Recent content by matthewzarder

An A minor pentatonic ending on the D would work too. Since there are only 2 intervals from the A up to the D, maybe consider staring on the octave A and coming down, or instead of a straight ascending or descending fill, experiment with alternate patterns within the pentatonic, as long as you...

Hey there Bobby! I have a few questions for you in order to hopefully help you with your problem. How do you position your plucking hand? I am assuming that you are playing finger-style from your post. Do you sit or stand and play? If sitting, do you rest your forearm sharply on the top of...

+1. Most if the time an upward neck tilt will fix this problem. What you're doing by tilting the neck up a bit is easing the tension on your fretting hand wrist. Play a parallel neck and your wrist sharply sticks up at a right angle, which is stressful on the wrist joint. Having the bass strap...

Yeah. Team player is a must. Gotta let the ego go, and fit in your place to make good music on the whole. I don't care how technically proficient any one player is, if they want to show off all the time instead of making good music with other people, I won't play in a band with them, period...

Ahhh she's a beauty! I have an arctic white Mexican myself. I think the white on white looks so clean. I bet you get compliments at every show.

Yep. A $6 bottle of cleaner/lubricant does wonders too. Wiping down and applying this solution after every jam makes a world of difference. Also makes the strings smooth as a bass string can be on your fingers. I also agree about investing in solid strings. A well taken care of set of $50...

Welcome! I've just signed up for an account, but have been lurking the forums for years. This forum is full of scattered bass knowledge gold! Keep an eye out for the arguments. Most of the ones that make the cut of the mods (meaning they contain solid content, and not just childish personal...

When allowing the guitarist to shred unimpeded, I personally will stick to dotted quarter/eighth note riffs...its simplified but not incredibly boring. Then if im doing a 4th count run into the 1 downbeat, I love to throw in triplets to make things interesting. Note: I don't play metal, so my...

The purging gerbils....green day, blink 182 cover band.....oh god..

+1....a good repair tech is worth their weight in gold. I'd spend $500 on a cheaper bass and give $100 to my repair guy to do it right up front over $1200 from something off the shelf without a dime to get a good set up and strings any day. Straight neck, decent pickups, and good strings and...

+1...LOL. This is funny to me. I play acoustic guitar as well as the bass, and did away with the pick on both for the most part. I've always preferred fingerstyle on the bass, and a pick for the acoustic. Then I had a classical guitar teacher force me to stop playing guitar with a pick... Now I...

There is a lot that can be done in post production to get close to the sound you want. I personally like the jazz bass because of the smooth tone, and thinner, responsive neck, but I really like a vintage bass tone. I have never played a MM before, so I have no frame of reference for a...

I use them all the time. Hammer ons and pulloffs are a lifesaver on your hands in a long set. The more you spread the workload of playing between the two hands, the easier playing will be on your hands. Not to mention, you can play faster once you have the hammer ons and pull offs down. This is...

This is the type of music I learned the bass on. Picking is the way to go, preferably toward the bridge. I would rest the side of my right hand on the bridge for a pivot point, picking both up and down in short strokes. Palm mutes were common in my teenage pop bubble gum punk years...haha...so...

This is a great suggestion, and not just limited to practicing music. You could also pick up a hand exerciser and work on that finger strength. In no time maybe you can pick up a bus with your pinky, and sliding will be no trouble at all! Another thing that really helped me out when I was...