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East Tennessee Talkbass

#1,441
I was the guy who was leaving as you were coming in. I have known Rusty for 40 years. We were students at UTK at the same time, but I was a trombonist back then. Rusty will push you, and he has way more to teach you than you (or I) can hope to learn. (Sometimes I just want to give up because I know that I will never come near his abilities.) The man's been playing bass at a high level for 50+ years. He can help you become as good a bassist as you want to be if you do what he says. One of his early teachers was Edgar Meyer, Sr., father of Edgar Meyer, Jr., the well-known bassist.

rollerberg2000 said:
First lesson on the upright from Rusty today. Very cool dude, very talented and what I can tell from one lesson, a very good demanding teacher. I'm gonna learn bass 'n stuff.:hyper:

Off on a journey, I'm excited!
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#1,446
Zoomie said:
Man, I love that Marty Bell painted bass. I sold the Statatory Grap Jazz. Letting that go about killed me. Had to make some ugly decisions in order to ease up on the (not so) disposable income. I will definity find another project to send off to Marty at some point.

I take it you pluck shallow? You're welcome to take the Super J for a spin any time should be up this way or I am over in your neck of the woods. Next public gig is in JC June 7th & 8th as I recall. Whew. Been a while since I have played out. Hopefully I won't take a header off the stage. It should be hacktacular !
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Thanks! Marty Bell rules!

Not sure what you mean by plucking shallow but my thumb moves to the string above the one I'm playing which makes the arc of my plucking fingers mostly parallel to the body. Many players pluck by striking toward the body cause they anchor on a pickup and stay there. I only hit my pickups when I really dig in.

Thanks for the offer of trying your Dingwalls. I may take you up on it.
 
#1,448
PDGood said:
Yeah, but there's a difference between choosing one you love regardless of price and choosing one you love within your price. Still it's nice to hear the guys with the good gear be so conciliatory about our....ancillariness. And yes, I just made that word up.
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For me, It's not a be polite thing. Through the years, I have had everything from 50.00 specials through top end pre-Gilbon Tobias'. Heck I still have a Fender MIM that I love because it feels incredible and sounds fantastic.

I have also been caught up in the very dangerous situation of thinking that if I only had better gear, I'd be a better bass player. We all know that this leads nowhere.

A bass in hand is better than a Fodera in the bush. Once I came to understand that, I found myself to enjoy music, woodshedding, and gigging a whole lot more.

You're right. We all play what we can afford to play at whatever price point break we feel is bearable. But........

In my lifetime, I have had to sell all of my gear twice for financial reasons. I went for a long time without a bass. Going to a store to get your bass fix sucks.

So, as I see it, if you/we/I have a bass in working condition, life is good !

Short of a guy or girl intentionally doing something to make their gear perform horribly, I'll give any bassist with something strapped around their neck, a gear high five every single time.

Rock on !
 
#1,449
JEDI BASS said:
Thanks! Marty Bell rules!

Not sure what you mean by plucking shallow but my thumb moves to the string above the one I'm playing which makes the arc of my plucking fingers mostly parallel to the body. Many players pluck by striking toward the body cause they anchor on a pickup and stay there. I only hit my pickups when I really dig in.

Thanks for the offer of trying your Dingwalls. I may take you up on it.
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Ah. Yes I am a pick up riding fool. Just now forcing myself to move to floating thumb.

Any time on anything that I own. I post interesting gear purchases in this section so others in the area know it's here, in the event they want to check it out.

I also appreciate every time others post their aquisitions. Our local board has helped me to avoid making a blind purchase more than once. Not because the gear was sus-standard, but because once I got the details, I knew that it wouldnt work for me.
 
#1,450
JEDI BASS said:
I've played shows where another bands bassist played a Squier thru a combo amp and felt he had a better sound than I got that night.... and I told him so. Right now, there's a used Schecter 8 string at GC that's tempting me.
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I have seen this a 100 times.

Best lesson I ever learned was when I went down to pick up a Warwick years ago at Bass Central. I happened to comment on 4 or so Foderas hanging on the wall. They were works of art. The salesman asked me if I had ever played one. I told him that I had no business even looking at them because they were so far out of my price range. He told me that every bass player needs to play one at least once.

I was terrifed. Took of belt, wedding ring, and watch. Set a stool in the biggest open space in the store to mitigate any chance of nicking the thing. I even grabbed a clean bath towell out of the truck to lay in my lap.

So what did I learn? That when Victor Wooten plays a Fodera, angels sing, the stars align, and the world is better place. When I play a Fodera, it sounds like ****** Zoomie is clamming it up. :D For years I was certain that if I owned a Fodera I would be rich and famous. Who knew?
 
#1,451
PDGood said:
I like to think that I provide balance to the GTG's by bringing my low end basses. :)
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Ha, PDG! I have lower end basses than you do, and more of 'em!

Ancillariness.. good coin!

Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only ETTB'er with headless basses, and I have a lot of them. Surely one of you guys has a Steinberger, Synapse, a Spirit.. something.

I agree with Jeff on the variety at the GTG's. Low end, high end, oddballs, ones of a kind, customs, mods.. ETTB has it all.

I'm really hoping the next one we do this summer will work out for more of us to be there. The last two were 6 or so of us, each. It'd be fun to have closer to 20 or so at the next one.
 
#1,453
I guess we could have a low ball contest.

Main Player: I paid $199 for my main player (The Ibanez SRX3EXQM1 sunburst).

Lowest that gets regular play: I have a Peavey Zodiac that gets much love that cost me a whopping $70.

Hi End: My most expensive is ironically the one that gets played the least - Ibanez SR700. That was something like $650. Love the feel, love the neck, I just can't get my tone out of it. It's scheduled for mods in the coming year. I have to find a way to get that one in the rotation.
 
#1,454
MichaelVee said:
A friend of mine gave me a copy of Victor's "The Music Lesson" book. I'm going to start it this weekend. Have any ETTB'ers read it?
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I read it. Absolutely loved Victor's perspective and approach of music and bass. Concepts are at 30,000 feet vs specifics, but I have yet to chat with any other readers that didnt get something out of it.

Minor pet peeve was the passing injection of spirituality/metaphysical thoughts. We're grown adults with our own personal beliefs. This is akin to me of politicizing bass playing. The two just don't really play well together. Again, this was minor.

That said, I believe it to be a must read for beginner and vet alike. It will change the way you approach the bass go-forward.

Would love to chat with you about what you get out of it, when you complete it. Everyone seems to get something different out of it.

Now go find your own personal AHA moment !
 

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