dlloyd

Nothing fancy, but very effective... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIMlPygBV2o[/media]

Bob Dylan. Probably 1990, Glasgow SECC. The band was excellent but he wasn't. Just recited the lyrics... no attempt to sing. Made out that he was playing guitar solos while the actual guitar player was in the dark behind. I was a teenager, truly excited to be seeing a living legend, had been listening to my dad's records non-stop for months... Never listened to him again.

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1447841648' post='2910789'] These days it's very difficult to buy a crap new guitar. Even the entry level stuff is way ahead in build quality and playability compared with what was affordable back in the 70s and 80s. [/quote] Very much agree with this. For a decent beginner's guitar in the late 1980s you were really looking at [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]£130... this would be the equivalent of [/font][/color][color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]£330 today. Guitars of this quality are very much more affordable now (we're talking Harley Benton, SX, etc. quality)[/font][/color]

Hmm... that's probably a good idea... I quite like the look of the S520.

I mean what issues are these guitars prone to... are there any components that are particularly prone to wear, etc.

It's a long time since I lusted after anything with a pointy headstock. I used to go into guitar shops and try out all the guitars that were horribly out of my price range. Ibanez and Charvel were the ones I liked the most back then... More than 25 years later there's a budding shredder in the house. I'm thinking about buying something like an Ibanez RG550 to have in the house. Mostly for me. What sort of things do I need to look out for?

Easyjet hand luggage limits are one bag 56cm x 45cm x 25cm. How long is a Kala Ubass? The scale length is 21", which is 53 cm... You better make sure it fits on the slant!

[quote name='D'AddarioUK' timestamp='1447318805' post='2906585'] I'm afraid to say that all of our baritone sets are designed for standard DGBE tuning. [/quote] Do you supply single strings? I could make my own reentrant set by ditching the D and popping an E string on there instead.

[quote name='HowieBass' timestamp='1447197755' post='2905800'] The headstock decal on the OP's bass is completely different though (old style). I've read that the control pots can be a guide to the age of the instrument with some form of dating code found on those but this might only be on much older basses... [/quote] Yes, it's aftermarket. Probably applied at the same time the original owner beat it up.

Well, that's interesting... Have a look a few posts down this page: http://www.talkbass.com/threads/the-fender-jazz-bass-club.445774/page-41 There's a Highway 1 with headstock trussrod adjustment... I think that looks like a good match.

Okay, just to put all my concerns out there... The logo is fairly specific to a late 64/early 65 Jazz bass. Earlier and you would have had one less patent number and the offset contour logo would have been attached to the rest of the logo. Later and the trademark and patent numbers would have been in a different typeface. This is not a 1964 Jazz bass. I don't think it's a US neck. And while Fender Japan bring out some weird and wonderful things, I can't remember seeing a headstock truss rod adjustment with that sort of logo. The logo appears to be an aftermarket decal. The patent numbers look a bit too fuzzy but that might be the photo. The offset contour logo looks to be at the wrong angle, but it might be within normal variation (all detached offset logos I've seen are at the same angle as the Fender logo). The date on the neck is interesting and a bit more smudged than I've seen on US neck dates. But they're all over the place anyway. The body looks like an American Special or Highway 1, which were budget US versions of the Jazz bass. Neither had a headstock trussrod adjuster. The wear on the body looks really strange. Is it maybe a Highway 1 Jazz bass that's been refinished over the original paint (which is known for being delicate)? Is it a pale blue under that orange? The controls look to be wrong. Plastic knobs would be more appropriate for this style of bass.

[quote name='D'AddarioUK' timestamp='1447164329' post='2905412'] Yep, loads! What kind of sound are you looking for? [/quote] Medium brightness, reentrant tuning.

I really like the D'Addario silver plated copper gypsy jazz strings (11s, loop end if there's any freebies going!) Do you have any strings suitable for a baritone ukulele?

Hmm. My best guess is that it's a bitsa... The body kind of looks like this American Special: http://www.ebay.com/itm/American-Special-Fender-JAZZ-BASS-BODY-HARDWARE-USA-Candy-Apple-Red-SALE-/361391356221?hash=item54249a793d The neck looks more like a Mexican Jazz.

[quote name='davidmoore' timestamp='1447098355' post='2904884'] Ok thanks a lot There is no serial number then! Just this patent thing and 25 May 2003 at the base of the neck which looks authentic. I guess the patent could have been slapped on. Its a really nice neck actually. As for the body ?? [/quote] A few more photos would help, including the date on the end of the neck and the neck plate.

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1447097492' post='2904865'] That's not the serial number, but it doesn't look right. DES 169062 is the patent from an original slab bodied 53 P bass. The patent on a Jazz should read DES 187001 [/quote] Actually, I've found a photo of an original 64 Jazz with the DES 169062 number. Interesting.

That's not the serial number, but it doesn't look right. DES 169062 is the patent from an original slab bodied 53 P bass. The patent on a Jazz should read DES 187001

[quote name='Deerhunter1331' timestamp='1447093039' post='2904807'] [url="https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0793542049/ref=cm_sw_r_awd_SkoqwbYCZG5AT"]https://www.amazon.c...d_SkoqwbYCZG5AT[/url] Is this the book that you mean? It has good reviews, so it seems promising. [/quote] That's a great book for starting to play walking lines, but this one gives a more general introduction: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jazz-Bass-Ed-Friedland/dp/0793565170 John Goldsby's book is also excellent http://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Goldsby-Technique-Tradition-Musicians/dp/0879307161

[quote name='Dropzone' timestamp='1447083849' post='2904677'] Can anyone answer, why are strings different lenths ie, the risers at the bridge are not all in a straight line. Surely an octave is half the wavelength so why are they not all the same? Ta in advance Mike [/quote] Because the effective point of suspension of the string at the saddle differs from the actual point of suspension due to differences in the stiffness and thickness of the string.

I don't think we're really the target demographic. He's been asked to hit each of the cymbals a lot to show people who like buying cymbals how nice it would be to own these particular cymbals. Great. I own a few cymbals and can tell you right now that the cymbals the zombie fella is hitting are way better than my cymbals. But I don't often hit my cymbals, so this video is of only passing interest to me. If I was hitting my cymbals a lot, I'd probably get irritated by the way they go "chchchchhchchhhhkhhhkhh" to the point that I'd go out and buy some that went "tssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh". Then I'd watch the hell out of videos like this. As far as the video being entertaining, nah... not for me, but neither is the other one.

[quote name='Deerhunter1331' timestamp='1446996815' post='2903975'] I thank all of you who decided to help me out on this matter, and clear this bit of theory out. I'm also looking for a book which teaches me some harmony and allows me to implement it into ny playing. I was looking into Gary Willis' fretboard harmony, and it sounds like a really good, albeit challenging book. Does anyone else have any other recommendations? [/quote] The Ed Friedland jazz books are excellent if jazz is where you want to go. There are books out there that are raved about, like Mark Levine's Jazz theory book, but they are a lot more than you need right now (given that you've just learned the natural minor).

[quote name='The Jaywalker' timestamp='1446708070' post='2901561'] I actually know a composer who did something similar as an "experiment" with beginning improvisers.... Anyway, your analogy doesn't hold water. The OP wanted to know what scale to play on the D7. Mix b9b13 is the most basic choice in that situation. It's a V - I in a minor key. Not rocket science or complex. Basic stuff. Or perhaps it wouldnt seem so complex if it wasn't swamped by all the misleading and just plain erroneous stuff put forward by YouTube "teachers" who neither play nor understand the stuff themselves and/or want to supply shortcuts for the legions of bedroom players and rock band dudes who refuse to learn any theory etc as its "not creative" or "not the right way to learn music". [/quote] There always has been legions of bedroom players who shy away from theory. There always will be too. I've certainly come across people who *say* that music theory is anti-creative. I reckon they're embarrassed by it... it's difficult to understand if you haven't had a helping hand with it from the start. It's relatively simple to become proficient at guitar or bass in terms of playing pop, rock or blues music without going anywhere near the dots. Then when they want to go beyond the minor pentatonic they're baffled by the terminology, so they take comfort in the knowledge that blues musicians do it all by feel (without realising that many of the legends are actually quite conversant in music theory). Should we pity or sneer at bedroom players who deliberately avoid theory? Or at the people who try to dumb down theory to give the bedroom players some way of understanding it?

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1446679862' post='2901497'] The kind of band Kurt would have despised - I reckon you're right there. [/quote] Well, he might well have said that to sound interesting.

[quote name='The Jaywalker' timestamp='1446680232' post='2901500'] Erm, yeah. He wants to know what to play on the D chord. I told him where to put his fingers. This stuff isn't difficult. [/quote] I dunno, my son came home with a recorder and looked confused when I tried to teach him the lydian chromatic concept...

[quote name='The Jaywalker' timestamp='1446677696' post='2901484'] Ok, there's a wee bit of clarification needed here. It's important to realise that ABRSM theory texts are of no use whatsoever outside of a classical education. I know this as a professional Jazz bassist also teaching classical bass and ABRSM theory on behalf of a national Conservatoire. If you want to learn about harmony etc, then go down the Jazz textbook route - it's the "academic" contemporary/pop music, if you like.[/quote] Fair enough... I took the ABRSM grades a long, long time ago and before I started playing guitar and bass... I feel they gave a solid foundation, certainly in terms of the relationship of chords to scales but, sure, there's probably a lot that's not so applicable. [quote]To correct a couple of points made earlier; the basic chords in a key are as follows: I maj7 II min7 IIImin7 IVmaj7 V7 VImin7 VIImin7b5 (sometimes called Half-Diminished) It's important to add the sevenths of the chords or else you end up with the erroneous idea that chord VII is diminished; which it categorically is not. Diminished chords have a different harmonic function (not important to get into that just now!). Also, in Minor key harmony there is no "borrowing" of a seventh chord from the parallel major to make chord V a dominant seventh. That's nonsense. Minor harmony uses either the Melodic or Harmonic minor scale as its base (hence the name, harmonic minor...it creates a V7 chord). The most important thing to grasp when playing scales over chords is that you NEVER think of them as modes ie playing the same scale with different starting notes. In this case in point, playing G minor but playing it D to D. I know that probably sounds contentious as there's about a quadrillion YouTube sites extolling this method (including one run by a guy called Scott....); but it's crap. Plain and simple. As a musical approach it results in pointless, scalar noodling which doesn't "gel" with the chord sequence or make much coherent sense. The guys who teach this way don't actually spend much of any time functioning in music that requires them to play these scales/chords. I feel strongly about this as I was led up the garden path as a beginner by this approach. The main reason for this common error is misunderstanding the connection between a mode and a scale. If we're playing Modal music like So What or Impressions (all Dorian); then we're playing a mode. If we're talking in purely academic terms about where a scale comes from, then we can talk about eg, Dorian being the second mode of the Major scale. That's it. In any other circumstances, we're talking about Scales - Chord Scales to be precise. So called because if you take the basic chord (R, 3,5,7) and add the upper extensions (9,11 and 13) - all the notes together make up a scale. Key of C V7 is G7 G,B,D,F (1357) A,C,F (9,11,13) Extended chord is G13, which, by the mathematical nature of functional harmony, is also G mixolydian when expressed as a scale. In the minor example from the OP, the D7 has upper extensions b9, 11 and b13 (Eb, G, Bb as extensions are taken from notes in the key, Gmin in this case). This results in a chord of D7b9b13 and scale sometimes called mixolydian b9b13 or Phrygian Major. It also happens to be the 5th mode of the Harmonic minor scale - but we DON'T think of it in those terms when creating lines or solos. We think of the chord and chord tones. To illustrate this point further, let's look at other dominant 7th chords occurring in a major key. Old jazz tune All of Me. Cmaj7 /// | //// | E7 /// | Amin7 /// etc E7 = E, G#, B, D (1357) Extensions from key of C = F, A, C (b9, 11,b13) We get the same scale (Mixolydian b9b13). This Harmony and scale choices have been around since JS Bach. In summary: Scales aren't the most important thing: chords and the chord tones are. There are many possible scales which can fit with a given chord; so scales are essentially ways of decorating chord tones. [/quote] Okay, I agree with everything you say... but for heaven's sake, read the OP... he's asking how to put his fingers in the right place and you're telling him about the mixolydian b9b13?