chris_b

What have I discovered and what can I share? These are just common sense and have been in many threads on Basschat in the last 10 years. Effective bass lines are the best. Simple bass lines are the most effective. A good "Adam Clayton" is worth his weight in gold. An almost good "Jaco" misses by a mile. Your groove is more important than your sound. Obviously don't sound bad, but what you play beats the sound of your gear every time. The audience or your mates might tell you you sound good, but if you're a good player you'll be asked to join bands. Get the basics right. Second nature, so you can't play it wrong. Then you can focus on the good stuff. Learn to keep good time. Don't count but feel the beats. Play every note exactly in time.The basic difference between the world's best and semi pro is the quality of the timing. If you're going to stand in front of an audience, bring your best game. Every time. It doesn't matter if they are not listening or there is one man and a dog. Go home knowing that you couldn't have given any more, even if you were playing the Albert Hall. Learn to sing. Bv's are a bare minimum and will make you more valuable to your band.

Me neither. I'd spent about a year playing bass lines on the bottom 4 strings of my terrible Spanish guitar and buying the real thing just seemed to be the next logical step. When I got it home I didn't have the first idea what to do with it! After a week or 2 the flood gates opened and in the next 2 years I learnt 99% of everything I've played ever since.

I was in Andertons today. All the guys were very friendly but I was only looking for a 2 U rack case and they don't do them!. They have a lot of Sire basses on the wall, about 17 in all, but they were all over my weight limit or I might have had one.

I bought my first bass on 14th August 1965 and started gigging on 20th November 1966. I bought the bass and amp in the first year then had to wait till the next summer holidays to earn enough to buy the cab. In some respects nothing has changed. My Duck Dunn bass lines still fit into all the bands I play in. . . with Little Richard, Bruno Mars and Jessie Jay songs alike. Then it seems like you blink and everything has changed.

I've done some shockers. Irish clubs in Willesden and WMC clubs all over the place (I had to buy a black bow-tie for those gigs!) and US EM clubs in Germany. I even played in a friends Dixieland Jazz band for awhile. It doesn't stop. Last week I did an awful gig in a West London Bingo hall the size of T5. Don't feel sorry. . . . I got well paid for all of them!

I've been in bands who have been asked to turn down. Been told we're not coming back because of the volume and seen many gigs restrained and actually closed down by neighbours. Not my fault (I blame the band leader, I was just following orders!). So yes, volume is killing gigs. Standing in the middle of it, it's also killing me.

Apparently Buddy Guy spent ages playing in the style of other guitarists on his gigs. He did Hendrix, BB KIng etc, I guess he was showing off. Then he asked the audience to suggest another guitarist he could do. My mate in the second row shouted back, "Play like Buddy Guy FFS!"

Stevie Wonder was taught many of his instruments by the Funk Brothers. As jazz players playing a lot of horn oriented music they would have mostly used flat keys. He probably picked it up the Eb thing then.

Yes. That never sounded right to me either.

I guess some of us have OCD when it comes to cables and some don't! I play with several guitarists who stand on a pile of cables on every gig. And guess what? They're always crapping out during sound check and in the middle of gigs. At the other end of the scale, I also know 2 singers who won't let anyone touch their PA and instrument cables. If you try to help they have to unwind everything and do them again. Whirlwind instrument cables used to be sold with a 25 year guarantee. I always thought that was a bit optimistic, but 5 years ago my Whirlwind came to the end of its guarantee period and it's still working just fine. My OCD makes me hate when people run cables across my space on stage. All the guys I play with have finally got the message, any PA, power or instrument cables have to run behind my amp.

At the end of a gig the singer was winding up. He said, "Thank you, we've had a great night." "It wasn't this one, but. . . . "

As the OP is talking about $10 cables I guess he's in the US and is probably not going to ship OBBM's cables across the Atlantic. Although they are the best I've used in years. If you want to find out about cables, go to Youtube and search for something like, Taking care of cables.

I'd add the Quilter BB800m to the list. I heard one paired with a Super Compact and it is a great combination. My main amps are an Aguilar AG700 and a TH500. Aguilar are hard to beat when it comes to making basses sound good.

. . . . it's called dynamics.

Last weekend I did 3 gigs, 6 sets, using my favourite bass which weighs just over 9 1/2lbs. By halfway thorough gig 2, my back, shoulder and neck were in a lot of discomfort. By the middle of gig 3 I had to switch and did the last set with my P bass, about 8 1/2lbs. No more pain or backache. Many things can help. Do exercise, do Pilates, build up your muscles, improve your posture but my bottom line is, if you have these "issues" and 1lb can make such a difference, reducing the weight of your bass and gear is something that should be at the top of your to-do list.

Very sad news. He was the reason I started buying Joni Mitchell records and the reason I bought Hot Rats, my first and last Frank Zappa record.

Well, they do, so you should be wondering why you don't understand something so fundamental to public musical performance.

I've played Summer of 69 in several bands. I think it's a good song, I like playing it. Does it really matter what notes they played on the record? If you've got a 5 string bass and can use the low D great, or play it an octave up. Each will work just as well as the other.

Too many favourite bass lines to list, but, for me, these have to go at the top of the list . . . Little Feat, Spanish Moon (Kenny Gradney) Mean and moody, contains one of the best drum breaks ever put on record. Sly and the Family Stone, Thank You (Larry Graham) When I first heard this in early 1970, on a US Air Base jukebox, I played it 20 times in a row. Aretha Franklin, Rock Steady (Chuck Rainey) I still can't get that middle 8! Jean Knight, Mr Big Stuff (Vernie Robbins) The first time I heard this, I had to pull the car over until it finished. Keb Mo, Just Like You (Hutch Hutchinson) Beautiful, tasteful bass lines. Stevie Wonder, Do I Do (Nate Watts) I don't like the tone he gets but this is a tour de force of bass playing. Keb Mo, Muddy Water (Reggie McBride) Great tone, pure class.

IMO these are great amps, they have their own sound and the one thing they are not going to do is sound like your Eden. I found the TH500 to be pretty intuitive. I kept the drive switched off until I'd got a sound I liked out of the rest of the amp.

If you are never going to gig then a small amp like the Ampeg pf20t would be an idea, or any 200 watt amp. But if there are gigs in the future I'd get a good 500 watt amp. One that sounds good at low volume and can be cranked as well. That's my Aguilar amps to a T. I'm learning some songs for the weekend playing along to the laptop in my front room and I'm using my Aguilar TH500 and 2 BF One10's. As quiet as you want it to be and bags of great tone.

Apparently Sadowsky has split the ranges between dealers. I'm not sure about Bass Direct (but they are a dealer), the Bass Gallery only handles NYC basses and Guitar Guitar Metro basses. I believe Thoman does them all. If you can buy the bass from a dealer here you might not be troubled by HMRC. Email Sadowsly to ask who is the dealer for the series you want.

Love it. 2 drums and a hi-hat. Love that especially.

IMO if we all agreed it would be great. Who doesn't like being patted on the back and told their views are spot on. Tell me you think I'm right. . . that never gets boring!

On a gig, in any genre, JB always gave 110%. I bought Songs For A Taylor and Harmony Row (he started to lose me after that) and saw JB with Tony Williams Lifetime, at the Marquee, and with John Walters big band all over London (all exciting gigs). Didn't buy any Cream records though. After seeing the gigs the recordings didn't do them justice.