risingson

[quote name='Kiwi' timestamp='1362512790' post='2000629'] The interviews written about him show he was very particular about His sound though. [/quote] Definitely, but limited to what was essentially stock Fenders minus the frets + his Acoustic rig to get what he wanted from his bass for the most part I thought. I know he was fond of brand new strings too.

I'm using Status Hotwire flats on my P-Bass at the moment, they're excellent value for money and to my ears sound a bit better than the previous D'Addario Chromes I was using, I'd really recommend them. My next P will likely have Thomastiks on it. [quote name='Myke' timestamp='1362509621' post='2000514'] Doesn't Pino use them? When he's grooving with the R&B peoples? [/quote] For almost everything now, all of his P's are strung with Thomastiks or La Bellas, he drop tunes with the La Bellas with the hip-hop guys as he reckons the tension screws with the neck of the bass apparently! It's possible he uses rounds on his Jaguar bass and I'm positive he uses them on his fretless Musicman.

Jaco likely won't have cared about upgrading his instrument providing that it played well, after all he was rather good on the old electric bass and if something ain't broke then why fix it? Likely he didn't need the hassle. It's also not entirely true that he didn't include at least one or two mods on his instruments, he was known to use P-Bass necks on Jazz basses so that he could get a stretch on with his left hand, something about him cramping up on jazz bass necks.

I could use them for basically anything right now, old or new material, original or cover work, I'm really starting to come round to the idea of using them all of the time. I still like rounds though as well.

The Chromeo one is so cool, I am a massive fan as well!

[quote name='Chrismanbass' timestamp='1362351663' post='1998919'] hence why i don't necessarily tell people i go to tech when i'm networking unfortunately its too easy to get tarred with the same brush before people know you [/quote] Yes absolutely, it's almost a hinderance in some cases. I don't mean to appear bitter about it all either, I made more than a few contacts and got plenty a gig from my college, it's good experience if you're the right kind of person, but there is probably a bit of a stigma appearing surrounding music colleges.

Perhaps I'm wrong but I didn't find the last M5-24 I played completely dissimilar to my Musicman Ray 5, flat and very manageable.

[quote name='SlapbassSteve' timestamp='1362350818' post='1998896'] I'm currently just about bothering with the third year of a music degree which is increasingly looking like a total waste of time and money, due to an apparent rather snobbish total lack of respect for popular music in all but a select few lecturers... [/quote] You've got to be at LIPA I studied for two years there before I dropped out, for a lot of reasons really but mostly because of the dawning realisation that I wasn't getting anything out of Uni that I couldn't be doing on my own. There is an upside to studying at a music college in as much as it affords you a decent set of contacts for later life, but then you've got to ask yourself whether those contacts you have in your phone could have simply been compiled through your own hard work and diligence working hard freelancing as a musician by yourself. None of the graduates from my year are necessarily doing any better than I am, most are struggling along doing almost exactly what I'm doing which is doing the best youcan to make ends meet. [quote name='Chrismanbass' timestamp='1362351004' post='1998902'] Thats Phil Simmonds he went to Tech Music School however i would say that he's the exception rather than the rule for us that study bass at uni from what i understand phil got that gig by being a phenomenal player and networking relentlessly the whole time he was at uni [/quote] He's not the exception though, that's just what it takes. Working day and night to get the work that he wanted. Too many musicians wandering into music colleges and hoping for the best when they come out, like a degree affords you something and of course it doesn't, it's just a slip of paper in this line of work.

My parents learnt during my grammar school years that grounding me when I didn't do homework was hopeless, the way to really create any kind of meaningful punishment was to stop me from playing my bass. They considered doing it once or twice but they never could bring themselves to do it. I'm 23, nearly 24. Up until March last year my plans were very much to make a living from playing music. This had been reasonably successful up until one or two setbacks forced me to rethink my position and I've had to take up a temporary job to fill a gap between the times that I'm performing and recording and the times I am not. I am probably at the position where I'm almost ready to drop my job and get back to focusing on making my living from music, the hardest question nowadays for people my age (indeed anyone trying to live from being a musician) is how you make that living and what you deem as an acceptable salary to afford you the life that you desire. It's a really hard place to hammer out any kind of living. I know guys who are playing for moderate to big name artists as session musicians making considerably less than I could from playing a year's worth of weddings with cover bands, and conversely I could be playing with my originals band and making moderate to little headway into signing with a decent label and doing a tour, again for very little money. It's got to a stage where I'm now trying to consolidate where I fit in as a musician, am I to be considered a hired gun and make a little for myself or do I push for more with the hope of making something big of myself only to be rewarded with very little in return? There really aren't any easy answers and things are only getting harder and harder, the best I can do is spread myself thin and hope for the best. [quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1362342587' post='1998724'] I'm reminded of a (possibly not true) story about McCartney and Harrison, IIRC, taking a long bus journey across Liverpool to meet someone who knew how to play a B7 chord. [/quote] Love that story, be it true or not, the difference nowadays being that if you need to learn how a B7 chord works then you simply Youtube a video tutorial of it. Music is so incredibly far removed from what it used to be.

Don't know how you guys can bear it to be quite honest! Sounds like a right racket.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1362090045' post='1995768'] in the real world the sound that most artists and record producers want on their recordings is a Fender Precision Bass or a Fender Jazz Bass played with your fingers , a pick , or very occasionally (but basically never) slapped . [/quote] Fixed

Nothing wrong with you, it just means that your taste in instruments has properly refined! Seriously, P-Basses do it far more for me than anything else nowadays. You get a totally fundamental bass sound that can be used on any kind of recording and at any kind of gig. Have all the custom ACGs you want but nothing sounds like a P-Bass other than a P-Bass, there is a reason for their success.

You jammy git! Off to NYC in a month's time, will definitely be swinging by to see the new Queens factory. I'm sure you'll be delighted with the end product matey.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1361873584' post='1992097'] It's a ridiculous quote really isn't it. I feel sure he doesn't stand by it. It's complete bullshit. [/quote] +1, silly, probably said to make an impression but it isn't true. Still though, much as I like 5 strings, it would be a 4 string for me also!

My girlfriend has no care at all about how many instruments I buy and own, she is baffled however about how basses or guitars could possibly sound different to each other but hey, I can't have everything now can I.

Despite recent threads where I've argued a lot over certain past band's lasting influence and how much I've enjoyed their music... ([size=1]The Beatles[/size][size=3]), [size=4]I'm still really really keen on new music and I'm really into electronic stuff like Active Child, Burial, Tensnake and Flume, seeing as it's the kind of stuff that's getting pumped out a lot that I really enjoy I couldn't say I'd be keen to see the flow of new music cut off anytime soon. [/size][/size]