Questions about Bass playing

IanSavage

Yeah, look at all of us fools, believing in things for which we have evidence...

~X(

fretmeister

I wonder if Rocker would like to buy some magic beans...

RocknRollDave

fretmeister said:

Paul_C said:

and?

there's joy to be found in the simplest of tasks, and even the worst of tunes, if you look hard enough

I'm watching Fargo and playing bass right now.

Oh no - you misunderstand me.

Playing tunes from Frozen is infinitely more enjoyable than Rocker's delusions.

I still haven't seen Fargo. I must give it a go at some point.

you must - Fargo has been excellent so far.

Rocker

[quote="Paul_C;238186"]playing bass is more fun than arguing about something online [/quote

Good idea @Paul_c, as of now I do not have a bass guitar - looked at a few today in Dublin. A nice simple Yamaha and a Squire P Bass kit. The Yam plus an Orange combo amp are priced around the same as the Squirt duo.

ThePrettyDamned

Rocker said:

[quote="Paul_C;238186"]playing bass is more fun than arguing about something online [/quote

Good idea @Paul_c, as of now I do not have a bass guitar - looked at a few today in Dublin. A nice simple Yamaha and a Squire P Bass kit. The Yam plus an Orange combo amp are priced around the same as the Squirt duo.

If you want an absolute bargain, my go to recommendation is the Peavey range. My mate has a Milestone he got for about 50 quid on eBay and it's gigged regularly peavey bass amps are also stupidly cheap used.  

String noise will go down the more you play it, too.  

Edit: Newer Yammy and Squier stuff are also good I really do rate the Peavey stuff, though, especially the practice amps.  They are not the most inspiring but they're cheap and bulletproof.  A B3 might be neat for headphones, too

Rocker

Thanks @ThePrettyDamned.  I went round to a few music shops in Dublin hoping to pick up a bargain bass and amp.  The only s/h basses were from the bigger names and were priced accordingly.  I don't want to start buying on eBay or Donedeal and there is no Cash Converters near where I live.  Both  [Yamaha/Orange or Squier kit] are around €320 [approx £260].  I will hold back on a decision for a few weeks as I blew a wad of cash on pickup upgrades for my PRS SE today.

What instruction video [must be fairly basic as I know nothing about bass playing] would you, or anyone here, suggest?  Thanks.

ThePrettyDamned

Check out the flea master sessions. He shows some great stuff of his, and breaks it down (skinny sweaty man is a favourite of mine).

Other than that, a tab book of your favourite band. bass requires less work to 'learn' the notes of most stuff, but as you've discovered there are other issues at hand.

Unless you play stuff like periphery or dream theatre. Gets a bit more difficult...

UnclePsychosis

Scott Devine's website is incredible. Loads of free lessons in video format.

Dave_Mc

I'm no bass player but yeah scott devine seems really good. He has a bunch on Youtube, too.

ICBM

Rocker said:

I blew a wad of cash on pickup upgrades for my PRS SE today.

Did you get these?

http://www.seymourduncan.com/2011products/zephyr-silver-pickups.php

ThePrettyDamned

ICBM;239419" said:

Rocker said:

I blew a wad of cash on pickup upgrades for my PRS SE today.










Did you get these?

http://www.seymourduncan.com/2011products/zephyr-silver-pickups.php

Oh my!

That has a lot of hyperbole. Luckily, it says it has a 'dripping tone' so I assume there is a nice, metronomic drip sound to help keep you in time?

Rocker

@chrispy108, apologies for not crediting your input.  I had meant to but forgot at the time.

If you or any participants in this thread are over in Ireland [on business, gigging or holidays], send me a PM.  I can easily demonstrate to you, in my music room, everything I described in this and previous threads.  I cannot explain it and TBH am not too concerned at this stage.  Perhaps you, after hearing it, can describe or explain it better than I can.  And it would be nice to hear you play when you are here...

chrispy108

I'd love to come over and setup a proper test of your hifi stuff.

Sadly, I've not got any cash for a flight. Perhaps we could have a whip round for a cheap flight to Ireland so we can test @Rocker's ears and cables once and for all?

Rocker

ICBM said:

The Squier P-Bass pack looks ideal. The P-Bass is inherently less noise-prone than the Jazz and will give you more of that Phil Lynott sound.

The amp is a Fender Rumble 15, which in all honesty is probably overpriced when sold separately, but fine as part of a starter package where it works out cheaper. It's not at all loud, but it does have a decent tone and most importantly for such a small amp, a built-in limiter so you can't overdrive it and make nasty noises/blow the speaker.

@ICBM, there are a few models in the Squier P-Bass range, Squier Affinity, Squier SQ Affinity to name but two.  The SQ is slightly more expensive, do you think it is worth the extra or is the Squier Affinity good enough in itself?  Thanks.

ICBM

Rocker said:

@ICBM, there are a few models in the Squier P-Bass range, Squier Affinity, Squier SQ Affinity to name but two.  The SQ is slightly more expensive, do you think it is worth the extra or is the Squier Affinity good enough in itself?  Thanks.

Not sure, I don't think I've played the more expensive version. The Affinity isn't bad, but you will definitely get improvements if you spend more, up to about the Fender Mexican ranges. Beyond that it becomes more of a personal taste thing. One of my friends has a Mexican Standard P-Bass, which is one of the best P-Basses I've played - but they seem to vary quite a lot so might not be ideal unless you can try the actual one in person.

jpfamps

There is some interesting data on this web site re cables etc:

http://home.provide.net/~djcarlst/abx.htm

Rocker

Thanks @jpfamps, wondering what your post has to do with Bass playing. I must have missed something......

jpfamps

Rocker said:

Thanks @jpfamps, wondering what your post has to do with Bass playing. I must have missed something......

It wasn't; it was concerning scientific investigation of audio phenomena, which has been discussed to some extent in this thread.

Rocker

During our break away, I located a shop that uses the Cash Converters model [I think it is called Cash Convenience].  On the rack was a Squier P-Bass for €100.  When I examined this bass, I found that I did not like the wide neck [wider than my brother-in-laws J-Bass], there were no dings or scratches and the sunburst finish looked the biz.  The strings felt shot [all grime and looking past their best] and would need to be changed a.s.a.p.  But worse IMHO was the feel and smell of the bass.  The instrument felt sticky to the touch and the smell was rotten.  Felt a little sick after handling it. €100 was too much considering the cleaning required, new strings even if the guy in the shop offered a gig bag as part of the deal.  If the gig bag came from the same house as the bass, it would be consigned to the refuse bin when we got home!  So I left the instrument in the shop.

I wondered about the lifestyle of the previous owner.  I wondered about his 'hygiene' standard and how he could subject a bass to such treatment.  Also I wondered and you guys can help here, how would you clean and de-pong such an instrument?

chrispy108

It's just a Squire, they're hardly rare, just leave it there and buy a nice one from somewhere else that's been looked after. Life's too short.