I've been looking at those Super 5s myself.
I keep the G.A.S. at bay with my Carvin BB75 5 string, for right now (glad I don't have any disposable income)
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One Bass Bassist?
- Thread starter Dr. Cheese
- Start date
I keep the G.A.S. at bay with my Carvin BB75 5 string, for right now (glad I don't have any disposable income)
I've been looking at those Super 5s myself.
I keep the G.A.S. at bay with my Carvin BB75 5 string, for right now (glad I don't have any disposable income)
Shoot, I would love a Bunny Brunel myself!
No kidding! "Tutu" is by far my favorite late Miles album, but for all intents and purposes, he was a special guest star on a Marcus Miller record...
@Dr. Cheese - 5 basses is not a large collection. 
Anyway, my feeling is that while you can only play one bass at a time, you can play a virtually unlimited number of them one after the other.
I like to switch up basses because it keeps the experience fresh for me. Different instruments inspire trying different techniques and often trigger new musical insights.
I see it as approaching bass playing as something along the lines of a “catch rider” in the horseback riding world. These are the kids who can’t afford to buy or keep a horse. So they muck stalls and groom horses for enough money to take lessons on school owned horses. They do exercise riding for horse owners and will ride anything anyone offers to let them get up on.
If they stick with it they eventually become extremely competent riders that can handle and excel on any horse someone hands them. Something a lot of kids who came up on their own top drawer pre-trained horses can’t do. A good number of these catch riders go on to become professional riders, trainers, and highly sought after clinicians.
So to me it’s always seemed a good idea not to get too hung up on your instrument. Play/own however few or many you feel like.
One of my first bass teachers told me early on (I wrote it down): “Don’t ever marry you bass. Don’t even fall in love. Focus on the music - and go deep. That’s the journey you’re on. Your bass is just another tool to get you there.”
Anyway, my feeling is that while you can only play one bass at a time, you can play a virtually unlimited number of them one after the other.
I like to switch up basses because it keeps the experience fresh for me. Different instruments inspire trying different techniques and often trigger new musical insights.
I see it as approaching bass playing as something along the lines of a “catch rider” in the horseback riding world. These are the kids who can’t afford to buy or keep a horse. So they muck stalls and groom horses for enough money to take lessons on school owned horses. They do exercise riding for horse owners and will ride anything anyone offers to let them get up on.
If they stick with it they eventually become extremely competent riders that can handle and excel on any horse someone hands them. Something a lot of kids who came up on their own top drawer pre-trained horses can’t do. A good number of these catch riders go on to become professional riders, trainers, and highly sought after clinicians.
So to me it’s always seemed a good idea not to get too hung up on your instrument. Play/own however few or many you feel like.
One of my first bass teachers told me early on (I wrote it down): “Don’t ever marry you bass. Don’t even fall in love. Focus on the music - and go deep. That’s the journey you’re on. Your bass is just another tool to get you there.”
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- Apr 20, 2009
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- Disclosures
- Endorsements: your name could be here, Mr. Sadowsky!
It's super rare, I recall breaking a string only once, but in the last 40 years of gigging I've also broken a strap (do you have a spare?), a strap button more than once, a tuner, a solder joint inside the bass, and lost the nut to the output jack. In all of these cases, I may have been able to fix the bass but having a spare keeps it from being a disaster.
Last week my head crapped out and I didn't have a spare, made it through the gig (I hit it hard enough to make it start working again) but next time I'm loading up a spare head or at least a DI/preamp to run through the board.
Miles didn’t mind being the “guest” of a great composer because a generation before Tutu, he recorded Sketches of Spain with Gil Evans running the show.
I'm keeping most of my basses and selling off a handful, but I bring one bass to gigs, and I do that under protest!Spoiler alert, I am not reducing my collection to one bass, but I no longer want a large (5+) collection anymore. The reason is that looking back over five or so years, I usually favored one bass. I remember taking as many as three basses to church, and wasting time switching between basses. It was just easier to play one and be done. When I was mainly using Pedulla, it didn’t sound good being slapped, so I did not slap so much, and nobody cared. I mainly play my Super 5 now, and I still don’t slap so much.I still think it is good to have a few basses around to change up sometimes or if one has issues. I still like option of fretless, but unless it is a program in which the it is decided I need a different bass for a given song, I am taking just one, and if it is active, a few batteries.
I probably qualify as a one bass bassist. I don't rotate basses, pick based on gig, swap between sets or any of that. I play my primary unless it is in the shop. I would totally feel comfortable just owning 2 instead of 4.
I got tired of having a bunch of basses that that rarely got in the rotation, so about 6 months ago I sold most of my collection. I have three left, two of which I consider "keepers":
* #1 (5-string Lakland, pictured below) which is my 99.999% player going forward
* #2 (4-string P-Special, also pictured), which is just a great sounding/playing bass
* A "backup" 5-string frankenbass that's a decent player, but heavy -- a keeper only because I need a backup
But....I could very easily go down to just the #1. I hope to keep the Lakland for the rest of my days*. Great player, sounds great, light and super versatile...and not too hard on the eyes, either.
*Note to future me: Hi. You somehow stumbled on this post from 2022. Do you still have the Lakland? If not, consider slapping yourself. Also, future self, if you own more than 3 basses and don't have a really good reason, slap yourself again....harder.
* #1 (5-string Lakland, pictured below) which is my 99.999% player going forward
* #2 (4-string P-Special, also pictured), which is just a great sounding/playing bass
* A "backup" 5-string frankenbass that's a decent player, but heavy -- a keeper only because I need a backup
But....I could very easily go down to just the #1. I hope to keep the Lakland for the rest of my days*. Great player, sounds great, light and super versatile...and not too hard on the eyes, either.
*Note to future me: Hi. You somehow stumbled on this post from 2022. Do you still have the Lakland? If not, consider slapping yourself. Also, future self, if you own more than 3 basses and don't have a really good reason, slap yourself again....harder.
Musically, I'd call the Evans collaborations three musical generations before "Tutu!" Consider:
Miles does Bop
Miles does Cool
Miles does the Gil Evans stuff - arguably still "Cool," but monumental in of themselves.
Miles does The Quintet - late quintet work is as good as it gets - "Filles de Kiliminjaro" is the high-water mark for group interaction by any group, anytime!
Miles does the "Bitches Brew" period
Miles rides the outro with the Marcus Miller collaborations, "Time After Time," etc.
Miles of Miles, as it were...
For me it has sort of been a search for that ONE. The result is long periods of using just one axe until something else upsets the cart. There was the Fender phase from the beginning followed by a Steinberger phase of five years or so. Followed by a brief Musicman phase and Alembic phase (great basses but not for me). Then a long phase with a Modulus Five (see avatar) which I still play when I desire a five. A Lakland Joe Osborn was a ten year affectation followed by my latest number one going on two years now, a G&L CLF L1000. For now I can't imagine using anything else. So that ONE bass has changed and evolved over time but I still tend to stick with what is working for me. All the pricey basses are on the shelf and the little G&L makes me smile every time I pick it up.
I had been gigging pretty regularly with just one bass....my old Peavey TL-Five. I've wanted to have something built for a long time though so after about 8-9 months I got my Muckelroy at (literally) the end of last year and haven't looked back. And heck...I even sold my Warwick that I swore I'd never do. I have zero desire to buy anything else and as we do alot of original music I've tried to start focusing more on playing the best bass parts I can mixed with the proper tone etc. I also have a soon to be 16 year old daughter and 12 year old son so for me I have other areas to focus my $$ on at this point.
I reached a point a while ago where three sorts of basses gave me tones I really liked for the tones in my head: Jazzes, Stingrays, and the Ken Smith/Cirrus tone. I really like brightness and midrange punch although the scoop of a Jazz is sweet too. Right now, I am really loving the MTD Super 5 which is somewhere between all of those tones. My main point is that I know what accents my musical personality. By bigger goal is to make my personality the best it can be, and that is all on me because the gear part has been sorted out.
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Man, I would’ve had a stable of basses if my wife let me. But that’s one thing she really keeps me accountable on. I have a gig coming up and have been contemplating on bringing 2 basses because my Pbass with flats (and tort, duh) sounds better on 2 of the songs. Reading your post made me realize to keep it to just one. I’ll just front pickup it with the tone down.
I only have "2" in the fold, but used to always have 4 or 5 at all times, and would cycle/trade them for others to find my keepers over the years. Now I have one Stingray 5 in standard tuning and another that is kept in tune a 1/2 step down to play with one specific band that does all the ACDC stuff, singer can't hit the notes quite like he used too, thus the 1/2 step down
From the distant past.
I played with 2 different bands that night. I was a bass player with one and a guitarist with the other.
I played with 2 different bands that night. I was a bass player with one and a guitarist with the other.
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