Recent content by brownie_bass

It’s never too early to get a good instrument, IMO. As others have said, if you buy something used you won’t eat much depreciation if you decide to get something different in a year or two. And in the meantime you can eliminate the concerns about whether your equipment is causing you problems...

Handedness is complicated... It’s very hard to separate what is learned from what is innate. I write right-handed, play sports left-handed, snowboard goofy, and play string instruments right-handed. Generally my left-side muscles feel stronger, but for some tasks they feel clumsy and for others...

Saw them in Newark this weekend. They have a huge video screen at the back of the stage and show close-ups of the band members throughout the concert. If you have average vision and know your Fender model years intimately (I don't) I'm sure you could ID all his basses easily. The paisley...

I used to think that after playing mostly 5's for almost 20 years... But then I got a 4 I truly loved, and I haven't been able to put it down. I'm pretty shocked, to be honest. I never thought I could live without the B string.

Like many respondents, I don't use the B string for low notes as much as alternate fingerings. I am pretty much the opposite of the OP... I have played primarily 5s for years, but recently picked up a 4 string that I LOVE beyond all expectations (Dingwall Super J) and have been primarily...

+1 I bought a Super J on eBay that came with conventional strings of some variety. I wasn't sure I liked it, even after adjusting it as best I could. On Sheldon's advice I put on some Dingwall strings. It made all the difference in the world. I basically haven't played anything else since...

Yes the same logic applies IMO, with the caveat that a 37" inch fretless comes with certain challenges in the lower positions, multiscale or not.

I have both and like both... Don't make me choose between my children, know what I mean?

Transcribing everything I am learning by ear, no matter how easy the line is to memorize, has really helped my fretboard knowledge. I could always read from prior experience on other instruments, but I have been quite lousy at reading on bass because I never really had to do it for real...

I never get tired of this video. It is certainly the greatest thing on YouTube, possibly the greatest recording in the history of recorded video (though Citizen Kane was pretty good, too).

P on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. J on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. Alternate on Sundays.

There is an ergonomic benefit to standard headstocks: the tuners are laid out in a very intuitive pattern. The tuner for the lowest string is closest to you, and you ascend strings by moving clockwise around the headstock (Fender-style headstocks are a simplified case in which you never make a...

Yeah, we are on the same page: there is no bass or amp or effect that will make me sound better than my actual talent level, just some that will make me sound worse. I will disagree about the $200 bass, though... I have one that literally cannot be set to a reasonable action level even with the...

No, they will sound mediocre at best. If I'm also fighting my equipment (especially the bass) they will sound terrible, because I'm not good enough to overcome equipment problems in addition to my own middling technique and musicianship! Thus to even rise to the level of my own mediocrity I...

I don't subscribe to the logic that because so-and-so sounds great on cheap and/or simple gear that the rest of us are wasting our time by worrying about it. Yes, a great bassist can and will sound great on terrible gear. But I'm a mediocre bassist, and I need all the help I can get.