when I tried to play the bass acoustically. [b]Hondo Rickenbacker copy[/b] (I just couldn’t get a Rickenbacker sound out of it). Very disappointing. It had a horrible lacquered fingerboard. Why didn’t I sound like Chris Squire? It put me off Ricks forever. [b]Aria fretted SB 900[/b] (bought for £165 which was a fortune at the time). By this time I had a job in the Sugarbeet factory and an amp. This was my first playable bass and I loved it. However, it developed a split in the body and had to be sent back and replaced with another version in natural (which was much better made). [b]Cheap Jazz copy (Antoria or something like that?)[/b] defretted by a friend of friend around 1980. I learned fretless on this but the bass became more and more unplayable every month as the neck warped dramatically. Only the top five notes were playable on the bass eventually. Rubbish. [b]Custom Jazz style fretless bass[/b] made by a nice fellow in Ipswich (I can’t remember his name, I’m afraid) about [b]1981[/b]. He made it for me as a sort of hobby challenge and didn’t charge much at all. It had a really thin neck and a single pickup – it was actually quite good - but he had no idea how to lacquer and varnish the bass and it got incredibly sticky and started to flake off so I sold it to the Bass Centre in Wapping. [b]Fretless Acoustic bass[/b]. This had a bowl-shaped fibreglass back like an Ovation. I hated the way it rolled over in you lap because of the design and the piezo pickup sounded relentlessly scratchy. I never got on with it and sold it to a guy in the shop I originally bought it from. I don’t remember the make. [b]Wal Custom fretless[/b]– bought from the Basscentre in Wapping in [b]1984[/b]. [i]Still got it.[/i] Incredible bass. Lots of changes to it over the years. [b]Some sort of fretted FrankenBass with a Khaler tremelo[/b]. I love strats and other guitars with wang bars but couldn’t get on with one on a bass. Don’t remember the make. [b]Musicman Sabre[/b] bought around 1988. I needed a fretted bass for one or two Stump songs. My God, was it heavy. It was absolutely ridiculous… like lifting a fridge or a sofa up a flight of stairs and into a flat. It was almost the same weight as my Marshall cab and probably weighed twice as much as my Wal – which was no lightweight. I was so glad to get rid of it via the Basscentre in Wapping. Horrible, ludicrous instrument more suitable for a body builder than a musician. [b]Cheap P/J fretted, precision copy[/b] with a maple neck (can’t remember the make). Bought secondhand in Lewisham. This was the bass I use in [i]The Dave Howard Singers[/i] in the early 90’s. It was a bit crude but lightweight and did the job okay. Sold around 1993. [b]Danelectro 6-string baritone bass/guitar thing[/b] - couldn't get on with this and sold it on quickly [size=4]No basses other than my Wal between 1993 and 2008. [/size]I didn't play bass at all from 2000 - 2008. Around 2008 I started looking for a good fretted bass. [b]Iceni custom short scale fretted [/b](the bass of choice with my band, Prescott) [b]Danelectro short scale [/b](sold) [b]Ibanez SR 300F [/b](sold on very quickly) [b]Ibanez AFR fretted [/b](sold) [b]Cruiser by Crafter fretted [/b](sold) [b]Nanyo bass collection fretted [/b](heavily modded over the years) [b]ACG fretless custom [/b](sold) [b]Cliff Bordwell Ball bass[/b] [b]GMR bassforce[/b] [b]'Stradi' polish bass[/b] As of 2015:

Still no sign of these basses in the UK. Disappointing....

[quote name='Prosebass' timestamp='1325336610' post='1482220'] Hi Guys I am indeed back on the forum and all PM's have been replied to. Been busy with paid work (making basses doesn't pay much trust me !) but I am now back in the workshop with a few orders and a 'new' idea in the pipeline. [/quote] That's great news!

Very sad. He made my Wal too. He was a lovely guy... very friendly and very talented. RIP, Pete.

I note with weary resignation that nearly all topics concerning the history of the Bass Guitar and it's role in popular music end at the 1980's.

Wonderful bass. Congratulations, Peter.