I cried in disappointment when Paul McCartney said this...

[Paul Boyer]

I imagine he STILL doesn't know what those little switches on the Höfner do. Does anyone really? Even the explanatory diagrams of the Höfner control panel are confusing. But a lot of folks don't understand controls. They just dime the knobs and think that all of everything must be best. No wonder that some think the Rick is a "one-trick pony."

 

[BigJohnAZ]

He was probably talking about the mute knobs. IIRC, he placed foam under the strings at the bridge on his Rick.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I love this stuff. ie Bernard Edwards didn't know or care what strings were on his Stingray, Jamerson too etc. Greatness doesn't need forums, upgrades etc...Greatness just lets the music flow.
Lost track of the times even my fellow weekend musicians have said they care not about what bass I'm playing or gear I'm using as long as I play right.

Actually, Jamerson did know what strings he used and had a preference. He didn't like the Fender strings that came with the bass and preferred La Bella strings. His claim to fame was, he didn't like to change them and only would if a string would break.

 

[DJ Bebop]

I've known several ridiculously talented musicians who couldn't tell you the notes of their open guitar strings. Some people just "have it" regardless of their prowess in ancillary areas.

Short version. Dude could sing, play, and (especially) WRITE like crazy. He found a way to tap into the human condition and relate to millions of people before that was possible via Twitter or Insta.

So it doesn't bother me that a guy didn't know what all of the knobs and switched did on his bass. He couldn't exactly Google it either.

There was another recent thread here regarding who played bass on one of their songs. WE obsess over the tiniest little details of their music/gear/recordings. THEY didn't. They just showed up, wrote hits, played whatever instrument was in front of them, and went to lunch without giving it a second thought. WE live in the past. THEY were all about "That's done. What's next?".

I hear yah, still though...

 

[WI Short Scaler]

IMO, I find it very interesting to know what Paul M accomplished as a musician and not as a technician. I know the notes on the fretboard well but sometimes I find myself playing a pattern that I don't know why it works, it just does. I don't question it, just keep it in the wheelhouse and move on. Nothing against lessons or reading music I just never bothered, learned by ear and had fun.

I'm firmly in the mediocre bassist club and that's ok.

 

[RichardW]

FINALLY! I have something in common with Paul McCartney.

 

[Mike Vee]

Why would you be disappointed? Dude made great music, toured the world and made millions of dollars. Why would he give a damn about knobs?

 

[luciens]

Heh. According to legend, one of the main reasons the G&L L2000 is still a practically unknown bass compared to other Leo Fender designs, is all its knobs and switches. Guys literally wouldn't buy em when they first came out because they couldn't figure em out. Even today, that circulates around in various G&L forums, threads, etc. That it's too complicated, and I sold it because I couldn't quite get the sound out of it that I wanted, etc.

Which in a way is kind of true - with extra fiddling versatility comes more fiddling than actually playing, so I guess you could make that argument..

I have finally figured out how to get traditional Fender tones out of an L2000, but I will say it did take me some fiddling to finally find it....

L

 

[dalkowski]

shirley you jest!?

I lived for a time in Shirley, MA. If I had a nickel for every time I heard this I'd have a great many nickels.

 

[DirtDog]

Is that astroturf?

It was the style at the time. If you look closely, George is wearing an onion on his belt.

 

[bholder]

I love this stuff. ie Bernard Edwards didn't know or care what strings were on his Stingray, Jamerson too etc. Greatness doesn't need forums, upgrades etc...Greatness just lets the music flow.
Lost track of the times even my fellow weekend musicians have said they care not about what bass I'm playing or gear I'm using as long as I play right.

Yeah, the forums are an aid for those of us who just don't have that natural musical genius baked in. Some have the whole package from the start, but most of us just have a little tiny flame of "talent" that needs to be nurtured to grow.

 

[InhumanResource]

Heh. According to legend, one of the main reasons the G&L L2000 is still a practically unknown bass compared to other Leo Fender designs, is all its knobs and switches. Guys literally wouldn't buy em when they first came out because they couldn't figure em out. Even today, that circulates around in various G&L forums, threads, etc. That it's too complicated, and I sold it because I couldn't quite get the sound out of it that I wanted, etc.

Which in a way is kind of true - with extra fiddling versatility comes more fiddling than actually playing, so I guess you could make that argument..

I have finally figured out how to get traditional Fender tones out of an L2000, but I will say it did take me some fiddling to finally find it....

L

Didn't the stingray have just as many knobs? I can understand the switches being confusing for the Pauls among us who don't want to bother.

After 20 years of fiddling with an active Fender that has alllll the switches and knobs I just leave the GL sucker wide open in series mode.

 

[dalkowski]

IMO, I find it very interesting to know what Paul M accomplished as a musician and not as a technician.

Co-signed. I've burned nary a nanosecond thinking of Paul as a technician — aside from, perhaps, my enduring sense of wonder that he can sing and play those lovely basslines simultaneously.

 

[WI Short Scaler]

Co-signed. I've burned nary a nanosecond thinking of Paul as a technician — aside from, perhaps, my enduring sense of wonder that he could sing and play those lovely basslines simultaneously.

Yep, that is an amazing talent. I long to know that just one time at a gig I make it through singing and playing "All My Loving" with no "free" notes.

But more than anything I just wonder how his mind works to come up with all that music. I've tried to write songs, tried very hard. But any patterns I come up with just sound exactly like something else I've heard before. And my lyrics barely qualify me to leave brief notes on the wall of a dive bar restroom.

 

[Sushi Box FX]

I know what every single knob and every single switch does on every piece of gear I own.

I'm a garbage musician and an atrocious songwriter though.

I think Paul got the better deal.

 

[dabbler]

I'm not even in the next state over from great, but I remember when my college band was recording at MIT in Minneapolis (a student there needed a band for a recording class) and one of the instructors asked if my PJ-equipped bass was set-up 'hi/low' with regards to the pickups. I said I didn't know, it was a bass and I played it. The look of disgust on his face was brutal.

Ummm, did he explain what he meant? And, if he did, could you explain it to the rest of us who also have never heard that question?

I hope you told him, "No man. It's set up the way I like it!"

 

[BarfanyShart]

I get him, I have also always been scared of and annoyed by the existence of knobs.

 

[allen_m]

I'm more bothered by the guy sitting on the Bass VI.

 

[tvbop]

The day I gave up twiddling to try to get a sound was the day I sold my last J bass...that was 40 years ago.

 

[Cave Puppy]

Yeah, I love discussing gear, playing all kinds of basses, trying new amps, changing pickups, etc. My best friend (an accomplished guitarist who has literally done a couple THOUSAND gigs with me) deflates me sometimes. I'll show up with a new bass, or new pickups, or a different amp and be all excited about it. I'll say "Check THIS out!" and play a lick or two. He'll say "Sounds great. Sounds just like you."



(Checking out new/different gear is still fun.)

I'll show up with a new bass or build and my people will always say - "How long will THIS one last?" Sadly true.

 

[A9X]

I was gonna pay for a Disney subscription just to watch this, and now you've totally ruined it for me.