chris_b

Fantastic drumming. Damon Sawyer engineered several albums I did when he was in the Reading area.

I've got this. My Sadowsky Metro has a feel and a sound that just works for me. It's a little on the heavy side so I've tried several other Metros and even an NYC and none of them felt or sounded as good.

I agree. Many things that can lose you the gig. It's a fickle business. PS but why was Will Lee there in the first place?

I play 2 or 3 hours a day, 2 or 3 times a week. After 11 months, I should be a slap expert, but still haven't managed to get all the way through the first slap video I picked. I've kept my interest going by working on songs, ie choosing an artist and playing my way through their albums. First was Stevie Wonder, then Joni Mitchell, Bobby Bland, Kylie Minogue and others. Most recently I've gone through 15 of John Hiatt's 20 albums. Hiatt was easy to play but an emphasis on melodic playing rather than technique gave it it's own challenges. Next on the to-do list is Robben Ford, followed by Chic, some Motown and probably Daryl's House.

The point is, most bass players work within a narrow band of tone. Does the 80/20 rule fit here? It probably does, so 80% of the bass players (pro and semi-pro) are using 20% of the available tone. The differences in tone between these players is small but most are differentiated by what they play, not how they sound. Players like Chris Squire and JJ Burnell are in the 20%. They are way outside of the mainstream of bass players tones. Maybe that is what makes them stand out, but interestingly, their sound is not as widely copied as their popularity would suggest. There are bass players all over the world who got the gig because they were a mate, but I know of no bass players who get gigs just because they sound good. Good players get gigs, no matter how they sound, because of what and how they play.

I'd have preferred the dots to be scrolling across the screen rather than jumping from one side to the other. Made it pretty much unreadable for me.

The Gallery is a great place for a visit. I haven't bought much/enough there, but always get a "long lost friend" greeting from Martin. I still don't know if that is for me or whether he does that with everyone.

What's wrong with the Hosco? Any BBOT is going to look pretty similar.

Forget the concept of "The One"! Stop being so picky and focus on being a better player. I'm not saying we shouldn't buy better basses, but obsessing over a mythical creature is a waste of energy. As per the Marcus Miller post, love the "one" you're with.

Sessions exist, but not in the way they did in the past. I know a local online drummer who, a few years ago, was on a project with Chuck Rainey. Online is where the work is these days. I just lost a friends album due to the lockdown, and because I don’t do remote recording.

I bought my Bergs from the barn as well.

Absolutely. We have lost a few in recent years, but we need as many businesses selling quality bass gear as we can get.

All my purchases from Bass Direct were when Mark ran the place on his own. I used to drop in if I was driving past on the way to a gig. I have nothing but good experiences of that time. I had one negative experience after he employed a couple of guys to work in the shop. IMO they were the stereotypical "I'm cool, I work in a music shop" guys, that I'd seen in the West End shops from the 60's onwards. I didn't warm to them or their approach/attitude. I have no inside knowledge here, but seems that reports of negative experiences have stemmed from that time.

. . . and when BP puts the shuffle together, the bassist plays everything but a shuffle!! Forget the shuffle, this is a promo for the bass player. Not necessarily a bad thing, just not the Purdy Shuffle on bass.

I didn't even own 2 basses until I'd been playing nearly 40 years. My owning 2 basses actually predates joining Basschat, but this place certainly makes it easier to own more stuff.

Neither did I until about 10 years ago. Back in the day musicians didn't carry spares or backups, well, I didn't know anyone who did, we couldn't afford to. No one had any money.

Isn't this the NXT range with a different grill?

If that's the case they shouldn't be anywhere near your recording. If you haven't got someone in charge whose opinion you can trust you're screwed.

Yep. That's why producers exist and do the job they do. Musicians are usually too focussed on their individual efforts and don't consider the performance of the band as a whole.

I used to record demos for a songwriter at his home studio. He would run through the song, give us one or two practice runs and then record. He was a "capture the energy of the moment" guy and was always looking to use the first or second takes!! That's a lot of pressure when you are a "get better over time" type of player!

Don't they all have the same hair cuts in NK? One bass I could live with but not that!!

Some times warts n all is good, but I would be "repairing" for weeks if it were left up to me. My sense of objectivity goes out the window when the red light comes on. I always used to leave it up to the guys in charge to decide when we were done.

If your moisture concerns are accurate, put the strings in a sealed plastic bag with a handful of uncooked rice.

I put GHS flatwound strings on my Jazz bass as an experiment. IMO they made it sound too close to my Precision. I don't want two basses sounding the same so I put D'Addario NYXL's on the Jazz and it came to life.

Listening to your playing can be enlightening. When minidiscs came out I recorded everything and used them as a learning tool. Sadly the recorder broke and I can't play them anymore. It would be interesting (maybe not!) to go back 20 years and compare.