Recent content by FlametopFred

in a way you can't separate out the bass playing from the songwriting and arranging. His bass lines often are woven with the vocal melody line. Early on he consciously kept the bass up to the front - on stage and in recordings. He wasn't going to stand back by the drums. McCartney helped evolve...

I have owned many, played many basses of friends. No question those original Music Man basses continue to be something super special. Feel. Sound. And Leo Fender seems to have gotten the electric bass right. Amazing guy. Gibson basses ..I have a love/hate relationship with. So many Gibson...

the dude arrived at my front gate after taking the bus with his Japanese '70s bass (no case). it had been advertised on craigslist for $100 and was a copy of a '68 Telecaster bass Love at first play. One Tele-style neck pickup in the P-bass spot. Shortscale, narrow neck. One sound. One perfect...

Ibanez Japan-built used basses (1975-2015) for $300 and under are quite good. Buy one for $200 and have it set up with new set of strings. Squier Vintage Modified Jazz or Jaguar basses - these I see everywhere around town. For under $300 many local bass players are throwing these (particularly...

A drummer I have known forever hums the song as he plays, humming in an unusual harmony. You can't hear the humming unless we've isolated the drums during recording playback. He is always on pitch and in a harmony that disappears in the mix. Quite unusual. But he knows every song, every melody...

I know an older local bass player that has owned their 1964 Fender Jazz bass from new out of the shop. The bass and player show up at local gigs. The case is beat to hell and looks like something you would want to avoid touching. Plugging in and playing, well the bass never seems to need to be...

Short scale Squires started to appear A LOT on local stages about two years ago. I couldn't figure it out. In particular the Squier Jaguar bass was everywhere. After talking to a number of local players, what I found was: - the Squier necks and bodies were really good - the electronics were...

'80s was a tremendous decade for bass. In some cases bands were built up from the bass playing. Bass also got chorused and treated to different processing. There seemed a renewal to the bass lines and patterns as new players came along that were not rooted in the blues or rock of the '50s, 60s...

I have a 1977 Ibanez Silver Series Jazz Bass that I like a lot and to me plays and sounds better than a number of American and Japanese Fender Jazz basses that I have played. I also have a 1983 Roadstar II bass which is a pre-bass with a head more like a Gibson. That one is also very nice...