purpleblob

Very nice ! Must admit I've wanted to own a Dingwall for a while, but I've pretty much realised that an E-C tuning is the way ahead for me. For those in the know (such as Sheldon or ofcourse any other owners of these lovely instruments), would I be correct in saying that the scale length etc. has been pretty much designed for the low-B or could one replace the strings with a high C tuning ? Or is this just a really dumb question ?

No, never. Sure I might spend more time with the latest aquisition for a while, but I find when I play the other instruments I get a completely different vibe or sound from them and often play in a slightly different way - this said I don't, as such, have two instruments that are on the same space (i.e all have different string configs/number of strings or are fretted or fretless), so it's not like one's really replacing another. EDIT: One day I'll type something without a mistake

Just wanted to say thanks to the OP for bringing this book to my attention and for those who mentioned the iRealbook app. Bought it last week but only just had chance to play with it - as Doddy mentions, no melody lines (that I've seen - not yet explored it all) but was have great fun playing along to it last night. May now have to buy some of this music to hear the originals

I suppose the bassist in "the other" band at school was the first to make me think "I wanna be better than I am". I remember they played house of the rising sun and he did this meandering bass line (not sure it was on the original) and I thought, bugger this root note crap - I wanna do more of that. In terms of "known" bassists, luckily I was listening to Rush very early on in my development as a bassist and there's no way one couldn't be inspired to be better when listening to Geddy's bass lines. However, the one musician/bassist that really changed my thinking and made me wanna learn more than just technique (i.e. moving me into learning music) was Stanley Clarke. When I heard School Days that was it for me - game over, liberation to do anything I wanted. Every single day from then on even now I aspire to be better and if I ever have a moment where I think I need inspiration it's Stanley Clarke I got to.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1131628' date='Feb 17 2011, 10:18 PM']I was just scanning the monthly email from BassDirect and noticed the part that says Genz-Benz were bought by Fender in 2008, I didn't know that.[/quote] Damn it ! I've always been so proud of never having owned a Fender and now I do by default

That's a really disorientating looking instrument - I feel like I'm looking at it through a fairground mirror. Not for me I'm afraid, but I'm all for different designs

Sorry if this sounds a truly dumbass question - but you say this is an improv exam. Just out of interest, how does one grade improv. ?

[quote name='JTUK' post='1128277' date='Feb 15 2011, 01:04 PM']For the OP..if it is something he wants to do then do it...just know there are two sides to the story.[/quote] This is a totally fair point, most/all of us need to pay the bills and not everyone will earn enough, certainly not to begin with and possibly ever. It's not all good times whatever you do. To just back the "not all good times" comment up and to follow on from my previous post I should say I earned next to nothing for at least two years and had to stack shelves in a supermarket at night on weekends to keep my business afloat - unless the OP has enough money to cover them when work is thin, taking another job may be an option (unless somebdoy is going to support you), but beware that you don't find the part-time job turns into the full-time job and then stops you doing what you wanted to do.

I've never done this and never will (mainly because I'm happy with what I currently do and get too nervous playing live now), however might I just make an obvious point (if it's not been made already) that playing music for a living is not much different to becoming a self-employed plumber, software dev, cleaner or whatever. I started my own business about 5 years back and had the same problems (in essence) that you'll find in this line of work. It's about getting yourself known, you might need to be prepared to work for less than you'd like to begin with - you might treat any low paid of free gigs as loss leaders but don't neccesarily sell yourself short, it doesn't all turn into repeat business and you may ultimately be taken for a ride but equally it may allow people to get a feel for your competence or ability to get the job done, whether that's bringing punters into a club/pub or entertaining an audience on a cruise ship. Once you're established then things may become simpler although you can never rest on past success. What you might find initially is that money is tight and you're working longer hours than a 9-5 perm. job that your mates are doing but you have to think like your're running a business (which you are) and work hard to get it up and running. Whilst I was starting up I used to spend a lot of time with my kids, I enjoyed the fact that nobody really told me what to do and I enjoyed trying to bring in business - running a band in a commercial world is not much different, it's just that most of the time your hours will be evening based (I suspect) and you'll hopefully be doing something you enjoy doing. If you feel you have the "get up and go" then go for it. EDIT: Spelling and context update.

[quote name='Conan' post='1128166' date='Feb 15 2011, 11:40 AM']Lots of people slap on sixes. You just need to be a bit more accurate. Some sixes are very tight for spacing and others have plenty of room - but fingerboards like the flight deck of an aircraft carrier! Try a few and see what you like![/quote] +1 on the above. Obviously try the sixer if you can as some are easier than others for slapping. On the narrower necks the thumb is much less of an issue than the pop (I personally find) where it's much easier to catch another string whilst popping.

First Bass Owned: Kay Rickenbacker copy 'Go To' Bass: Sei 5 string Jazz (tuned E-C) 'Your' Bass: Difficult one, my Wal Custom is probably "me" but it's only 4 string and I'm pretty much settled on the E-C 5 strings now. So from a tonal/sound perspective I'll say the Wal Custom as it's probably closest to what I want to sound like, however writing this down makes me feel I need to order a 5 string Wal fretted now to have the perfect "me" bass

Very interesting read.

I'm not going to say I notice the difference of the nut construction on the sound of an instrument as my ears think mp3 is a good enough format compared to flac But I always thought the two main issues with the nut were that when tuning and bending notes or otherwise causing the string to stretch in any way the material had to be such that it would not cause any effect on the string (i.e. snag it in anyway) and allow the string to flex cleanly, secondly I assume that the nut has an effect in terms of sustain. Ofcourse on top of the material we have technology along the lines of the Jaydee nut with rollers.

A little bit of both. I don't play in a band any longer (as I'm one of those in the thread you mention) but when myself and some mates at school started the band we just talked about it, bought the instruments and bob's yer uncle, we had a band. So technically the idea to form a band was first and instrument second but in reality the band never really existed until we all had instruments

Disclaimer: I'm a hoarder by nature so just find it difficult getting rid of anything ! So here goes... Currently I have ten basses, five guitars, one synth keyboard (four synth modules) and MIDI wind controller (make your own punchlines on that one) plus assorted guitar and bass effects etc. I haven't been in a band for about twenty years but in my defence I've only increased my number of basses to this level since joining basschat (the GAS just gets me). For most of those years I owned three basses. I'm actually hoping to get over my hoarding instincts soon and let a few of these items go EDIT: Oh and I have two basses on order. Now I've typed all this I feel I need help. I have no real intention on starting or joining a band again, but am looking to try to start recording stuff again in the not too distant future (I hope).

What the hell is this thing with relic'd - on a new instrument I take it this means it's made to look road worn on purpose, on an old instrument surely it cannot be relic'd as such isn't damage to the paintwork or whatever just an instrument that's been badly looked after ? As for the ad. itself - I know nothing about Fenders, but the pictures are bang out of order and totally misleading if this is not a 100% Fender as seems to be the case. I know it's "buyer beware" situation but a Fender headstock logo a massive Fender back drop in one pic. to reinforce this idea and the "comes with original Fender case" plus the "hardware is genuine" are all designed to trick the unsuspecting. I know one thing - if I ever decide to buy a Fender I'll ask you lot if it's real first

[quote name='Doddy' post='1119485' date='Feb 7 2011, 09:21 PM']She's great....too funky for her own good. Plantation Lullabies and Peace Beyond Passion are great albums.[/quote] Indeed, two great albums, really cool vibe to both.

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='1113861' date='Feb 3 2011, 01:51 PM']Billy Sheehan has his top 5 scalloped but as I've got a 2 octave neck I thought I'd best have a couple more [/quote] Excellent ! Yes I see the influence of Vai along with the cut out handle - it's not a bad idea for carting the instrument around. This is probably the most interesting feature rich instrument I've seen in a while, well done to you.

Oh I forgot - Steve Bailey on the bass extremes album sounds good. I'm not 100% it's his tone specifically or more his playing style on his 6 string fretless that I like.

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='1113220' date='Feb 2 2011, 11:14 PM']an extra 2 frets for the E string and a bendwell for the other strings [/quote] Indeed and is that a scalloped fingerboard for the D & G strings in the highest 7 frets ?