@sadexpunk FWIW I have that exact bass that I spent £120 on new plus a £100 pick up from The Creamery. It now sounds really good. I’m a guitarist really and pretty short so the short scale suits me.
this is what it sounds like now….
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/OAwKSAaNK-E
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GZgRUGc4mI8
the colour is a stock squier coral pink and I’m pretty sure they made an equivalent colour p bass version. ( checked there is a classic vibe one in coral pink and burgundy mist)
@ceepers wow, what a coincidence! altho being singletrackworld i shouldnt be surprised 😀
if you dont mind me asking, what pickup did you buy, and i guess youre happy with it? did you need to solder it? i dont have a soldering iron and never soldered in my life but always up for learning a new skill.
EDIT: how does classic vibe compare to a P?
@sadexpunk forgot to mention i put new ernie ball strings & an ebay pearl pickguard on too!
I ordered a pickup from Jamie at the creamery
I ended up with a blade one, cant remember which magnets. I've had a couple of amazing guitar pickups off him before and basically had a conversation with him about what i wanted and that,s what he suggested.
I fitted it myself, its basically two solder joints using a soldering iron off amazon that was under £20. I'm a soldering novice but changing a single pick up is pretty easy.
Classic vibe is just the name of one of the posher squier lines so they make a P bass in that range ( just realised he pink one is a jazz not a p!). Quite a lot more cash new but probably £300 second hand?
Squier Classic Vibe '60s Jazz Bass Guitar in Tahitian Coral - Andertons Music Co.
I have a classic vibe tele guitar. They are really nice instruments
That said, i bought the bronco bass on a whim and i really enjoy it now its upgraded. Sounds good jamming with mates and it is easy to play. Its light too
Modded Bronco sounds good, but you’ve basically doubled the purchase price to get there.
How about one of these?
https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/250123436136027--ashdown-saint-soap-shell-pink-roasted-bass
Full 34” scale and roasted maple neck. Also do a PJ version. I’d put it on par with the classic vine squiers but at 2/3s the price.
hmmmm interesting. just looked and also linked on that page was this at £70 cheaper.... how does it compare?
https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/240604424828008--ibanez-gsr200-baby-pink
@clubby that is 100% true but I’d counter that with, two points.
one modding it myself is fun and what I generally do with my guitars.
Two, the initial outlay is low enough to not be a major discussion point / require brownie points with Mrs Ceepers and buying “bits” doesn’t count as a major purchase either! 🤣
Those ashdown basses do look awesome value for money and sound / look great. I didn’t know about them when I bought the bronco tbh or I might have been tempted. There’s a few clips on YouTube of James Johnston from Biffy using one and it sounds good.
the Ibanez bass is probably good ( their stuff generally is) but i personally hate the shape of those style basses. The ashdown is way cooler.
the Ibanez bass is probably good ( their stuff generally is) but i personally hate the shape of those style basses. The ashdown is way cooler.
Have to agree, and I own a 5 string Ibanez in that very shape (but not pink). 😂😂
Neck is really well finished for the price and it sounds great though. Mine is the dual soap bar version though. Was also a bit of a whim as I fancied trying a 5 and at the price, I wasn’t going to lose much if I wanted to move it on.
just went to pull the trigger on it as it initially said delivery sunday, but when i went to follow it through it said monday, and nobody will be home.
ill wait til thursday night, see if its still available and hope for a weekend delivery.
EDIT: maybe just as well as i see they do this one too..... whats the difference and which would be better, considering theyre both the same price? altho i note that this one is reduced from £329 which suggests slightly better?
Edit: both are long scale ( they do a capri model that’s short scale) so think it’s just the pick up config. The saint version probably has a more versatile sound with the two pickups and will sound closer to a p bass I suspect.
no, theyre both 34".
Just edited! It’s just gonna be the tone. Sure there’s a comparison video on YouTube somewhere
The two pick up one will be more versatile tonally. It has the P pick up you are used to, plus you can blend in the bridge pick up for to add a brighter sound. The single pick up is probably a bit wider range but no option to vary it other than tone.
You tube them both to see which resonates best with you. Given you like the punk side of things, I think the PJ may be more to your taste.
i assume its better quality than this one?
Not necessarily. Harley Benton get pretty decent reviews.
Thing is, it’s all about the sound. You can have the best made, most expensive bass but if you don’t like the tone, it doesn’t matter.
Watch lots of you tube, if possible the same person playing each bass and see what you like the sound of. Tone matters.
Thing is, it’s all about the sound. You can have the best made, most expensive bass but if you don’t like the tone, it doesn’t matter.
This x10
I'd lusted after a short scale Sterling Stingray for months before I bought one. I was so disappointed when it arrived - I only kept it for a month before moving it on because I just couldn't get on with the tone.
This x10
yeah i get you, but theyre both online purchases so i'll just have to take a gamble i think. as theyve both got P pickups am i wrong to assume that theyd both sound similar there, but with added versatility for the ashdown with the extra J pickup if needed?
other than order them both ands send one back i cant think of what else to do but go with my gut (ashdown), as i really dont want the faff and expense of sending one back 🙂
minds made up, the thomann says not available for 'several months' so i'll go with my gut anyway and order the ashdown.
thanks 🙂
Nice. Shape reminds me of the Fender Hoppus Jag.
Make sure you take time exploring different blends of the pick ups. Given your musical tastes, I doubt the bridge only will appeal much, but blended in with the neck on full adds a bit of brightness. My first bass was a PJ. I usually played either neck only or both on full. Will be a nice bit of added versatility compared to your P.
You keeping your other bass?
Make sure you take time exploring different blends of the pick ups. Given your musical tastes, I doubt the bridge only will appeal much, but blended in with the neck on full adds a bit of brightness. My first bass was a PJ. I usually played either neck only or both on full.
yep, i think thats pretty much what ive settled with P on full and J mebbes halfway. ive read what the tone pot does but i dont really understand it and have it about halfway id say.
Will be a nice bit of added versatility compared to your P.
my other one is also a PJ, a squier affinity PJ, but i didnt really understand the pots, for some reason i thought the neck pot (P) was a volume knob 😀
You keeping your other bass?
for now. i'll keep noodling away on the squier from time to time to try and compare sound/tone, and make sure i really do prefer the ashdown, and when thats confirmed i'll probably sell it on. i dont have an appetite for a collection 🙂
Nice!
If you’ve got two similar basses it can be cool to have different types of strings on them, like rounds on one and flats on the other.
i think i need to learn how to play properly before i start spending money on tweaks 🙂
ive postponed learning any new songs for a while to try and get better at preventing 'flying fingers', and also pick use. it doesnt feel right holding like i see recommended so i need to bottom out 'my style' and get more comfortable playing with it. i'll try slowing everything right down for a while and working back up gradually.
couple of questions if you dont mind......
mates just bought a guitar, still waiting on an amp so i hope ill get some practice in with him soon. he used to play back in the distant past and says he could only play a couple of songs, alternative ulster being one of them. thatll do for me 🙂
so.... i did all the moises stuff, stripped it down to bass to see if i could work it out but its too quiet and muddy, so i thought id try and work it out myself. think ive got most of it (key of D?), or 'my' version of it anyway, just a section of it im a bit confused by and just cant get there. dont know if youd call it the bridge or what, but the 'they say theyre a part of you' section. can anyone play this and can help me out? songsterr and ultimate guitar arent really helping me.
secondly, someone gave me the website of someone that makes custom pickguards. ive looked back a few pages of this thread and cant find it, not can i find it in my messages so can anyone remind me of it please? di dont know if they just do the main players, but i quite fancy a sparkly silver pickguard for my new ashdown.
cheers
That's an octave higher than their recent live perforamances, Jordan.
Hope this helps, Sadexpunk, I can't hear much on the original but this is from a recent live.
@Edukator thank you so much for taking the time to help me with that video. however, even slowing it down i cant quite see which strings and frets youre using for the whole duration. i thought id got it by starting the 'they say' on A5, up to A7 and down to A3, but then when playing along to the song it sounds wrong and doesnt fit when it resumes the verses, unless its my ears that are wrong 😀 are you starting 'they say' on A7? and it looks like youre using the E string for part of it?
and just to confirm, youre starting the song in the key of D yes, on A5?
thank you 🙂
EDIT: this is the UG tab for the bridge, but it doesnt sound right either, it doesnt sound like i should be going anywhere near the D string tbh.
It's a simplified cover, ideal for jamming, but The Bass Punk plays B_G for that section. 3m07s in the video.
You can play it an octave higher on the D string, B at fret 9, A fret 7, G fret 5. @Edukator is playing the B at fret 7 E string, which would be my choice, rather than the fret 2 A string the Bass punk pays.
lovely, thanks chaps, time to get another song in my arsenal 🙂
also been watching a few vids on technique, trying to keep hand as light as possible on the neck as ive not got the most flexible fingers so micro-shifting a lot. still keep falling short of the fret with my pinkie and getting rattle, so need to just slow things down and work on that.
cheers
It's a run down B, A, G then up to D. I play the B four strikes on the E-string 7th fret and one strike on A-string 9th fret for the fifth. Same for the A but starting at E-string 5th fret. The G is one strike E-string 3rd fret and let it ring. On the D I play root two strikes (A-string 5th fret) then the two strikes on the fourth (5th-fret G string) and one strike on the fifth (7th fret G-string). On the picking I'm no doubt busier than necessary - having listened again I'd use this one as a model:
The next bit is C down to G. And don't worry what your guitarist is doing, the bass is closer to the sung melodie.
I’ve had a couple of pickguards from earlpilanz on eBay. Pretty sure h3 cuts them to order so may well do a custom if you trace your existing ash down guard for him.
b-1 in my house this week. Well, I suppose technically it's (b-2)+1.
Brief experiment with a 5 string wasn't for me. Seduced in the shop by that thunderous, low active boosted B but never got to grips with the extra string. Using it with the Yousician app was fun but once I'd played all the 5 string versions at my skill level, I was kind of done with it. Wasn't much fun to play stuff written for 4 string, as I got confused which strings of the middle strings to play and the B was really difficult to mute and rang away in the background. Truthfully, I never really needed it in the first place but all the same it was an experience worth having. Bought it at a really good price and didn't lose too much when I part ex'd it.
Also sold my Vintera II 50's P bass in Reverb. I loved how it sounded (especially on La Bella flats which I took off before listing) and adored how it looked, but the thick baseball bat of a neck was hard work on my hands. I'd bought it online to compliment my Vintera Jazz, but hadn't appreciated just how different the necks would be. It was great for slow bluesy music, but I couldn't manoeuvre around the fretboard when it came to faster motown style music. Has it over a year, and the nut width was fine but my taste is definitely more towards a slimmer neck front to back.
Which gets me to the +1 part. I still wanted a vintage sounding instrument to use with those La Bella flats. Guitar Guitar in Edinburgh has two Squiers that interested me, First was the 70's Telecaster bass and then the Classic Vibe 60's. Went in and tried both. The Tele bass looked amazing but the sound was just too wooly and undefined for my taste. I'm sure it's sound great in the right mix with other instruments but on its own it just sounds weird. The Classic Vibe though just sounded proper P bass. It also has a much more modern profile neck. Wider than a jazz but just as slim a profile front to back. Original strings didn't feel the best but I swapped straight over to the flats so it doesn't matter. The hardware isn't as nice as on the Fender but the neck is lovely and the frets are very well finished. Possibly not quite as much sustain, but a high mass bridge is a pretty cheap and easy upgrade down the line. I know all the little posher bits on the Fender build will add up, but I'm honestly struggling to see why it costs 2 1/2 times what the Squier does. Thankfully I'd got a mega deal on the Fender at the time.
Also been selling off my physical pedals with just a Jam Pedals Lucydreamer overdrive to go. Had bought an HX Stomp in last years Black Friday sales and just finally getting to grips with it and finding some usable tones. Bought some of the Ian Martin Allison presets and have been using them and modifying some of their components as stand alone blocks.
Hoping that's me happy for a good while.
trying to get to grips with 'love will tear us apart', as per the 'official' method that hooky shows on youtube.
and the tabs.....
im finding that the drone of the open D string tho is tending to drown out the melody on the G string rather than complimenting it.
anyone else play this as per the tabs above, and any tips? ive tried altering the tone knob, and played about with the two pickup knobs, but just cant get the melody to sing through crisper than the drone.
cheers
Love Barney’s comment about him playing it better than Hooky.
I play bass and I’m a huge New Order fan, but I think Peter Hook is a pure bell end.
Huh! Actually forgot the above was on myself until my old mum reminded me last night. Was trying to go to bed, but everytime I went to turn off the TV one of my bass heroes appeared! Worth a watch, if you haven't 🙂
Worth a watch, if you haven't
keep remembering but mrs ex-p is always in and would be bored by it. i need to watch it when ive got a bit of time to myself.
might as well use this opportunity to ask my next question about pentatonics. id like an easy to visualise chart or diagram so that when im on the root of any chord i can picture the available notes/shapes to try and come up with my own noodle. i saw this on bassbuzz the other day.....
looks quite comprehensive, has anyone got any other suggestions?
and just on that subject, im trying to come up with my own little fills for the songs im learning. take pretty vacant for instance, im trying to move away from sid's 'root only' method on E5 which can be a lengthy chug in places particularly to end the song. so i experiment with a bit of open E, a bit of A7 just to see what it sounds like and it seems fine. but i also tried just dropping the odd E6 in there and that sounds fine too, even though its not part of the pentatonic scale. maybe a silly question but why does it still sound ok to me? am i tone deaf? would that sound crap to you? 😀
and on a slightly related note, i guess walkups are just that, walkups, and dont particularly need to be part of the scale?
Also worth a watch - and not just if you are a bassist.
I like those Rick Beato interviews so will give the Flea one a look.
There's a Jerry Cantrell one (not bass I know) that I thought was good (big AIC fan though).
@sadexpunk I hope this doesn’t sound rude, but are you at the stage you know the notes on the fretboard? I say this as once you do, the why makes more sense. Instead of saying you are playing E5 or A7, figure out which note this is.
Pretty Vacant is in the key of A major and uses mainly the chords A, G, D and E. Think about which notes you are playing and where they fit in.
Tabs are amazing things, but lack a lot of musical information that makes music sound like it does.
I don’t have Sky anymore but found you can get Sky Arts on freesat. Watched the Peter Hook, episode and enjoyed it. Would have been good if had been longer to hear a bit more playing. Need to keep an eye out for the other two.
thanks @clubby and no i dont think it sounds rude at all, its a valid question and im grateful for the help 🙂
but are you at the stage you know the notes on the fretboard? I say this as once you do, the why makes more sense. Instead of saying you are playing E5 or A7, figure out which note this is.
well sort of. i cant go directly to a Db or F# say in a nanosecond, but ive learned 'the dots', so if a guitarist is playing a chord itd only take me a few seconds to work out where the root is. ive learned that the dots on the 4 strings are GAB CDE FGAB and that the following CDE starts on G5 so just G3 thats the anomoly as an A#.
sooooo...... D# chord? straight to A5 and go up a fret. same with flats, just drop down a fret from my 'dotted fret'. so yes i could say A, G, D and E if preferred, i just thought it more accurate to give the exact fret.
Tabs are amazing things, but lack a lot of musical information that makes music sound like it does.
yeah, theyre a starting point for me if i want to learn a song, i probably go straight to songsterr, then match it (or not, theyre a bit hit and miss) against ultimate guitar, then have a go. but id like to start improvising and making my own lines. and id waaaay prefer to remember the available pentatonic patterns/notes available than work out note names of a scale, itd just take too long. patterns it is for me 🙂
so i suppose my question still stands. if im chugging away 'a la sid' on A, id have thought any other pentatonic note would sound ok if i wanted to make it a bit more interesting, yet A# isnt one of those notes. however it still sounds ok to me just dropping the odd one in for a bit of interest. same as an open E or the other E (A7). and i usually do a 3 note walkup to the start of each "we're so pretty" (B, C, C# and onto root D).
another for instance..... ive just 'learnt' 7 seas of rhye. it was too complicated for me, especially john deacons solo, so i simplified it by just using root notes for a section (A# and D i think). and i just cant work out what notes are played in the fade out so i looked at the chord being played by guitarist (D) and just play a bit of a square shape (pentatonic notes, D C G A). it works for me until i get more accomplished and id guess to the unlearned ear its fine.
cheers
EDIT:
are you at the stage you know the notes on the fretboard? I say this as once you do, the why makes more sense.
just to revisit this sentence, i know why theres a pentatonic scale, that those 5 notes are the ones that sound best with the root, but for me i dont think id need to know the names of each note in every scale, thats way beyond me and i dont think would help me. well it would as its all more comprehensive theory, but its enough for me to know 'this is where the chord/root is, and this pattern will give the best complimentary notes'.
I play that long outro playing A except on "pretty vacant" where I play ACAGA at the third fret bending the C slightly.
I play that long outro playing in A except on "prettyvacant" where I play ACAGA at the third fret bending the C slightly.
@Edukator sorry can you just confirm please, youre purely talking about PV here arent you, not the outro on 7SoR.... its the words 'except on PV' thats throwing me a little 🙂
so on PV you mean youre chugging away on A for 'we're pretty' but on the words 'pretty vacant' youre noodling on ACAGA then back to just A again yes?
thanks
As I sing the va**** at the end of the ,phrase I play that little sequence and back to hammering away at A
It's dissonant but works. Jones and Matlock defined the punk sound which included one fret slide-ins (so from dissonance to correct), incomplete bends and some disdonant notes that sound a bit menacing.
Edit: I've just played it again and realised I somtimes play the seqence twice or more
AAAAAAACAGA_AAACAGA_AAACAGA_AÀAAAA
thanks for the confirmation, i'll try that out.
As I sing the va****
i guess you made a spelling mistake 😀
The bend on the C is pretty quick and a pull off.
I don’t have Sky anymore but found you can get Sky Arts on freesat. Watched the Peter Hook, episode and enjoyed it
Admittedly, I found episode 2 a bit shit! It’s not really, well, not at all what the title says it is “Greatest Basslines”… hardly. Should’ve been called “Being a Bassist”.. and some of them aren’t that interesting.
if you dont mind me asking, what pickup did you buy, and i guess youre happy with it? did you need to solder it? i dont have a soldering iron and never soldered in my life but always up for learning a new skill.
If all you need is to be able to solder the occasional small gauge wires, you can get really good little rechargeable ones about the size of a fountain pen. They charge via USB-C, and are perfect for doing things like guitar wiring. You then don’t need to have worry about having a mains socket or an extension lead handy.
All you need is some solder, and then it’s just stripping the insulation off the wire, twisting the bare wire and holding the iron and the solder against the bare wire until the solder melts and flows along the wire, then doing the same with the other connection, and putting the wire and the iron onto the connection.
So uhh I've done an appalling job playing guitar for years. Never had a lesson, not got any actual guitarplaying skill but can coax interesting and pleasant noises out of it in the forms a few chords and forms that do exist in music I can reliably make.
I do listen to a lot of music and follow rhythmic forms and melodies and bassline etc, I can follow a tune with my voice pretty well but use relative tuning to stay in tune.
My main issue with the guitar is short stubby fingers which don't like to bend without affecting each other a lot... So my left hand is very much the weak point as I fluff a lot of holds I want.
My hands are strong, but I feel like a narrower neck with wider string spacing would work for my body. I have barely touched a bass but iirc they're like that and they look like they are. Hell if the northern dipstick can reach everything I must be able to.
This all got me thinking :
Would a bass guitar be a good idea to try?
I do actually want to play an instrument, and if I could get it to do what is in my head or whistling tune I'd be pretty funky.
Should I pick up a €1-200 bass? Would that actually be worth trying? Idk what it looks like id buy one that worked well. I also have a hifi with big (really big) bass and subs, so I guess I can run it through those to hear (does not give any problems listening to solo bass, even loud)
Any ideas or assistance?
Have a look in local classifieds. Loads of people try it once or twice and give up. Plenty cheap ones there. Alternatively cheap new basses aren’t going to need new strings or too much adjustment out of the box and should be ready to play.
Do you have a music shop near you? Getting hands on can be invaluable in finding a bass you are comfortable on. If you like narrower, slender necks then I’d be looking at a jazz bass rather than a Precision (P). Don’t forget front to back depth either. I can get on with any neck width, but much prefer a thinner front to back depth.
Home hifi not going to be great for using with an instrument, even if you can hook it up correctly. Again, tons of cheap practice amps on the second hand market.
Give it a go. You won’t lose too much money if you don’t like it. You will however lose a lot of money if you do like it.