Conan

Loving the coloured stickers on the keyboards!

Tasteful playing... but the track is a total snooze-fest IMO. And I [i]like[/i] that kind of music!

[quote name='ficelles' post='1288503' date='Jul 1 2011, 01:58 AM']I want to sound like a bastardised chimaera - is there a book/cd?ficelles[/quote] I'm sure that if Skank put his mind to it....

[quote name='JTUK' post='1287778' date='Jun 30 2011, 02:26 PM']we talk to the bride and groom direct and they know exactly what we will do.[/quote] Sadly though, despite what they would like to think, the B&G rarely speak for the rest of the audience in terms of musical taste. I've done a few wedding gigs. Some were brilliant and others were absolutely awful. In all cases we were booked directly by the about-to-be-wedded couple...

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='1287725' date='Jun 30 2011, 01:57 PM']'Someone Else's Omelette'... that's the name of the band btw [/quote] Cool name!

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='1287710' date='Jun 30 2011, 01:49 PM']I'm on Jollies, so I suggested John. [/quote] I like your thinking! Who's the band BTW?

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='1287485' date='Jun 30 2011, 11:29 AM']They are dead canny and easy going. Wish I'd known you'd done it previously, I'd have picked your brains. [/quote] Or volunteered Michael for the gig!

He is obviously extremely intelligent, and he is a phenomenal bass player - but a lot of his stuff leaves me cold. If he played that material but with a guitar round his neck, would he be so well regarded here? I doubt it.

Apart from notable exceptions like Pino and Tony Franklin, there seems to be a tendency in rock music to get the fretless out only for ballads. It sounds good, but then I think people get into a bit of a rut and only associate fretless with slower numbers. Many players (IME) who do not play much fretless tend to overdo the slides and mwah. Maybe they think that is what is expected? I personally find it a bit dull and derivative. Also, because there are so few mainstream bassists who are known for their fretless playing, anyone who is new to the instrument tends to want to sound like either Pino or Jaco or some bastardised chimaera. I love fretless when played well. I can't play it well, so I tend not too! Gimme John Giblin's tone and ability and I would though!

What's the difference between "no" and "not tried"?

[quote name='deepbass5' post='1285907' date='Jun 28 2011, 11:46 PM']Interesting Alex commented on Reggae, as the only person i can understand how they play and sing at the same time is Sting. Early Police bass lines his vocal style sits in the gaps. So maybe start there at it may get easier ?[/quote] Which is pretty much how it works in the blues and many musical genres that stem from it. Most of the singers play guitar or keys and they alternate a sung line with a played line (mini-solo!). So in effect they are playing for half the song and singing the other half. As bass and drums are playing throughout the entire song it is much harder to sing at the same time - especially allowing for syncopation on either the vocals or the bass... I can do it and have done it, but it takes a lot of work and as others have said I always feel that both the bass part and the vocal part have to be compromised to accommodate the other. Unless you are Geddy Lee of course.

If everything about a particular bass pleases you, except the actual sound, then why not upgrade the pups? A decent set of replacement pups can cost less than fifty quid (especially if you buy used). If the upgrade leaves you feeling less than satisfied you can use the pups for something else or sell them on. If it makes your favourite bass just that little bit better, it's a win-win situation! I don't think many people replace pups to improve the re-sale value of an instrument, but to try to get something out of that instrument that they perceive to be missing. Some cheap basses can play really well, and the component that makes the most difference to upgrade (barring the neck of course) tends to be the pickups and electronics. Go for it, I say!

[quote name='JTUK' post='1279352' date='Jun 23 2011, 08:45 AM']I have big bass and drums and a bleed for the rest.[/quote] Me too (if memory serves - it's been a while since I did a gig with full PA support and monitors!). Sometimes I like some prominent vocals too if I'm doing backing vocals. I like to have some bass so I can compare the "out front" sound with my own backline monitoring.

[quote name='giblett123' post='1274948' date='Jun 19 2011, 05:05 PM']Have you heard any of the "bare knuckle" pups? A mate of mine had a bass with them in, sounded like a great trad kind of noise to me.[/quote] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=142435"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=142435[/url]

[quote name='Mark Latimour' post='1278290' date='Jun 22 2011, 10:58 AM']Defintely a fad. What kind of ass would play a guitar that looked like this... [/quote]

Trying to play "By the way" by the RHCP on a J or P is rather a challenge. Also, the hammering-on section in Steve Morse's Cruise Missile needs an extra fret... There are some Fenders with 24 frets though! [url="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.dv247.com/assets/products/40977_l.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dv247.com/guitars/fender-jazz-bass-24--40977&h=500&w=500&sz=48&tbnid=i2oi6H56TQCb-M:&tbnh=130&tbnw=130&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dfender%2Bjazz%2B24%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=fender+jazz+24&hl=en&usg=__pB0Enu5qugmjzvc38HSN3CqSDL4=&sa=X&ei=mrwBTomQOIeo8APOicW5DQ&sqi=2&ved=0CCgQ9QEwAQ"]http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http...ved=0CCgQ9QEwAQ[/url] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Performer_Bass"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fender_Performer_Bass[/url]

[quote name='RhysP' post='1277608' date='Jun 21 2011, 07:58 PM']That doesn't necessarily mean you've got reasonable taste - it could mean that someone else has got taste as bad as you. [/quote] Good point.

[quote name='silddx' post='1277603' date='Jun 21 2011, 07:56 PM']Non-self indulgence [/quote] I refer the gentleman to my earlier post. I'm still thinking about it BTW.