ThomBassmonkey

Learn your arpeggios and if you're playing in a modern ska band (excuse the people who don't know how to seperate opinion from facts) then learn to do them quickly. I play in a "Zydeco" (loosely, some songs are basically ska with an accordian) band and basically if you can keep arpeggios and scales moving around with the chords, then it's a lot of fun. If you're not too fast, don't worry, so long as you try and stay fairly busy it should be ok. All bands vary though, try playing it for yourself and see what works with your band mates.

I know these aren't really anything new to most people on here (in terms of hearing about them at least) but I'm really curious, not sure I'd be able to afford one any time soon, but they do look like great fun! Any places around the midlands that stock any? What kind of prices do they start? (FWIW, I'd be looking at a 5 string J/J config) What brands make nice ones? I only really know of Dingwall. I'm not seriously contemplating buying one at the moment, but it'd definitely be something I'd be interested in trying out in the future.

No complaints at all with my Thumb 5 BO into my GK RB/RBH rig.

[quote name='dave_bass5' post='902060' date='Jul 22 2010, 04:08 PM']The neck feels very fast. it seems a bit strange having a harder surface to fret on (or is that my imagination?) but im sure after 30mins or so ill get used to it.[/quote] Isn't maple a soft wood? Hence why you don't see maple fretlesses very often.

I voted that I don't care, because I don't, but IMO it's part of the guitar family, along with ukes etc. Whether or not that would make it a guitar is up to you, but saying "bass guitar" gives people a far more accurate idea of what one is than just "bass".

[quote name='AttitudeCastle' post='901266' date='Jul 21 2010, 08:32 PM']I like Rumble, Sizzle, Sparkle and GROWL most of all![/quote] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=92597"]COUGH[/url] You won't find better than a GK artist right for that kind of sound imo.

Just for the record, I don't think scale length affects low strings as much as you think. My 34" Thumb BO handles low B brilliantly (it's a 5 string, but still 34" scale). On a cheaper instrument the extra tension from having a longer scale can help, but if you're upgrading the pups, I think you'll be ok if you get ones that'll do the job.

I have to say, I don't really understand why people would EQ differently for different bands (within the same genre at least). In a standard rock band (with only one bass instrument) there should be nothing that interferes with the bass. I play in a band with an accordion (very bassy instruments) and I don't have to change my EQ from my other band (which is a 4 piece, but the flute doesn't really count with bass and most of the keyboard work (4th member alternates between keyboard and flute) doesn't interfere with my basslines as it's usually in the higher range). The key for me is definition, so long as the notes I'm playing can be heard and I'm filling out the bass frequencies, I'm happy. It's my main reason for disliking Ashdowns so much (IMO, of course) they can either be EQd with enough bass to fill the sound and they become muddy, or you can EQ them for definition and they don't have enough bass to fill the sound out. Maybe I've just been lucky that all the guitarists I've played with have known how to EQ themselves (and have had good amps) or they're open to me fiddling with their EQ to get the best out of the overall band sound. But I've played with a couple of people with Mesas (which are very bassy sounding amps) and never had any problems with frequency clashes.

Yeah that'd work. They're essentially the same ends, just different sizes. I've done this before, it's a cheap way of DIing your bass (though I wouldn't expect the best quality But it'd be fine for practising).

I had a Heritage series Mockingbird and it was lovely, sounded fantastic and punchy. Just found I wasn't using it ever so traded it for a 5 Maverick (which I'm now trying to sell ) but it was a great instrument.

Faridas are SERIOUSLY under rated. We have a hollowbodied tele in at the moment and it's a stunning guitar. Had it ages though, no one wants to buy it because it's got the wrong F brand on the headstock.

So long as people look like they're having fun, it doesn't really matter what they're doing in my opinion. It's hard to tell if it looks out of place when you see a still of one band member, who knows what (s)he's in the middle of doing or what their other band mates are doing. It might be totally in place if you watch the whole scene.

Open tuning are used on guitar so that you can play various chords more easily, on bass there's rarely need for chords, so IMO it's more important to keep scales and arpeggios consistent than it is to have the chords easier to play.

This didn't sell and has gone back up: [url="http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320562907086"]http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...em=320562907086[/url] There's a bid on it, so it's gonna go this week! Woohoo! hehe