Recent content by charliebrown

I find that in winter, things change. Warmer weather and the neck relief seems to stay more stable. Just a personal observation on my bass and guitars. My music room door opens outside to my back yard, so keeping temps stable is darn near impossible this time of year. As for rechecking in...

Seen this happen a lot...9 times out of 10 it's the wrong hex wrench size. Always best to be ABSOLUTELY sure you know the correct size. *experience is a great teacher...not that i've ever been wrong :crying:

Good questions, but what's the bottom line? Are you looking for a keeper or something you may wish to unload later? For me, I stopped (finally) looking at potential resale on my instruments. If I like it, it fits my hands, sounds as I like it to sound, I buy it and keep it; otherwise I pass...

Last played bass in a band quite a long time ago. Had a '62 reissue jazz bass. Sold my entire rig and concentrated on day job and family. All kids are grown now. Picked up a jazz bass copy that was used, played nice. Got it home, disassembled, set up, new strings. Plays amazingly well with...

Guard dog...chain him in front of the amp;)

I wa looking for a reasonable wattage head with an XLR out and found a nice Ashdown EB180 head for just under $100. Records GREAT. Picking up a 2x12 cabinet this week. I was able to try it out through a Markbase 2x10 and 1x15 cabinet and really liked the tone. Pulled the chassis and cleaned...

I feel for you. Had shoulder surgery 4 months ago and couldn't touch guitar or bass for 6 months before that. Finally have that out of the way and life is getting better...lots of catching up to do. All the best to you. :bassist:

Nothing wrong with using a pick, and never too late to learn using fingers. I locked myself in a room every spare hour I had for a couple of months and forced myself to use my fingers...never looked at a pick. It paid off. Now I can do both styles and "almost" play everything I know with...

Bass is different than guitar. I had to think of my technique as if I had never touched a stringed instrument before. Once I did that and had a great bassist show me the basics, life became tolerable with the bass.

I count when I'm learning a song. After that, it's all feel and locking in with the drummer.

Just keep playing and practicing. You'll build up strength and endurance. Same thing happens to me when I set the bass down for awhile.

My technique is always my biggest enemy...when it's right, all is well in the world. Hang in. It's part of the journey :smug:

Oh yeah!

That's my guess. I think Jeff Berlin's thing of turning the amp up and picking/plucking softer saved me a lot of grief. Let the amp do the work for volume. I used to play so damm hard...all it did was tire my fingers out and add a lot of unwanted noise. Play as hard as you can and then back...

What I found that helped years ago when I was playing bass full time...finger the notes close to the fret. It diminishes noise and it takes less pressure (less fatigue in your fretting hand too) for your finger to fret the notes. Takes some practice to get it to feel routine, but it really helps.