Recent content by George Ortega

I think I found a better solution! After noticing that Scott Devine wears gloves, just I tried a cloth winter glove, and am totally satisfied that this is the way for long practice sessions. My next experiment will be to see whether faux leather, (I'm a vegan) vinyl or some other material works...

Thanks for all of your help, everyone! I'm going to space out my sessions a bit more, and I didn't know they make practice gloves. I'm also wondering whether finger tips used for office work might work.

It's only my fretting fingers. I guess maybe I have a light touch plucking.

Hey everyone, I've been playing bass regularly for over a year now, and have developed thick enough callouses that my fingertips don't usually hurt when I keep my practice sessions short. But when I play for a few hours, they begin to hurt, and then I have to stop playing for a day or two...

Well, I'm partly concerned with not getting laughed out of a studio. The other reason I got the Fender P is that it apparently has a very desirable sound, as I just discovered for myself. I hope you're saying that flatwounds on Fender Ps would be okay with studios, and are part of that signature...

That's interesting, but you'd think that so many engineers identifying and preferring that same Fender P or J sound would mean that it has certain specific characteristics that are easily discernible to them as they begin to set the EQ. Actually, since reverse engineering is a routine practice...

Having chosen a Fender Player P bass as the guitar within my budget that hopefully meets most studio engineers' preferences, I'm wondering what other details are important. For example, can I use flatwounds? Also, if I modded my Stagg BC300 short scale or my $99 Davidson full scale with Fender P...

I'm wondering why in today's world a U.S. Fender is still objectively better than the same guitar made in Mexico, Japan or Indonesia. I mean, doesn't Fender use the exact same materials and manufacturing procedures everywhere?

Yeah, I'm jamming "to" rather than "with" them for sure. Keep in mind that if my goal is to do session work, practicing to recordings by the world's top bands seems more useful than working with a local band. Also, as I've been learning here, much session work is now done from home, so I'd be...

I hear you, but at least you're improvising rather than simply playing a score note for note. It seems there are three kinds of musicians; those who are very technically proficient at sight reading, but don't have an ear for improvising, those who improvise well, but can't read music very well...

Thanks, Cat! A lot of great advice. I'm still in practice mode, and expect to be here for the next six months to a year. But once I feel confident enough, I'll begin reaching out to the bassists and studios as you suggest.

I hear what you're saying, but aren't there bassists out there who both know the songs cold and by improvising can come up with more interesting material than would result from a composition? And, yes, the different takes would absolutely need to give producers the choice between good enough and...

Thank goodness. While I totally admire the technical skills of those who sight-read what's already written, I've always thought that at least some of therthe great stuff we hear on recordings is the result of improv. Terry Kath's amazing lead solo on 25 or 6 to 4 is a prime example. Even Hendrix...

Thanks, Dune! I had no idea session bassists are so totally constrained. Considering that I play by ear, I'll have to try to get good enough that they'll just let me jam to a track a few times, and then cut and paste what they like. Are you saying there are absolutely no session bassists who are...

Ha! I'm 62. In a couple of years, if I'm still alive of course, we'll each post our stuff, and find out who's schooling who. ; ) By the way, ever hear of Grandma Moses?