Bassists of Singletrackworld....

Posted by: oldtennisshoes

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Do you not fancy having a look at Sire's versions?

I would, but I don't think there's any stockists near me.

I've not been playing that long, and as this is a wee reward to myself, and only my 2nd bass, I don't want to buy unseen. I want to try stuff out in a shop and see what feels right.

Posted by: MonkeySpacePilot

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Does anyone know about drum machine applications for computers?

I got Modo Drums bundled with my audio interface but I think they do a free version. Didn’t really use it as I found it very cumbersome. You also only got a few basic things and everything else was purchasable in packs. Maybe worth a look though. 

For ease of use, I can’t see past the Fender Tune app. Free, with mobile or desktop versions and loads of styles and variety of drum loop in the beats section. 

“Non bass nerds don't know about the earlier Sterling models and I imagine a large proportion of the buying public don't either and wouldn't care if they did.”

I know what you mean but guitars and basses last a very very long time, so when you have products made across decades that have the same name and appear to be very similar, when there’s quite a gulf in price or build quality, it gets very confusing in the secondhand market!

However nothing is as confusing as Celestion guitar speaker model names and numbers…

Posted by: clubby

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I've only been into bass for a year and a half, so it doesn't both me. Non bass nerds don't know about the earlier Sterling models and I imagine a large proportion of the buying public don't either and wouldn't care if they did. 

It doesn't bother me in the least, apart from the fact that some people do get confused about the differences between the "proper " Sterling and the cheaper line of Stingrays. 

I was thinking of getting my bass re-fretted, I want to know what other people feel when playing the bass, can they feel the frets? Because I can't, I have no sense at all on where the frets are by feel, is that actually kind of normal and I just need to give it time for my special awareness to improve on my hand positioning on the fretboard?

I feel that jumbo or high narrow frets would be better to help me improve, but that's another cost that I don't want to spend to find it makes no difference.

* that should have been spatial awareness not special.

I've got guitars and basses with all sorts of frets from proper jumbo down to dressed to almost nothing, MSP. Having just played a selection blind I can feel the frets on all of them. I've got quite fat worker's fingers and play with the pads rather than tips. I've also realised I use them to count up and down one or two frets but beyond that rely on my ear or looking at the fret board.

On the basses I don't think fret size matters much, but on the guitars it makes quite a difference: jumbos make it easier to hold chords down but I need a lighter touch to avoid making the notes go sharp.

I don't like the tall thin frets Fender have started putting on some vintage inspired guitars, I "trip up" on them, however modern Fender medium jumbo I love.

My preference is for small, low frets - even as small as mandolin frets, a la Lee Sklar. I certainly wouldn't consider refretting any of my basses with higher frets, given that I consider fretless basses to have the nicest feel.

You are quite an advanced player though Andy, I have only been playing about 6 months.

I have been learning guitar at the same time, and on my guitar I can feel the frets and it provides a bit of extra guidance to position my fretting hand, almost subconsciously, and I am more accurate on the guitar. On the bass I just cant feel the frets at all, largely because of the thicker strings, but I know I am also not very physically sensitive.

So I am trying to weigh up whether it is just a matter of just keep practising and it will come, or whether it is worth me trying to "hack" my lack of fingertip sensitivity by getting jumbo frets, I am 55 now, it would be nice to get to an acceptable standard before I die.

I want to know what other people feel when playing the bass, can they feel the frets? Because I can't, I have no sense at all on where the frets are by feel, is that actually kind of normal

I have only been playing about 6 months.

@MSP im a little behind you at 4 months, and a bit older at 60, so relatively similar experience.  im not sure what you mean by feeling the frets, i place my fingers by looking at the frets and pressing just behind them.  i suppose i feel the string against the fret a little, sometimes i get a bit of buzz because my finger placement is still a bit crap but its by sight not feel?

Posted by: MonkeySpacePilot

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You are quite an advanced player though Andy, I have only been playing about 6 months

I've just been doing it for 55 years, but I'm in no way any authority in how things should be done or should be set up. I don't really think that much about fret profile, to be honest, in a way, the less I notice them, the more I like it. 

In an ideal world I'd like to play fretless far more than I do, but equally I accept that it has its place and sometimes there is no substitute for a fretted bass - and anyway, sometimes I have to admit to just liking an easier life. 

So, I'm just another old bugger, playing whenever something interesting comes his way. For well over fifty years basses and bass playing have been a massive part of my life - primarily playing, of course, but also repairing, modifying, setting up, researching, buying.....but the playing comes first, just like riding bikes as opposed to collecting them.

So - frets? I'd just say play enough and you'll get used to what you have. If you have several basses with different characteristics then you'll get used to them all, the same way as you get used to riding different bikes with different angles, reach, wheel size, whatever. 

As ever, feel free to ignore any or all of this......

im not sure what you mean by feeling the frets

 OK so, I think is that there are probably/possibly 4 elements to accurate fretting...

• Visually positioning the hand
• Audibly hearing the note
• physically feeling the frets
• experience, knowing where your hand is on the fretboard because you have played the note x times before.

As beginners we rely on the first one most, we can hear a buzzy note or a wrong note, and want to advance to being experienced when the x becomes a million and we can just instinctively get good fretting with barely a glance or just using peripheral vision. On guitar I can feel the position a bit due to being able to feel the frets.

It is only say 5% of the information coming into my brain (it has taken me a while to realise the difference so its quite a subconscious thing largely) to build the mental picture in my mind, it is there and it helps,  and that 5% compounds over time. I can fret more accurately more often on guitar, even though I am enjoying the bass more and am honestly more motivated on bass. My guitar has jumbo frets and obviously much thinner strings.

I am the sort of person who can come home from a mountain bike ride with blood pouring down my shins and not know how or when it happened.

It looks like edukator can feel the frets, you and andy give the impression you can't so I am non the wiser. I guess that currently means I could do with playing a bass with jumbo frets to decide myself rather than just jumping in and splashing the cash. If it costs me a couple of hundred quid to say speed up my learning by say 5-10% then I would do that, but at the moment I am leaning more into the idea it will make **** all difference and that I am overthinking it a bit/lot.

Does anyone know if there are commonly available basses with jumbo frets I could look out for in a shop to give it a try?

Posted by: MonkeySpacePilot

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im not sure what you mean by feeling the frets

 

It looks like edukator can feel the frets, you and andy give the impression you can't so I am non the wiser. 

It's not so much that I can't feel the frets, more that I'm never really aware of doing so. Maybe a lot of that is down to the fact that I set most of my basses up with a lot lower action than most people do (lower than lot of guitarists, too) and that I use light gauge strings (40- 95) and use minimal pressure for fretting, therefore my finger is sitting mostly on top of the string, rather than deforming round it, if you see what I mean. As I keep saying, this is my preference but that in no way means that it's any better than what you prefer. Other people try my basses and often can't get on with how I have them set-up. 

Different strokes for different folks....

idle bank holiday musings......

thoughts on squier 40th anniversary precision bass?  google suggests that theyre well thought of and ive seen a nice one on ebay, but its over in ireland.  id obviously prefer to get hands on with one before buying.

Looks identical to my Vintera 2 50’s P but for only half the price. Vintera has a pretty chunky vintage style neck not sure if the Squier is the same. Check the nut width and profile. Mine is pretty tiring to play compared to my jazz bass. 

FWIW, Sharon Renold on SBL plays that Squier over a lot of other fancier basses. Lots of vids with it on her instagram. 

Check the nut width and profile.

what am i looking for?  i guess as a regular P itll be wider than my current PJ (1.5") but ive got to expect that i suppose havent i?

Posted by: sadexpunk

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what am i looking for?

What do you like? Does your current bass feel good in the hand?

I just mentioned it as it’s not as cut and dried as P is always x and Jazz is always y. What is your current nut width and how does this compare to anything you look at? It’s only one measurement but that and how the neck is described will give a pretty good idea of how it will feel in the hand. Everyone likes different things. Personally I prefer a narrow jazz neck.  My jazz is 39mm at the nut, while my P is 44.5. The neck is also a vintage recreation and feels like baseball bat cut in half. I get tired faster with it than the jazz and I have to shift more on the fretboard, where I can stretch to reach the same notes on the jazz. 

Having a google it looks like that Squier has a 41.5 nut, so not too wide. Given that, I’d imagine they haven’t gone too massive on the profile either. Basses are also like suspension forks, you can have all the right bits but if it’s not set up how you like it, it’ll feel crap. You wont know until you play it. 

ive got a bit of ebay chat going on with him, got a good feel that hes genuine, but still....its the internet isnt it, scammers everywhere 😀

is ebay safe enough for purchases of a few hundred £'s these days or is it a nightmare being refunded if things go tits up?  i know they always used to side with the buyer (much to the frustration of the seller), is that still the case?

and do you reckon that bass above is worth £300 second hand?  i get the feeling it is, but then again im no expert.

thanks

Posted by: sadexpunk

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and do you reckon that bass above is worth £300 second hand?  i get the feeling it is, but then again im no expert.

That’s all that really matters in the end. 
Think it was £500 new and most listings seem to be around  £300 at the moment. Bass Bros specialise in selling second hand basses and their last one was £319. 

My gauge with used goods of any kind is, what would I get new for the same money and compare. 

lets have a vote, which one looks nicest to you?  the cream and gold or this one?  i cant decide.....

Not a fan of that red at all and the gold pick guard doesn't go. The cream is better, but again, don't like the gold pick guard. Thats changeable though.
Are they both 40th anniversary Squiers?

Have you watched the YouTube videos sadex? Buy. The. Bastard. 
(The one from Neil)

Are they both 40th anniversary Squiers?

yes they are.  i think gold pick guards came as standard with them.  and tbh i quite like the gold, gives it a bit of glam.  what do i know tho....

Have you watched the YouTube videos sadex? 
(The one from Neil)

Buy. The. Bastard. 

NBD for me. Been 5 string curious for a while and saw an Ibanez GSR205B on sale in a local-ish music shop. Went down today and picked it up for £249. I prefer a jazz neck to a P neck and was concerned that a 5 string would find really wide. While this one has the same nut width as my P, the neck is much slimmer front to rear and was really nice to play. Two passive humbuckers with a thunderous active bass boost circuit. Really light as well and the fret edges are lovely and smooth for such a budget bass. 

Empty house this afternoon, so been shaking the radiators off the wall. Not as alien as I expected but missing my aim on the A string while skipping down from tbe G. Takes a lot of concentration to hit the right spot. Consider the big B is the selling point of a five, I’m really impressed with the G. Very piano like and nowhere near as jangly as the G on my jazz. Curious to try the B string with an octave pedal, but scared I discover the brown note. 

Not destined to be my bass for everything but not a huge amount of money to try something new. 

nice. i need to be able to handle 4 strings before i ever consider 5 😀

i also like the look of fretless, especially those without 'marked frets', they look so clean, the singlespeed of the bass world 😀

might be a while before i ever pluck up the courage for either tho.....

I've long compared playing fretless bass (which I've done for more years than I care to remember) to riding singlespeeds ( which I did exclusively for about ten years). The old adage "never complain, never make excuses " applies equally to both disciplines, I think - in other words, approach it with confidence and accept that there will always be disadvantages as well as advantages. And never, ever find yourself saying "I could have ridden that on my geared bike" or "I could have nailed that bridge section with a fretted bass". Because you know what people will say......"Why didn't you ride/play one then?"

any tips on creating your own riffs and the like to complement guitar players chords?

I’m round about that stage as well and have been doing so live streams this week on this theme. 

You already know how 1,3,5,8 work together. I’d say next stage is to still use these notes but in different orders. You don’t have to start on the root. Start on the 3 for a change. Also remember you have the same notes below the root. 

Rhythm also plays a part. Don’t simply play 1,2,3,4. Vary the note length. Leaving rests can be very effective. 

After that, there are more complex stuff such as chromatic, pentatonics and modes but unless you a comfy playing around with the basics, they won’t necessarily add much. 

How are you getting on with Bass Buzz? Still working through it or going down different rabbit holes? 

ok thanks, and yes, i forget about the lower notes, i really ought to memorise the shapes below the root too.

How are you getting on with Bass Buzz? Still working through it or going down different rabbit holes?

enjoying it.  think im module 14 at the moment.  its slowed down a bit as i want to keep my 'arsenal' of songs up to scratch, ive got 8 now, so ill often just play through them which takes half hour or so.

i suppose i probably do a lesson every few days, its the long game for me.  when ive finished it ill do it again.  and yes, i sometimes go down the odd rabbithole 😀

away tomorrow on holiday so ill be a couple of weeks i guess with no playing, then ill be straight back into it.

cheers