Conan

Once I get the Hammers fitted into my J copy I look forward to contrinuting to this thread!

Yeah. There is nothing original there that I can discern. His tone is pretty uninspiring too (IMO). The bass solo in that "single" is bloody awful. Totally pointless. A solo should be there to "say something" - and that something should be more than just "listen to how clever I am and how many random notes I can play quite quickly". I find it rather depressing that this/he could be described in such glowing terms...

This Thundercat? Sounds like the out-takes from a Level 42 track that was too dull to make it onto the "Standing in the Light" album. Dull, dull, dull. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVp2zl2c2tM&feature=related[/media] This video gets interesting at around 2:15 though... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g5GXoMuVzU&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2g5GXoMuVzU&feature=related[/url]

Very useful, thanks! Would have been nice if they'd played the same music on each clip, but still very enlightening. Might be my crap speakers but I thought a lot of them sounded similar...

[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1323424268' post='1463101'] Fender P - Iron Maiden [/quote] And Saxon. And Budgie. And Samson. Oh, hang on - what about a B. C. Rich?!

[quote name='grimbeaver' timestamp='1323423586' post='1463085'] Just looking at a project that is an 80s British New wave metal band IE Def Lepoard, Whitesnake etc you get my drift. I have a wonderful Overwater that I love to bits but it looks "too modern" for this. What would be a typical glam metal rock bass, flying V? T,bird? White fender P? any ideas? [/quote] Depends if you're going predominantly for the look or the sound. Most of the basslines from that genre and time were pretty simple (with the obvious exception of Whitesnake!) and mostly involved eighth note roots. Will anyone other than yourself and other bassists in the audience notice? Go for a bass that you like the sound of and can play! The P will get you the raunchy tone and cut through well, but the J will give more versatility. What about a Stingray? Good enough for John Deacon and Cliff Williams among others...

Poor Geddy. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't! His style has evolved over the years and he is clearly still listening to other types of music. The influence can be heard at various points in his career. As it can when he switches to another instrument. On the first couple of albums, when (I believe) he was using a combination of Fender P and Rick, he had a certain sound and style. That was very different to the much more upfront clangy Rick sound on Farewell to Kings and Permanent Waves. It changed/evolved again into Moving Pictures as the smoother, more distorted Jazz tone came to the fore. Signals was Steinberger scoopedness... Then it all went pear-shaped (IMO) with the Wals and funkmaster strings. Bleearrgh. Since then we have had the increasingly metallic clanginess of various Jazz basses... And that's just his sound, never mind his technique!! Sounds like some people would rather he has stayed exactly as he was in 1981, but that was never likely to happen with such an innovative musician was it? I still love him and his playing, but find his current tone harder to listen to. My choice I know. As far as his last "great" bass line? I really like "The Pass" from Presto. Others since then have been good in parts, but no more than that.

[quote name='skinzz' timestamp='1323243960' post='1460870'] I quite like the look of the roger walters p bass [/quote] The Roger Waters one ain't bad either... (although it needs a black headstock IMO).

And now the weather report... [quote name='M-N-Y' timestamp='1323199468' post='1460553'] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oW5A6mypjRw&feature=related[/media] [/quote]

[quote name='swanbrook' timestamp='1323216287' post='1460809'] Mr slap ! Had some of the worst bass face moments !! Class vid [/quote] Instead of laughing at the poor guy, maybe we should cut him some slack? It's very brave of him to post a video of himself having a convulsion like that. Very useful to first aid providers.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1323181825' post='1460211'] Because if you can play a crap instrument and make it sound good then you can make anything sound good. [/quote] But that's the trouble for a beginner isn't it? As an old philosopher (with very poor grammar) once said: "Quest to make crap bass sound good leave many by wayside".

[quote name='Dom in Somerset' timestamp='1323180021' post='1460171'] You wouldn't put them on a thoroughbred race horse either. [/quote] Touche!

[quote name='Bankai' timestamp='1323174377' post='1460051'] Wouldn't call something that's £1500 a beginner bass! [/quote] A 'beginner's bass' and a 'bass for a beginner' aren't necessarily the same thing... If someone wanted to learn to ride a horse would you put them on an arthritic old nag? OK, strange analogy.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUwO9xkyDnA[/media] This one too. I had to learn this for a rock covers band last year. To be honest I never quite got the section from 3:15... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDGElJSXqwU"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDGElJSXqwU[/url]

I find that I can [i]almost[/i] get a P tone out of a J on the neck pickup (a bit thin maybe), but a P (or even a PJ on the P pickup) will never do a J tone...

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1323170107' post='1459967'] 'an almost unbelievable amount of low end grunt, snappy string response and sweet, round tone.' At the same time? [/quote] Oh yeah. And they do the weekly food shop as well!

I put a set of these in my Squier P and I'm really pleased with the tone! Cheaper than a lot of others too... [url="http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-PB-Pro-PLUS-OVERWOUND-Alnico-P-Bass-style-VERY-hot_p_334.html"]http://www.guitarfetish.com/GFS-PB-Pro-PLUS-OVERWOUND-Alnico-P-Bass-style-VERY-hot_p_334.html[/url]

[quote name='bremen' timestamp='1323168250' post='1459935'] ok, but it's not as simple as bad bass/good bass. There's such a huge range and what might be a great bass for you might be totally unsuitable for me. [/quote] Absolutely true! Personally, if someone gave me £1500 to spend on a bass I wouldn't know where to start! OK, I would - a five string Status series II - but that's another story! Ironically, my favourite bass at the moment is my Squier P. It cost me sixty quid. A decent set of strings and some upgraded pickups and I'm dead happy with it. Reminds me of a time way back in the early 1980s. A guitarist mate of mine and I were in a music shop in Newcastle (Chris and Andy's) doing the usual saturday afternoon thing of pretending we had money to spend, but actually only buying picks and maybe strings... Anyway, this kid comes in with his mam. He enquires about a guitar and the assistant takes it down for him. He proceeds to play stuff like Smoke on the Water and Whole Lotta Rosie on one string (very badly). Five minutes later his mam says "We'll take it. Oh, and do you know anyone who gives guitar lessons?". The guitar in question was a lovely Les Paul gold top. The price? £1500. And that was thirty years ago!!

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1323166868' post='1459907'] Spectacular bottom end.... [/quote]

[quote name='Alfie' timestamp='1323165642' post='1459884']Owning a shiny new instrument of great quality made me want to pick it up whenever I saw it and encouraged me to learn.[/quote] This. Apart from the "new" bit, of course!

[quote name='Dom in Somerset' timestamp='1323164916' post='1459872'] £1500 is about ten times the amount I'd recommend spending on a first bass. [/quote] Not sure I'd go quite that far! Let's be honest here, when most of us were starting off we would have LOVED the chance to have that much money to spend on a bass! I still would!! Why learn on a crap instrument if you can afford a good 'un? That just seems counter-productive to me. Part of the reason why some of us struggle with technical deficiencies now is because we adapted our playing styles to cope with rubbish basses in our formative years (IME anyway). Isn't there just a teensie weensie bit of jealousy because we didn't have £1500 to spebd on our first intruments? What I would definitely agree with is to buy second hand. Not only could you get a brilliant bass for even half of that budget, but then you could easily sell it on (should the need or desire arise) for at least what you paid for it. It's a no-brainer really.

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1323003007' post='1458091'] Dig the Grolsch bottle-washer straplocks. [/quote] Rumour has it that he commisioned that P to match the colour of the washers...