Recent content by Sean Hughes

I would buy two $2,000 basses and tell the guy to keep the rest.

Agree on tone, but disagree on sound/noise. The bass can sound smooth or crunch/gritty, but to a non-bass player, they won't notice like they would on an electric guitar. Non-bass players CAN hear when equalization is off, strings are buzzing, it's making loud pop noises, it's harsh or noisy...

A new house gives you a chance to throw up some soundproofing before you move in for late night jams. More playing is better than more basses.

There's a show on Youtube that meets with the guitar tech and looks at all the guitars and basses that a band brings. The pro bass players bring several basses to a show. Interestingly, some pro bass players have all Fender basses even though they have a lot of basses. Personally, I would...

An active pickup that immediately kills the battery

Paul McCartney played the bass?

Were your ears ringing after the show? And if yes, how long? A little ringing can be okay. Also, balanced sound is important. It's up to you if you want to play in a loud band, but the kick drum should be audible. You can hear those things across a football field. You should tell the band that...

Somewhere around 1991 to 1994, I was a pre-teen asking my friends what they were listening to. Did not have MTV. A friend recommended Silver Chair. Turned on my clock radio, and was able to get a rock station by carefully moving the dial until something came in. Silver Chair came on and I was...

After about ten minutes of trying to play, the band will descend into smoking something, drinking, and playing video games. Just kidding. Good luck in your amazing musical pursuits!

Started on 5 string (never practiced much), then two years ago put all of my practice time into bass. Went with a 4 string for several reasons. Hard to hear the difference between each of the notes below the low E, less strings to learn, and similar to the bottom four strings of guitar...

Dent

Unscooped. If you don't want it scooped, then don't scoop it.

Have the drummer show you what to play using his bass drum, then play it with him until you're playing it together. It's fair for him to want you to line up the phrasing. However, you should be spelling out the melody with the guitarist and singer, not the drummer.

Have a High-Mass bridge that came with my precision. Never knew what it was supposed to do until I read this thread. My bass is not polite if you mean weak tone; it does exactly what my fingers tell it to do and sounds good to boot.

Ah, I just reread your original post, and you had said you already know the scales, but want to know how to use them. Well here's a beginners point of view. 1. I pick an interval from the scale such as 8, 5, 2, 6, 3, or 7. 2. I figure out what note of the scale this is for every chord. ex. Key...