thunderbird13

[quote name='Evil Undead' timestamp='1333102873' post='1597346'] It's clanky but not that easy to play, and sounds bleedin' horrible! [/quote] Sounds like every Precision I've played - did I say that out loud

[quote name='fumps' timestamp='1332839572' post='1593664'] here we go ......whoo hoo! Thunderbird we can be Noobies together [/quote] Yeah - we' re off - Well I'm going to hang around the for sale section looking for a Stagg !!

Thanks - I was thinking around the £300 mark - and I'm thinkiing now towards an EUB as I simply wouldnt be able to transport a full size bass anywhere

Thanks for the replies - yes Mr Feidland will be on my shopping list as I like his approach , as far as the genre is concerned I'm pretty sure its standard 12 bar type stuff. although I'm waiting to see the full set list. I suppose I'm looking for a bit of theory to get me out of the rut which I find myself in.

I’ve got an audition for a blues band coming up and although I ‘ve played lots of blues before its always been in a rock setting and I was wondering if I should brush up a the theory side a bit more , the forms, turnarounds , anything to stop me just playing the blues scale along to every line. Cheers

Sorry if this has been asked before and I’m sure it’s the sort of thing which would be ( I tried searching but the web site doesn’t recognise ½ in the search terms , it reads it as 12 !) but does anyone have any experience of ½ size DB’s. I’ve seen a few of them for sale recently within my budget and I’m curious about them. For me the biggest thing is portability as I don’t have access to a car so a ¾ size is probably out of the question but would a ½ size offer a more flexible option or would it offer the worst of both worlds. Also is there a big difference in playing a ¾ compared to a ½ size so if I moved from one to the other would I have to relearn everything Cheers

I used to have one of these "back in the day " well 1997 actually - loved it probably the easiest to play bass I've had

grrrr this thread is not doing my GAS any good.I played a Stagg in a shop 3 years ago and I can still rememeber how smooth it felt playing it The one thing about DB that concerns me apart from the size and the volume is the physial effort it takes to play it. I'm sure you'll get used to it in the end but I've had problems with my tendons before and I'm not sure I want to risk that again ! Perhaps its not snobbery but the EUB vs DB argument reminds me of the electric vs acoustic drum argument but at the end of the day if you play EUB and are happy to play that live or at rehearsal then thats what you ( or perhaps thats me ) should get

Thanks for reminding me about them - I'm going to have a Tubes listening session tonight !!

probably belongs to the other pronounciation thread but in the olden days before the internet I rang up directory enquiries to get the number for the bass centre. I asked for bass ( as in lace ) which is the only pronouncation and the operator insisted on calling it bass ( as in grass ) , she even told me that my pronounciation was wrong

I see your dilema as you have sort of stolen his band from him BUT if the other 2 are up for it then its obviously not a concern for them and so you should'nt feel guilty about it

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1332250011' post='1585518'] 'Orrible! Take a look at this lot: [url="http://www.loewenherzbass.com/english/gallery.html"]http://www.loewenher...sh/gallery.html[/url] In the design meeting "It needs something...... just a little something extra..... A LION!....... yes!.......that's what it needs" [/quote] Mind you I quite like the bass in the third photo - or perhaps its just that anything beside Jeff Berlin looks good

Ok so I haven’t been practicing as much as I should for the past 3 weeks and I’ve been using a pick a bit more as it suits the classic rock thing a bit better than fingerstyle. But last night at band practice I forgot my pick so I just used fingerstyle , the practice lasted no more than 1 ½ hours but today I have 2 massive blisters on my fingertips where I was plucking the strings. I would have thought that given the fact that I’ve played almost daily for 4 or 5 years now and most of that time fingerstyle that my fingers would be as hard a leather now. I’m kinda surprised that its gotten tender so quickly – has anyone else noticed this ?

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1332242220' post='1585260'] Gaaaahhhhhh! Yes, that is annoying! [/quote] And its sunburst !!!!!

About 2 months ago I took a day off work and went down the bass gallery. I spent about 2 hours there and played almost every bass that was on my wishlist and concluded Fender – never never never – just not comfortable far too upright a position Lakeland – worst that Fender Musicman – too chunky with the exception of the ‘79 Sabre which was nice but I was after 5 strings Overwater – just too big G&L - as bad as a Musicman Ibanez - just too skinny – felt like it would break at any minute Yamaha – nothing special but that headstock – yuck And just to annoy everyone else I ended up with a Warwick which I love !

Well done mate ,I'm genuinely pleased for you. You did lock in with the bass drum in the audition didnt you

[quote name='razze06' timestamp='1331740483' post='1578088'] Slightly worse than the local version "Tooer of Pooer" [/quote] more like Tar O Par !

Being Northern Irish there are certain words which I just cant pronounce but the thing thats causing me the most problems is saying Tower of Power - I really want to do a cover of" what is hip " but as soon as I say their name the rest of my band start laughing before I can finish the sentence

[quote name='Mark_Bass' timestamp='1331637098' post='1576165'] The next night i'd rehearse with my covers band filled with guys who play for fun in a garage, having played with such a tight band the night before i was more aware that the drummer speeds-up and slow down when the beat should remain consistant but, on the flip side because the band was "tight" as a single unit it didn't really stand out, i think if i had made a point of staying at the tempo we first started the song at then the groove and feel of the track would have suffered, the guitarists would have been conflicted as to follow me or the drummer. [/quote] I think this is a really interesting point and I'm always in 2 minds what to do when the drummer slows down or speeds up - do I follow him and try to make everything seem tight or do I remain on what I think the correct tempo is and hope that everyone pulls themselves back onto that.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1331633737' post='1576085'] I am a bit confused about how you describe these 20-30 or so drummers playing. There must be songs that would need and use the more simple patterns, and within the count of 4, it would go kick, snare, kick snare..with the kick on beats 1 and 3 and the snare on 2 and 4. and that would be your count-thru of the bars should you be using a chart or needing to know where you are in any section of a song. It takes a special drummer to make that simple bar structure drum pattern alone really interesting which is why they may use a back beat on the snare or whatever ..but mostly they will add a hi-hat pattern over it, to jazz it a little. And then..some drummers can make that sound amazing and others like treading water. As I say, I am a little confused here..you may get one or two quirky drummers but not 20 or so... [/quote] what your saying about kick snare , kick snare is exactly how I would expect it to happen which casues my confusion when it does'nt because I then have to translate in my head where the kick should be and play that. Honestly the biggest problem I have playing in bands is dealing with the drummer its Ok when they start off but normally halfway through a song they tend to get bored and wander all over the kit Perhaps its me - as I said I'm only really a below average player so it may be that I'm not getting it Does anyone else have this problem with drummers ?

With reference to being a bad player or not I have always considered myself below average simply because I don’t seem to be able to “ lock” with the drummer And just to be clear here I’m talking about playing classic rock covers – no polyrhymic nonsense . I expect the theory is that the drummer uses the bass drum to count the bars and then uses all the other drums and cymbals to add texture to that rhythm, so it makes perfect sense to say that the bass player should “ lock” in with the bass drum as it means that you and the drummer are both counting the one and therefore playing in time. BUT almost every drummer I’ve played with ( between 20 – 30 and counting !) does not seem to use the bass drum in that way . there is a lot of rests and playing off the offbeat with the bass drum and that confuses me as I don’t know whether I should follow that or not. SO what I have done is a compromise and play to where the kick should be which tends to mean that I play off the snare and hi hat more than the bass drum. I genuinely don’t know if this is correct or not but as I say I’ve always felt that I’m cheating and not really locking at all. Its just occoured to me that the drummer is usually the band member that I bond with less socially as well ( in very general terms ) I wonder is these two things are linked as well !

Its of no help to the OP but for some reason my body has a weird coping strategy in that the more nervous I am the more relaxed I get so for example if I'm stressed out during a gig I'll start yawning or smiling at members of the audience.Not so bad at a gig but I've failed job interviews as I've been so relaxed they thought I wasnt interested in the job

I have no interest in jazz and have never written a book ad my only expereince of writing a research disertation for a masters degree BUT are you not going about this the wrong way. I'm guessiing that the people on this list are either American or dead so I suppose the only material you are going to get is going to be second hand interviews from other writers and articles which have beenpublished . So can you bring a new angle to it ? I suppose that if a book hasnt been written on these guys then bringing together all the available information into one place may be justification enough but I have the nagging suspicion that you may have a more fruitful project if you have someone who you could gather information on first hand either by interviewing directly or through friends and that may mean a "lesser" british player but a more in depth analysis and perhaps a more interesting story? Any way just my opinion which you can ignore BTW I voted for Steve Harris

[quote name='blackmn90' timestamp='1329999639' post='1551041'] I had a lesson with steve lawson who IMO is a great virtuoso of the electric bass. i was amazed with how strong he sounded when playing simple lines, much cleaner and clinical than the older guys did. [/quote] This willl probably get lost in the "Silddx Onslaught" but it is an interesting point which has caused me much frustration - what is it a really good player can play something stupidly simple like 8th notes on the 5th fret but it sounds so much better than me playing exactly the same thing. I looked at technique ( which contributes t it ) but TBH my technique is quite othodox. Then it hit me someone like Steve ( who I've also had lessons with ) is playing from inside him , not in some mystical sense but its just more confident and self assured than someone like me. Just as in the same way as me speaking in front of a crowd is going to sound better if I sound conficent rather than speak in a thin wobbly voice