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I saw Andrew Bird play tonight and the bassist, Alan Hampton, was playing a Harmony H-22. Even when flat-picking, the sound was indistinguishable from an upright/double bass. He was also chording and arpeggiating without creating a muddy mess of sound. Looking online, the H-22 appears to out of production and difficult to find for sale. For anyone more knowledgeable than me, what would make that bass sound so much different than, say, a Fender Jazz bass? Any recommendations for something similar in the sub-$2000 range? Laserface posted:one of my bands chooses to play support slots almost exclusively since it means that we arent playing at midnight and all our friends/fans that need to get baby sitters can be home in time. its essentially the difference between being a guest at a wedding and being in the bridal party. you get to have more of the fun of playing shows without any of the responsibility. As a near-40 year old, this is the major difference between playing live in my 20's and doing it now. It was a lot easier to get friends out on a Tuesday night when they were going to be out anyway. It's way different when people are paying a babysitter by the hour and need to get up early for work the next day. I play in two bands at the moment. In one, I am the oldest by 10 years and in the other I am the youngest by the same amount. The latest I have started a set with the second band is 9:30pm. The latest I have started with the first was 12:00am (on a Tuesday night/Wednesday morning). The first still draws more people per show than the second. BrianRx fucked around with this message at 07:57 on Feb 14, 2024 |
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Feb 14, 2024 07:44
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Dang It Bhabhi! posted:Three things: Bottom Liner posted:Probably the biggest factor combined with that pickup: it's a hollowbody. It's getting actual accoustic resonance in that big chamber. Thanks a lot for this. I found an H-22 in pretty good condition for $900, which is "reasonable" as far as music-related purchases go, but I slept on it and it got snagged. I fell in love with my Warwick Corvette years before I was able to afford one and have been playing it for 20 years, so maybe I'll get an H-22 when I'm 50 and take it with me in my casket.
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Feb 21, 2024 17:41
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Captain Splendid posted:. Congratulations, you made it! If you ever feel like you're just taking up space, keep in mind that you're part of the rhythm section, so that's literally your job. Also, listen to the Rolling Stones, CCR, and a lot of other classic rock to see how easy it is to steal a living as a bassist. Advice I got early on is that no one has ever been fired for playing too few notes. If you can keep time and know the progressions, you're in good shape and most bands will be glad to have you.
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Mar 4, 2024 00:46
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I dunno, I think mistakes by bass players can be the most noticeable of all. Depending on the length of the note and rhythm of the line, you can create some ugly dissonance that can really only be matched by a guitar player or keyboardist holding a bad chord. The audience probably won't know what was wrong, but they'll definitely know that something sounded bad. Your band mates will know, though, as will any other bass players hanging around, and those are the groups that I focus on when I get nervous before shows. Completely unrelated, but the scarcity of drummers in my city is absurd. One of the bands I play in has been using a hired gun for a few months. The other band has a converted bass player who is thankfully pretty good but not great. I should have been a drummer. BrianRx fucked around with this message at 01:14 on Mar 5, 2024 |
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Mar 4, 2024 22:35
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Henchman of Santa posted:Drums are expensive, require a ton of maintenance, space to put them (and use them), and a car to transport them. It’s crazy that anyone maintains it into adulthood. I have compromised on all of those. We played with a drummer who was on a student visa from Finland and spoke very poor English, did not have a vehicle, lived over an hour away, and didn't even have cymbals. Someone always had to add two hours to rehearsal to pick him up, and he frequently cancelled day-of. He was good, though.
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Mar 5, 2024 22:28
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Shageletic posted:Punk is absolutely the cheat sheet for being competent on bass quickly. You can just rely on feel and enthusiasm until you start branching out This is exactly my path. There is quite a gap between punk and funk, though. I played before a punk band last night and stuck around to listen to them. Forgot my earplugs and I'm paying for it today. I feel so old.
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Mar 14, 2024 19:05
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Seventh Arrow posted:Tinnitus is no joke; please please please be careful with your hearing. Yep, I usually at least bring foam earplugs. I actually left halfway through their set but apparently it was enough to cause damage. Dumb on my part.
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Mar 14, 2024 19:31
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Now do Maxwell Murder. edit: just remembered many many years ago in high school when I showed the song to a guitar teacher with naive hope of learning the solo. First he said that it had to be played with fingers because no one could flat pick that fast. When I said ok, I'll learn to play it that way, he said it wasn't physically possible and that the track was sped up. And so I thought and said that to other people for years. Listening to it now, it's definitely fast, but absolutely doable. Matt Freeman only played with a pick too so that guy owes me an apology if he's still alive. I could have been so cool. BrianRx fucked around with this message at 09:10 on Apr 20, 2024 |
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Apr 20, 2024 09:01
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I want to experiment a little with string gauges, trending toward the heavier side. I expect to have to do a full setup when replacing the medium gauge strings that are already on my bass, but is there anything I should be aware of regarding tension that needs to be considered? I have vague memories of a friend ripping the bridge off of a cheap acoustic guitar after putting heavy strings on it but imagine brand-name basses are a little more durable. Still, anything to know?
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Apr 25, 2024 19:37
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Seventh Arrow posted:Curious as to why you want heavier string gauges? I think sometimes people believe it will give them better tone, but I have yet to see that proven. More or less that. I'd like a little more low end and sustain, which I can do with my EQ pedal, but figure improving the sound at the source would be better. I really only started paying attention to the shape and tone of my sound beyond what I could dial in on my amp recently, so I'm trying to branch out in general. I listened to some comparisons between flat and roundwound strings and want to experiment a bit there as well. I've got three basses and only play one regularly so I've got some room and time to mess around with the others.
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Apr 25, 2024 20:06
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Laserface posted:I choose strings based more on how i want the guitar to play than how i want it to sound, because no amount of EQ/effects will change how it feels to play, but you can add sustain in post production. Ah, I pretty much only play live, either at rehearsal or gigs. Feel is number one, sound is a close second. So higher tension seems like what I'm looking for. Speaking of gigs, we played a pretty mediocre set tonight. Got off stage bitching about not being able to hear ourselves, the engineer buried the vocals, blah blah blah. Then the band that followed us killed it. They were tight, their songs were good, and they brought a decent-sized, enthusiastic crowd to a venue that isn't really set up for live music. They're breaking or about to so I shouldn't really compare our performance to theirs, but they were great to watch, seemed like good people offstage, and I hated them a little because of it.
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Apr 26, 2024 09:29
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