chris_b

I'd like Chris May at Overwater to make 5 string Precision and Jazz basses that weigh 6lbs. Both burst and tort, obviously.

It's the Stones. . . . what do you expect? You can't beat long blond hair, 4" heels and a good cleavage when you're selling rock and roll. It's not going to challenge Honky Tonk Women in the sets of most covers bands. You can hear the big hole left by Charlie but I like it and you know who it is as soon as you hear the first chord. In their 7th decade. . . . good on them.

I spent Covid lockdown on a project to learn all the Stevie Wonder songs from his albums. A year later and I was asked, on stage, if I knew the riff from Master Blaster, because the band leader had a brain-wave to use it as an into and outro to a song. It worked perfectly.

John McVie was my biggest bass playing influence from the 60's and early 70's. I've seen him live more than any other bass player, first with John Mayall, then with Fleetwood Mac. I didn't see the second FM but have all the records. When Buckingham Nicks came onboard he stepped up and created some great bass lines.

Some of you guys obviously have a degree in the splitting of hairs and the picking of nits.

I'm rarely going to like a player if I don't like the band. If I don't like the band I'm probably not going to hear more than a few bars anyway. So not enough time to to like or dislike.

I think it is possible to know the ball-park tone of a bass from the wood it's made from. People know what Ash, Alder, Rosewood, Mahogany and Maple are going to sound like, and they know an Ash bass is not going to sound like an Alder bass. The electrics in passive basses amplifies the string vibrations but the rest of the bass ie wood, hardware etc is working to modify those vibrations. Maybe cheap or poorly made basses are different, but good basses are more like fine wine vs plonk or filter coffee vs instant. He's not wrong, but maybe Carl Thompson's statement is truer for the posh sandwiches of exotic woods that he favours.

Roger Sadowsky said that first an electric bass is an acoustic instrument, then you electrify it. Michael Tobias said he changed the material his bridges were made of because he preferred the sound of the new bridges. Pete Stephens told me that they recommended the woods for their basses depending on the customer's requirements, because the wood created the sound of the bass. So all these world class bass manufacturers don't know what they are talking about, and a bunch of amateur/hobby bass players know better? You guys kill me.

You want reduced weight, reduced number of cabs, more tone and enough volume. . . . check out Barefaced. I run 700 watt Aguilar amps into Barefaced cabs and I've never gone over 11 o'clock on the master volume even in the loudest blues rock band I play in.

"The one" certainly exists for me. When I was playing 4's it was my 1968 Fender Precision. Not the best example of Leo's work, but it was nice to play and got the job done. That was retired when I moved to 5's. Now I have a Sadowsky RV5 Jazz and a Mike Lull PJ5, owned for 8 and 12 years respectively. I own basses so that I can gig. They are a means to an end so I don't get fixated on the chase and ownership part.

This. Absolutely this.

. . . . and the wonderful Freddie Washington on bass for this tour.

My TI's have been on for about 6 years and I don't plan on changing them. . . . ever. There is an interview with some LA session players and apparently Bob Glaub has a Precision with 42 year old La Bella flats. Found it. . . . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSJeXvCqgeo

All threads are conversations, and conversations drift back and forth.

Another . . . .

I had to learn this for a gig last week. Fantastic playing by all concerned, but especially Mr Felder. . . .

I love all live albums. I've got them by Steely Dan, Little Feat, the Band, Edgar Winter, Aretha, Keb Mo, Delbert McClinton, The Stones, Otis Redding, Albert King, Allman Brothers, Clapton, BB King and more.

My only thought is, if you are trying to reduce the weight you carry, why are you stopping half way? My 2p. . . . a good back beats a good price every day. There are plenty of better and lighter cabs out there, but my suggestion is that 2 Barefaced 112's will be as loud as a Dual Showman, have better tone and be 20% of the weight of that TE stack. 2 cabs will give you a lot of flexibility. Put a Trace amp through them and you'll have a better Trace sound than you'd get through Trace cabs.

Everyone knows some music theory. We all know the difference between a root note and the 5, major from minor, A from a G. That's music theory.

There are some pretty stupid posts in this thread. Shame on you. Any musicians who want to gig and make records should do just that. More power to them.

A knowledge of music theory is not a prerequisite for playing bass, or even being a good bass player, but most of the best bassists will know all of this stuff. I've played with several songwriters who didn't know the names of any of the chords or even the notes they were using. That was OK for what they were doing at the time, but it meant they couldn't easily play anyone else's music or songs, or play with other musicians. If we could only talk we couldn't be contributing to Basschat. The fact that we know grammar and can read and write means we can communicate with each other at all levels. Same with playing a musical instrument. The more you know about its language the better you will be at musically communicating your ideas.

I play with a light touch and a low-ish action. I stroke the strings. I find it less tiring, gives me and extended dynamics via a better range of plucking techniques and better timing/accuracy. Dig if you want to, but for me playing hard doesn't improve anything.

I had a 3-Pro for years and it was not gutless.

Lakland always recommended not using rechargeable batteries. So I never did.