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Bass Player Confessions
- Thread starter Heiwa
- Start date
I also choose flatwounds mostly based on silk color and the color of my bass.
Franz Simandl has entered the chat.
I started on DB and have stumpy fingers, so I only use 1-2-4. Gets a little crowded around the 12th fret, which is just the bass’s way of telling me I don’t have any business playing up there.
Funny, I just put on Rotosounds for the first time and everything you don't like about them is what I do like about them (on a thunderbird at least). To each their own obviously
Glad you’re enjoying them!
I’ve played with the idea of trying them again, but I’ve just enjoyed 40-100 DR Pure Blues so much that I haven’t really gone back.
I like the Roto sound (ha ha) but I also found them to be bridge cable stiff compared to the DRs. At least in my memory anyway. We’ll see!
5. I was eyeing up a bass to buy pretty intently before I got completely blindsided by a sweet guitar today… oh boy.
Decisions, decisions as they say…
Decisions, decisions as they say…
1. My favourite bass is a Thunderbird - and an Epiphone (albeit VP) of it;
2. My favourite amp sim is almost always Marshall-based (alough Ampeg comes as a close second);
3. I've never really owned a standard 4-string P, J, or Stingray (I got one in a trade but quickly flipped it);
4. I play with a pick more than my fingers, and my next gig will likely be 100% picked;
5. I prefer practising through headphones than an amp;
6. I used to want to play extended-range with an octave pedal more than a 5-string, but it's now obsolete as I've just seen a Chillman fiver that I really like;
7. I want to play organ pedals;
8. I played drums in my first band.
2. My favourite amp sim is almost always Marshall-based (alough Ampeg comes as a close second);
3. I've never really owned a standard 4-string P, J, or Stingray (I got one in a trade but quickly flipped it);
4. I play with a pick more than my fingers, and my next gig will likely be 100% picked;
5. I prefer practising through headphones than an amp;
6. I used to want to play extended-range with an octave pedal more than a 5-string, but it's now obsolete as I've just seen a Chillman fiver that I really like;
7. I want to play organ pedals;
8. I played drums in my first band.
Me, also, under pressure of a jam with strangers when I was tuning a new-to-me JP90 on what the E string was improperly wound on the tuner and kept jumping off the nut.
Which, BTW, might become my new band name, "Jumping Off the Nut".
carsonchilders
Carson Childers
1. About 3 years ago i played a gig and after the first song (which i crushed! Didn't miss a single note) an audience member asked me to turn up the bass cause he couldn't hear it. I told him I cant (I was going straight into a di) and he had to ask the sound guy. Who was trying to figure out why there was no bass signal. The drummer then pointed to my cable....on the floor....I never plugged my cable into my bass...they still ask me to this day if my bass is plugged in before EVERY show
2. In my first band, at our first show, I looked down at setlist to see the next song. Passionately started playing anarchy in the Uk with full gusto, like jumping up and down, really getting into it. Until I realized the rest if the band wasn't playing anarchy in the uk. I had gotten halfway throught the 1st chorus before I realized I had skipped 1 song on the setlist
2. In my first band, at our first show, I looked down at setlist to see the next song. Passionately started playing anarchy in the Uk with full gusto, like jumping up and down, really getting into it. Until I realized the rest if the band wasn't playing anarchy in the uk. I had gotten halfway throught the 1st chorus before I realized I had skipped 1 song on the setlist
On two separate occasions I tried a Sansamp preamp pedal. Nope, I just don't get how to use them. Sold them both.
I refuse to use 2x2 tuners. Just can't get used to that configuration.
I refuse to use 2x2 tuners. Just can't get used to that configuration.
This is kind of weird and I haven't quite been able to break out of the habit but I'm working on it. A lot of times my right (plucking) hand gets tripped up because I subconsciously try to use my index finger when I'm going down a note and middle finger when I'm going up a note. I obviously can't do that all the time so I usually end up sticking with the finger I was using when I can't do that, then wait to go back up or down so I can switch fingers again.
Recently I've been trying to break that habit by either playing mostly with my index finger or trying to randomly use my index finger or middle finger on sections of a song that aren't difficult to play and I can pay in my sleep.
A lot of times at gigs I'll turn to our new guitar player and jam with him while he's soloing, especially if I'm doing something cool on the bass at the same time. A few gigs ago I noticed he was turning away from me, like he was mad at me. I asked him about it after the gig and he asked me what I was doing with my plucking hand because he was going crazy trying to figure it out and that threw him off. So he decided he couldn't watch me and he had to turn around make sure he wasn't getting caught up thinking about it. It was that "random finger" thing I was using.
Recently I've been trying to break that habit by either playing mostly with my index finger or trying to randomly use my index finger or middle finger on sections of a song that aren't difficult to play and I can pay in my sleep.
A lot of times at gigs I'll turn to our new guitar player and jam with him while he's soloing, especially if I'm doing something cool on the bass at the same time. A few gigs ago I noticed he was turning away from me, like he was mad at me. I asked him about it after the gig and he asked me what I was doing with my plucking hand because he was going crazy trying to figure it out and that threw him off. So he decided he couldn't watch me and he had to turn around make sure he wasn't getting caught up thinking about it. It was that "random finger" thing I was using.
Hoo boy...
1. This is the third username I've joined Talkbass with even though I've technically been a member since like 2005. It's because I'm deeply ashamed of how young, dumb, and drug addled the guy who created the other two usernames was.
And here's some real heresy for y'all:
2. Sometimes I suspect I might enjoy working on instrument tech (electronics, amps, pedals, etc.) more than I enjoy actually playing the bass. Don't get me wrong, I love playing the bass, but there's that little part of me that wonders if I wouldn't be perfectly content living out the rest of my days waving around a soldering iron in a tiny instrument repair shop and occasionally noodling on the gear I'm working on.
1. This is the third username I've joined Talkbass with even though I've technically been a member since like 2005. It's because I'm deeply ashamed of how young, dumb, and drug addled the guy who created the other two usernames was.
And here's some real heresy for y'all:
2. Sometimes I suspect I might enjoy working on instrument tech (electronics, amps, pedals, etc.) more than I enjoy actually playing the bass. Don't get me wrong, I love playing the bass, but there's that little part of me that wonders if I wouldn't be perfectly content living out the rest of my days waving around a soldering iron in a tiny instrument repair shop and occasionally noodling on the gear I'm working on.
When I got my first Sony Walkman in the '80s I was shocked to discover that it didn't block out all external sounds when I pressed Play and turned the volume to 10 with no tape inside...
I grew up in a developing world country where there was zero equipment available. So at age 18 I decided to make a DIY bass in my dad's workshop.
1. The body was some random piece of softwood which I sandwiched with some red Formica left over from our kitchen table to make it look more cool
2. The neck was made from some local hardwood with short pieces of my dad's brass brazing rods for frets.
3. The tuners were pathetic little guitar tuners
4. The pickup was a hole pickup for acoustic guitar
and here's the kicker
5. in the short space of time before it fell apart I played it in my school concert in a band wearing a floral print waistcoat that my mum made me for the gig LOL
Sadly no photos
1. The body was some random piece of softwood which I sandwiched with some red Formica left over from our kitchen table to make it look more cool
2. The neck was made from some local hardwood with short pieces of my dad's brass brazing rods for frets.
3. The tuners were pathetic little guitar tuners
4. The pickup was a hole pickup for acoustic guitar
and here's the kicker
5. in the short space of time before it fell apart I played it in my school concert in a band wearing a floral print waistcoat that my mum made me for the gig LOL
Sadly no photos
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Apart from open strings I have no clue what note I am playing.
I've got poor thumb placement on my fretting hand - always have on both bass and guitar - gigging 53 years.
I should get around to fixing that.
I should get around to fixing that.
Being self taught I have massive gaps in my theory knowledge and I cannot read. I also never play shows with my glasses on and as such have played every show since college with my hair over my face so A) my glasses never fall off and B) there are 0 pictures of my "bass face".
For shame, I have always loved how other bassists sound with a P Bass (I've owned 4), an Ampeg Amp, or an Orange Amp. Not in combination all the time just generally. No matter how many times I've tried over the years I have never once liked how I sounded through them and cannot cop a good tone in my opinion.
While I'm not a fingers only advocate, I cannot play well with a pick. I started on guitar at 14 and switched to bass at 18. I still cannot play with a pick on bass well 14 years after the switch.
For shame, I have always loved how other bassists sound with a P Bass (I've owned 4), an Ampeg Amp, or an Orange Amp. Not in combination all the time just generally. No matter how many times I've tried over the years I have never once liked how I sounded through them and cannot cop a good tone in my opinion.
While I'm not a fingers only advocate, I cannot play well with a pick. I started on guitar at 14 and switched to bass at 18. I still cannot play with a pick on bass well 14 years after the switch.
