On November 25 2013 20:59 RezJ wrote: Ben, I would actually get a second guitar for the fretless shananigans. As you said it would be awful to ruin a perfectly good precision. Besides, you will probably want to go back and forth between fretted and fretless.
Yeah upon more thought I am leaning towards that option. I'll think about it for a while longer, but yeah, I may put in an order for a fretless of some type at the local music shop.
Ben have you ever really played much fretless bass?
If not, I'd recommend getting a really low level bass, make sure things like the intonation are set up right and make that fretless. You get to familiarise yourself with the differences and what it's like to play without them.
I like a few of the things you can do with them, but I'm not precise enough to justify it yet
On November 25 2013 11:07 Ben... wrote: Does bass talk count because I have been playing way more bass than guitar lately? There's no bass dedicated thread and I doubt it would be nearly as popular as this one if there was one since fewer people play bass seriously.
For the time being I will assume it does. I've started seriously playing again (an hour or more a day. I force myself to take breaks from doing school stuff because I am getting close to burning out at it and bass is the perfect break activity to do) and holy crap am I having a blast. I bought the Jaco Pastorius Bass Method book and have been working through that. Thanks to it I finally have modes figured out because I completely forgot how they worked from back in the day when I was a jazz bassist and saxophone player. Luckily after a couple weeks of consistent play my chops have more or less returned to what they were 5 years ago, and now I am probably a bit faster. I can comfortably play your typical rock stuff like Iron Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera" or Rush's "YYZ" again without too much trouble. I can even remember how to play both of those most of the way through.
I've picked a few rather contrasting songs to work on for the time being, the first being Weather Report's iconic "Birdland" which has been quite fun, I finally have false harmonics down pat so it hasn't been too hard. I really need a fretless bass for it to sound right though. I might get one after Christmas or if I get as better bass I might remove the frets from my Precision, though I am not sure about that because I love my Precision and would hate to wreck it. Maybe I'll order a fretless USA Jazz Bass or get an Music Man of some type. I know the local shop has a Fretless Stingray, though that would be a challenge because it is unlined so I would have to spend a lot of time getting positioning right so I play in tune.
I've also been working on chunks of various Victor Wooten pieces, mostly Flecktones stuff. I've already sliced two knuckles open learning slap because my bass has knurled metal knobs and every time I miss hitting this one part my hand launches and hits the knobs. I've learned the first, rather easy bit of "Sinister Minister" and now I am working on a (mostly) non-slap, but quite mechanically challenging song called "Blu-Bop" that is super duper fun with its wonkiness due to the many swaps between 5/8 and 5/4. I've always loved playing in both those time signatures.
Whole tone scales on the lower frets of bass are the ruiners of hands.
Edit: I found some aftermarket fretless necks. I'll probably just get one of those for my Precision then I won't have to ruin it. This will allow me to get a fretted bass like the USA Jazz I was looking at or one of those Dingwall Combustions (fanned fretted bass).
Thinking of starting the bass myself at some point in the future. Is it something that can be self-taught? Also there seems to be a bunch of different types of basses too, I just don't know where to start.
Kind of stupid but: do you lose a hand if a bass string breaks?
On November 25 2013 11:07 Ben... wrote: Does bass talk count because I have been playing way more bass than guitar lately? There's no bass dedicated thread and I doubt it would be nearly as popular as this one if there was one since fewer people play bass seriously.
For the time being I will assume it does. I've started seriously playing again (an hour or more a day. I force myself to take breaks from doing school stuff because I am getting close to burning out at it and bass is the perfect break activity to do) and holy crap am I having a blast. I bought the Jaco Pastorius Bass Method book and have been working through that. Thanks to it I finally have modes figured out because I completely forgot how they worked from back in the day when I was a jazz bassist and saxophone player. Luckily after a couple weeks of consistent play my chops have more or less returned to what they were 5 years ago, and now I am probably a bit faster. I can comfortably play your typical rock stuff like Iron Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera" or Rush's "YYZ" again without too much trouble. I can even remember how to play both of those most of the way through.
I've picked a few rather contrasting songs to work on for the time being, the first being Weather Report's iconic "Birdland" which has been quite fun, I finally have false harmonics down pat so it hasn't been too hard. I really need a fretless bass for it to sound right though. I might get one after Christmas or if I get as better bass I might remove the frets from my Precision, though I am not sure about that because I love my Precision and would hate to wreck it. Maybe I'll order a fretless USA Jazz Bass or get an Music Man of some type. I know the local shop has a Fretless Stingray, though that would be a challenge because it is unlined so I would have to spend a lot of time getting positioning right so I play in tune.
I've also been working on chunks of various Victor Wooten pieces, mostly Flecktones stuff. I've already sliced two knuckles open learning slap because my bass has knurled metal knobs and every time I miss hitting this one part my hand launches and hits the knobs. I've learned the first, rather easy bit of "Sinister Minister" and now I am working on a (mostly) non-slap, but quite mechanically challenging song called "Blu-Bop" that is super duper fun with its wonkiness due to the many swaps between 5/8 and 5/4. I've always loved playing in both those time signatures.
Whole tone scales on the lower frets of bass are the ruiners of hands.
Edit: I found some aftermarket fretless necks. I'll probably just get one of those for my Precision then I won't have to ruin it. This will allow me to get a fretted bass like the USA Jazz I was looking at or one of those Dingwall Combustions (fanned fretted bass).
Thinking of starting the bass myself at some point in the future. Is it something that can be self-taught? Also there seems to be a bunch of different types of basses too, I just don't know where to start.
Kind of stupid but: do you lose a hand if a bass string breaks?
I've played the bass on and off for a year. I bought it since I'm left handed, and my local guitar shop had a lefty bass for a good price.
I have kind of a hard time playing bass since I'm so used to playing guitar. So I'm using "guitar techniques" if you may call it that, where I try using my fingers rather than my hands, which is kind of hard but I'm getting the hang of it. It's bloody fun though.
I recommend songs by The Strokes for beginners since they're fun and easy.
And you're gonna have to slap that bass hard if you gonna break a string..
So, uh, guys, is it worth it to bring a $230* acoustic guitar in to a luthier to fix a lifted bridge ...? I hear this may cost upwards of $100 depending on the damage? I really like the guitar, but I'm not sure about paying basically 1/2 of what the guitar cost me to get it fixed...
*It retails for $300, I suppose, but it's not hard to find some guitars of the same model for cheap off eBay and such.
On November 26 2013 07:20 Wombat_NI wrote: Ben have you ever really played much fretless bass?
If not, I'd recommend getting a really low level bass, make sure things like the intonation are set up right and make that fretless. You get to familiarise yourself with the differences and what it's like to play without them.
I like a few of the things you can do with them, but I'm not precise enough to justify it yet
I have played a few hours of fretless, yes. I was going to buy one a few years back but that was right before I quit. Prior to that I had wanted one for a long time.
That idea had also crossed my mind in the last couple days (I haven't checked this thread lately). Get one of those Squier VM Jazz Basses for like $250-300 and rip the frets out (I've played the fretless Squiers. I was not a fan. The regular VM basses are quite nice for the cost though). Heck on Ebay there are some I can get for $200 shipped. They'd need a pickup swap to sound good but for the money I'm sure they'd be fine.
And yeah, I am very particular about intonation and general setup so that would not be an issue.
On November 27 2013 09:58 Wombat_NI wrote: 1. Anyone ever tried one of the Ernie Ball Musicman Petrucci sigs?
Yup, my old guitar teacher has a 7 string Petrucci. Amazing guitar. Neck was chunkier than what I was used to at the time (I was playing Jacksons with super thin necks. I would say the Petrucci neck is slightly thinner than Fender necks, though the 7 string factor probably made it feel bulkier than it actually was) but overall very nice to play and sounded great. He loves his. He uses it for everything. He's in a jazz fusion band and it seems to fit in just fine there.
Ever since he got a Music Man, I've always wanted one of my own. I've been contemplating putting my fretless bass plan on hold and getting a Music Man bass of some type because I was planning on getting an American Jazz Bass after Christmas, but the basic MMs are only a bit more, and roughly the same price used.
Edit: I can get one of those Affinity Jazz Basses for $190 shipped to my door in the colour of my choice (obviously would go with Lake Placid Blue because that is the second best Fender colour. I can't believe they actually brought it back. My old strat used to be so unique but now that colour seems to be quite common again). I know people complain about the quality of work on them, especially the fretwork, but that doesn't really matter for me since I would be ripping it apart anyway.
On November 25 2013 11:07 Ben... wrote: Does bass talk count because I have been playing way more bass than guitar lately? There's no bass dedicated thread and I doubt it would be nearly as popular as this one if there was one since fewer people play bass seriously.
For the time being I will assume it does. I've started seriously playing again (an hour or more a day. I force myself to take breaks from doing school stuff because I am getting close to burning out at it and bass is the perfect break activity to do) and holy crap am I having a blast. I bought the Jaco Pastorius Bass Method book and have been working through that. Thanks to it I finally have modes figured out because I completely forgot how they worked from back in the day when I was a jazz bassist and saxophone player. Luckily after a couple weeks of consistent play my chops have more or less returned to what they were 5 years ago, and now I am probably a bit faster. I can comfortably play your typical rock stuff like Iron Maiden's "Phantom of the Opera" or Rush's "YYZ" again without too much trouble. I can even remember how to play both of those most of the way through.
I've picked a few rather contrasting songs to work on for the time being, the first being Weather Report's iconic "Birdland" which has been quite fun, I finally have false harmonics down pat so it hasn't been too hard. I really need a fretless bass for it to sound right though. I might get one after Christmas or if I get as better bass I might remove the frets from my Precision, though I am not sure about that because I love my Precision and would hate to wreck it. Maybe I'll order a fretless USA Jazz Bass or get an Music Man of some type. I know the local shop has a Fretless Stingray, though that would be a challenge because it is unlined so I would have to spend a lot of time getting positioning right so I play in tune.
I've also been working on chunks of various Victor Wooten pieces, mostly Flecktones stuff. I've already sliced two knuckles open learning slap because my bass has knurled metal knobs and every time I miss hitting this one part my hand launches and hits the knobs. I've learned the first, rather easy bit of "Sinister Minister" and now I am working on a (mostly) non-slap, but quite mechanically challenging song called "Blu-Bop" that is super duper fun with its wonkiness due to the many swaps between 5/8 and 5/4. I've always loved playing in both those time signatures.
Whole tone scales on the lower frets of bass are the ruiners of hands.
Edit: I found some aftermarket fretless necks. I'll probably just get one of those for my Precision then I won't have to ruin it. This will allow me to get a fretted bass like the USA Jazz I was looking at or one of those Dingwall Combustions (fanned fretted bass).
Thinking of starting the bass myself at some point in the future. Is it something that can be self-taught? Also there seems to be a bunch of different types of basses too, I just don't know where to start.
Kind of stupid but: do you lose a hand if a bass string breaks?
Oh hey I missed this. Sorry about that.
Yes, you can be quite successful self taught. If you have any musical background at all it can be quite easy to learn the basics (especially if you have a background in regular guitar). There's tons of tutorials now online and you can get books for cheap. A basic understanding of music theory goes quite far. When it comes to the basics, bass isn't all that challenging, it is when you start getting into more advanced territory that it gets to be quite tricky. The biggest thing you have to work on at first is hand strength and dexterity. Bass requires quite a strong, flexible, fretting hand, more so than guitar (where dexterity is more important), especially if you are playing complex arrangements on the lower frets since they are so spread out (In my Jaco book it is referred to as developing bass hands). "Right" hand (plucking hand) dexterity is another thing to focus on as that will allow you to play faster, but that is something that comes with just playing a ton.
As for basses, yes there are a lot of different types. A basic Fender-style bass or something like an Ibanez Soundgear is typically a great place to start. The Squier Vintage Modified series is something that you should definitely check out. They're great beginner instruments and are not too costly ($300-400 at the most). With a setup they are quite nice to play.
As for broken strings, it very seldom happens unless you are doing a slap/pop style or are doing something crazy. It they snapped completely I imagine it would be quite dangerous but I've never seen that happen. I've only had one break and it broke just like the one in this video:
I'm going to sound like a carvin fanboy (which I am), but you can get some really great used carvin basses for like $300-$400 on ebay.
I played a JP about 2 months ago at a guitar center. It was setup kind of poorly with really high action but the build quality felt pretty solid, and as I recall the neck felt really dense and thick, similar to a fender strat. It had a rosewood fretboard, which to me is kind of meh, especially if dishing out so much for the guitar.
On December 03 2013 02:34 renoB wrote: I'm going to sound like a carvin fanboy (which I am), but you can get some really great used carvin basses for like $300-$400 on ebay.
I played a JP about 2 months ago at a guitar center. It was setup kind of poorly with really high action but the build quality felt pretty solid, and as I recall the neck felt really dense and thick, similar to a fender strat. It had a rosewood fretboard, which to me is kind of meh, especially if dishing out so much for the guitar.
I've priced out so many Carvins. Probably 50 over the years. I've yet to buy one though (I probably will eventually). They're so nice looking.
But yeah, used Carvins, used USA Peaveys, used Japanese Yamahas can all be found for pretty cheap on Ebay.
I found the Ishibashi used Fender section. They ship internationally for not to bad of a price. This might not end well. They have a Japanese Jaco-style Jazz Bass for about $650 CAD. The more interesting one to me though is an absolutely stunning 70's-style Jazz Bass in Lake Placid Blue with block inlays, a bound fretboard, and a matching painted headstock. That one is $750. MUST RESIST
Do not look up Ishibashi. It will make you want to spend far too much money. The Fender stuff alone is insane but then they have Edwards, which is ESP's domestic brand that is way nicer and cheaper than ESP. I used to look at it tons years ago but I forgot about it until today when I was looking up info on a fretless Japanese Jazz Bass that is on Ebay.
Are Carvin 6 strings still worth getting? I remember they used to be regarded pretty highly in the 80s by 'shredders' and the likes, but I haven't seen all that much from the company in a while in terms of visibility.
Can you recall the model of JP sig reno? Eugh, it's so painful not getting to actually try out the gear I'm potentially interested in
EPT
