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I dunno I just play in groups a lot and it's nice to be able to sit down and keep a beat on the drums if the drummer doesn't show, etc. I'm certainly not a novice.
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May 6, 2010 20:51
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When I'm writing songs I tend to write them with whatever is in my hand at that moment. It's usually my steel string or classical acoustic guitar if I'm by myself. With a guitar you tend to be able to make more of a harmony than on a bass, with chords and such. Plus I can take my acoustics outside and to places without having to worry about lugging around amps, cables, pedals, etc. Don't get me wrong writing songs on a bass is entirely possible but there is something about the organic feel of a steel string acoustic. If I am with my band on the other hand I am almost always playing bass. I will occasionally plug in my guitar and noodle or sit down on the drumset and jam with my guitarist while my drummer is getting beer. .
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May 6, 2010 21:11
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I tend to write for guitar and bass at the same time, in a tracking program. It makes it so much easier when you can hear if the parts you're writing out mesh together on the spot.
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May 6, 2010 22:02
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Scarf posted:That's the difference between making collaborative music and writing/making compositions of music. Yeah, I see what you mean. I need a good guitar player who I'm on the same wavelenght with to bring my ideas into reality, so I guess knowing guitar would help a bit. But then again, and this is not saying that doing things my way is in any way superior, music to me is a collaboratibe effort first. Find a bunch of dudes (or a gal) who all share a vision and what you get is magic  Or a drunken night playing classic rock covers. I guess you could say that I'm climbing up a tree rear end end first, while you have a crane. Dyna Soar fucked around with this message at 22:26 on May 6, 2010 |
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May 6, 2010 22:22
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NarkyBark posted:I tend to write for guitar and bass at the same time, in a tracking program. It makes it so much easier when you can hear if the parts you're writing out mesh together on the spot. The best thing I ever did for my songwriting was to get a Boomerang looper and an A/B box. Plug in bass and acoustic guitar, and you can play your chord progression, then play bass over it or try out melodies or realize that maybe you want to change that third chord to F minor so the bass can do this, or tap on the body of the guitar to get a feel for where you want drums, and sing over it all. Way better than trying to write song bits in a vacuum.
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May 7, 2010 20:52
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Brickhouse Betty posted:The best thing I ever did for my songwriting was to get a Boomerang looper and an A/B box. Plug in bass and acoustic guitar, and you can play your chord progression, then play bass over it or try out melodies or realize that maybe you want to change that third chord to F minor so the bass can do this, or tap on the body of the guitar to get a feel for where you want drums, and sing over it all. Way better than trying to write song bits in a vacuum. I'm in the market for a digitech JamMan for the same purpose. Especially since I can save it to an SD card or right to the computer.
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May 7, 2010 20:54
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Scarf posted:I'm in the market for a digitech JamMan for the same purpose. Especially since I can save it to an SD card or right to the computer. http://knoxville.craigslist.org/msg/1729211435.html
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May 7, 2010 21:37
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So, I'm looking for a budget priced 4-stringer to accompany my 5-string Warwick Thumb Bolt-On. The thing is, I won one design contest and will receive a couple of hundred dollars as a gift card to a webstore so my choices are kind of limited on this purchase. The big problem is that the basses I found in my local stores to try out weren't either available online or didn't appeal to me feel wise or visually. Anyways, I've heard great things about these two Squier basses: Squier Vintage Modified Jazz Bass:  Squier Jazz Bass Deluxe IV:  I would've bought the Vintage Modified one in a heart beat but I've heard almost everyone complain about the factory set-up being lovely with too high action. A low and comfortable action is one of the main things I'm looking for in my new bass in addition to a neck with a finish that allows fast movement up and down. So, any of you guys familiar with these two models? Can the Vintage Modified's factory set-up be fixed easily (I know only how to lower the action but apparently that easily causes heavy fret buzz)? Or is Jazz Bass Deluxe an awesome instrument out of the box? It sucks that I have to shop blind even though I'm getting the bass for almost free. 
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May 13, 2010 09:59
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The Vintage Modified is great value for money, the ones I've seen in shops have pretty good fretwork and the block inlays are neat, and the pickups have tons of passive snarl. Plus I'm a sucker for maple boards and natural finishes. The factory set up is easy enough to change, you can probably get action height suggestions from talkbass if you're worried about what would suit you best.
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May 13, 2010 12:47
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Yeah, don't fret (heh.) over the factory setup. Usually it's the result of incompetent shop employees. It can be changed quite easily in your own hands or in the hands of a professional at a shop. Both are nice basses, but I didn't really care too much for the Deluxe IV. It's an active bass, and the preamp really isn't all that great (but you really can't expect too much considering its price-point). The VM is the way to go, imo.
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May 13, 2010 15:27
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Do you want passive or active pickups? The vintage modified is passive; the deluxe IV is active.
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May 13, 2010 16:35
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Isnak posted:The Vintage Modified is great value for money, the ones I've seen in shops have pretty good fretwork and the block inlays are neat, and the pickups have tons of passive snarl. Plus I'm a sucker for maple boards and natural finishes. The factory set up is easy enough to change, you can probably get action height suggestions from talkbass if you're worried about what would suit you best. Scarf posted:Yeah, don't fret (heh.) over the factory setup. Usually it's the result of incompetent shop employees. It can be changed quite easily in your own hands or in the hands of a professional at a shop. Thanks a ton! I've also leaned a bit more towards VM so that may well be my choice. betterinsodapop posted:Do you want passive or active pickups? I was aware of this. This time around (since I'm mostly still learning stuff) I'm looking more for playability than sound. I guess I don't have an exact preference yet because of my inexperience with different set-ups. V  V I've heard passive dances around the mid-range frequencies while active reaches both low and high ends better.
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May 13, 2010 17:53
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betterinsodapop posted:The vintage modified is passive; the deluxe IV is active. Active preamp with passive pickups, actually.
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May 13, 2010 23:32
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Another small question: I think I have developed a mediocre sense of rhythm in my head but whenever I try to tap my right or left leg to a rhythm where there's above basic level syncopation, my leg twitches around like a retard in a washing machine and I'd be better off not tapping at all. I've noticed that it's gotten a bit better with practice but I still can't rely on my leg almost at all. It feels like my legs and hands are cross-wired so that they can't have their independent assignments. I'm not a drummer but I can play some basic beats and run into the same problem there but in this case, the bass drum forces me to hit a hi-hat on my right hand if the hi-hat hits are frequent and the bass drums are half-syncopated. Kind of hard to explain my problem without correct terminology in English.
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May 17, 2010 18:12
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These Loving Eyes posted:Another small question: I think I have developed a mediocre sense of rhythm in my head but whenever I try to tap my right or left leg to a rhythm where there's above basic level syncopation, my leg twitches around like a retard in a washing machine and I'd be better off not tapping at all. I've noticed that it's gotten a bit better with practice but I still can't rely on my leg almost at all. It feels like my legs and hands are cross-wired so that they can't have their independent assignments. I had this when starting but I was right handed and tapping my right foot. I switched to my left foot and it was A LOT easier and came very naturally. Talked to another (left handed) friend who had this problem and he started doing what I did and said it also became easier. I practiced by sitting cross-legged and contracting my left knee with the beat and slowly progressing to standing and it came naturally. And it is hard to extrapolate this into English lol. Also wanted to know if anyone had an opinion on Stagg Jag basses. http://www.staggmusic.com/products/products_detail.php?langue=uk&oneid=533 I found one for 150 and was thinking about it but wanted to know if anyone had experience or even heard of the company. Big Face fucked around with this message at 20:29 on May 17, 2010 |
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May 17, 2010 20:20
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Big Face posted:I had this when starting but I was right handed and tapping my right foot. I switched to my left foot and it was A LOT easier and came very naturally. Talked to another (left handed) friend who had this problem and he started doing what I did and said it also became easier. I practiced by sitting cross-legged and contracting my left knee with the beat and slowly progressing to standing and it came naturally. I think my left leg is better at this too, yeah. Guess it's just practice, practice then. Also noticed there was no actual question in my post. 
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May 17, 2010 20:46
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I get a lot of hum when I play my bass. I can mostly solve this by placing my hand on a string(alternatively, placing my hand at the amp plug also works), but the hum pops up again if I lift my hand. Moving to a different room helped some, but does anyone know a good way to deal with this? I was thinking maybe I could construct some kind of grounding wire, connect that to the amp plug somehow, and connect the other end to my wrist. Does that sound right?
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May 20, 2010 00:13
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Isamil posted:I get a lot of hum when I play my bass. I can mostly solve this by placing my hand on a string(alternatively, placing my hand at the amp plug also works), but the hum pops up again if I lift my hand. Moving to a different room helped some, but does anyone know a good way to deal with this? Your bridge should be grounded, which will ground the strings. What brand bass is it? Is the electronics cavity shielded? What kind of pick-ups are in it? If it is just single coils some hum is unavoidable but a good shielding job can help out. You don't want to ground yourself directly to the guitar or amp.
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May 20, 2010 00:32
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I got the bass from Rondo music(one of the SX series). It's a p-bass style, and has a GFS p-bass pickup that I actually installed today. The pickup is louder overall, and it gets more hum, I assume because of that. I don't know if the electronics are cavity shielded, what would I be looking for to see that?
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May 20, 2010 01:02
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If it is shielded it is probably done with shielding paint at the factory. It should look flat black inside the cavity. Is the pickguard(if it has one) shielded? You can use aluminum foil and some spray glue to shield it if it isn't. It will most likely still hum. Check this out: http://www.guitarnuts.com/wiring/shielding/bass.php It might be what you have to do to get it 100% quiet.
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May 20, 2010 01:26
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Did it hum before you swapped pickups? If no, then open the bass back up and check the solder connection between the black ground wire from the pickup and the volume pot. If it looks messy, then remelt the solder joint because you probably have a cold solder joint. edit: since it apparently hummed before, check the other ground connections in the bass because they may also be bad. This means the pickup ground to the volume pot, the ground between the volume pot, tone pot and jack, and then the bridge ground. I recall the electronics in my SX jazz not being the nicest looking before I swapped electronics so it might be this as well. Don't worry about additional shielding in the cavity, P-basses don't need it as much as jazz basses because the pickup is humbucking and any 60hz hum is canceled out because of this. Doomy fucked around with this message at 01:41 on May 20, 2010 |
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May 20, 2010 01:33
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I just checked, there is no black paint in the body, and the pickguard is white on both sides. Yes, it did hum before. I'm no expert at soldering(in fact, the ground wire from the pickup actually fell off the first time I tried to install this), so I could have made it worse. I might try resoldering the grounds. Thanks for the advice. Edit: 1 note. The solder that the original grounding(before I replaced the pickups) was done with is not the same as the solder I'm using(60/40 rosin). In fact, my soldering iron(which is very cheap) doesn't actually melt it. Is it a problem if I solder the ground wire into this stuff that I can't melt? Edit 2: I tried resoldering everything, don't think it helped. Maybe I'll replace the electronics someday. Isamil fucked around with this message at 03:49 on May 20, 2010 |
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May 20, 2010 02:14
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So there's a little thrash band around here that's looking for a bassist, and I'm considering calling them up and seeing how well I mesh with them. however, I've never played any thrash before, and was wondering what some of the big things are? I'm primarily a guitarist, but I love the gently caress out of playing bass too, and really, I just want to have some people to play with. So, what are things that I should know/be practicing to play thrash?
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May 20, 2010 02:29
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Nothing special really. It does depend on the band since newer and older school of thrash are a bit different, but the bass is usually in its typical role, keeping the root and locking down. Old school thrash bass tends not to go crazy, it leaves the guitars to do that. Newer thrash tends to be more creative in the bass department. I guess just get used to endurance- you'll be sixteenth noting all night long.
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May 20, 2010 03:22
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NarkyBark posted:Nothing special really. It does depend on the band since newer and older school of thrash are a bit different, but the bass is usually in its typical role, keeping the root and locking down. Old school thrash bass tends not to go crazy, it leaves the guitars to do that. Newer thrash tends to be more creative in the bass department. They claim they're an "expiremental" thrash band, so I'm guessing there'll be some creative room in there, but hey, I'm pretty comfortable with my scales. And playing my scales neatly to a metronome at fast speeds. Although I'm sure the band is looking more for someone who'll stay on beat than someone who's really creative. (Actually, they've posted four times on craigslist over the past month. I think right now they're just looking for a warm body.) ...not like you can *hear* the bass most of the time behind insane drum beats and guitars.
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May 20, 2010 04:56
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I just came into possession of an old Gibson EB-0. It's totally awesome and has a metric ton of low-end growl to it but I find the treble a bit lacking. How should I EQ my amp so that it doesn't lose all the low-end but the higher stuff still has some punch? I'm running it through a Behringer 3000T ultrabass head, and the pickup got replaced by some kind of Bartolini soapbar humbucker.
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May 20, 2010 17:25
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Isamil posted:I just checked, there is no black paint in the body, and the pickguard is white on both sides. yes that would likely make a bad connection. I assume you haven't messed with the ground wires between potentiometers, so solder the pickups ground wire anywhere on the bare metal back of the volume potentiometer. Before you do, put a small, small amount of solder on the metal where you'll attach the wire, and this will make it easier to solder. Bruce Boxliker posted:I just came into possession of an old Gibson EB-0. It's totally awesome and has a metric ton of low-end growl to it but I find the treble a bit lacking. How should I EQ my amp so that it doesn't lose all the low-end but the higher stuff still has some punch? I've always heard that those EB-0s never had a lot of treble to begin with, but for more punch you could try boosting it in the low mids around 120 to 500hz. Doomy fucked around with this message at 23:27 on May 20, 2010 |
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May 20, 2010 23:23
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Scarf posted:I'm in the market for a digitech JamMan for the same purpose. Especially since I can save it to an SD card or right to the computer. i think a DAW would suit your purpose so much better. especially ableton. its seems pretty rear end backwards to record things to a looper and then put them on your computer and then mix them, when you could just skip step one.
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May 21, 2010 04:03
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Doomy posted:I've always heard that those EB-0s never had a lot of treble to begin with, but for more punch you could try boosting it in the low mids around 120 to 500hz. This worked pretty well, thanks.
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May 21, 2010 05:13
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oredun posted:i think a DAW would suit your purpose so much better. especially ableton. Ableton Live even has a built in software looper pedal these days.
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May 21, 2010 19:59
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AA is for Quitters posted:They claim they're an "expiremental" thrash band, so I'm guessing there'll be some creative room in there, but hey, I'm pretty comfortable with my scales. And playing my scales neatly to a metronome at fast speeds. Although I'm sure the band is looking more for someone who'll stay on beat than someone who's really creative. (Actually, they've posted four times on craigslist over the past month. I think right now they're just looking for a warm body.) I play predominantly thrash; we're pretty choppy, so instead of just peddling root notes I generally actually play the riffs with the guys, just as a bassline rather than the powerchords etc that the other two dudes are playing. You'll want to do a bit of work higher up on the fretboard, you will probably find it's a lot easier for you to play along and cut through the mix if you use a pick too. Playing 16ths at 200+ rpm with fingers is hard. Ocasionally there is room to play around, and I'm interested to hear what "experimental thrash" entails. Also the secret to being heard in a thrash band is to set your eq while the other guys are playing. Don't focus too much on what you consider a good tone when you're playing alone - it'll just disappear into the mix. You'll need to crank the mids, maybe roll off the top end of the treble to avoid the inevitable fret noise/pick noise from trilling and whatnot... Just see what works for you.
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May 22, 2010 11:33
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My wife has been thinking about picking up bass for awhile. We were leaning towards something from Rondo (maybe the violin bass) and a practice amp just to see if she likes it. I know guitar center usually doesn't have anything worthwhile, but they are running a big memorial day sale right now. Is there a chance that there's anything there worth picking up over whatever Rondo has?
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May 30, 2010 14:49
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havelock posted:My wife has been thinking about picking up bass for awhile. We were leaning towards something from Rondo (maybe the violin bass) and a practice amp just to see if she likes it. I know guitar center usually doesn't have anything worthwhile, but they are running a big memorial day sale right now. Is there a chance that there's anything there worth picking up over whatever Rondo has? I love Rondo and all, but now is the perfect time to pick up a used mid range quality bass and amp for cheap used. And the best part is, if she ends up not enjoying playing, you can usually sell it for about as much as you bought it for. I'm not a bass player so I can't really give you recommendations on a good Amp, but Mexican made Fenders are a good place to start looking for a used bass. Can probably pick one up for $300 or less. P and J bass have a different feel, so you might want to go to a music store and have her sit with a few basses just to get an idea of the type of bass she finds most comfortable and aesthetically pleasing. There are other options in a similar price range like Peavey, Squire, and Ibanez, but I'm sure others can give you more advice there.
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May 30, 2010 15:30
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Yeah she should definitely try out a few basses. As a general rule, P's have bigger necks so if she's got hands like ladies typically have, a P might not be the most comfortable model to start with. Ibanez's have models with really thin necks, and a Jazz is somewhere in between. I personally like the P's tone the most so I have one, even though my hands are somewhat small. I've heard good things about mexican Fenders, I'd def get one over a chinese or a vietnamese copy. There's not that big of a difference in price, and you can get lucky with an asian model but you've got better odds to get a good bass if you get a mexican one.
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May 30, 2010 16:49
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Can anyone recommend a bass with P style pickups, but a really thin neck?
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Jun 1, 2010 08:32
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Some Fender P-deluxes have thinner necks and a J at the bridge with P on the neck. They're pretty sick.
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Jun 1, 2010 09:31
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Geisladisk posted:Can anyone recommend a bass with P style pickups, but a really thin neck? Also the Highway 1 basses have a thinner neck. Almost as thin as a Jazz, but not quite. Probably the best buy for a p-bass. My MIA standard p also has a thinner neck than most out there, and not sure why. Just irregularities with the Fender production line is my guess. Some standards and especially the fives, feel like gripping a coffee table.
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Jun 1, 2010 15:19
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I'm shopping for something with a even thinner neck than Jazz Basses, something along the lines of standard "metal" basses, like the ESP F-series for instance. I've got a TA-600, and whilst I dislike pretty much everything about that instrument, I really like how slick and thin the neck is. If I could get something that sounded like a Precision bass with that neck I'd be in love.
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Jun 1, 2010 19:24
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In that case, get a beat up Ibanez that is in a PJ configuration and put some basslines in it. While I haven't tested the theory, that's about the closest you'll get to a P-sound. It is difficult to mimic the sound of the p because it is just so... generic and genuine at the same time.
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Jun 1, 2010 19:52
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I'd recommend a Deluxe Precision bass. Something like this.... http://www.talkbass.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/233/cat/13 I've been playing the same Mexican Deluxe P for the past 10 years. It has a precision body but a jazz neck, the best of both worlds in terms of comfort. I've also got a 90's Japanese Precision bass but I rarely play it as the neck feels huge compared to the Deluxe. I don't know if Fender still make something similar anymore but mine cost about £450 new.
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Jun 1, 2010 21:33
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