Bassists of Singletrackworld….

I decided I no longer loved my Modern Player Jazz, despite the totally awesome neck, so I decided to sell it to fund a new P Bass….. we all need a bit of diversity don’t we! I advertised it on the dreaded Marketplace and within a couple of days a guy messaged me all excited as he had been looking for a Modern Player. Then came the dreaded “would you consider a swap?”

A cautious “depends on what you want to swap it for…..” yielded a pic of an absolutely mint Mexican Standard P Bass from a few years ago….. about the same age as my Chinese Jazz. In gorgeous Candy Apple Red with a Maple fretboard. So, a straight swap (don’t think either of us could believe our luck!!) and so my old Chinesium marvel is now gigging somewhere near Cannock.

It was strung with flatwounds, which are a new experience ( so much so my Mex Jazz now sports some Rotosound 77 Hybrids ) and plays like a dream.

The money I was going to spaff on a USA performer has now been turned into an Orange Crush 100, plus a nice MXR compression pedal. Happy bunny to say the least.

I might have a belated Xmas present for anyone who wants to try full Yousician membership. During the Black Friday sale I wanted to renew my membership with the 50% discount but I didn’t realise the offer only applied to the family version. So I accidentally paid £90 (ouch!) for another year instead of the 60 I paid last year.

I can add 3 people and you can use the full version of the program with any instrument. You need to make an account then I think I just need your email address to add you to my ‘band’. If you don’t like it I’m assuming you could drop out and give someone else a try.

What it’s great for…
1. Practicing when you’re not sure what to work on. Just turn it on and play songs all night.
2. Stamina. I used it almost every day for the whole first year and it transformed me from clumsy noodler to someone who can bang out full songs consistently.
3. Dexterity. You’ll be skipping strings and using the whole neck whether you like it or not.

It’s not great for learning any music theory and it’s probably boring if you’re already a competent player. For a beginner it’s like going to the gym for your fingers and you can level up fast. If you can play with some decent headphones on it sounds like you’re in the band.

Let me know if you want to try it. I’m struggling at the minute with a baby in the house but I’ve had a few sessions this week and I still enjoy it.

I picked up my first bass on Monday night, an Ibanez GSR200 in a brilliant blue/purple colour. Its 10 years old and in “new” condition – not a mark on it. I love it already. Came with a wee practice amp, so I’m all ready to go.

I’m a bit overwhelmed with all the learn to play bass stuff on the internet however. Can any of you experienced players suggest a reasonable website to use? I’m looking about locally for a bass teacher, but nothing is jumping out at me so far.

TIA,

paul

I love flatwounds for the sound but they are weird to play. Especially if you are doing a gig and things get sweaty!

I could be interested in that yousician membership sharkattack – think I’m on the free trial still.

I have my old bass for sale btw if anyone is interested. STW mates rates apply obvs 😉

https://reverb.com/uk/item/49520620-fender-precision-special-deluxe

No one else has asked yet so inbox me your email address and I’ll add you. I’m loving it at the minute learning Cream and Hendrix tunes, I feel like I’ll levelled up a a bit.

I have my old bass for sale btw if anyone is interested. STW mates rates apply obvs

That’s lovely. And… I’ll say no more because I can’t have it!

Ooooo P-Jay, sadly T’wife would have my gizzards if I did take you up on your mates rate as my van just came back from the MOT with a list of advisories as long as my arm that need sorting.

Ironically I love the way flats feel (so silky!) but much prefer the aggro sound of round wounds, especially when you put a bit of Overdrive on there.

Can any of you experienced players suggest a reasonable website to use?

I also have no Bass tutors that I can get to easily so I’m using various Youtube bods, Fender Play and Rocksmith, Rocksmith is bascially ‘Guitar Hero’ with actual instruments and hugely enjoyable, was up until way past Midnight last night trying to nail the intro to Peaches by PUSA, you do need a £30 cable though.

I’m a bit overwhelmed with all the learn to play bass stuff on the internet however. Can any of you experienced players suggest a reasonable website to use? 

Did you see my post above yours? Get a free trial on Yousician and if you like it I’ve got a free membership you can have.

It’s great when you’re not sure what to practice and just want to bang out full songs for an hour.

@sharkattack

I will have a look at that this evening!

Thank you very much. 🤣

@sharkattack I checked and I have gone onto a quarterly sub so I have paid up until April I think – maybe best to let someone else make use of it for now?

Cheers though

Thought it was time to give this a bump.
My playing has stagnated a bit over the last month or so – flipping Sweet Child O’Mine 🤬

So I’ve reverted to nailing more of the songs in the Grade 4.
And bought and sold some more gear 🙂

I miss my short scale Mustang, but I don’t miss the buzz and hiss from the pickups, so I’ve decided my next shortie will be a Sterling Musicman. Just ordered one from Project Music in Exeter.

Yay the thread’s back!

Also just been on a bit of a kit buying spree in the form of a Earthquaker Westwood Overdrive

And a EHX Bass Clone chorus pedal.

Having a ton of fun with the Chorus pedal and ticking off all the relevant ‘guitar shop’ classics; Come As You Are, Love Will Tear Us Apart, ETC. For £60 it’s a brilliant bit of kit, mildly annoyed I didn’t get one sooner.

Bass into EHX Big Muff into the Westwood then into the Bass Clone and then into the Sansamp can make some astonishing noises!

Still haven’t found a tutor so it’s all on Youtube/Fender Play/Rocksmith.

Also just been on a bit of a kit buying spree

This is me. All the time.

Just picked up a full fat double bass though! This’ll be fun to see how I get on with it, having really only ever played electric bass (and a bit of time with an electric upright)!

Don’t think I’ve posted here yet, but have played bass on and off for close to 37 years (!). Very much a home hobbyist player these days, enjoying playing along to old grunge stuff. Got a 1990’s MM Stingray 4 string (honeyburst, black pickguard, gorgeous bird’s-eye maple neck), but grabbed a 5 string Cort last Christmas on sale at Guitar Guitar. Great instrument and immediately felt at home on it. Now desperately trying to resist the urge to pick up a fretless, after having had a couple back in the day (a Westone thunder II, then some years later a Fender USA Jazz longhorn, defretted by Overwater). Really wish I’d kept one!

Looking at Sire to keep costs down but have seen an early Warwick Rockbass 2nd hand on ebay. Google reviews suggest the early ones were pants, though much improved in later years. This one has the single bridge. Any opinions or experiences?

Was also looking at the EHX Bass Clone chorus. Comments above have probably convinced me to get one…

My playing has stagnated a bit over the last month or so – flipping Sweet Child O’Mine 🤬

@oldtennisshoes yep, it’s a tricky one! I had the first bits and pieces sorted, but it’s taken me several weeks to get to the stage where I can play it through to the backing track with only a little it of swearing! Here’s a hint. Don’t stick rigidly to the suggested fretting positions in the tab….. for example there are a lot of places where you can play open strings in the middle of fast passages….. especially where you’re fretting a D on the A string and then told to fret an A on the E string. The end of line licks can be fretted differently too, in fact the suggested fretting is in places a complete nonsense. The way the rhythm chops and changes from phrase to phrase keeps you on your toes, and the speed of the backing track doesn’t help either……. I found a couple of drum only backing tracks on Youtube and although the Trinity version doesn’t match up exactly with the real track, you can play along to the 4/4 drum track and go back over awkward phrases several times. Being able to slow Youtube down to 75% speed helps getting those bits under your fingers too.

As for buying sprees, well, I treated myself to an Aguilar Tone Hammer preamp as well as a couple of other pedals that appeared from Santa…… a synth pedal, a chorus pedal and a phaser. Always up for a challenge I’ve been getting my fingers round some Muse stuff. So far I’ve got Psycho nailed, and I’m working on Hysteria. I’ve got the main riff at about 80% speed so far!

I’m very much a beginner, even though I’ve owned a few bass guitars over the last 30 odd years. I currently have a Squire J-Bass in a lovely Lake Placid green. I pick it up, learn a couple of easy songs, then put it down again for months on end. I’ve started learning songs and techniques again via a Fender Play subscription and I’m quite enjoying it. However, in all the time I’ve had a bass, it’s always been a right-hander. That’s what I started learning on as a teenager, and it’s what I’ve stuck with all through the years.

A big part of me now thinks that my reluctance to really commit to learning the darn thing is that in the back of my head, I’ll never really play it well because it’s a weird righty shaped thing.

I’ve started eyeing up proper left-handed basses, but I’m still kind of reluctant to commit because for all I’m very limited in what I can play at the moment, I don’t know if I really want to go back to complete basics!

Arrgh!

@scapegoat indeed. I’ve been altering the tab where it makes more sense to play an open string or just other fret. I think it’s the relative randomness of some of the variations that just does my head in. But as I’m only learning for fun, I’m just going to play it how I want to 🙂

@beagleboy I’m fully right side dominant, but I often wonder if I’d play better left handed.
I might try to pick up a cheap left hander and have a dabble.

My kit buying spree has been limited to a König & Meyer clip on light for the music stand. I used it first time at a gig last night and am really pleased with it.

More generally what are people‘s opinions about the online bass courses available. I looked a Scott’s and that looked interesting but are Fender or any others worth considering instead?

I used fender play for a while and it was OK. I keep thinking about Scott’s Bass Lessons course, but I’m yet to commit. Another I also keep looking at is the Beginner to Badass Bass course – again, I’ve not committed

Beginner Bass Lessons

I do have a 1 to 1 less a week as well.

I ended up signing up for Scott’s Bass Lessons for $149 for the year.
It is very good – loads of options and some great tools like the looper for practising specific parts. I’d recommend it to anyone.
I’m thinking of taking a break from my face to face lessons as well as a result.

I’ve got SBL but I haven’t found any spare time to dive into it yet. It’s such an overwhelming amount of information. It’s hard to know what to do first.

It’s so much easier to just jump on Yousician and bang out full songs for half an hour but I’m not learning any theory.

I’ve got absolutely no routine at the minute with a baby running around. I’m really starting to miss it!

I ended up signing up for Scott’s Bass Lessons for $149 for the year.

Their ‘players path’ series of pieces to learn are brilliant and it’s worth paying attention to the recommended courses for each piece as that is a sort of guide through what they want you to be learning at any one particular level.  I love it but ran out of time to practice so have cancelled  but it was great while I was going through it

 It’s such an overwhelming amount of information. It’s hard to know what to do first.

As above, follow the Player’s path stuff and make sure you go through the recommended courses for each piece as that is an excellent way of not being overwhelmed with which course to do next

Afternoon all, I am nowhere near good enough (yet) to be able to learn a piece by ear. Can anyone recommend somewhere or someone where i can ask for a piece to be taken from a recording (most likely youtube) and noted down in a tab? Obviously, there will be some some of payment involved, i would imagine.

TIA,

paul

i got some songs transposed a while ago using people per hour.

https://www.peopleperhour.com/

A music student in Colombia transposed two albums for me, relatively cheaply and obviously a decent enough price for them as well. He had some fancy software that enabled him to do something with the mix so he could also reduce the other instruments and voice so I could hear bass well above the mix as a sound file too.

Also on the positive side; The Wedding Present now have Colombian fans.

Also on the positive side; The Wedding Present now have Colombian fans.

🙂

cheers! I will have a look into that!

@pandhandj

There are loads and loads of folk on the net who do bass transcriptions, but it can sometimes be hard to find exactly what you are looking for. What songs are you wanting to learn?

Cover Solutions on Youtube is very good and does requests in exchange for payment. If he chooses your song then everyone gets the benefit because his transcriptions are bang on.

In other news, I’m tackling SBL. I now have a much better understanding off what a scale actually is and why they are useful. By focusing on the intervals rather than the notes or a pattern you can remember how to build a scale and recreate them anywhere. I don’t know why more people don’t explain it this way. I just need to memorize more of the fretboard so I can move around a little quicker.

Also, I’ve wanted a Boss OC-5 for ages and they’ve been out of stock for years. They popped up at Anderton’s and I grabbed one. It sounds mint. Really deep, thick, sub bass sounds that sound more DNB than guitar. Haven’t had time to play with it much yet but I love it.

There’s a guitar tab app I use that gets Bass tabs added to it pretty quickly, you have to get pretty obscure before you draw a blank, quite a few tabs are submitted by the band themselves.

Currently learning Wenceslas by Gnome

YouTube comes up trumps again and again.

Type the name of the song followed by “bass tabs” and there’s a pretty good chance you’ll find a version of it, otherwise, and this is a good test for any player, find a video of someone playing a cover version and watch how they play it. YouTube is a great learning tool as you can slow it to 75% or even 50% without changing pitch.

There are also free transcription sites available via a google search, some of the free. One such is freebasstranscriptions.com

He has something like 200 songs written out in standard musical notation.

Liamguagan.com also gives free downloads and has tab as well as musical notation. His YouTube channel also has a lesson on how to play by ear. I’m currently using his transcriptions for a couple of Muse tracks.

In other news, I’m tackling SBL. I now have a much better understanding off what a scale actually is and why they are useful. By focusing on the intervals rather than the notes or a pattern you can remember how to build a scale and recreate them anywhere. I don’t know why more people don’t explain it this way. I just need to memorize more of the fretboard so I can move around a little quicker.

That’s just it, once you’ve got the patterns memorised they are repeatable over the entire fretboard. Arpeggios are also very useful for this, as long as you think why you are playing them. Simple triad arpeggios show you where to find the 3rd, 5th and octaves. Simply stick a I, IV, V backing track on and riff on arpeggios. Let’s say you start in G major, and ply arpeggios on G C and D, then start in A and play A D and E Now B to play B E F#. Kept as simple as possible start on the E string so that the next two chords have roots on the A string. You’ll soon realise you’re playing exactly the same patterns two frets higher each time. That I,IV, V pattern never varies, so you can play a I,IV, V arpeggio bass line in absolutely any key, all you have to do is find the root on the E string. To challenge yourself, try to name each note as you play it. So your G major arpeggio is G B D G, A major is A, C#, E A. You soon learn where the intervals fall

So… I got a guy on fiverr to transcribe the bass line from a YouTube vid! For the princely sum of £6!!!

I realise its not exactly an advanced baseline but I’m a complete beginner and I adore this track. I hope you enjoy!

Currently learning Wenceslas by Gnome

I enjoyed that. quite alot

does anyone have a recommendation for a decent small bass amp?

preferably teenytiny headphone amp that isn’t plastic tat thing

like a tiny head or a belt mounted thing.

It doesn’t need anything like “sounds” my black wound trubass strings sound ace as it is 🙂

New Bass Day

Sandberg California II VS4 Lionel Short Scale
Soft aged – ’tis a thing of beauty and gives me the chops of Victor Wooten.
(well 1 of those things is true 🙂 )

Oooosh that Sandberg’s nice, like the chunky 6-bolt neck join.

Nice bass!
Am likely to buy my first bass tomorrow. I like the look of the Squier 40th Anniversary Precision at Andertons.
I’d be there today if the trains were running.

https://www.andertons.co.uk/bass-dept/bass-guitars/precision-bass/squier-40th-anniversary-precision-bass-gold-edition-lake-placid-blue

Those Squier P basses are so good. My white one (pics on here somewhere) sounds lovely. Build quality is fine but QC isn’t great so make sure you get a good one and don’t be scared to ask for an exchange if you need one.

I keep looking for decent local used ones so I can have something to mess around with. I want to try flat wound strings and BEAD tuning, stuff like that. Maybe even a crazy paint job.

Also, if you’re a current SBL member they’re offering half price lifetime membership. It’s a chunk of money that I wasn’t planning on spending but it might be good value in the long run. It would be nice to just have access to it forever.

Anyone got experience of the Sire based?

I’ve had a couple of Sires. A short scale and a 5 string active jazz bass. Both were poorer than the Squier equivalent in terms of build quality and the 5 string weighed more than it should. I’m not a fan.

@eddiebaby how about my fender p bass instead of the Squier?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304579025826

First time posting on this thread…

I’ve played bass on and off for 30 years now, been in bands etc, and then once the last band finished I stashed everything away about 10 years ago…

Decided that going to work, training and racing wasn’t enough of a life so I’ve started ‘ProjectFunk’

Having essentially played ‘rock’ bass for 30 years I’m dedicating myself to learning a completely new style.

Currently learning the first two Jamiroquai albums as I love the work of Mr Zender, and exploring Funkadelic etc..

Read a few people on here talking about getting things tabbed etc. My advice would be to persevere with tuning your own ear and trying to figure out what’s being played yourself. It may take you 469,000 listens to a track and screams of ‘what the funk is he playing there!?’, but when you figure it out it’s much better than just reading a tab.

Darn. I appear to have bought a secondhand P Bass from some dodgy bloke on here…

Happy days.