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Oh Man, Someone Failed "Bass String Installation 101"

#162
BarqsBitMe said:
Music is subjective. IMO Fieldy is a skilled percussionist, but not such a great bassist. His stuff all sounds the same to me… super floppy detuned strings rattling clanky imperceptible notes. However as a percussionist it works and is a big part of Korn's sound. But again, music is subjective… there are some bass players most of the TB community idolizes whose playing I think sounds like boring, nasally, difficult-to-even-hear noodling. For example, a particular bassist who apparently only needed four strings and is why no one should ever play a bass with more.
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Could not agree more. I am blown away by todays talent… but as a matter of taste… sometimes the simple stuff is best. And sometimes someone does a bass cover and taps "the woven web" by animals as leaders and my jaw drops.
 
#164
TTA said:
Exactly! How good someone plays is subjective and there is no way to measure.
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I think you misunderstood me. I wasn't talking about the skill level someone plays with, or how they sound. I was talking about people who outright dismiss others styles of playing... most of whom I would be willing to bet are terrible at the style they are dismissing. The example is people thinking that playing with a pick is not a legitimate way to play the bass. They are crappy musicians even if they can play extremely complex pieces of music. Instead of simply acknowledging that they can't do something, or can't do something well, they instead dump on those who can. Along the same lines are those certain individuals who ridicule young people for making music with computers instead of traditional instruments. I am willing to bet said people can barely figure out how to attach something in an email, much less how to use computer software to compose music. Instead of learning, they just like to dismiss others for doing something they can't do.
 
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#165
BarqsBitMe said:
I think you misunderstood me. I wasn't talking about the skill level someone plays with, or how they sound. I was talking about people who outright dismiss others styles of playing... most of whom I would be willing to bet are terrible at the style they are dismissing. The example is people thinking that playing with a pick is not a legitimate way to play the bass. They are crappy musicians even if they can play extremely complex pieces of music. Instead of simply acknowledging that they can't do something, or can't do something well, they instead dump on those who can. Along the same lines are those certain individuals who ridicule young people for making music with computers instead of traditional instruments. I am willing to bet said people can barely figure out how to attach something in an email, much less how to use computer software to compose music. Instead of learning, they just like to dismiss others for doing something they can't do.
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Fair… crappy people who are musicians, vs crappy musicians.

I respect players who can cross many styles and techniques and do it well. I personally got pretty proficient at finger style… stopped playing/gigging for a while… then decided it was time to learn pick properly. But i am a self proclaimed pretty crappy bass player… and at times a pretty crappy person who plays bass.

I am still learning, but getting better. Slap and tap… i am not ready to go there yet. But i can cross some genres of music. My focus more recently has been music theory. I had just the basics and got by on ear. I am enjoying understanding the "why."

i think i enjoy bass because i am not very good at it. I enjoy the learning process.
 
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#166
TTA said:
I am still learning, but getting better. Slap and tap… i am not ready to go there yet. But i can cross genres of music. My focus more recently has been music theory. I had just the basics and got by on ear. I am enjoying understanding the "why."

i think i enjoy bass because i am not very good at it. I enjoy the learning process.
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Same here. I like to think I am okay, but I know I have a lot of learning to do before I'd ever be comfortable calling myself good. Figuring out the "why" behind a lot of stuff is a great way to improve and to solidify your understanding and should have a direct positive effect on your actual playing. I am just as guilty as anyone else for playing the stuff I know over and over...because it is easy to do something you already know how to do... but I make an effort to blend in new stuff, whether it be a new song or something like learning about modes. I've found that learning new things follows a standard pattern:

1) This is hard/I don't get it/F this.
2) Try again/come back to it again later.
3) Okay this is starting to make sense, I am sort of able to do it.
4) Woah, I just did it without messing up.
5) Either a light bulb flips on and I gain a new level of clarity in my understanding of the thing I just learned, or it at least gets burned into muscle memory even if I don't fully understand it.

That's why I think that people who dismiss another person's style of playing are crappy musicians... because with the instrument they claim to have mastery of, they stopped at step 1 when it came to getting better, and therefore gaining further mastery of their instrument. They are basically saying they have such a giant ego that it couldn't possibly be themselves who are the problem, and that it must be the technique. More of a "crappy musician mentality" I suppose. I think the difference, in my mind, is a person just not having interest in a certain style vs a person who dismisses others for using that style because they can't do it themselves.

One thing I am trying to learn, and have been off and on since I started playing years ago is slapping. People make it looks so easy, and I have watched video lessons and tried to work at it but it still sounds like garbage to me (my slapping, not the style in general which I think sounds awesome in the right context). I seem to be stuck between steps 1 and 2 on that one, but I know it will just take chipping away at it.
 
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#167
BarqsBitMe said:
Same here. I like to think I am okay, but I know I have a lot of learning to do before I'd ever be comfortable calling myself good. Figuring out the "why" behind a lot of stuff is a great way to improve and to solidify your understanding and should have a direct positive effect on your actual playing. I am just as guilty as anyone else for playing the stuff I know over and over...because it is easy to do something you already know how to do... but I make an effort to blend in new stuff, whether it be a new song or something like learning about modes. I've found that learning new things follows a standard pattern:

1) This is hard/I don't get it/F this.
2) Try again/come back to it again later.
3) Okay this is starting to make sense, I am sort of able to do it.
4) Woah, I just did it without messing up.
5) Either a light bulb flips on and I gain a new level of clarity in my understanding of the thing I just learned, or it at least gets burned into muscle memory even if I don't fully understand it.

That's why I think that people who dismiss another person's style of playing are crappy musicians... because with the instrument they claim to have mastery of, they stopped at step 1 when it came to getting better, and therefore gaining further mastery of their instrument. They are basically saying they have such a giant ego that it couldn't possibly be themselves who are the problem, and that it must be the technique. More of a "crappy musician mentality" I suppose. I think the difference, in my mind, is a person just not having interest in a certain style vs a person who dismisses others for using that style because they can't do it themselves.

One thing I am trying to learn, and have been off and on since I started playing years ago is slapping. People make it looks so easy, and I have watched video lessons and tried to work at it but it still sounds like garbage to me (my slapping, not the style in general which I think sounds awesome in the right context). I seem to be stuck between steps 1 and 2 on that one, but I know it will just take chipping away at it.
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yeah i started to play bass wanting to slap like fieldy… then realized les claypool and flea were where it was at. I failed miserably… and in hindsight my action on my first bass was way way too high. Since then i have just not been playing a lot of music requiring slapping. But i am getting into playing stuff that integrates it… so i will soon try it again.

i find i can learn most things if i start with accurate tabs, and start slow and build up. But some players just have an effortless fluidity that i lack. I am working on that…. It is just time on the bass that is required.

but again, at the moment i am focusing less on technique… and more on theory and exploring the range of my bass.
 
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#168
flannel cat said:
its funny the one song we cover in our band is, Dont you forget about me (simple minds) when it breaks down to the part with just bass and drums and a couple of lyrics i struggle at that part only and if i hold my thumb and index together and my fingernails are the picks i can get through it pretty unscathed , but if i try to use my fingers ill get pooched.
the wiring from brain to the fingers can be a mystery to me.
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WOAH! We do a sort of grunge cover of that very track, but we keep it at the same tempo. I'm glad that someone else out there is singing that track and playing bass at the same time.

Yes, I agree. That spot is tricky for so many reasons, but it's not complicated to play by any stretch. Definitely try it with a pick, brother. To me, using your nails as picks kind of smarts! It sounds very unique, but it hurts a bit. Haha.
 
#170
juggahnaught said:
How did this get so far off topic?

This isn't a thread about different styles of music or rating different musicians. This is a thread about one of the worst headstock stringing jobs we've ever seen. Let's keep it there so that people new to bass know exactly what not to do when putting strings on a bass guitar.
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I think that now that we've all cleaned up the soda we spat everywhere while laughing at this thing, a bunch of different conversations kicked up in the meantime. You make a point. YO, don't do this! ^^
 
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#174
juggahnaught said:
How did this get so far off topic?

This isn't a thread about different styles of music or rating different musicians. This is a thread about one of the worst headstock stringing jobs we've ever seen. Let's keep it there so that people new to bass know exactly what not to do when putting strings on a bass guitar.
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I have to agree, but for some, starting a new thread is a daunting experience.
 
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#177
SixtyCycleHum said:
You could say that we popped the nut right outta this conversation, Flanny..
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I once busted a nut.

img_7892-jpg.jpg
 
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#180
ScipioAfricanus said:
And for the person who posted this be very careful what you post in the internet. I respect that everyone has a right to their opinion but trashing someone without full facts I don't thing follows the talkbass policies of respectful conversation. Did not have issues like this in Fenders or Lakelands
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What was I supposed to be "careful" about? I saw a bass with the most ridiculous string job I've ever seen, and decided to post it here for entertainment/education. Happens all the time here on TB. I would have made the post even if the bass had been a Fender, a Lakland, a Sadowsky, a Dingwall...etc...

I have to assume you're a bit young, and/or inexperienced with bass guitars (neither of which is a crime, we were all young/inexperienced once upon a time), if you thought that was an acceptable way to string the thing. If you were unable to string it the correct way (your first mistake was a million wraps around each string post), you should have thought to bring it to someone with more experience, if not a full-on guitar tech. How you managed to even play that bass like that is beyond me.

If anyone should be careful, it's you, because your ad's gone now - presumably, somehow, the bass sold - but when I read it, I don't recall there being any mention of you being unable to string it properly, never mind what happened to the nut. Yes, it's plain as day to see in the headstock pic, but in the interests of full disclosure, it's something you should have mentioned in the description too.
 
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