EssentialTension

Fender Precision but I could live with a Jazz if I had to. A standard model would do, don't need a masterbuilt. In fact a Squier CV would do. Fodera, I don't really know what they are but I'm also not interested.

[quote name='ped' timestamp='1327864690' post='1517920'] Err... no moderator has done anything in any way connected with this thread (apart from i know one moderator entered the competition). It looks like iBass didn't give the competition much thought and clearly don;t know how best to use a forum. Not everyone does. Perhaps they just made a mistake. [/quote] Where is this competition? I might want to enter.

[quote name='mercuryl' timestamp='1327871238' post='1518098'] I didn't think any mod had done anything. I think that the OP in the iBass competition decided to silence me after I made IMHO relevant comments. But look, I don't care. Forums are for free speech and opinions. If iBass want to silence people whose opinions they don't like, then that's okay by me. If I said anything that bad, a mod would have dealt with it - but I didn't. Just thought others would want to know how they acted in this matter. [/quote] How have they silenced you? You don't appear very silent.

[quote name='norvegicusbass' timestamp='1327871384' post='1518102'] Forgot to mention Flea left a very large unflushed turd in my new toilet just incase a few of you were still undecided [/quote] That can't be true because if it was true then Les would have cleaned it all up before you saw it.

[quote name='wingnutkj' timestamp='1327658046' post='1514770'] Both of them play on Tom Waits' new album. Les is on one track ... [/quote] In that case, I have now knowingly heard him. I still say it's not a competition.

IBTL

On the strings issue: I recently bought a boring plain wood Thomann 22. Before ordering, I emailed to ask what strings were fitted and the answer was 'metal ones'. I got them to fit some Spirocores before they sent it to me.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1327762338' post='1516399'] I basically 'correct' the attitude of the bridge while I'm tensioning the string, so if it's not up to pitch yet but the bridge is leaning I'll tap it back into place and continue winding. But to answer your question I suppose you shouldn't wait until the strings are up to pitch because by correcting the bridge you will create more tension and sharpen them a little. Edit: I should add that I haven't really needed to do this on my current bass since I started changing one string at a time (one off, one on, one off, etc.). It's more of a problem when you're starting from a position of having no strings on the bass or changing the bridge or something. [/quote] Thanks for that.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1327701126' post='1515760'] I'm surprised you can move it "easily" to be honest, but maybe I'm too soft. It's not really that you want to move the whole bridge though: When tensioning up strings the top edge of the bridge will sometimes tend to tilt towards the nut because the strings drag it that way. So you'd be trying to move the top of the bridge in relation to the feet, rather than moving the whole thing. Hope that makes sense. If it does happen to you then you'll see what I mean, and for me a tap or three with the spine of a book near the strings was a good solution to get it back perpendicular to the body. [/quote] Am I correct that you do the book thing with the strings up to pitch and then bring them back up to pitch again afterwards and repeat if necessary?

[quote name='Bass_man219' timestamp='1327445397' post='1511507'] Title says it all really but I want to know who and your reasons [/quote] I've never knowingly heard Claypool, and I've little interest in RHCP or the Fleaman. More importantly, it's not a competition, you're mixing it up with the Olympics, which is a competition.

Probably needs a pickguard.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1327535965' post='1513205'] It is. You can either execute a technique or you can't. There's nothing subjective about it really. [/quote] You might just as well say you can either play tastefully or you can't. There's nothing subjective about it really.

[quote name='skej21' timestamp='1327532558' post='1513139'] The problem is, technical ability is quantifiable... 'taste' is highly subjective. (although I agree that I would much rather see the latter over the former... But good luck trying define it!) [/quote] I don't think technical ability is any more or less quantifiable than taste. But then I also think that [i]good[/i] taste is not merely subjective.

I'd rather have R/5 than building a shed with a set of saucepans and cutlery drawer any day. It's the song that matters.

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1327529176' post='1513067'] ... His 'effortless' chairing of the whole event was actually a result of real attention to detail during the rehearsals. it was an interesting thing to witness. [/quote] Yes, effortlessness is almost always the result of a great deal of earlier effort.

[quote name='Jacqueslemac' timestamp='1327524009' post='1512971'] You could be right, but I only have a few recordings of the same song by the same band playing it live at different times and each one is a bit different. I wonder if anyone really notices on the night, though? [/quote] Yes, but it is likely to be a bit different and not very often is it going to be a totally different line.

[quote name='Ed_S' timestamp='1327522551' post='1512941'] ...What about when your fellow muso types who notice the variations on said theme say that your take on a track is better than the original, then? ... [/quote] I'll tell them that music is not a competition.

[quote name='Dr.Dave' timestamp='1327522401' post='1512936'] I figured out years ago the difference between an artist and a craftsman. As I've become older , fatter , richer more comfortable and more idle I've become far more of the latter than the former , which is what I started out to be. I expect I'm not the only one round here. Anyway What bit of creator rather than reproducer remains in me insists on rolling his own - so do my own lines for covers. Then again - our band doesn;t really do 'covers' as such - we take other peoples well known songs and twist and turn and prat about with them til they make us laugh and hope it has the same effect on the punters. So as a band we roll our own - it's just that we stole the papers and the baccy !! [/quote] I'm all for that - playing an old song in your own new way.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1327521995' post='1512925'] That or they they're not actually capable of playing it - and just wing it. And I'm not specifically referring to bass players, either. [/quote] No, it's not only bass players. It's worst when the vocalist starts making up a different melody.

[quote name='Jacqueslemac' timestamp='1327515022' post='1512745'] Me too. If I wanted to follow the original I'd join a tribute band. It's my take on the original. Did the original band always play it the same way live? Not unless they had a very high boredom threshold.... [/quote] It might not have been a high boredom threshold, it might merely have been that they were professional musicians playing what was required of them.

As has been said, it depends on the band, the gig, the song. Some basslines are very important to the way a song sounds and ought to be reproduced exactly or close to exactly, unless you are reinterpreting the song rather than merely covering it. In that case it needs a new bassline which fits the new arrangement/genre of the song. Either way, know what you're doing and stick to it.

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1327451681' post='1511663'] Notes are notes. Scales are scales. A kiss is just a kiss. [/quote] A is just a

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1327416616' post='1510861'] I don't think the YT poster was saying that scales on bass are any different to scales on any other instrument, just that you can play more exotic scales on bass because of the lower register. If you played some of the notes that Jamerson played on Motown, but with a bright zingy tone or on a brighter instrument people would look at you like you made a mistake. On a bass with a nice fat wooly sound it just creates a bit of passing tension without drawing too much attention to what's causing it. [/quote] If you copied a Jamerson line exactly, but one octave higher (i.e. on a guitar), it would sound fine. It might not be what any of the Motown guitarists would have chosen for their line but it wouldn't sound like a mistake.

Scales don't vary from one instrument to another instrument.

I know two bassists with five string Fenders and there are some more in GAK.