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Paolo85

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Everything posted by Paolo85

  1. Well, the harpsichord arguably has taken a beat from acoustic piano. The problem with it was that technically you had no dynamics. But the acoustic piano is still going strong. Any time I have seen live a traditional jazz band playing with an electric bass, I was hopeful but then I was ultimately disappointed. Admittedly, those bass players were clearly not trying to get the upright sound, so I don't know how I would feel about somebody with a Mustang, a mute and tapes live. Maybe I would like it. But it is interesting that, after some 70 years since the first P bass, despite searching, I have personally yet to find a successful traditional jazz bass player that imitates the traditional sound with the electric. Maybe Anthony Jackson live with Michel Petrucciani, but only to an extent, and it is more of a case of him being already famous than him becoming famous by doing that. I may have missed one or some important example (would be glad to learn about them) but to me this suggests that an electric bass could maybe do a good imitation but cannot beat an upright at its own game. To my ears best examples of jazz with electric bass come from player that do embrace the difference of the electric sound and find a context where it fits in (eg Mark Egan with Joe Beck and Steve Swallow with Scofield)
  2. I think it is very good. I personally have come to suspect that fretted basses may work better for an upright sound (with some tweaks such as a mute) as it is very difficult to avoid the mwah on the G string on a fretless. Still, you do lose some "upright elements" for the fact that they are fretted so I guess one has to chose the best of two evils
  3. I once saw an interview with Marcus Miller, I believe with SBL. If I understood correctly, he pretty much said he had only one bass as he came up as a musician. He said that was normal for NY session men as they would move around with public transport. Also, he basically implicitly admits he was not super learned on eq. When Sadowsky installed his bass/treble boost-only preamp in his bass, he did not fully realised that scooping the mids was making it more difficult to come out in the mix. Instead of putting his head around it, he just instinctively started playing differently, using slap everywhere. I guess he would not be a big gun on Basschat, but his tickets at Ronnie Scott's go for £100-£160.
  4. For me, neither of those. In an ideal world, I would go for say three-four basses in the £350-£700 range, maybe with some modifications in some cases. My modest opinion is that for a P or a J spending amything more than £400-£500 is not useful for practical purposes. But spending the extra-money compared to a HB gives access to more reasonable (or low) weigh, great tuners and better choice of pickups. As for other, less common types of basses, there are less options so maybe it gets a bit more pricy. For semihollows a la Starfire, the next notch up after the Harley Benton HB60 cost £600+ I never liked much the sound of the (cheap) Ibanez Soundgears I have had, but I assume that in the £600+ range there would be better options available. Still, I doubt I would feel the need to go for the top of the range. There's always the option to swap pickups/preamp...
  5. I have a GB54 with J-M pickup. The J neck pickup in mine is brilliant. The preamp (which admittedly may be different in your bass) does a lot to the sound. Makes it neater, punchier in a way, but less growl. Do you have a push-pull knob to switch to passive? If so, maybe you could try and see if passive it sounds closer to a traditional J. The problem, if you wanted that passive sound, is that - at last in my bass - there was no passive tone control. I think that generation of Corts sounded good and is not in production anymore. If it does not work for you maybe the best thing would be to sell to somebody who is interested and buy something more "traditional" (say a Squier CV J)
  6. To be honest, I am quite late for the New Bass Day. It's not new. I bought it weeks ago. But I did not know what to think until last week. Unlike many here, I am not necessarily a fan of Harley Benton. The ones I had, I sold, as their quirks (eg ridiculous weigh) more than offset the positives. And looking at comments on other basses, I am uninterested in most of their offering. But when this semihollow short scale came for sale here on Basschat, I could not resist the temptation to give it a go. At first, I thought it was another quirky bass, good "for the money" but not to be used in practice. The strings do not align with the pole pieces, and the output from the E was weak. In desperation, after trying three different sets of strings, I tried to align the E exactly with the pole piece, even though this leaves the G quite far away from it. Oddly this solved the problem completely. The E is nice and clear. And the G... is also nice and clear for some reason! I am confused, but happy. I am left with a bass that sounds good, has a good neck, good fretwork, and oddly stays in tune more than most cheap basses I have had. I was quite worried because the floating bridge but it is nothing to worry about. Losen the strings, move it, tune. Done. All doable, if my tuner is to be trusted. Despite the problem with the E, I have mostly been playing this bass since I bough it. I have discovered the magic of a semihollow. Getting enough volume to play over tracks even when I cannot be bothered to plug in to the amp. The strong initial attack and limited sustain. The short-scale string tension and thumpy sound, but in a long-scale body that does not make me feel cramped. The low weigh. And there is something to be said for a neck pickup in that position, though I am not sure it beats the P/Mustang position Just great!
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  7. I bought this short-scale bass here a few months ago. It is, in my opinion, is the best sounding bass I have. Imagine a good P bass but fatter due to the short scale, but still plenty of clarity. (Or for simplicity imagine a good Mustang). It also has a supercomfortable neck. And it is extremely good looking. But as it turns out, I cannot play short scale basses (unless of the longer semihollow variety), I feel cramped and my back hurts. So this is getting little use and it is now up for sale. It is in good condition. Some small scratches which I have tried to capture in pictures. Some clearer/darker bits in the neck - I had the exact same issue in a Jazz VM I bought a while ago. But does not look at all dodgy to me, I would assume it has to do with light The finish is there, the neck is stable. Tuning stability is helped by the hipshot licensed ultralight I have installed. I put them there as, like most jaguars, especially lightweight ones such as this, it was a massive neck diver. The tuners have helped a lot. As you can see in the video I have uploaded, it mostly stays in place with a good strap. It is still neck heavy, would slowly slide down if you move around for a while. This was bothering me as I play with floating thumb and I am obsessed with perfect balance but I must say this bass is no more neck heavy than any lightweight P bass with normal tuners. I bought it for 220 pounds posted. The small price increase reflects the Hipshot tuners. Note that I have left the original screws in, up to you if you want to remove them and maybe fill. I like it as it is. Strings are Newtone Diamond nickels with round core, 45-105. Not fresh anymore but they sound great and they are superflexible. Pick up from Bromley, or I can meet in central London but I am not there very often. 20240411_171211.mp4
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  8. I have a mezzo. Incredibly comfortable but IMO has nothing of the sound of the short scale - which should be fatter/more boomy than a long scale in theory. I play it with treble at minimum, 45-105 gauge, but it still sounds thinner than my P bass with tonerider pickup and 45-100 strings. To be honest, I now mostly play a short scale semihollow, but my instinct would not be to learn from scratch on a short scale unless there are specific reasons to do it. I would learn on the most commonly used type of bass and then change once you know with a bit more certainty what do you want from a bass
  9. Well, as others have said, the neck pickup on a J is not in the same place as in a P. This would have a big impact on the sound and therefore, unfortunately, would not give you a helpful tool to compare flats and rounds
  10. The Harley Benton HB60 (which I have) and, reportedly, the Guild Starfire remain narrow. I am not 100% sure they remain as narrow as the nut, but they remain fairly narrow. As others have mentioned, the neck expands to accommodate the "usual" 19mm string spacing at the bridge. So any bass with tighter string spacing would expand less, and you normally can check a bass' string spacing online. As for the HB60 and the Guild, they are short-scale basses with a long-scale body. This means the 12th fret is closer to the nut than in a long-scale bass, which makes it even easier to reach there. On the other hand, these are definitely not the sort of bass that people who play with their pinky on the E after the 12th fret want to buy.
  11. Ah! I learnt recently that Duke Ellington recorded a long suite exclusively for Queen Elizabeth. It was never released during his lifetime. It is not known if the Queen also held "listening parties".
  12. ...let me add that in my opinion there is nothing wrong with taking the thumb off the neck for a quick passage if you really have to reach that high G on the E string. Assuming you end up having to play something that requires you to use the pinky there and cannot be played on the A string, I imagine it would be just one fast phrase every now and then, not a repeated groove, so low risk of repetitive strain injury
  13. This. I have never encountered a song in which it was actually necessary to play above the 12th fret with my pinky. Granted, I am not a consumed professional, but I bet you can play the entire discography of most bands without having to do that. I imagine it may be a thing with some fusion shredders playing solos. But that's not necessarily a beginner's concern. Still, good to take this as an opportunity to look at technique and as an excuse to buy another bass!
  14. Many years ago I was reading a book by some economists on AI ("prediction machines", Agrwal, Gans, Goldfarb). The context and applications they were discussing were completely different, but the argument they were making I believe may apply to music. Their idea was that AI should not be seen as something that does something on its own, but something that is managed by a human, which will then make the fundamental act of deciding whether the outcome of AI is satisfying, and to what extent. I think it is obvious that AI will in certain circumstances generate good solos. The opposite would be almost impossible for the law of big numbers and as allegedly millions of monkeys typing on laptops for years would eventually write a Shakespeare play - or whatever. But then there needs to be a human that hears the AI solo and go "yes, this is really something that should be packaged and communicated to others". This human can be an artist, or somebody that makes music for more pedestrian uses such as jingles or Taylor Swift albums, and the choices/outcomes would be different. In that sense, I am skeptical about songs entirely made by AI in one go having legs. I see more possibilities for songs that combine different parts made by AI - or maybe AI tools that make edits easy. But then, when we get to the point of replacing musicians (as in people who play an instrument), it is more complex. For some purposes this will happen. But Adam Neely in his video made a very strong argument: would you watch a football match played by AI? Would you go to an AI concert? If you go to a concert, are you there to hear sounds (music, which AI may be able to do) or to watch fellow humans as they generate the sounds?
  15. Never tried a Bronco. Somebody in the forum was saying good things about the Harley Benton PB-shorty, a short scale precision that costs 85 pounds+postage at Thomann
  16. To be fair, he released three of those albums in three years in 2015-18, he would have been in his twenties and straight after Berklee (one BTW was meant to be an instructional product). Then he did youtube full time and subsequent releases are just a collage of what he recorder for youtube videos. It seems he is right now planning to relax on his youtube work and do something different. So hopefully in the coming years we'll see what he can do as a mature musician. He is working with metal guitarist Bernth and has announced a tour. He has recorded two songs with Bernth already (gathered together as a release named Delusional on youtube) so chances are the first thing we'll hear from him will be a metal album. I think Bloodstream is very good and the instrumental version of Delusional is alright. I imagine and hope a full (and mostly instrumental) album may come out of it. I also hope he'll move back to more jazzy stuff soon
  17. When I listen to (good) examples of AI tracks I think "wow, sounds almost human, but not actually good and not worth my time". But then I think the same thing when I hear Oasis or Taylor Swift, so it's difficult for me to form an opinion
  18. So, is the P bass a short scale? That would make it easier to play for most people. Else, the answer could be both. Some people work better with neck of a certain shape. But unless the two basses have similar action, nut cut at a similar height (very important), and strings with similar tension, you'll never know for sure it's the neck shape that makes the playing easier. Also, the difference between P and J is roughly 4mm in terms of nut width. But there are other elements such as the type of frets, thickness back to front, or the type of finish that you may find more or less comfortable, and not all Ps and Js are the same in that respect.
  19. Back to the OP's question, I found myself in a similar situation lately with backache issues, on days when I was practicing hard in view of starting to play with other people. Much like the OP, I have realised that "normal" short scale basses do not work for me. But I have found, at good prices here on the classifieds, two alternatives that do work -Ibanez mezzo 32 scale. It is just a good compromise. Plus, like most soundgears, it has an extremely comfortable shape, it is very light, and has a great balance -Harley Benton HB60.. and I imagine other short-scale semihollow could be even better. Unlike normal short scale basses, these are not small. They are as long as a P bass, because the body extends way after the bridge. So you get the short-scale comfort for the fretting hand, but the bass is positioned somewhat similarly to a P in terms of where the hands fall. The bass is light, but it is a neck diver. However, because of the very wide body, the plucking hand's forearm can rest on the body when the bass is on the strap, without resulting in a funny angle for the wrist. This keeps the bass in position. To be honest, I still think the HB does not feel amazing. I use a dual strap to make it work smoothly. But I tried an Aria semihollow in a shop last weekend, and the neck was so light that holding the body as described was a breeze. So I guess there are certainly options available (I imagine for example a guild starfire, which has a smaller nut width, and tuners, while big, could be replaced with hipshot licensed ultralight. But that's just a guess) Hope this helps
  20. I had one, I thought good but stupidly heavy. If I was to go for a 5-string again I'd probably try a HB B550 or something Ibanez
  21. Lord, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing.
  22. I hear you! While I can't say I hate that, it is a pity. I suppose part of the "problem" is how much the sound of rithmic guitar and keyboards has changed since the 60's. Guitars shifted from being thin, limited in dynamics but charming to a beast that can make all imaginable noises. The bass had to take a step back as guitars go centre stage.. ...of course that's not the only reason. It's also, quite simply, a style that seem to work. Unfortunately, in a way
  23. I have watched the first two (25th and 24th) and number one. I think, and this links to other comments in here, there is a problem in assessing a virtuouso bass player by isolating a moment in which they show off. This is something they do. It is not a summary of what they do. Number 24 was Victor Bailey. I did not like the solo in the video. I happen to love Victor Bailey and he is not a showoff. He is very expressive, emotional and measured As for number 1, Wooten, it's not like he's spent his career doublethumping flat out. He's not one of my favourites I think as I am not much into slap. But you can hear him here supporting Bela Fleck's band And you can hear him being a powerful presence but always interacting with the band in my favourite album of his
  24. I tend to sell a bass after a few months I don't play it. I have decided that I don't want to keep more than 2-3 basses in total so one in one out pretty much
  25. I heard that this, while short scale, is actually big and heavy?
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