chris_b

Jack Bruce [i]was[/i] an uber-widdler, and to absolutely great effect in Cream. He was the defining musician in that band. Without him, his playing, singing and songs they'd have just been yet another blues band. Having said that, Jack Bruce is the wrong person to base being a bass player on. His playing situations were unique and mostly he was in his own band, probably because he didn't work too well being told what to do in someone else's band.

I'm sure I've done some gigs that would qualify. It's a good job my anonymity remains intact.

Hold your nerve. The band [i]will[/i] sound different and maybe even "wrong", but if you work through the acclimatisation period it will sound better in the end. Don't panic and try to plug the holes or make it sound like the old band. It isn't that band any more. Good luck.

Becoming the only lead instrument is a big change. I hope the "second" guitarist can step up enough to "front" the band. Good Luck. It sounds like you made the right decision anyway.

Over the years I've mostly played in trios and all you need to do is get a good sound and play your bass lines. In one of my bands the guitarist can stop playing altogether when he's singing. We just carry on as bass and drums until he comes back in. Nothing is "missing" when that happens. Don't think you have to "fill in" and/or compensate for a "missing" instrument. It's just a different sound and feel, uncluttered and dynamic, I love it. Learn about "light and shade". The bass and drums is a layer and the guitar and voice are other layers. As long as you keep your layer "together" it doesn't matter what the others are doing or even if they are there or not.

You don't need to change your sound so use your current tone and turn up a little. You don't need to play any more notes. You're not compensating for anything. The band won't sound as "full" but that will be a good thing. Be solid, enjoy the spaces and embrace being clearly heard.

I don't. I've never owned a pedal. Am I missing something?

Same for my amps. The TH500 works perfectly with my Bergantino cabs but doesn't sound so good with the Barefaced cabs. The Thunderfunk works really well with any cab I've owned. If the Subway can outperform either of those amps with both sets of cabs then it's on the Wanted List.

[quote name='cameltoe' timestamp='1448715029' post='2917596'] If I hadn't have moved to floating thumb i'd still be struggling with the anchor-and-stretch. [/quote] What ever works for you. That might work for the OP but I'm just saying, trying to learn 2 things at the same time makes both more difficult. My Luddite view is that everyone who has recorded octave type bass lines in the last 60 years has not used floating thumb, so that technique is not a pre requisite for playing octaves. Here is Roscoe Beck with an octave bass line that will stretch most players, and he's using the standard moving-fixed-thumb style. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSU5NoqnK1E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSU5NoqnK1E[/url]

Don't get hung up on floating thumb. Learn one thing at a time. Just practice every song you can find with octave jumps. That'll be a lot of Disco, I'm afraid, but you need to accurately jump up to the octave in many genres. You can use the index finger for the lower note and the middle finger for the higher note. Rock your hand (and wrist) to help reach the notes. I find a fixed thumb helps doing this. More numbers with octaves and 2 string jumps; Car Wash by Rose Royce and Don't Leave Me This Way by Thelma Houston.

I also don't bother with watts. I just get more than "enough" and use the volume controls to bring the volume down to what I need. My 500 and 630 watt amps are running at between 30% and 50% on the volume controls. My thoughts were that anyone only needing a 200 watt amp must actually only be using 100 watts. If you want 200 watts and that's the ball park I'm in, you need 400 ish, so the available 500 watt amps are a good fit for a loud, clean, and fat sound. My Barefaced cabs seem to convert watts into SPL very efficiently and a 300 watt amp might be a good fit with them, but I don't buy amps for particular cabs.

There are a couple of Aguilar TH500's in the For Sale section. Mine sounds great in all my bands.

Phil, I'm not disagreeing with you. But some people seem to be questioning the use of more powerful amps and observing you don't need more than 200 watts. My view is that if I was using 200 watts I'd have a 500 watt amp just ticking over and not a 200 watt amp running flat out.

[quote name='Phil Starr' timestamp='1448556735' post='2916454'] 200W through a decently efficient but unexceptional speaker will give you 120dB. [/quote] Are you suggesting that is 200w out of a 200w amp?

[quote name='ubit' timestamp='1448520443' post='2916037'] I was reminded today about a band that I wish I'd seen called Fanny, purely because I would have loved a tour t shirt! [/quote] I saw Fanny at Brunel Uni. They had a couple of good covers like Ain't That Peculiar, but apart from that they really weren't worth the bus fare. Sadly, I gave up a Zoot Money gig to see them.

[quote name='Davo-London' timestamp='1448449714' post='2915462'] . . . there is something else going on. [/quote] I'd agree. Sounds like technique related more than strings or even set up.

. . . . got it. . . . and Rock Of Ages, which I prefer.

There were a few bands I should have made more of an effort to see, The Who, Bowie, The Move etc, but I didn't, I guess because I wasn't interested enough in them at the time. I saw many of the bands listed above and many more. I've seen most of the bands in my record collection, with the exception of The Band. I'm sorry I missed those guys.

The shortcomings of tab is that you have to already know the song before it makes any sense. You can read the dots and play any piece of music even if you've never heard before. That's why tab is a kids bike with stabilisers, while dots are a Trek Emonda.

I have the treble control between 1 and 2 o'clock on my TH500. You can definitely hear the difference from 12 o'clock, but it is a subtle difference. This amp mainly sits right where I want it.. . . in the mid to low mid range. Sounds very good with my Bergs and Barefaced cabs. In 2 years I didn't use the drive control, but recently I've been experimenting with it.

[quote name='sunburstjazz1967' timestamp='1448276913' post='2914034'] Should I be exploring either avenues? [/quote] Yes. Try everything and always sound the best you can. Reading music opens up many more playing opportunities and, as always, being good comes down to how much practice time you're willing to put in. My hero, Duck Dunn, spent 60 years only playing a 4 string P bass, but I'd say play the bass you want to play and feel comfortable with. I use 5 string basses because I can play one bass and it will fit in every genre of music. I've played a 5 er in an acoustic duo, covering synth parts in pop covers bands and in a Led Zep tribute band. It doesn't matter what instruments were used to record the originals, the only thing that matters is how you and the bass sound when you're playing the numbers. That's always down to you and not the instrument you're playing.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1448275380' post='2914020'] Meths is good. [/quote] Meths [i]is[/i] good. After 1/2 a pint you can't tell how dead your strings are. I don't like the sound of new strings, which is fortunate because I couldn't afford 12 or more sets of strings a year. I used DR Lo-Riders for a long time. IMO they sounded terrible for the first week and when they sounded terrible at the other end of the scale they got changed. For me they were about 9 or 10 months old when the deadness started to annoy. That was about 100 gigs. I have Dunlop Super Brights on a bass at the moment. It doesn't get played much but they have stayed "bright", although not twangy, for the longest time I have known in a set of bass strings. About a year.

No he hasn't. The BH heads weren't made at that time. He's talking about how loud these heads are and how will they fit into different playing situations. All reasonable questions. If you're only playing at home or in a rehearsal room or in a quiet band then a 250 watt amp might be OK, but for any normal gigging band I'd get the 500 watt head. You can always turn down.

[quote name='sprocketflup' timestamp='1448145871' post='2913354'] my fretting hand has been cramping up during shows, quite painfully at times. [/quote] Cramping where, exactly. Thumb, palm, wrist, fore arm? Are all your basses sitting at the same height and angle when you play them? How are high are the strings on the bass you can't play compared to the ones you can? Does your hand cramp up on the same numbers each time? Have you tried playing the numbers you cramp up on with another bass to see what happens?