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I've been looking to make a (double) jump from acoustic guitar to electric bass for a while now, seeing as I have a better hand at rhythm than melody. Seeing as I might get a pretty lucrative internship this summer, I figured I'd reward myself with a decent starting bass. The douches at the local store keep trying to push those Squier Affinity starter kits on me, and I'd rather not get something that I might outgrow in a matter of weeks. I've been looking around a bit, and for now I'm leaning towards this Epiphone SG Bass. I love the sound and look of the Gibson SG, which for now is beyond my league, so this came up as a best choice for me. No real idea for an amp, friend of mine recommended getting a Crate combo amp, and I just need a basic practice amp for now.
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Apr 10, 2008 19:30
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 01:26 |
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I'm not 100% sure yet, but I definitely favor progressive/instrumental rock. I came to this initial choice of bass based on a few bands I liked, but I have to admit at this point I'd have a hard time telling one bass from another by sound.
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Apr 10, 2008 19:55
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3toes posted:Don't get me wrong, I love the sound of a Gibson bass, particularly the EB-0, 3, and 4. But it's definitely not for everyone. I'd highly recommend playing one first if you can. Well, I can't really get a feel for playing it if I don't know how to play. ...I guess that's why it's not really a starter bass. Anyway, this idea hinges all on getting this internship, if I don't get anything I'll be doing plastic rock all summer instead. 
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Apr 11, 2008 02:50
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I like the sound of it in MONO's songs, so I'll start there either way. But then, maybe that's just an overdrive pedal. 
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Apr 11, 2008 04:41
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Well, while we're touching the subject of finger playing, I've been wondering about something in mine. I try to make it a habit of playing with alternating index and middle fingers, but apparently my middle finger has a much pluckier, trebled sound than my index. Which is cool if I'm trying to have a varied sound, but really awful when I'm trying to maintain a steady groove. What's up with that? 
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Aug 31, 2008 03:15
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You could've told me this before I trimmed my long femme nails.  But I think you're right and my middle fingernail is hitting the string. Even though I try to play parallel to my guitar body, I have super long slender pianist fingers so my middle finger ends up striking it at a near straight angle compared to my index. Which seems to include my nail, even though I've had them trimmed as short as I can since I picked up the bass guitar. I guess I'll just have to learn to play like this. I've been using basslines from the Strokes to practice my steady strumming, because god knows that's all they do. Plucking with 1 finger tires me out after the intro in Reptilia, and I just can't hold a steady beat with 2 fingers. Need more practice. =(
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Sep 1, 2008 04:29
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Why are you learning tabs instead of fundamental octaves and scales?
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Oct 30, 2008 21:14
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I've found that I never play with my pinky or ring fingers individually, but rather with both at once... Meaning I pretty much have a 3-fingered hand. I have freakishly long fingers, but not much strength in them. I should practice myself to lose that bad habit before it's too late.
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Nov 24, 2008 18:30
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So, I've decided to observe my fretting hand more carefully, because so far I had mostly been paying attention to my finger playing. From what I can tell, it's just like pantsfish described. My first three fingers are fine, but my pinky is stupid. If I try to play any position above the 5th without shifting, my pinky is just stiff and kinda hurts. So I just shift down one fret and end up playing with both pinky and ring finger as mentioned. I'll get back to practicing 4-fret spreads without shifting, but I'm not sure I can pull that off with any amount of practice.
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Nov 25, 2008 03:30
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So, uh... It's a bass guitar... Shaped like a violin? Somehow that's just too appropriate. (I play violin and, more recently, bass.  )
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Dec 1, 2008 07:26
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Not strictly a bass question, but I'll toss it here rather than making separate topic. My quartz metronome is really boring sounding, and since I'm generally practicing next to my desktop computer I may as well have some fun and practice with some drum loops. However, a quick search for drum software on Google has only netted me some freeware with mediocre samples and horrendous interfaces. Unlike amp modellers which are pretty limited, it looks like these drum synths are a dime a dozen, so I have no idea which ones are good. Any recommendations?
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Jan 26, 2009 06:04
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Keep at it if you're feeling persistent, or do something else. In my experience, it doesn't matter much. A friend of mine told me something that made a lot of sense given my own learning experience: Learning an instrument seems to be about plateaus. You'll practice, get better, practice, get better, practice, and suddenly you hit a wall. Whether you change your exercises or keep at it doesn't make much of a difference, you just can't get this one thing right. The only thing to it is to keep on practicing and not give up, even if it feels like wasted time. Then, one day, you pick up your guitar and that hurdle is gone. Everyone hits those, and they get longer to overcome as you get better. The only thing talent does is make those plateaus shorter. 
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Jan 28, 2009 19:59
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I'd written up a reply but decided against posting it since I'm not speaking from personal experience. In any event, the consensus is that low-end Squier stuff is pretty terrible. This mostly applies to the Affinity series last I checked, so I don't know if the P/J bass ones are any better. If all you're looking for is a good low-range value bass, you can't go wrong with Ibanez.
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Feb 9, 2009 15:51
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Rashomon posted:Yeah, I like Ibanez, but unfortunately all their low end basses are extremely ugly (in my opinion). Any cutaway bass is ugly.  And my action is at around 5mm at 12 fret -- I haven't measured, but I had it lowered a lot. A bit too much I guess, I get some buzzing on higher frets.
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Feb 9, 2009 21:48
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I'm gonna go ahead and toss a TalkBass topic right here: My campus's music club basically has some incoming funding and we'd like to invest in a bass + amp so bassists don't have to carry all our stuff whenever we want to jam. I have a budget of around $1000-1200 CAD. So based on the discussion here and a friend's input, I've basically isolated a few bass choices: MIM Fender J-bass Ibanez SR700 Warwick RockBass Amp-wise: SWR Workingman 15 (local store is clearing one for $480 CAD) Ampeg BA115 Acoustic B200 I'm leaning towards those choices, in that order of preference. I did a bit of research but since I'm still a bass newbie I'd like to double check to see if these are good, relatively versatile choices.
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Apr 17, 2009 19:51
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Heatmonger posted:Hey guys, I have a gift certificate to musician's friend and I am looking to purchase a bass for about $300 or less.... I play mainly rock music if that means anything (Punk, Classic Rock, metal), but might want to learn a little bit of slap for the novelty of it. Here's a list of basses available: Owning an Epiphone SG, I can tell you it doesn't slap very well. Others might correct me on this, but it's basically just not a sound that works well with humbuckers. Due to these same pickups, as well, your sound will be mostly restricted to rock. You can still slap with it, or do non-rock, of course, it just won't sound as good as something with J pickups. I'm sure someone else can give you more info on those, as I'm just fine with my SG for now. 
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Jun 15, 2009 15:58
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Speaking of setups, I've been mostly self-servicing after getting fed up paying each time I wanted to adjust anything. It's been quite enriching, and so far I haven't broken anything. *fingers crossed*  Anyhow, there is a little something that's been bothering me. My E string is considerably lower than my other three, so that whenever I adjust it so the action is perfect for A-D-G, my E string keeps buzzing. If I do the contrary and setup for E, then my action isn't at this sweet 2-3mm distance I've come to love. Basically, if I were to take a cross section of my strings at the 12th fret, I guess it'd look roughly like this:  Now this'd be something that normally gets fixed at the bridge, but my bridge doesn't have any individual string height adjustments. It seems to be a standard bridge for all SG-type basses, with three screws being the overall height adjustment.  I figure I have two alternatives: 1. Use the intonation screws to slightly raise/lower the strings to straighten them up. Of course, that'd also kill intonation so I'd likely end up with one flat harmonic and three sharp ones. Not good. 2. File down the A-D-G string slots in the nut. This is pretty much irreversible though so I'd rather keep it as a last resort. But now that I look at it closely, it looks like the E string slot was already filed during one of the three previous setups I had done.  So before I do it, has anyone messed with one of these bridges before that could tell if there's something I haven't thought of? Jan fucked around with this message at 14:40 on Jun 24, 2009 |
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Jun 24, 2009 14:35
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Nope, it doesn't even have a saddle, per se, unless you count the individual intonation points on the bridge. And those are definitely intact. I meant the nut, on the head. I saw that bridge when searching around, but I do like the look of the Gibson 3-way bridge so if I can I'd rather not change it.
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Jun 24, 2009 15:13
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Scarf posted:Ahhh. Well then you may need to get a new nut cut and installed for it. I guess I could buy a new one in case I can't get my current one to work by filing the other three strings down and maybe adding a shim. Right now I'd say the E string is almost at its limit, so I can probably use it for a few months without a shim or replacement before the whole nut is worn out. Seventh Arrow posted:Gibson bridges can be pretty weird. My main bass is a Gibson Les Paul, and tinkering with the bridge to get the action where I want it has been a real chore. I've been wondering about Gibson basses. They're not seen nearly as often as Fender J-basses and lookalikes, in spite of Gibson being a pretty huge brand when it comes to guitars in general. I love my Epiphone EB-3, love the sound of it, and have been thinking of getting a Gibson EB-3 (short scale, to reduce the dreaded neck dive) when I feel ready to invest in a four digit figure instrument. Would your Les Paul has been worth it over, say, a Fender MIA or another comparably priced instrument?
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Jun 24, 2009 16:28
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Dopo posted:Can anyone recommend a good intro to bass book that is written entirely in sheet music rather than tabs? I play the tuba so I'm already really comfortable reading bass clef. Hal Leonard's bass method. It has a few tabs, but they're by far the exception, not the rule. It covers pretty much everything you might want to know about bass.
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Jun 25, 2009 15:36
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Having only owned one bass so far, I'm not very good at defining tones. I'm trying to get something, uh... twangy? I'm thinking like the intro riff to Megadeth's Peace Sells. Roughly how would you get something like that with a three band equalizer and/or some effects?
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Jun 30, 2009 02:52
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I never listened to Megadeth much, really. I only gave Peace Sells as an example because it was the closest thing I had in mind. (That, and like every amateur bassist and their dog I've been messing with its intro riff. ) My bass doesn't have a very large difference in tones between picking and finger style, really. But that limited sound range is pretty much what I signed for by getting an Epiphone SG, methinks.  I think I'll look for a more versatile bass before I upgrade to a Gibson... Unless I find a deal on a used SG in the meantime -- not letting that '67 for $900 slip out of my hands again if it ever comes up.
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Jun 30, 2009 14:36
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Scarf posted:Actually... you may want to instead try some Rotosound TruBass 88 tapewounds. I found them to be much more "woody" sounding when I had them. What about plain 'ol palm muting?
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Jul 29, 2009 18:59
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Bobby_Wokkerfella posted:Has anyone got any experiences with AXL basses? I'm looking to buy a n entry level bass in the next few weeks, and at the moment I'm tossing up between and AXL Badwater vintage bass and an Epiphone SG EB0 If you must go with a SG bass, at least get an EB3. The EB0 only has the neck pickup, which while it remains my favourite sound (especially with overdrive), is anything but versatile. At least the EB3 gives you a bridge pickup to add some treble to your sounds. Also, the long-scale SGs have a particularly bad neck dive problem, which isn't very fun to contend with when just starting to learn posture.
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Aug 11, 2009 15:13
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Not strictly a bass question, but since it's the reverse of what usually gets asked I'm going to throw it in here anyway... I'd like to try my hand at guitar after playing bass, but I only have a cheapish Marshall combo bass amp. Would there be any risk to plugging a guitar through a bass amp? The only "danger" I can think of is of it sounding real muddy. Considering I can play some CDs through the line in designed specifically for this purpose, it doesn't sound very risky.
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Aug 12, 2009 05:47
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3toes/Scarf is still right in that the EB-0 is *not* an "all-around" instrument. The EB-3 is slightly more versatile which is why I suggested it, but both are still heavily biased towards good old rock. If you do like the sound, more power to you though. Anyhow, neck dive will happen no matter how tall you are. Getting a very large strap will help, but the way the neck strap pin is located as well as the smallish body will still cause it to lean down a bit. I've seen people recommend Ibanez SR's for starter basses over and over. Couldn't tell ya if they're "head and shoulders" above though. The Squiers, not so much.
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Aug 12, 2009 06:39
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Two particularities concerning the SG and scale: 1. Short-scale SGs have a bit less neck dive. But even the short-scale Gibson EB-3 I tried out felt off-center. 2. Long-scale SGs still have the thinner neck of a short-scale.
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Aug 12, 2009 17:23
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Jan posted:Not strictly a bass question, but since it's the reverse of what usually gets asked I'm going to throw it in here anyway... Just quoting myself because I think this got overlooked.
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Aug 13, 2009 06:31
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Never tried 'em myself, but Rondo music carries a few decently priced Hofner imitations.
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Aug 19, 2009 18:52
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Just a page backScarf posted:Scale length is the distance between the Nut and the Bridge on a bass (or guitar for that matter). Standard scale length is 34" on a bass, and short scale is usually 30.5". Short scale basses are usually a bit easier to play for people with smaller hands. Also, due to shorter and usually less-tense strings, they have a more rounded sound on the upper register. But along the same lines, they are usually muddier on the low-end.
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Aug 19, 2009 19:00
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I saw Mono in concert last Thursday, and something's been bugging me ever since. Their bassist has been my #1 inspiration to even take up bass playing, and I'd always assumed her sound in their louder song parts was from an overdrive pedal. I figured I'd have a look at her pedal board on stage after the show, but some 6'8" roadie gave me this "back the gently caress off, girl" look before I could snap more than one blurry picture. I tried filtering it a bit to cancel the motion blur, but it's still pretty impossible to read anything:  My reckoning is, from right to left: Boss line selector, Boss chromatic tuner, SansAmp bass driver and what I think is a Boss bass synthesizer. Now, I know absolutely nothing about effect pedals, but I don't see how any of these could do result in the sound in this video (at around 5:15). What do you effects whizzes think? Maybe a combo of settings on the bass driver and on the synth? Maybe I'm completely wrong and that's not a bass snyth at all? I can also upload a better excerpt on tindeck if it's too hard to tell from YouTube.
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Oct 3, 2009 16:18
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Hrm, are you talking about the right-most one? The only thing of Boss that I can find that looks remotely close is the line selector, down to the red and green spots on top. Perhaps it was just set to bypass at the time. Hell, I'd say the left one is the only one I'm not sure of -- I distinctly remember recognizing the chromatic tuner, the SansAmp is about the only text that's legible and comparing the line selector to the right one really looks like it's the one. All bets are off on the left one, however -- come to think of it, it could also very well be a digital delay. Grayish, four knobs on top and a red LED. That'd also make more sense. Edit: Digital reverb, probably! Jan fucked around with this message at 17:42 on Oct 3, 2009 |
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Oct 3, 2009 17:28
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scuz posted:resin smoke (the solder kind, not the Liar. vvvvvvvv I've been wondering if rewiring my Epiphone SG would make it better -- I know the pickups are sorta cheap to begin with, but the volume knobs have a drastic cutoff between 1 and 0. I'm thinking it might be made better with logarithmic pots, but my electrical circuits for engineers class is kinda far away now. Jan fucked around with this message at 14:49 on Oct 16, 2009 |
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Oct 16, 2009 14:37
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kind)
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scuz posted:yes, sorry about that. yes, but that's rather wasteful.
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Oct 21, 2009 19:57
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Solid choice. It's one of the best beginner basses for its price.
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Oct 26, 2009 23:10
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Yeah, I stupidly got a Boss "guitar/bass" tuner instead of a good chromatic one. Wished many times that I'd just spent the extra $60 to get a good chromatic stomp tuner instead. It's certainly worth getting a chromatic tuner over a "specialized" (whatever you'd call it) one, if not necessarily a Boss TU-2.
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Oct 27, 2009 20:13
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DrChu posted:Tune by playing the harmonics on the 12th fret, they should be easier for the tuner to pick up. Except a non-chromatic tuner is just going to fart out complaining this isn't the note it's looking for. This is what I have. It does the job, but there's not much more to be said about it.
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Oct 27, 2009 20:32
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Hammer Bro. posted:Gotcha; shan't even attempt to bring the bag, and I'll make sure to grab something while I'm out there. It's likely that they have 'em, I just wasn't looking for them last time I was in the area since I was only messing around on the instruments. Probably too late for this but for what it's worth, I brought my bass home as carry-on. Lacking a hardshell, I didn't care for it to get dropped/crushed/worse in the holidays airport rush. In the end it came in very handy, since my flight was delayed by about 12 hours due to a snowstorm in Vancouver and I had nothing else to do while waiting at the terminal.
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Dec 26, 2009 17:16
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I was going to look up the A/T thread I posted last year for bringing my bass at the airplane, but it looks like it's been archived. So, here's the jist of it: Being too cheap to afford a hardshell and too paranoid to trust baggage handlers with it besides, I decided to bring my guitar as carry-on. All rules clearly stated it was oversized for carry-on, so I was paranoid about being turned away and missing my flight. But someone had suggested to just check in and act politely as if nothing was out of the ordinary. Which is precisely what I did. Didn't get any trouble at the security checkup, or with the flight attendants. With my barely padded gig bag, I was able to fit the guitar in the overhead compartment and tucked my purse underneath it to prop it up against the top of the compartment. That way all the other passenger's carry-on baggage ended up underneath the guitar. All in all, I didn't have any problems. But some caveats: This was a domestic Canadian flight. And with the recent Detroit attempt, security's been bumped up to even more retarded heights, so YMMV.
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Jan 5, 2010 23:33
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| # ¿ May 2, 2024 01:26 |
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Out of curiosity, what's wrong with SWR? I for one loved all their amps I tried out.
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Jan 21, 2010 16:54
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