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CatchrNdRy posted:If he is strumming along to chords can't I just play the root and third and fifth of his chord? Yes, this is perfectly fine. Also try just playing the scale (up and down) for whatever chord he plays. Mix it up a bit as you get more comfortable. Above all else though, keep the beat. When everyone, even the drummer is soloing, it falls on the bassists shoulders to hold them all in place and keep them from getting off key, tempo, and rhythm. I haven't seen much talk about exercises in this thread, so I'm going to go ahead and throw out the "spider" exercise: 1. Place all four fingers of your left hand on adjacent frets on the D string (I recommend starting on the 12th fret). 2. Without lifting any other finger off the string, move your index finger up to the G string. Next (still without lifting any other finger, including the index finger) move your middle finger up to the G string, and then repeat with your ring and pinky fingers. 3. Now try going from the G back down to the D string (same order, index finger first) Eventually you should be able to start on the E string and climb all the way up to the G string and back down again. This exercise is great for building finger strength. I recommend moving your fingers in time with a metronome (100-200bpm), and if you want a little more challenge, pluck the two strings your fingers are on (alternating) with your right hand. Most people find that going up one string with the ring finger is the most difficult part of this exercise, so don't be discouraged if the ring finger gives you trouble. I could post some picture examples if anyone needs them.
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Feb 21, 2008 04:04
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Hey bass thread, I want to pick your minds: I have a 1963 Harmony H22, it's a hollow-body with a short scale neck and hifi pickup. Love the bass, sounds like a contra etc, but my issue is that the drat thing is not weight balanced. The center of gravity is in the neck somewhere. Changing the strap mounting points hasn't helped much, and the wood isn't sturdy enough for it in several places. So now I'm thinking, since it's a hollow body, maybe there is a way I could mount some counter-weights on the inside, possibly behind the bridge. Has anyone ever heard of anything like this, or have thoughts on materials/methods (keep in mind this bass is  and loved dearly)?
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Aug 2, 2013 14:10
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Scarf posted:Have you tried a super-wide, padded shoulder strap? You'd be surprised how much that can help, especially combined with a slightly different mount-point. Would this stop the bass from dropping neck first (apologies, I just realized I didn't mention that in my post)? As it is now with a 3" canvas strap, the thing will dip hard and fast if I let go with my left hand, and the body will go into my armpit.
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Aug 2, 2013 15:11
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Scarf posted:Does your strap have any padding? Is it leather? Or just the kinda typical nylon strap? If it's a super severe drop like that, a wider, padded/leather strap will definitely at least help tame the drop. Other than that, no clue man, sorry. I've never tried to counter-weight a hollowbody before :\ Its a leather strap but zero padding. I've never put much thought into straps, but I did a quick search for "padded guitar strap" and just looking at some of these soothes my shoulder. If it doesn't help the nosediving, I think you are right that it looks like a good investment. I've been using the same two straps for like a decade now so I'm open to suggestions. 4-1/2" Levy looks pretty nice. And yeah I could take some pictures of it, although it isn't very pretty. I rescued it from a friend as a teenager (my first bass actually). A few paint chips, a few dents, garbage aftermarket tuners, frayed/scrambled wiring, but the worst thing was some really bad water damage near the output jack that had rotted the wood away to the point where the jack was just dangling out the bottom, and the original rear strap peg is lost to history. Being my first bass I had a sentimental attachment to it and years later paid a luthier to fix it up, even though I had two other good, working basses. I assumed it was just some random, broken, lovely bass; didn't think it was very old. The first time I brought it to the luthier he said "oh wow that's an old guy!" He did some research and found the year and model. Like I said before, the electronics were totally batshit on this bass when I first got it, so it never actually worked plugged-in, and man the first time I plugged it in after the wires were all sorted out was goose bump town. The sound it makes is pretty distinct from my other basses too. It makes a charming "UNK" sound, if that makes any sense. It has a big white finger switch that puts the bass in either baritone mode or booming big bass mode (I've nick-named this the "Thunder Switch"). But oh drat I'm babbling about my bass now oops. tl;dr: guy meets bass, guy fixes bass, guy loves bass. Will probably post pictures
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Aug 2, 2013 18:56
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RandomCheese posted:My main guitar is a Firebird and I have the same neck-heavy issues. I tried repositioning the strap buttons, getting a wider strap, using a big shoulder pad, even buying a HeadsUp strap that has 3 lead weights in the body, and none of it worked as the neck always went on a freefall straight to the floor if I stopped supporting it. I was in the middle of designing some body harness system to mount it to my torso when I stumbled upon a pretty neat solution: Awesome idea! I'll give that a shot with one of my cheap nylons. DEUCE SLUICE posted:I was looking through some old pictures today, and found this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaApMFaADNs Related: I'm waiting for my new Carvin B2000 with 410brx cab to come in, the wait is killing me. I got a rack and power conditioner with it since I've needed that for a while too. I've got this goofy plan to mount a DMX controller in there and run some lighting programs for bass solos (okay, this isn't really a plan, just a dream)
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Aug 17, 2013 06:51
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So I started looking into Iron Maiden bass lines since my guitarist and singer want to do Maiden covers for Halloween. Wowee wow I never knew what an incredible bassist Steve Harris is. His right hand technique is just  I can match his gallop on two fingers for maybe a minute at most before I start tensing up and wearing out. I'm a pretty light touch but from what I understand, Harris' fingers are punching the strings at force. Blows me away that he can pluck that fast while hitting that hard.To be honest I'm a little concerned about playing this stuff for 2-3 hours straight. Halloween is still a ways off so I have time to prepare, and I think if I make it my main focus during my practice routine I'll be okay (I hope). I read in a few places that he might use some sort of chalk (never heard of something like this) or oil, will probably look into that. Anyone have words of wisdom for me re: making my right hand as metal as Steve's?
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Aug 17, 2013 23:21
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Bruce Boxliker posted:You'll probably have to cheat and use three fingers for your gallops. I go 3-2-1 3-2-1 3-2-1 whenever I do groups of gallops during Maiden songs or similar. Get your ring finger strong and you can do it all night. I've been a metal bassist for my whole bass career and Steve Harris is my favorite bassist but I can't keep up with him with just two. I've been putting in some good practice and I can make it through Running Free, but I still have to be very mindful on keeping my right hand relaxed. That speed with two fingers makes it want to throw my pinky and ring out. DEUCE SLUICE posted:.135 is still a pretty substantial B-string. I play .040 - .120 sets and would consider those "lights." I don't really like "balanced tension" sets because I feel like equal tension doesn't make for balanced tone across the board; you just end up with a thick stiff cable of a B string that doesn't sound anything like the rest of the instrument. If you're getting buzzing you'll want to check out your technique along with potentially raising the saddle on that string. That's a nice bass and it absolutely should have a "good" B-string, but much like everything else on the instrument you'll want to look at your hands first if something's not cutting it. I use that same gauge set, I recommend em too. I actually like really light strings on all of my basses. But I agree that technique should be checked first and always. Amp Update: This is replacing an old Peavey TNT115 (a solid, but underpowered amp) for gigging. The Peavey will stick around as a practice amp/night stand. Coming off a 115, I do really enjoy the sheer punchiness of the BRX10.4, however, I don't enjoy the 16 extra pounds of weight. The Harmony bass (still gotta post photos of it, sorry) sounds just sublime through it, and even my old hated warlock bass from my teen years was thumpin my chest.  (I was going to try it out with my old sampler but realized that all of my cables are at my guitarist's house)  Now I just need to fill that last space in the rack, anyone have suggestions? 
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Aug 22, 2013 01:33
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RetardedRobots posted:That's probably a $160 regular old EMG-J set. Previous owner probably didn't like the hum from the passives that come stock, so put those in. Then he didn't like how sterile the EMGs sound, so he sold the bass. No harm done really. As you get better you might want to change them out after trying other basses and see what you like. You might even like the EMGs. Just play the poo poo out of it and don't worry (make sure to unplug bass after playing and keep a fresh 9v battery on hand). I can vouch for the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2, it works well enough for my purposes (occasionally using Logic in my effects loop). Scarf posted:God I'm so glad fall is here... I love playing outdoors when the evenings are finally getting cool. I forgot to post about this, but I followed your recommendation and got myself a honking huge leather strap to help keep my Harmony balanced. It worked well enough, so thanks for the tip. Although now I have a new problem, that strap (a 4 1/2" Levy) gave me a pretty bad rash. My old strap is leather too, so I'm not sure why the Levy is giving me problems, could it possibly be some kind of chemical treatment that my ~delicate angel skin~ isn't reacting well with? I've never gotten a rash from a guitar strap before, and google is pretty fruitless about how to deal with it. I've stopped using the Levy, but now my old guitar strap brings the rash back.
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Sep 17, 2013 05:06
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RetardedRobots posted:Contact them. Seriously. If you think Canadians are polite and nice people, Manitobans are definitely the nicest of the lot (maybe Maritimers are nicer). They stand behind their products, I am 100% certain they will help you. I did this and got a reply from Harvey Levy this morning. I was told he's never seen this happen before, and advised me to see my doctor (actually don't have one of these so...), or have a seamstress attach fabric over the problem area. Hmm.
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Sep 18, 2013 06:31
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Macavity posted:This. I learned more in the first week I was in a band than the 3 months I spent before with youtube tutorials and internet tabs of songs. Yeah, and I think playing in a band really helps straighten out one's priorities as far as equipment goes. Synthesizer pedals suddenly become a lot less interesting when one's bass amp is being buried by a tiny little 1x12" guitar amp.
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Sep 24, 2013 05:30
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RetardedRobots posted:$100 is a lovely price point. Ampeg BA-108 is your best bet and Fender Rumble 15 would work too. Both have aux inputs for jamming with your Zunes player and headphone outs. Both decent sounding bedroomers. You don't find a lot used around $100 Peavey has a decent little amp in that pricepoint too, otherwise yeah, the Rumble and the Ampeg are probably your best bet. If you can save up another $200, there's always that one Roland that I think is mentioned in the OP (of course, if you wants to spend ~$300 on a practice amp, there's always this Carvin too).
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Sep 25, 2013 05:57
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Blakkout posted:Sorry to hijack your question, but are these good books for someone just starting to learn bass? I'm in the final stages of learning the major scales, and am ready to move onto whatever comes next. I recall using some Hal Leonard books in piano lessons as a kid. The Hal Leonard book in the op is about as beginner as it gets
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Oct 1, 2013 19:31
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Jonny 290 posted:Crossovers are glorious if you like effected bass. I run some pretty complex patches, and most of them have a ~120hz crossover so I can mono-fy and compress the sub bass while doing all kinds of wacky poo poo with the top end. https://soundcloud.com/jonny290/shadow-of-moon is a good example I think, that sub is dead center but you can pretty clearly hear the high end panning and moving. (btw, every non-drum sound on this is my Brice 6 string through Guitar Rig) If I added a crossover to my effects loop, would it be possible to uh... recombine? the two signals before they hit the return on the amp? Most of my pedals are good about not wiping out the sub-bass, but I'd like to use some patches via Logic. It (logic) works fine for a guitar, but makes my bass sound anemic because it kills most of the low frequencies (even through logic's "bass amp") and I think a crossover may solve this problem? Basically I want to send those highs to logic and keep all my precious lows away from it, while only using one amp. Am I completely misunderstanding this? Please school me.
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Oct 6, 2013 04:39
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Jonny 290 posted:Sure, it'd be easy! You just want a combiner or 2 channel mixdown. All of the magic is done when you split it out, then you just combine the two, you get your full freq range back. Excellent. From doing a little research on the topic, it looks like the Rolls SX21 would work for my crossover needs, and a Morely ABY selector/combiner would work for my combiner needs. Any recommendations or words of caution? Ideally I'd like these two components to be as transparent as possible, but I read one review of the SX21 that said it can color sound a little. In personal bass news: I no longer hate my Platinum Warlock bass. It's been years since I've replaced the strings because drat I have hated this bass for a long time, but I restrung it with super slinkys and brought the pickups up a little and I'm now getting shockingly good tone out of it through my new bass amp. As good, if not better than my Ibanez SRX650, with the bonus of not having the lovely Ibanez active preamp that plagues some of the mid-tier Ibanez basses. My band isn't really a uh.. dark and thorny group, but I kinda want to use the Warlock as my main now. Maybe I could have it repainted with a candyland mural to soften its edge a little.
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Oct 10, 2013 02:06
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Remulak posted:Ironic use of pointy or 80's guitars is the Next Big Thing, get on it now. well in that case...
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Oct 10, 2013 08:27
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Thumposaurus posted:I rebuilt this Warlock and painted it seafoam green with pearloid accents to combat the pointyness. It's amazing how much this disarms the metalness of this bass. Is that the stock B.C. Rich headstock? How old is this thing?
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Oct 10, 2013 18:20
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Scarf posted:So it isn't often that you get a second chance on an instrument you regrettably sold... About 3 years or so ago I sold a bass to help fund my Lakland Hollowbody. I didn't WANT to sell it because it sounded and played amazing, but I needed the cash. I sold it to h_double here on the forums. He's now given me the opportunity to buy it back and I couldn't be more pumped to get Nola back in my quiver... That thing looks great naked. Reminded me that I had semi-promised way back to post my '63 Harmony H22 (which is also naked):    I think all the scars make it venerable Bonus comedy Warlock shot:  loving widow head 
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Oct 17, 2013 08:47
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Further on in the Bass Method book it goes into 1 finger per fret, just fyi. I personally shift between the two occasionally during my playing, although am biased to using 1-2-3-4 most of the time. It happens automatically, generally switching to the 1-2-4 on lines where I'm not hitting the chord triad. As a beginner you might find 1-2-4 to be helpful in improving pinky strength. Regardless of what anyone says though, you should always try to play the way that makes you comfortable.
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Oct 23, 2013 15:12
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Katana Gomai posted:Thanks for all the input. 1-2-3-4 feels most comfortable to me, so I'll stick to it. I can see how 1-2-4 makes sense though, especially with regard to pinky strength (and not everyone having huge hands). A good teacher will tell you this too, but incase you are flying solo: when starting out with 1-2-3-4, don't forget your thumb! Beginners sometimes develop a habit where they put counter-pressure on the neck with their thumb while fretting. This can cause fatigue and pain for your whole fretting hand, so don't lose focus on your thumb, keep it relaxed and light.
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Oct 23, 2013 19:21
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Katana Gomai posted:Thanks for the advice, I am 'flying solo' and I already noticed how much focus I have to put on my thumb to keep it loose. I think I'm getting the hang of it though. Good, be patient with it and it will come. You might also try fretting without even touching the neck with your thumb, to check if your fretting fingers are putting down proper tension. Heavy thumb (in my experience) is caused by heavy fretting, so by fretting without the thumb on the neck, you can get a feel for how hard your fingers are pressing down on the strings. Without the thumb in place, heavy fretting will send the neck backwards towards you. To address this, try practicing a lighter touch with just the fretting fingers and no thumb, and later reintroduce the thumb. Try this with exercises (like the spider exercise in the OP, or the first set of exercises in Bass Fitness). Other causes of thumb tension could be lack of stretches before playing, or lack of warmup (or both).
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Oct 23, 2013 20:41
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Just saw this beauty on CL: http://westslope.craigslist.org/msg/4139068954.htmlquote:It has original artwork and is called the "Mmmmooovelle".  
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Oct 24, 2013 01:19
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Not related to the pentatonic playing specifically, but I want to elaborate more on what I said earlier when I said I use both 1 finger per fret (1FPF) and 1-2-4: as another poster stated, it DOES come from standup bass playing, specifically from the Simandl method. I definitely wouldn't call it a relic though. The technique (sort of) divides the fretboard in two, where 1-2-4 is used for the lower register, huge frets, and 1FPF is used for higher frets (although if the line doesn't require a 4 finger system, I'll occasionally use 1-2-4 on high notes too). I like this a lot because it keeps my hand in a natural rest shape on the lower frets, whereas 1FPF would cause uncomfortable stretching. There are ways to minimize the stretching with 1FPF, such as lifting your first finger as soon as you are done sounding a note with it, or just having atypically, freakishly large hands. And like I said, certain songs call for a close triad on the lower frets, which pretty much requires a 4 finger system, (an example would be "Cochise" by Audioslave) otherwise I use 1-2-4 more often on the low frets. I think there is a misconception that it's always either 1-2-4, or 1FPF, whereas in the Simandl method, the two are combined with excellent results. The point is to keep the hand in a closed, relaxed position to avoid fatigue. I feel like the strict 1FPF mindset tends to come from guitar, where it makes a lot more sense on those shorter scale necks. Dave Marks talks about 1FPF and when to use it in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXkxu_7Tn48 I'm not saying go forth and learn Simandl, the one true bass method (you'd need a teacher), but don't dismiss it. Playing this method is hardcoded for me, as my training began with the upright bass. Regardless of what I, or anyone else says, always play whats comfortable. Ericadia fucked around with this message at 02:28 on Oct 25, 2013 |
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Oct 25, 2013 02:23
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Seventh Arrow posted:I even tried using thumb position at the 12th fret, but it's pretty awkward (and unnecessary!) on a horizontal neck. Btw please tell me about your fretless bass(es).
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Nov 2, 2013 21:55
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Seventh Arrow posted:My fretless is a bit of a frankenfender. It was actually my first bass, originally a (fretted) Fender Bullet Bass. Then I read an interview with Jaco about how he took his Fender Jazz, pulled the frets out and put boat epoxy (or enamel or something) in the gaps. So being a dumb teenager I figured that it would be a cool idea to do the same. Except instead I yanked out all the frets at once instead of one at a time I'm not familiar with the Bullet, would it be able to accommodate P-Bass style pickups? From searching for photos it looks like no, but I can't tell at a glance. Your story reminded me of a 6-string Ibanez I saw in the music store the other day. It had been defretted/epoxied etc, and had black painted strings (it was a consignment). It looked like a lower end ibanez bass, but I was curious so I played around with it a bit. I was surprised by how... awful it sounded. It still had round-wound strings instead of flatwound, and the pickups looked like generic cheapies. Such a bizarre bass that someone definitely poured some time into.
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Nov 3, 2013 02:11
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So the neck obviously became bowed enough that you could shoot arrows with it.
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Seventh Arrow posted:I believe it uses Fender Mustang-style pickups. From searching for photos it looks like no, but I can't tell at a glance. I've seen round-wound strings leave grooves in the neck. I don't know if I'd consider that "ruined" though lol.
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Nov 3, 2013 02:24
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I'd avoid stagg if you can. It's not worth it
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Nov 3, 2013 20:39
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Quidam Viator posted:Yeah, I saw those on Musiciansfriend, and they seemed a little too good to be true at just $800 or so. Any brands you'd actually recommend? Is there a sweet spot that's relatively affordable, but still quality? Thanks. Yeah a lot of Stagg stuff is poorly/inconsistently made. They also make guitars, pedalboards, racks, stands, and all sorts of other things. To that EUB specifically, it sounds like a bass guitar, kind of defeating the purpose. For the $800~ price range, Palatino would probably be fine, for more money NS seems to be quite popular. I've never actually had a chance to try one of the Yamaha EUBs, but I'd imagine they are solid, Yamaha rarely disappoints, especially at that price point (plus I like the form factor). Quidam Viator posted:or is the whole concept kind of half-assed? That was kind of my assumption coming in.
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Nov 4, 2013 04:49
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Going to toot the Carvin horn here: http://www.carvinguitars.com/bassamps/brhalfstacks.php Their BR series are pretty affordable, and if you want something even more pro their BRx aren't too much more expensive. Plus you can get them in red, blue, white, or snakeskin. As for cabs, keep an eye on weight and size, bass cabs get heavy fast. I have a BRx 10.4, thing weighs 96lbs and is almost too large to fit in my Corolla (and considering I can stuff a 3/4 double bass in that car, this is a feat). Comedy option would be to just get a PA and a pair of these: http://www.carvinguitars.com/products/TRX2121
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Nov 5, 2013 17:47
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aunt jemima posted:Don't discount combos too. The Ampeg BA115 and Fender Rumble 150 are both fine all-in-one units with grab-and-go simplicity that will be just fine for many club gigs or really anything that has PA support. If you can find a used SWR Workingman 12 that's in the same category. Backing you up here with my Peavey TNT115 combo amp. Despite being a "200w" amp, it was actually pretty useful to me for years. It has balanced line out which I used to go directly into PA systems to make up for its huge lack of push in those obnoxiously loud bands. It worked wonderfully for playing in the jazz combo at my university though (where I played with drummers who understood what dynamics are). Actually it's almost 10 years old now, been dropped several times (once down a flight of stairs), it's gone through a wall twice (it won both times, make sure people carrying your amp have good balance), and even had a loving cat pee right into the heating vent, and it still works daily as my bedroom practice amp/night stand, and the vinyl/whatever cover hasn't even peeled or cut anywhere. Peavey makes invincible equipment I swear. The tone is bottom heavy and loses oomph in the mid to upper mid, and I find the tweeter to be a little tinny sometimes, hence why I have replaced it with my carvin rig.
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Nov 5, 2013 19:40
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Odddzy posted:Hey guys, after coming back from the music shop with a DITTO loop pedal and being assured it comes with a battery i've just run into the misfortune of finding out it simply isn't made big enough for a battery to go in it and the sales guys didn't know either. I use a power supply for the few pedals I use, specifically this one. It's a really great value for what it is. An alternative would be the venerable Voodoo 2 power supply. The advantage of a power supply like this Joyo or the Voodoo is that they are "isolated," which eliminates some fuzzy noise caused by pedals sharing a power source. A cheaper solution that will work for a small number of pedals would be a daisy chain (sometimes referred to as a "one spot") like you mentioned. This video roughly shows the advantage of an isolated system over a daisy chain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NweK7wVh_LQ For the number of pedals you plan on, I suggest getting a power supply. As for how to carry and organize your pedals, you can't go wrong with a pedalboard, try to look for pedalboards that have either a gig bag or a flight case included. Pedaltrain is a good brand, and probably one of the more prominent players but I've heard some good things about Gator pedalboards too. Avoid Stagg pedalboards, they are essentially cardboard boxes with fancy styling. This is an entertaining web app that lets you plan out a pedalboard. It doesn't have an exhaustive list of pedals, but you can still make a decent plan with it. Remember to leave space between pedals for cables, and don't forget to leave room for a power supply (some pedalboards have room to mount them underneath). And yes, a tuning pedal should be general purpose and work for bass. The top two tuning pedals are probably the BOSS TU-3, and the Korg Pitchblack (this is the one I use). I highly recommend a tuning pedal btw, it is an underrated piece of gear because amateur players see them and think "that's too expensive, I'll just use a clipon/mic-tuner/tune-by-ear" but they really outperform other types of tuners in speed and accuracy (except for maybe a dedicated rack mount tuner). The Pitchblack is a true bypass pedal so it won't effect the signal when it is turned off, and when it is turned on it mutes the signal; I believe the TU-3 operates similarly but I am unsure. As for an overdrive, I have a BOSS ODB-3 overdrive pedal that gets the job done; not great, but good the few times I need it. I'm sure someone else in this thread could steer you towards a better overdrive than this unit though.
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Nov 11, 2013 03:20
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Odddzy posted:Thanks for the great info! Reviews on the power supply you use are kinda wild going from 5 star to 1 or 2 stars on amazon and saying it isn't perfectly isolated and stuff. I'm not well rounded on my technical side but was wondering if I should either go for a voodoo 2 or is it just marketing trying to scare me in spending more? The Voodoo 2 is honestly a very solid piece of kit, and I doubt you'd regret getting one. For my own purposes, the Joyo works well without noise, but I generally only use my Korg -> BOSS DigiDelay -> BOSS RC-2 Loop Station, occasionally with two more pedals. There could very well be truth to the low star reviews, but I am not sure, my technical understanding of isolation (how it works, why it works, etc) is very limited. Another very highly rated power supply to consider is the Fuel Tank from T-Rex Engineering. EDIT: Thank you Minto Took ^^^^ I did not know that Ericadia fucked around with this message at 05:16 on Nov 11, 2013 |
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Nov 11, 2013 05:11
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RetardedRobots posted:I'm having a hard time skipping strings for some reason. I end up rushed or missed and usually out of time. Anyone have some good exercises to cure that easily? The Part B exercises in Bass Fitness would be a good place to start with fixing string crossing. I know it's painfully boring but do start at 60bpm on your metronome and slowly increase the speed after each run up and down the neck. Andrew Pouska has a lesson about this on his website as well.
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Nov 12, 2013 05:49
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So I'm going to buy a new bass guitar very soon, most likely an Ibanez SR1405/SR1605. I've tried it out in person and I love it (handsome, light weight, Nordstrand pups are great), but it makes me curious about the next step of Ibanez basses, the SR5005. It's about $700 more expensive, and as far as I can tell the primary difference is in the fingerboard wood and the pickups, has anyone here played one and could give me some impressions? I'm fond of Ibanez basses, but I did want to look at a deluxe Jazz or P bass. Unfortunately I couldn't find a single high end fender (or any brand) bass in any of my local music shops. I was actually surprised to find that SR1405 because otherwise it was a sea of low end squier, peavey, and Ibanez GIO basses (all fine in their own way, but not what I am looking for). I also looked at some Carvin basses but I don't really want to buy a bass I can't stand to look at, and those Carvin basses look very goofy to me. I'm considering making the 3-4 hour drive out to Denver just so I can try out some more basses before I buy anything, but this time of year I'm busy and the roads over the mountains aren't stellar. Also please consider this an invitation to post about your fanciest, most excellent bass (copious pictures please).
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Nov 12, 2013 19:51
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Scarf posted:If I were to ship it, I would remove the neck and just ship that, thus reducing the size and weight and chances of it "falling" again... Along with 20lbs. of bubble-wrap. And that would only be if I went with the guy in Atlanta. If I decided to take it to the guy in Asheville, I drive up that way fairly often. what's the story behind this uke? Would like to learn more about it
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Nov 15, 2013 02:16
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Scarf posted:So would I! Fascinating, I'm digging the artwork on it which is why I asked (also I've never seen a uke in that shape). Is there a Misc/Stringed instrument thread in ML anywhere? Your uke posts inspired me to dig my great grandfather's banjo out of my closet and now I've got banjo questions. edit: nevermind, theres a banjo thread! Ericadia fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Nov 15, 2013 |
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Nov 15, 2013 20:52
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Gushing Granny posted:Getting back into bass and it really needs a string change, but I have no idea what to get. I have a Fenix by Young Change if that helps. can't go wrong with either GHS Boomers or Ernie Ball Slinkys. String gauge is more down to what kind of tone you like, heavy gauge is darker, light gauge is brighter etc. Elephunk posted:Still Amp shopping... my needs have changed. In your case you will probably want to get a keyboard amp over a bass amp. Bass amps tend to be biased towards low frequencies whereas (decent) keyboard amps should have an even response across all frequencies. Your keyboard will sound great through a keyboard amp, muddy-to-lovely through a bass amp; your bass will sound bright and possibly sterile through a keyboard amp, and great through a bass amp. I'm also assuming your keyboard outputs in stereo which makes using a conventional bass amp more convoluted. fwiw I occasionally use an electric guitar through my Carvin B2000 with the sub and bass turned down and mids/highs flat, and it sounds good (not great), however, this same setup with my Peavey TNT115 sounds awful... just so so awful in every way. The Carvin, though still bass-leaning, is pretty neutral as far as bass amps go, whereas my Peavey is stupidly boomy. The carvin is also terrifically more powerful than the peavey, which helps. My point is that a bass guitar should sound good through a decent keyboard amp, maybe not mind-blowing, but good enough. Both of the amps you linked should be fine unless you play with a loud band, in which case the bass guitar will get drowned out. If you have more cash to spend, this Roland would probably fulfill your needs. Its hard to say though without listening to them all in person. One more thing: I mentioned earlier that your bass might sound sterile through a keyboard amp: if this turns out to be true, consider getting a bass preamp (rack mount or pedal) to go in your signal chain before it hits the keyboard amp.
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Nov 25, 2013 20:36
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havelock posted:I ended up going to guitar center and playing around. The 5 string felt like...a 4 with an extra string. I ended up buying a vintage modified 70s jazz bass in natural and the acoustic b15. I got the black friday coupon applied without the rush, which was nice. It sounds nice enough to me for $300 and feels great in my hands. Although some builders actually use math and ergonomics testing (hello Ibanez), a lot of em will build a 5-string bass exactly like that; take a 4-string, make the neck wider, and slap another string on there. Glad to hear you found something you like, the VM basses have a good rep with this thread  The Leck posted:Sansamp VT Bass + keyboard amp = good/great idea for this situation? The Bunk posted:Yes. VT Bass is always the answer. Declan MacManus posted:Best idea. Keyboard amps are basically (more) portable power amps with built in speakers so if you've got a bass preamp you like, problem solved. I really love this thread 
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Nov 27, 2013 20:10
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TopherCStone posted:I felt a huge pit in my stomach when I saw that headstock break. Glad to see it's back in action! Have you played one in person? The strings feel like giant rubber bands, the intonation was so so, and the output sounds somewhat like a standup bass. Unlike a standup bass, it has no bite in the tone at all. Its all a very dull thudding, boomy sound. I played a hollow and solid body version; I personally didn't like them, but a ukulele playing friend who was at the music store with me *loved* them. Which maybe that's the whole point? It's a dumb toy for bassists but a serious instrument for a ukulele player? Or maybe its a gimmick trying to cash in on the recent popularity of either hawaiian/"white guy" style reggae or just general Zooey Deschanel quirkiness? I really don't know. I definitely wouldn't pay the sticker price for one though.
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Dec 5, 2013 20:45
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EvilChameleon posted:Dear bass expert goons, I have a problem. I have comically small hands and so I have trouble when I am trying to keep to the one finger per fret rule when I am near the nut. This isn't usually a huge problem because I can jump around well enough but there are some things that I want to play that are too fast to really do that and I need to be playing with my index on fret 1 and pinky on fret 4. This is the absolute furthest my fingers will stretch and it's really painful to do more than a few times. What I'm wondering is if there is some way to strengthen this type of maneuver through some type of exercise or if I'm just kinda hosed in this regard and should work harder on jumping around. That's an unfortunate situation. The pain can go away, but exhaustion will still be there. I'm pretty sure the Dave Marks video above talks about immediately lifting your index finger once its done sounding the note, this is your best bet to lessen the strain. Depending on where the pattern is played, there are a couple of other (maybe drastic) ways to deal with it: if you have a 5 string bass, and the pattern doesn't touch the low-B, play the pattern higher on the fret board, with lower strings; or, (and this is the most drastic) down-tune and play higher up on the fretboard. EDIT: ^^^ a shortscale bass would be helpful in this situation too
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Dec 7, 2013 15:06
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EvilChameleon posted:Thanks for the advice. I've seen that video before, and I don't make a 'rule' of playing one finger per fret and I generally follow the advice given there. I am wondering if it is possible to actually practice stretching so that you can do the four fret spans, and if so, what would you recommend? I'll try what Odddzy suggested and see how that goes, though. Doing it well requires practice, like any other technique, just be mindful of injury. And don't be afraid to get creative and rearrange the bass line.
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Dec 7, 2013 17:26
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