Franticsmurf

Hi Gary.

Hi JG.

Slowly but surely. I'm not currently working on songs that need a fretless sound, so it's very much a spare time project. I also occasionally play a 5 string and I wouldn't go as far as to say it's like learning all over again. It's just remembering there's an extra string, and making use of it. 😀

I was a guitarist before I was a bassist (and for a short time while I was a bassist). I learned on my own, no lessons and no band to play with. I think had I not been able to learn chords and therefore play along to songs on the radio or even write my own, I would have given up. But I was always a very rhythmic, not given to soloing but enjoying playing riffs. So for me playing a different instrument was my way into live music. My original musical interest had been triggered by playing bass guitar at a jam at mate's house (they took pity on my lack of musical skills, hung a bass around my neck and proceeded to play 'Flash' by Queen). 😀

Hi Grizz. I got myself a cheap HB fretless (Sunburst JB75FL) to try out fret-free playing. I love the guitar. 😀

Hi Amin, welcome on board.

Nothing wrong with wanting the name, but for me it's the sound. I wonder if sometimes the name affects how we actually hear the instrument, too? And, of course, it's an approach that is slowly being lost with the demise of the 'live' music shop in favour of the virtual showroom. That's why forums like this are valuable - to tap into the practical knowledge of a large sample of real people.

Welcome back. 😀

I have a Stingray 34HH - great range of sounds and certainly satisfies my growl requirements.

Yeah, me too. I prefer an interesting bassline that sits within the song that I can embellish a little for one verse rather than a solo where everyone looks at me. My audition for the current band was very similar only I was playing bass guitar. BL shouts 'C'mon Dave, bass solo' in a fast 12 bar song and after a bit of a stutter I play the 12 bar riff sequence with a little more attack on the plucking (the facial expression came naturally as it was a little faster than I was comfortable with at the time) and whoosh, I'm in the band! 😀 As the BL calls it every time, I worked out a simple solo that keeps everyone happy. As for bass solos out there, I'm not really into bands that do them, so I can't think of any at the moment.

As an aside, I'm surprised how many here don't use their pinky. I never used to but thought I had to so learned to bring it in to play. 😀

Given that you say you were absolutely smitten on playing it, you'll always think about the Tokai, either with a warm "this is the one" as you play it, or "I wonder if that was the one" if you let it pass by.

If you're starting to play bass from scratch, i.e. no previous fretboard experience, then you'll be able to more easily develop a style of playing that suits you and your circumstances than if you were re-learning. As has been said above, borrow a bass if you can, or get a cheap one, to try things out for feel. Once you have tried the bass, you'll know what you like and don't like and there are plenty of people here who can advise you further based on what you've found out. If you go down the cheap bass route, you could restring it to try it left handed. Good luck.

I use a camping table/stool from Go Outdoors. Table top will take a claimed 30kg (I've had about 20kg of speakers and amp on it). With the table top off, the stool has a canvass seat and this combination is good for 90kg (and personally tested to 70kg with me sitting on it). The unit height is abut 19"/48cm. Folds flat and even has a little carrying bag. I got it on sale in Go Outdoors for something like £10.

The future if the bass guitar as an instrument is, of course, the 'iBass 4'. With model variations such as 'iJazz', 'iPrecision' and 'iHeadless'. But as with all such things, the strings will stop working after a year and will not be user replaceable, so you'll have to get the upgrade to the 'iBass 5', slightly larger and with a camera. 😀

... was. 😬

It's nuts. Er.. 😆

My Steinberger Spirit. It's been my go to bass for many years and despite my main bass now being a Stingray, I use this as the back-up bass or for gigs where the space is limited. It has the drop D tuner and it's fitted with a GK3B pickup for a Vbass.

I wish I'd read this before... you know... I mean, who'd have thought? 😀

If you are familiar with the 'Rockonteurs' podcast (with Guy Pratt and Gary Kemp), they have interviewed both Steve Hackett and Mike Rutherford.

In the past there was an effort involved in obtaining a piece of music you liked. You heard it on the radio, then had to save up to buy the single, which involved a physical trip to the record shop where they might not actually have it. Certainly for me, I had to really like something to spend my pocket money on the bus fare into town and a single. Now you hear it and can download it almost instantly for a price that, relatively speaking, is much cheaper. As I see it, that instant cheap access devalues the music. I guess the equivalent in my day was taping songs off the radio - I'd record far more than I would buy, some on a whim, some because I liked them at the time. But with a few exceptions, those tapes were usually re-used and the songs erased because I'd lost interest in them. So I'm not sure Nile's comment about 'speaking to the soul' is quite right. It may have a quick chat with the soul for a few moments after initially hearing the track, but it would be the equivalent of a passing comment on the weather (here in the UK, anyway). I guess we have to take into account that a lot of modern pop is designed for the very purpose of short term attraction and triggering a download and in that respect, it works. While I wouldn't use the phrase 'great composition' I begrudgingly have to admit that there is some skill involved.

Hi BH, welcome to the site. A reformed guitarist here. 😀 I occasionally dabble but my bass collection now outnumbers my guitar collection by more than 2/1.

We had a 'fight' with one of the HW roadies who was setting up at Newport, many years ago. He had a plastic pellet gun (Nerf?) and as we'd blagged our way in early (to use the toilets, where I 'met' Dave Brock in a perfectly respectable and innocent way) he was shooting at us and we were hurling the pellets back at him. Hawkwind's road crew, eh? 🙄

One of the reasons I love live music is the atmosphere that a combination of great performer and receptive audience bring. I used to see Hawkwind quite a lot - 'clean' of course 😉 - and their live shows were an audio visual event that went far beyond the music itself. But their studio albums? Meh. Even the live albums lack that element that you're talking about.

One thing to remember is the range of styles of music contained within their history. I'd be surprised if you didn't find something in there you could get in to, but equally I'd be surprised if there were tracks or even whole albums that defy entry (as it were) on first listening. Try the albums 'Yes' and 'Fragile' for a taste of their moving forward, 'Close to the Edge' for their longer, more involved stuff, 'Going for the One' for some classy classic rock, 'Drama' for their quirky Buggles era stuff, then 90125 for the reinvented 80's Yes. If you can get some of the later live albums ('Keys to Ascension' or 'Live from the House of Blues'), you'll get a compilation of modern takes on the older stuff. I'm not familiar enough with the post Anderson line up to recommend albums but I am currently listening to the Anderson Rabin Wakeman live album ('Live at the Apollo') and I like the new arrangements they've brought to the classic tracks, too. I'm not saying these are the best albums (everyone will have their own opinion) or my personal favourites. But they'll give you a fair representation of Yes output over 45 years.