Dr.Dave

Didn't Lee Sklar have his Precision's pups reversed?

[quote name='OldGit' post='587213' date='Sep 2 2009, 09:43 AM'].......... No mention of moon june croon spoon? [/quote] Talking of Bing - I watched the Les Paul thing on Beeb4 last night - I never realised he did the guitar solo on 'long long time'. Now THAT's a guitar solo.

I think it's cheesy and a bit comical too - certainly not deep , meaningful or challenging. and the problem with that is......?

I'm man enough - I've thought for a while we could use a couple of diasy rocks in the ZZ trib. Band brain storming session tonight , as we tend to do every so often , if I can persuade our guitar player to consider one too I'll have this on the watch list.

I've dealt with Chris in the past but today he stepped aside from a deal of his own purely to help me out. I'd like to publicly thank him and let everyone know what a gentleman he is.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='586316' date='Sep 1 2009, 10:33 AM']You can always tell when a tab is going to be wrong. It says, "this tab is definitely 100% correct" at the top [/quote] I find that a comment/explanation starting with the words 'Hey dudes' is just as good an indicator !!!

basslines that everyone plays differently.................... ........all of them , I hope. Certainly all mine are. Bassline that I've seen played wrongly by folk attempting to play it like the recorded version - which isn't the same thing to me - Crazy Little Thing Called Love I just googled it and even many of the tabs are wrong

A fair price rather than a great one , I think , and a tempting excuse to go to Hebden Bridge which is quite a bonny spot.

Not really in the spirit of the thread but a pic of a bass that I enjoy to show that you don't need a 3 grand bass to inspire yourself or others. About 25 years ago I was picked up for a gig and the drummer had brought most of a Fender musicmaster bass with him. The guitarist donated a strat pickup , I brought strings and we made it work in the back of the car going to Pudsey using insulating tape. I played it that night with a camera strap screwed to the body as we had no strap pins. Drummer had just bought it for coppers to get his son to learn to play and he said the lad would be made up if he knew it was good enough for me to play on stage. He was too young to go in pubs , hence the pic to show him it was a 'pro's' instrument he could get good enough to gig with some day. 25 years on - the lad's a pro guitarist working the Canary Islands. Worth all the pratting about in the back of a car , I'd say. I went to see him while I was on hol a couple of years back - he had me playing with the band in Puerto Del Carmen and afterwards kept rattling on to his mates about the old Musicmaster , which he still has,treasures and uses. It still has the strat pup still wired in with insulating tape!!!

I bought this model about 3 weeks back from Soundslive. Quite uncanny that I'd write my impressions exactly like the previous review - esp regarding the amp settings. I do like the warmth from the valve pre and setting it to max def. sounds best to my ears. Style switch on 2 is def. the best to my ears and I doubt it'll ever get turned again.I've done 2 smallish pub gigs with it and it held it's own with a loud drummer and a Boogie guitar combo - though I wouldn't like to use it for larger gigs. There's a -15db input as well as 'normal'. It would have been at least as cheap , and much neater , to just have a pad switch. No mute switch - something I'm used to too. I too felt a bit let down by the lack of kettle lead (just seems such a cheapskate thing to do) - the socket for which is poorly sited making it fiddly and tight to get the plug in. One 'flaw' , I feel , is the kickback design. It's far too sensetive. The combo seems to naturally want to kick itself back , requiring hardly any pressure to do so. I think this could be solved with shallower feet , they're too big. The single central handle is fine , though it is bulky for a one hand lift , maybe side handles would have been better and I may put some on. The manual is basic , but fine - though I could have done with Ampeg bothering to tell me how to change the valve , that would have been nice. I just can't think why I'd ever use the CD input - there must be a reason or it wouldn't be there , but I'm aware some other Ampeg combo's have a built in tuner and I'd have loved to have had that instead. I really think Ampeg would sell this model by the shed load had they included the tuner. Nit picking aside - I'm very happy with the Ampeg. It's not small but it's not too heavy either - perfect choice for small gigs and practise. It's sound is full and warm and a quick dabble with the xlr line -out revealed a decent level heading off to the mixer. I'm sure using it as a 'monitor' would be fine - but I'm a backline man myself. There's a wealth of combo's aimed at this market and I don't see anything that would stand the Ampeg above many of it's rivals - but it is an Ampeg , it sounds like an Ampeg , and though they may be asking a few too many quid for the badge you do get the feeling it's a serious bit of kit.

[quote name='Jean-Luc Pickguard' post='582455' date='Aug 27 2009, 02:04 PM']It'll hurt to see it go, but apparently I 'have too many basses'. Whatever that means. [/quote] It means you forgot to say 'shift half a dozen of those 200 pairs of f****g shoes and I'll stand it there out of the way'

[quote name='ped' post='581799' date='Aug 26 2009, 07:39 PM']maybe we should open the whole 'do you need lines' can of worms! ped[/quote] Ermmmmmmm................................... ..........Nah - maybe not !!!!!!!!

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='581610' date='Aug 26 2009, 04:54 PM']+1 When I eventually get a custom-job made (ACG hopefully in the pipeline), I'm definitely having a side-dot at the 1st fret position. Headache over.[/quote] It sounds a great idea but do you think it'll actually help much? From the angle/distance from first fret to eyes it might be a world of difference on each individual string in terms of line of sight. Tell you what - I'll sort it out - gig on Sat and I'll tippex a first fret dot in - will report back Sunday.

[quote name='ped' post='581616' date='Aug 26 2009, 05:03 PM']Luckily mine has dots and lines on the side of the neck.[/quote] Nothing at all wrong with that - whatever helps an individual achieve their aim is a good thing. Fret lines get me all confused though - odd - I'm a pretty visual creature but they just don't work for me.

[quote name='JBassist' post='581703' date='Aug 26 2009, 06:34 PM']im 15 and been playing bass for nearly 2 years, i can play pretty fast as well as slap and tap also am pretty good at theory i know i can just keep improving getting more fast/accurate but id like to explore other things any suggestions :):)[/quote] Yes. Practise playing well rather than just fast. When you know you can you'll know I was right. and - as folk are saying - play with people. A band , a jam session , a mate - anybody. Learning curve straight through the roof. Well done to have achieved so much at your young age - but there's so much more than technical skills. They're just tools to help you build things , not an end in themselves. Keep learning , matey - you'll love it - I'm 47 and I do.

[quote name='Beedster' post='581526' date='Aug 26 2009, 03:58 PM']Have to agree really, most of the fretless books and vids aren't a whole lot of help with technique, they're just transcriptions or exercises you could have worked out for yourself. I think this means there are very few real secrets to good fretless playing that aren't also the secrets of good bass playing. I did my first 100% fretless gig two weeks ago and loved it. A year ago that would have seemed impossible, in fact, I would not have risked one single fretless song on stage. Fretted bass had the right hump at the end of the evening though [/quote] Me too - my first 100%er a fortnight ago today - though I've used it on odd tunes for years. I seem to get by fairly naturally - about the only thing I need to work on is getting 2nd 'fret' bang on , bloody big gap from nut to 3rd. I def. recommend just going for it and not telling yourself it's a massive leap from fretted.

You're talking about the mounting ferrule as well as the jack socket - mine spun round a lot so I made a pre-emptive strike and epoxied it in. The jack itself - nail varnish on the threads and the washer will stay put - loctite can 'lock tight' so I avoid it.

Hello .........my name's 'Dave'....(gulp) and I play in a tribute band (smattering of applause) (bloke with ginger beard, elbow patches and 'Hey - I care' T shirt stands up) - 'Thanks for sharing that with us 'Dave' - very brave ' Being a musical prostitute and pariah amongst other musicians I'm only interested in cash. The audience love it but f**k 'em , what do I care. It's a bitch flying to places I've never been before and meeting great people but the money's got to be good or they can f**k off too. The young bands that support us - sure we pay them a proper fee and look after them but it's only for show. Charity fundraisers - screw the charity as long as my face goes in the paper. My other band doing our own support ?? Well , I could say that if folk who don't go see pub bands normally enjoy it enough to start going and seeing other pub bands - but really it's just so we don't have to pay any other f**ker and keep all the brass. Greed - that's why I do it.

I don't - unless you count very basic schoolboy stuff. I haven't found it's hampered me at all in any of the bass gigs I've done over the years but I do think it's a bloody useful skill and maybe I'd have had better - or at least different - gigs if I did read. I've never figured 'tab'. If you're going to learn a reading skill why not take the time and learn the better one. I'm sure someone will explain why that attitude is simplistic.

Seeing sunburst Fenders on Top of the Pops in the early 70's - thought 'I want one'

Nip down PC world , get some of that sticky back paper , grab the logo of t'internet , photoshop it and print your own. Stick it to a bit of plastic cut to size and epoxy it to the grill - or cut a bit of metal to size and bolt/rivet/stick it on that way. Here you go - template for you. [url="http://www.islandmusic.co.uk/shop/img/categoryImages/Trace_Elliot_Logo_thumb.jpg"]http://www.islandmusic.co.uk/shop/img/cate..._Logo_thumb.jpg[/url]

[quote name='Ba55me15ter' post='572742' date='Aug 18 2009, 11:37 AM']I had one installed for a short while but found the shifted tuning too confusing. It was basically a case of 'aim two frets higher than normal on the bottom string' whenever it was in dropped mode. Maybe it was a harder for me as I'm used to the drop-D on a Kubicki Factor where everything stays the same. A much better system in my opinion![/quote] Pretty much was I was saying - and I agree the Kubicki system solves the problem , always fancied one. As someone said though you can't part with 50 brick and install that system on just about any bass you fancy. I suppose my issue with the hipshot opens up the 5 string debate or playing a 4 string in drop d tuning. Hipshots work very well BUT are they the answer to your problems?

Fitted and set up properly - not a hard thing to do - they work fine. I put one on my Shuker , E to D and back prob free. The issue for me is - if you're a 'pattern' player like me - suddenly you're 2 steps out , and that takes a fair bit of getting your head around. I suppose if you're learning something new it's less of a problem - drop to D and learn the line - but I find it hard to just chuck my stock runs in willy nilly because it's out of step. I sing a fair bit and I need to have my finger memory doing the bass line while I concentrate on the vocal - so it's hard for me.