Inspire me please!

[Schnozzalee]

I'm starting to get bored of bass guitar at current due to my playing being in a rut, I procrastinate by reaching for my guitar or hogging my sisters keyboard. I'm on the edge of switching, however i've worked up enough cash to either:

Buy a guitar amp and switch back and forth
Buy a Roland VB-99 as my effects unit and try something new
Buy a fretless bass (which I hugely enjoy!) and use it as my main bass
Go all in and buy a really high end bass (£1k+)
Sell my G&L L2000 as well as my Cirrus and buy a Fender/Lakland P and J bass
Sell my G&L plus Cirrus plus rig and go to guitar or keyboard full time...or quit completely, which is the cowardly thing to do!

Any advice appreciated, I have a great setup already although I lack effects and have little/no experience with them.

[Mykesbass]

Fretless (and keep the faith)!

[Beedster]

Buy an upright, no joke, it's changed my views on bass. My electric playing has also evolved significantly as a result

C

[Beedster]

See [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=93952&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=93952&hl=[/url]

[Happy Jack]

Buying & selling is NOT the answer! You get a short-term "fix" of inspiration (wow, this bass sounds fantastic, must play more) but once you get used to the new bass that soon fades.

Either try a different variant of the instrument (as Chris recommends above) or focus on getting your playing out of that rut.

There's a hundred ways to tackle that issue, but the easiest and cheapest is to plug your iPod or equivalent into your PA, hit the [i]random play [/i]button, and then just play along with whatever comes up next.

I do this all the time. In any 30-minute session I may find myself playing ZZ Top, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Cash, The Beatles, and Mike Oldfield.

Tonight's unexpected bonus? [i]They Don't Know About Us[/i] by Kirsty MacColl - great song, very satisfying bassline.

[Beedster]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='910772' date='Jul 30 2010, 10:26 PM']Buying & selling is NOT the answer! You get a short-term "fix" of inspiration (wow, this bass sounds fantastic, must play more) but once you get used to the new bass that soon fades.

Either try a different variant of the instrument (as Chris recommends above) or focus on getting your playing out of that rut.

There's a hundred ways to tackle that issue, but the easiest and cheapest is to plug your iPod or equivalent into your PA, hit the [i]random play [/i]button, and then just play along with whatever comes up next.

I do this all the time. In any 30-minute session I may find myself playing ZZ Top, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Cash, The Beatles, and Mike Oldfield.

Tonight's unexpected bonus? [i]They Don't Know About Us[/i] by Kirsty MacColl - great song, very satisfying bassline.[/quote]

That's good advice

C

[bubinga5]

Im with HJ on this..new gear is not the answer..

you got to ask yourself why you feel your in a rut...i doubt its because you dont like the instrument anymore...you need some inspiration from some source...it may be a new direction in your practice, a new band, focus on something you cant play...

i started to learn the piano, and my perspective of electric bass has changed...its made me excited about the instrument again, like i had when i first started playing..

there are so many avenues to take to refresh your interest in bass..you just have to look...

[Schnozzalee]

[quote name='Beedster' post='910761' date='Jul 30 2010, 09:16 PM']See [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=93952&hl="]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=93952&hl=[/url][/quote]

Thanks for the advice guys!

After reading Beedster's blog on doublebass, I do feel I'm gently going that way already. G&L's are kind of a super precision - plus I've fitted it with flats also, the only thing missing is it having a fretless jazz neck and it would be perfect. Some sort of fretless is still on the cards I feel :blush:

I was also tempted by Clarky's '76P but I know i'll have difficulty getting my small hands round it - an upright maybe more difficult still but the vertical aspect plays better as I can bring my arm across. I love the tone and would definately revert to the old Jack Bruce stuff but the size/price worries me a little as I wouldn't know which to buy, i'm not sure I'd like a EUB.

Bubinga5, I think the reason I'm playing my sister keyboard is for a different approach to scales, feels so different when your looking at the notes from a birdseye point of view, doesn't have the same aggressive personality of a bass which just makes me wanna synth like George Duke lol. I'm also going with the new band approach, i think its time!

I liked Happy Jack's idea to just get stuck in, I worked my way through Black Sabbath's NIB and Jethro Tull's Bouree and then followed it with The Cure - a band I rarely listen to! I just think I get so caught up in GAS for everything over the years I forgot all the magic I made on my first bass an (Overwater setup) Fretless Cort A4

I've got some thinking to do! Thanks again!

[Beedster]

Good thread!

It was playing fretless that gave me the confidence to play DB, it would never have gone straight from fretted to DB. It's worth remembering that the hand is in a totally different position on an upright, so the width and depth of the neck have very different impacts on playability when compared to electric bass.

BTW I have VERY small hands and play a C-width (1.75") neck, whilst i really struggle with narrow A-width Jazz necks. Given what I've picked up from your posts above, I doubt there's a better fretless out there at the moment than Clarky's. If I could find a justification for owning two identical fretlesses it would have sold months ago!

Re Jack's post, I was playing along with Linkin Park on my DB today. Not an obvious combination!

C

[chris_b]

[quote name='Schnozzalee' post='910738' date='Jul 30 2010, 09:59 PM']....I'm starting to get bored of bass guitar at current due to my playing being in a rut, I procrastinate by reaching for my guitar or hogging my sisters keyboard. I'm on the edge of switching....[/quote]
I guess you'd better switch to something else then. Golf perhaps?

[yybass]

[quote name='Schnozzalee' post='910738' date='Jul 30 2010, 09:59 PM']I'm starting to get bored of bass guitar at current due to my playing being in a rut, I procrastinate by reaching for my guitar or hogging my sisters keyboard. I'm on the edge of switching, however i've worked up enough cash to either:

Buy a guitar amp and switch back and forth
Buy a Roland VB-99 as my effects unit and try something new
Buy a fretless bass (which I hugely enjoy!) and use it as my main bass
Go all in and buy a really high end bass (£1k+)
Sell my G&L L2000 as well as my Cirrus and buy a Fender/Lakland P and J bass
Sell my G&L plus Cirrus plus rig and go to guitar or keyboard full time...or quit completely, which is the cowardly thing to do!

Any advice appreciated, I have a great setup already although I lack effects and have little/no experience with them.[/quote]

What's your favourite music?
Who are your idols on bass?
What exercises do you do to improve your dexterity?

[Shaggy]

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='910772' date='Jul 30 2010, 10:26 PM']Tonight's unexpected bonus? [i]They Don't Know About Us[/i] by Kirsty MacColl - great song, very satisfying bassline.[/quote]

A really great song, and better than the Tracy Ulman chart version. I loved her later Cuban-influenced stuff too - sad loss
[quote name='Beedster' post='910776' date='Jul 30 2010, 10:28 PM']Given up on the date with Kylie......

C[/quote]

Noooooooooooooooooooooooo........................never say die!

[99ster]

[quote name='Beedster' post='910756' date='Jul 30 2010, 10:14 PM']Buy an upright, no joke, it's changed my views on bass. My electric playing has also evolved significantly as a result

C[/quote]

+1

[danny-79]

I know how you feel about the "stuck in a rut, not moving forward, un inspired plateau effect etc..."
Been doing that a lot myself recently for some reason, tried all sorts , different gage strings, flat-wounds, rounds, steels, messing about with different effects, anything just to try and find some inspiration to do something different, but that only works for so long and then you are back to ware you started.

Ive found (well it works for me, kind of) rather than going off in a different direction with another instrument (not that there is anything wrong with that), sit down an learn a piece of music that you normally wouldn't listen to, something that you don't even particularly like an hopefully will teach you something that you can apply to the stuff that you normally do, just add a twist of something different into it !

Thats was pointed out to me in the past an worked for me so when ever I'm in uninspired mode thats what i go for
Just my opinion and hope it helps some.

[The Burpster]

Schnoz, if you were a bit nearer I would loan you my Baritone (tuned down to A) to give you an idea what you might have as a crossover......

I pick it up and try to play it when I feel like I'd like to tw4t about with a 6 string for a while and it quickly sorts me out!!!!!

[Schnozzalee]

...I do have titleist golf clubs ^_^

I've experienced that too! Sterling/Jazz necks seem uncomfortable to me - just a lil cramped is all but I do like Warwick/Spector necks and they're pretty thin but deep. Its always strange how quite a few players gently progress back towards the origins of the instrument itself - whether P bass/Fretless or Double Bass, I've noticed that with guitarists and the blues and bassists with jazz.

My favourite music is 70's/80's glam rock - Aerosmith, Van Halen, WASP, Judas Priest etc. my father gave me four tapes when I was...well...four, I wore em out playing with my plastic soldier n it just stuck. They were:

Iron Maiden- Piece of Mind
WASP- Crimson Idol
Thin Lizzy- Legend of the Black Rose
Def Lepard's - Hysteria

Phil Lynott, Steve Harris and a Scottish Band called 'Big Country' got me into bass, although they aren't my faves anymore. I like Chris Squire and Jack Bruce the most if I narrowed it down although Geezer Butler is my goal - just effective, not massively technical buts sums up 'Bass Player' for me in a band.

Dexterity - Iron Maiden (speed), Jack Bruce's Crossroads (improv), Jaco (timing) but I do love a good ole walking bassline!

I'm spreading my wings on the musical front just uploaded 10GB of music to my media player, more Jazz DB stuff - getting into it now, I've never listened to Charles Mingus though :blush:

I think a new band would help me, nothing serious just for fun! My brain went to sleep with the shoite Indie music my old band kept suggesting, post 2000 Kasabian is the only band I'll collect on CD.

Thanks again for the replies! Very helpful!

[yybass]

[quote name='Schnozzalee' post='914335' date='Aug 3 2010, 09:48 PM']...I do have titleist golf clubs ^_^

I've experienced that too! Sterling/Jazz necks seem uncomfortable to me - just a lil cramped is all but I do like Warwick/Spector necks and they're pretty thin but deep. Its always strange how quite a few players gently progress back towards the origins of the instrument itself - whether P bass/Fretless or Double Bass, I've noticed that with guitarists and the blues and bassists with jazz.

My favourite music is 70's/80's glam rock - Aerosmith, Van Halen, WASP, Judas Priest etc. my father gave me four tapes when I was...well...four, I wore em out playing with my plastic soldier n it just stuck. They were:

Iron Maiden- Piece of Mind
WASP- Crimson Idol
Thin Lizzy- Legend of the Black Rose
Def Lepard's - Hysteria

Phil Lynott, Steve Harris and a Scottish Band called 'Big Country' got me into bass, although they aren't my faves anymore. I like Chris Squire and Jack Bruce the most if I narrowed it down although Geezer Butler is my goal - just effective, not massively technical buts sums up 'Bass Player' for me in a band.

Dexterity - Iron Maiden (speed), Jack Bruce's Crossroads (improv), Jaco (timing) but I do love a good ole walking bassline!

I'm spreading my wings on the musical front just uploaded 10GB of music to my media player, more Jazz DB stuff - getting into it now, I've never listened to Charles Mingus though :blush:

I think a new band would help me, nothing serious just for fun! My brain went to sleep with the shoite Indie music my old band kept suggesting, post 2000 Kasabian is the only band I'll collect on CD.

Thanks again for the replies! Very helpful![/quote]

Ok

Back to your roots and start playing grooves you enjoy, the best basses in the world will not get you out of the rut.
I left my band after 2 years for the same reason, met up with a drummer like who is minded ....liberation

[The Burpster]

[quote name='chris_b' post='913082' date='Aug 2 2010, 06:46 PM']I guess you'd better switch to something else then. Golf perhaps?[/quote]

There's plenty of time for golf [u]AND[/u] bass.......

I seem to manage OK!