Most appropriate Bass for Country/Country Rock/Folk

[Damonjames]

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1502141770' post='3349626']
I forgot to mention in my earlier post that on eof the decades I spent playing country was spent in Nashville. So I can tell you not ALL the records coming out of Nashville are recorded on a P bass with flats. At least not the ones I played on!

[/quote]

Come on now Ivan, name and shame fella!!! Let's hear those chops!!!! 😄

[chris_b]

I believe there are also a lot of 5 string Laklands and Sadowsky's in Nashville these days.

[stingrayPete1977]

I was in Croyde years ago and there was a great country/blues band playing in the busy pub in the village, lovely thump coming from the band I couldn't see, when I eventually got sight of them on my way to the gents I could see a Stingray, it wasn't what I was expecting but it sounded bang on.

[Chris2112]

Don't pigeonhole your bass choices for what you 'think' a genre demands, especially if you're basing that decision on looks.

Country in particular is massive in the US and consequently attracts some top class players with top class gear, so even something boutique will fit the bill if it performs adequately.

[ambient]

[quote name='Chris2112' timestamp='1502195688' post='3349903']
Don't pigeonhole your bass choices for what you 'think' a genre demands, especially if you're basing that decision on looks.

Country in particular is massive in the US and consequently attracts some top class players with top class gear, so even something boutique will fit the bill if it performs adequately.
[/quote]

I think this is quite true.

[xgsjx]

I used to play in a band that played US folk & Americana. Played it on my Ibanez Soundgear & never looked or felt out of place.
The pedalboard however, may have looked a bit out of place though & the sounds certainly didn't always sound like bass guitar. But it was great fun.

[ivansc]

[quote name='Damonjames' timestamp='1502182163' post='3349729']
Come on now Ivan, name and shame fella!!! Let's hear those chops!!!!
[/quote]

(grin) most of them were from when I worked in one of those "come to Nashville and record your singer-songwriter garbage in a REAL NASHVILLE STUDIO with REAL NASHVILLE SESSION GUYS" studios. A couple of things made it onto albums by The Beat Poets and Rudi Whaling, but I don't really have any of them. I will dig up a link to the ONE track I have seen on Youtube a while back, a tune from 1989 masquerading as a new song by Rowena of the Glenn. (!)

[Damonjames]

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1502295569' post='3350544']


(grin) most of them were from when I worked in one of those "come to Nashville and record your singer-songwriter garbage in a REAL NASHVILLE STUDIO with REAL NASHVILLE SESSION GUYS" studios. A couple of things made it onto albums by The Beat Poets and Rudi Whaling, but I don't really have any of them. I will dig up a link to the ONE track I have seen on Youtube a while back, a tune from 1989 masquerading as a new song by Rowena of the Glenn. (!)
[/quote]

Can't wait pal!!! I messaged you a while ago about Nashville numbers system and some other country stuff a while back, but this last year has been aweful for me playing wise (long story). Hoping the next month or so will see a corner turned!!

[ivansc]

t was easier than I thought!
Track is at least 30 years old so be gentle!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhrcSNYLTjw

[Dad3353]

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1502351383' post='3350798']
t was easier than I thought!
Track is at least 30 years old so be gentle!...
[/quote]

Marvellous..! Nice growling bass, dark drums and a voice like Bonnie Tyler meets Kate Bush meets Morticia Addams..! I love the splendid, incongruous rhyming of 'Nile' with 'sundial'..! Must have been fun, recording that on a wind-swept hill-top, naked, at midnight, whilst sacrificing a couple of virgin goats..! Thanks for sharing; that'll trouble my dreams for several weeks now, I shouldn't wonder..!

[SpondonBassed]

You're kidding!

[Dad3353]

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1502370342' post='3351003']
You're kidding!
[/quote]

Virgin goats don't kid, obviously.

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1502370877' post='3351006']
Virgin goats don't kid, obviously.
[/quote]

Indeed. I hear they are lovely in a stoat and kidley pie too.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1502372179' post='3351025']
Indeed. I hear they are lovely in a stoat and kidley pie too.
[/quote]

A kid'll eat ivy, too. Wouldn't you..?

Edited August 10, 2017 by Dad3353

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1502372359' post='3351030']
A kid'll eat ivy, too. Wouldn't you..?
[/quote]

I'll have to ruminate on that one.

[Dad3353]

[quote name='SpondonBassed' timestamp='1502378102' post='3351080']
I'll have to ruminate on that one.
[/quote]

Oh dear..!

[ivansc]

The band split up in about 1990, I returned to Europe & Rudi/Rowena became a Wiccan. She also wrote a best selling (well, on Amazon) fictionalised version of the Arthurian legend & now has a band again, touring and doing festivals. Saw her last year briefly & she seems to be doing fine. Nice lady.
Everything I did out there, including this track, was done on my free-gift-from-Massman-Drive bass, which is their take on a P-Bass. Explorer shaped with a precision split pickup. I added a jazz pickup and switched the passive pickups for one of the earliest EMG P/J sets. 1983 or 4 I think. Still got and use the bass.

[Bolo]

Gibson is all over the country, and the western scene, apparantly.

[ivansc]

Them and Peavey. I got my first (and only) Peavey amp that way. Used it for years & then sold it on to a pupil in the UK when I decided I was not going to b playing bass at gigs any more (yeah right!)

I don't know how many of the Gibson or Peavey users in Nashville are still getting them free, but certainly in the early 1980s they were practically giving them away with the morning milk!

[Damonjames]

Nice work Ivan!!! It wasn't the country I was expecting, but still tidy work!!

That women's voice on the other hand will give me nightmares....

[ivansc]

That was the idea - she is a white witch

[SpondonBassed]

I never thought of Country as being a spooky genre before. Thank you for changing my perception.

[ivansc]

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee............................................. BOO!

[Rocker]

Well in the end I bought a USA Fender Precision [sunburst] as it was the only bass that sounded and felt 'right'. I tried out a couple of Fender Mex basses and a Squier PJ before parting with my cash. The Squier was not too bad, better, but not a lot better than my Aria STB-JB-DX. The Fender Mex's were a disappointment - they felt like planks of wood in my hand and though prices at less than half the USA bass, I felt they were seriously overpriced. If I was a gigging bassist, I would, probably, have bought the Squier as it is more versatile than my Aria. But as I was buying a bass for ME, I went the whole hog in one giant step and bought the USA Precision. It came with a heavy case, very unmanageable TBH, so I will get a good gigbag for the few times the bass leaves our house.

A friend of mine bought the Aria and I threw in the Thomann bass gigbag for good luck. Thanks guys for all the advice and support, all much appreciated.

[SpondonBassed]

[quote name='ivansc' timestamp='1503047931' post='3355273']
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee............................................. BOO!



[/quote]

It's taken me until now to come out from behind the sofa after that.




Heeheehee