ian61

Two sets of Chromes both 17 years old. Makes my P basses sound something like a J bridge PU but with more heft.

DP is an exemplary musician indeed. How he plays that fast walking line singing those Rabbit lyrics is a mystery. He's second only to Macca. Scrap that, hes equal to Macca playing and singing bass.

He has extraordinary dexterity, musicality and poise and does 'things' on the bass we havent seen before. But how about if he'd studied say the Cello?... Would the cello world be drooling and fawning over him.... I doubt it. In the world of classical music he would be just another schooled accomplished musician ready to join any top orchestra on the planet.

Thing is where will this all end? We have all grown up understanding, lead, support and rythmn. Maybe Im too old and funky (in a good way..haha) but I simply cannot see how bass will ever be taken seriously as a lead instrument after all isnt it simply ..... to bassy?

The legendary Abe Laboriel was a classical guitarist too and has a similiar dexterity across the board and strums a lot too.....similiar technique.

Hes a talented guy but those vocal things he does Id imagine hes using a multi harmonic vocaliser. Keys in my last band used one...sounded amazing like a choir, clever tho.

Anyone care to get the thread back on track or is that it? 

Its tricky. Singer owns the Vox PA.. thats all fine an dandy, but what then happens to the band dynamic the moment you put ur snare/BD thru it too because the venue doesnt sound right?  Thats the tricky bit, when others start taking advantage, so I can see the singists point when they get peeved. 

I think in a couple of bands I was in we just left all flight cases in front of the band... did the trick.

Play with an AK-47 over ur shoulder!..but seriously. Back in the early 80's when I was playing a lot I dont remember any of this type of behaviour, and I played in a few dives to say the least.... Worlds gone nuts.

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Legend has it this works pretty good. P bass/Rick bass, fresh rounds, heavy plectrum, and the cherry on the top.... Ampeg SVT with "two" 8x10's.  Go on, slay em you know you want to.... Clang!

15 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

My girlfriend managed to name ten bass players well within 5 minutes and without needing to include me.

But surely being with and knowing you, she is not what one might describe in this context as "General Public"

Surely the clue here is . the "General Public", All the above  answers are all from people in the know.  As I eluded to before, ask anyone in the street and I reckon the best youll get is either Sting or Macca... and Im not even convinced about those two. The "Public" havent a  clue when it comes to bass and I dont blame them, its not important.

Thing is which public are we talking about?.  My neighbour says things like. 'What's that dull drone coming from ur house'... 'It's my bass guitar Ainge, I play bass'....Q blank stare as she wonders off.

Whats really repugnant to me is his demeanour and attitude. Its all great fun when ur 17.. snarling spitting and hating on everything..but at nearly 50? Theres angry and there's.. someone simply needs help. 

As above, context. Whats the deal, whats the image? Real R&R/Pop is a young mans game.. where we didn't use music, or word prompts or anything, we rocked up so to speak, got up there and did it.

But yes this thing where older "R&R" performers need prompters all over the stage to my mind just ain't R&R... kinda the musical equivalent of "Dad Jeans or Dad Dancing".  Pit work, show work however is a whole nuther thing where because of the complexity and precision needed, charts and to a lesser extent word prompts is mandatory.

Very much enjoy tinkering with my instruments.

The whole instrument Tech thing is totally unregulated and in my opinion inhabited by cowboys and chancers. In the past had several jobs done by "techs" and for the money I could have done a better job myself ... it really was shocking, and probably why I happily play el cheapo P basses, they are just so simple to fix or modify.

Having said all that proper stringed instrument Luthiers go through a long and rigorous training programme at a number of colleges throughout the UK Europe and are highly skilled artisans.

How to remove "wooliness" on any bass.  Dial back the bass knob and push the mids and, also treble but less so. Get the mids right and the bass component will happen naturally. My P bass wears dead Chromes thru Ampeg and I might as well be playing the bridge PU on a J bass.. only with more heft.

Hates a bit sriong but I vehemently dislike just about everything today that is devoid of interesting melody or chord progression. Chromatic key changes? "whats that".

Its not flippin rocket science, people need to wise up. Ive always been thin plus Ive suffered some persistent health issues for yrs so yes I look a bit ragged round the edges.. and beleive me stage lighting does me no favours at all. So I know I prob look older and less "beautiful" than the others.. and it matters, it certainly matters to me.

23 hours ago, Gasman said:

Oh dear, have I killed another thread stone dead? Sorry, didn't mean to!

Thght I was pretty good at that. Bear in mind this site is predominantly inhabited by young musicians who are not allowed to say it like it is. Anyway there you go, looks like its me whos probably killed this particular thread this time.

Just dawned on me he was a News item across all the networks this week. How many bassists who weren't household names would that happen to...little to none I expect. Amazing.

Trying to nail this and listening too... Im a 70's chart junky, the cheesier the better but I do like my difficult jazz too.

I decided enough was enough when I realised in the vid playback how much younger everyone else looked. Say what you like, in entertainment it really does matter what you look like.

5 hours ago, Belka said:

As great as Herbie was, the album was all Dave Richmond. Live was certainly Herbie though.

And DR played on Je'taime. Was an amazing time to be a session player.