RhysP

It's just a pub gig - play the guitar. Most people won't even notice there's no bass player (most people don't even know what a bass player is, they just think it's another guitarist).

Try putting round wounds on it. All the talk of fretboard damage caused by round wound strings is somewhat exaggerated. Adding a pre amp won't make the pickups active - they'll still be passive, just going through an active pre amp.

[quote name='Rasta' timestamp='1324842068' post='1478071'] Shakti anyone? [/quote] Oh yes. The three original Shakti albums are superb. Never got round to hearing any of the "Remember Shakti" stuff though.

[quote name='EdwardHimself' timestamp='1324683270' post='1477115'] One of my friends has been to BELGIUM! [/quote] Impossible! He's lying I tell you! Human beings could never withstand travelling such colossal distances!

[quote name='spongebob' timestamp='1324721130' post='1477271'] I'll have to try the two 'later' albums....always been a bit scared with how they'd compare to the '70s model. [/quote] They're nowhere near as good as the earlier stuff IMO - it's just very polished & unoriginal fuzak to my ears. I did see them live at Hammersmith in 1984 though & they were awesome - Cobham couldn't do the gig for some reason & Danny Gotlieb was his replacement. The material from the first album sounded much better live.

[quote name='jakenewmanbass' timestamp='1324688403' post='1477160'] twas a very lighthearted comment Rhys, but then there you go... colours shown... [/quote] I've got no opinions on music colleges/courses at all really, good or bad - I was simply saying that I'm pretty sure they didn't get to play like that purely by studying on a course, which is what you seem to be inferring. By the same token I'm also pretty sure that no amount of formal music studying could ever make me anything other than not very good - I could take every bass course available from now until doomsday & I wouldn't be as good as that guy.

[quote name='jakenewmanbass' timestamp='1324603010' post='1476271'] I remember some threads on here about music colleges being sh*t... well obviously they are, if all they can do is produce players of this calibre [/quote] Sorry, but I seriously doubt they can play like that because they learned how to in college - they were probably pretty awesome before they got there.

"Visions of the Emerald Beyond" has always been my favourite. "Apocalypse" is pretty stunning too.

My biggest regret was selling my Chapman Stick. My biggest "not buying when I had the chance" regret was a twin neck Wal they had in a sale at Musical Exchanges in Birmingham in the early 80's for £445.00!

[quote name='bencooper' timestamp='1324293860' post='1472555'] Learn to use both, for sure. I think a pick can help maintain clarity and precision at high speed. But of course then you have players like Billy Sheehan and Steve Harris as mentioned previously, who can rip it up at light speed, though they do use three finger techniques to achieve their fastest lines as far as I can tell. On the above comment. I don't think anyone is suggesting changing your sound for every song, but being flexible and understanding that the fat, round fingerstyle tone, or trebly pick tone with some chorus on it, might not work for every tune you play, and that is a good thing. Having a trademark sound can be a good thing, but depending on the musical situation it might not be. I love Billy Sheehan's tone (I'm using him because his name has popped up), but would you want to hear it on a reggae tune? And Billy does definitely tweak his tone from time to time - his tone on 'To Be With You' and the walking part in the verses of 'Colorado Bulldog' are definitely different to the tones on something like 'Rock And Roll Over'. He's changing them slightly to fit the song. I can't think of many bass players, and I'm talking about players we'd all know, who haven't adapted their sound for different songs, whether that's simply by playing with a different technique (fingers on a ballad, pick on a rocker), adjusting their EQ, adding an effect or two and so on. And if you have a trademark sound, and you work as a gigging/session musician, well it could limit your gigs if you're very rigid about it. Your sound could be all the rage one minute, and not the next, so if nobody wants to book you for your 'sound' then you'd better be prepared to change it, or go without the gigs. I guess.In your own band I suppose it matters less. Just my two penneth's worth [/quote] Excellent post.

That truss rod adjustment hole on the headstock doesn't look like a USA 70s reissue to me - it would have a "Bullet" truss rod adjustment. I'd say it was a Mexican model.

I would look at how the original songs were played. If they're played with a pick then use one, if not then don't. Playing bass lines that were originally played with a pick using fingers (or vice versa) never sounds quite right to me - the articulation is always different.

[quote name='KevB' timestamp='1323780926' post='1466892'] I don't know if it is still there but I went to the Millennium stadium about 6 or 7 yrs ago and there was a little music shop up a narrow street close to the stadium, it had a few basses in the basement. I recall noodling about on a secondhand Overwater (might have been fretless) but can't remember the shop name. [/quote] That was Speed Music. They closed down ages ago.

There are none, unless you want to look at a small & uninspiring array of Fenders & Stingrays, a few Ibanez and a load of cheap copies.

By a process of trial & elimination over many years & playing hundreds of basses I ended up with two Zon Legacy four strings - one fretted, one fretless. Decided I preferred carbon fibre necks to wooden ones. Decided I didn't like four-in-line headstocks. Decided Bartolini's were my favourite pickups. Decided the Polyfusion preamps used by Zon were the best I'd heard. Decided the shape of the Legacy model was the best body design I've ever seen. And after putting all that work & effort in I've pretty much decided to give up playing. Ho Hum.....

They used to make a bass specific model of this pedal, can't remember what it was called though (I think it may have been "Blue Tube" or something like that).

If you PM me your address I'll happily send you my copy of the Guy Pratt book. To be honest I thought it was sh*t; little more than a tedious list of his famous friends & where he got really drunk with them. He's meant to be a great wit & raconteur - I found no evidence of it in this book. Still, plenty of people seem to like it so maybe you will too.

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1323467410' post='1463810'] I'm fascinated to know how you think music has let you down. [/quote] I guess it's because music has always been the one constant thing in my life that has helped me through the tough times (and made the great times even better), and now I need that more than ever it's just not happening. Music was always the most important, inspirational, life affirming thing in my life; now I think it's just a load of dumb noise.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1323457847' post='1463694'] The first is that once you have hit the absolute rock bottom, there's nowhere to go other than up. [/quote] I haven't reached rock bottom yet, by my reckoning I should be arriving there round about March next year. I'm not constantly in the depths of despair - I can't allow myself to be as I've just got so much stuff to sort out before there can be any sign of things getting better. It's just that music is no longer the universal panacea for me that it once was, and to be honest with the amount of time I've invested in music over the last 32+ years I'm feeling badly let down by it.

This past two years or so have been the worst time of my life, and it's going to get worse. I find music, either listening to or playing, is of absolutely no use, help, comfort etc. whatsoever - so much so that I largely don't bother with it. It's the first real time in my life when I have not gained anything positive from listening to music & I'm finding it pretty strange. I've never been one of those people who needs to express what's going on in their lives through music; I'm far too guarded & insular to do the old "Heart on the sleeve" bollocks. This is why I find it impossible to write songs. I've never considered myself to have "musicality", whatever that is, but I have reached the stage where I am wondering why I bother continuing to own a pile of expensive instruments that I get absolutely nothing from in the form of enjoyment or fulfillment. I've pretty much decided it's time to stop hanging on to the past & realise it's time to call it a day.

When I was gigging I only ever took one bass with me.

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1323307817' post='1461970'] They need to sit and listen to Hold Your Fire over and over again and really get into those songs.... [/quote] Oh God no! I think what they're doing now, and have been since "Counterparts", is to try & distance themselves from all that over arranged, over orchestrated lame AOR they were producing on albums like "Hold Your Fire" & "Presto", and I for one am very glad that they are. I don't even own a copy of "Hold Your Fire" anymore - I binned it as I just think it's awful.

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