Minininjarob

After watching a few SBL videos I’ve become really frustrated with them and stopped subscribing. Might just be his vibe I don’t like but I’ve looked elsewheee now. Biggest issue is that I signed up my email to find out more about his online lessons and OH MY WORD I’ve had so much spam from them trying to get me to sign up to all sorts of courses with “last chance to sign up mega discount offer!!” emails. Really put me off, felt like I was getting bombarded by 1990’s DFS sofa adverts. 😂

Totally agree, for a person like me just starting out he seems like a natural teacher. Easy to listen to, simple and engaging. Can’t get enough of the bass buzz videos.

I have to say as a beginner I want to find the simple stuff so that I can find tunes I can play easily. It’s disheartening when so many bass videos start off with the person showing off with a fairly tuneless (to me anyway) slap show off session.

Definitely tastier. ☺️

As a newbie I was glad to get some stuff on my wish list - spare set of strings for my P-Bass (just need to figure out when they need replacing!), some .73 tortex picks, strap locks and a nice Hercules wall hanging bracket. I bought myself a Fender downtown express pedal just before Xmas as I knew I didn’t know anyone generous enough to buy me one. 😂😂 Pretty lights and everything!!

Try the opening to Green Days Panic Song - I love this cover of it but the pain in Chris No2’s face (bassist in Anti Flag) having to pick that same note so fast for so long is quite evident!!

That might make an interesting defence to plead in court. 😂

Wow you really are bitter aren’t you? Why not demonstrate your perfect technique to us and explain why you are so superior to everyone else? Sod perfect technique, I picked up a bass for the first time recently to make a loud noise and hopefully make people dance and sing one day. I really don’t think they will care where my left thumb is. My right thumb will be holding a pick that’s for sure - if I’m playing my favourite music.

I never understand why people won’t drive a couple of hours to go and pick something up. The cost in fuel is tiny compared to delivery fees (for larger items) and you get to see/test the item before handing over money. I did a 2hr round trip to buy an amp and I’d consider that local, I also once did a 8 hour round trip to buy a £100 bike (that was worth a lot more than that) as the person wouldn’t post it. Cost me about £50 in fuel that one! I’ve never bought a 2nd hand bass but there is no way I’d buy one sight unseen via post. I figure going to see something in person does take up time and costs a little money but the hassle, disappointment, stress and expense of receiving something crap/damaged/not as described in the mail is a lot more than half a day out in the car.

As a beginner I thought the Squires would be perfect for me. However what put me off was the gloss necks on most of them, I’m not sure if a satin neck is better or not but I preferred the satin on the Fender Player. I also tried the Fender and Squire back to back in the same shop and I am pretty sure the Fender was lighter. Also I could get a Fender player in the perfect colour which is obviously the most important factor. 😂😂 The quality of the Squiers was on a par though with the Fender. I bought my fender P bass for £650 delivered direct from Fender BTW.

I quite fancied one so I could build a Mark Hoppis style P bass……. But any old jazz bass could be butchered up to make one of those.

As a complete beginner I am starting off easy (LOLZ) and trying to learn “Look What Happened” by Less than Jake. Thankfully their bassist Roger Lima has a YT vid with him showing how to play it. My pinky finger is locking up badly learning the intro bit. It is not lost on me that it’s really really hard but it’s one of my favourite songs ever and even just playing a bar correctly has me smiling from ear to ear. 😁

I was recommend some of those by a pro audio engineer as comparable to his £400 custom ones. Ok they are custom fitted but he said the sound quality is excellent.

Even as a beginner I can tell both styles have their advantages - I want to learn using a pick mainly but have tried with fingers and it seems a bit easier so maybe it’s the best way round to learn!! There is definitely some music I would like to play that requires using fingers, and after trying a load of pedals out at a friends house I found that they seem to be tailored to the finger players as when using a pick the effects just sounded so wrong.

“It’s heavy” would use less words but I prefer your description! 😂

Thanks so much for that detailed description. I’ll try and audition one in a shop. Good to know it’s well made. I wouldn’t automatically assume cos it’s Fender it would be well made.

I could see if PMT have one to try out but to be honest I don’t really know what is good or bad. I think I want a fairly subtle compressor and overdrive

As the title says - online reviews are generally positive but anyone actually own one? I’ve been to a friends who has so many pedals of all sorts and tried them all out and I pretty much concluded I want a compressor/EQ/overdrive so apart from a tuner it would seem it covers all the functions I would need. Looks nicely made too! https://www.fender.com/en-GB/effects-pedals/bass/downtown-express-bass-multi-effect-pedal/0234538000.html?rdl=true

Excuse my beginners ignorance but isn’t this the ideal opportunity to buy another bass which you can set up to the different tuning and have ready to use?

Sorting that out would be child’s play compared to removing a rusted in cup and cone bottom bracket from a bike that’s been sat outside in the rain for 10years. 8 foot long breaker bar on a spanner + only 2 mmm on metal to grip onto = large cracking noise + skinned knuckles. 🤬🤬

Thanks all for the kind comments.

I’ve managed to sort out some bike stuff which other people have given up on - what happens to truss rods? I assume they can seize or snap maybe? Some sort of broken guitar would be helpful I suppose to mess around with. Fret levelling looks relatively easy but I would want to practice before trying it out on someone’s pride and joy.

Hopefully not sounding like a boast, I was surprised myself!! Just started playing the bass and I had to do some setup on mine as it was mail ordered. All I did was watch a few videos online and it all seemed simple. Full disclosure - I am a very handy DIYer (just built the staircase in my house) and good with tools, I’ve also resorted vintage push bikes in the past, and have an electronics background so none of the guitar setup stuff seemed difficult at all. Anyway, I was hanging out with a friend who owns 20ish basses and has been playing for 45 years and he said he had loads of fret buzz on a MM stingray 5 and it didn’t sound right anyway. He said he had never adjusted his own instruments so I said I could try what I had learnt on the MM - he said he hadn’t played it for years so it was worth a try. He gave me a set of strings and I took the MM home. Stripped it down, restored the chrome, cleaned the fretboard up, compound polished the body etc. Checked the electronics, put new strings on, set the truss rod and sorted out the intonation as well. He came to pick it up and when he tried it out (he is an AMAZING player) he was so pleased at the job I had done. I was genuinely surprised - I had been SO worried. He said he’d use it at a gig at the weekend he was so pleased. I’ve since learned that quite a few people don’t know how to set up their instruments - or at least the people I know - is this true of other bass players? I really enjoyed doing what I did and want to help other people out. I’ve looked at the specialist tools you can get to do more advanced stuff and it doesn’t seem too pricey and the work doesn’t look too difficult. Am I kidding myself about being able to do this?