The Combo Club

[Doctor Intrepid]

I have a small violin from my kid's music program. I gave it a whirl once. It's a very difficult instrument to learn.

It was my goal to restore the violin, and learn to play it, to honor my grandfather. In the end I decided it was much easier to return to an instrument I already knew and use a bass similar to the violin. After a 25 year hiatus from playing I'm enjoying the Bass more than ever.

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

I have a small violin from my kid's music program. I gave it a whirl once. It's a very difficult instrument to learn.

My teenage daughter, who's been playing the violin for a few years now, thinks frets are for wimps.

 

[WestyBassBob]

My teenage daughter, who's been playing the violin for a few years now, thinks frets are for wimps.

It not the absence of frets. you can put markers on the board and they do. We bassists talk about tone and technique but bowed instruments take it to a whole other level. It's very easy to just make horrible squeaks on a violin.

 

[GonePlaid]

It not the absence of frets. you can put markers on the board and they do. We bassists talk about tone and technique but bowed instruments take it to a whole other level. It's very easy to just make horrible squeaks on a violin.

Or a clarinet.

 

[themickster]

My teenage daughter, who's been playing the violin for a few years now, thinks frets are for wimps.

She has a point

 

[WestyBassBob]

Or a clarinet.

Clarinets are easier to learn. But can get really squeaky. However have you ever seen a klezmer band? Those guys can rock and you can't have klezmer without a clarinet.

 

[chupacerveza]

She has a point

She does have a point, but until my ears can tell the difference between an augmented second and a minor third, I’ll stick with even-tempered instruments.

 

[GonePlaid]

Clarinets are easier to learn. But can get really squeaky. However have you ever seen a klezmer band? Those guys can rock and you can't have klezmer without a clarinet.

I'm an ex-clarinetist. They aren't called "squeak sticks" for no reason.

 

[StatesideRambler]

Clarinet was my second instrument [first was accordion] and I never graduated to a #3 reed. Early on my mother’s chihuahua had to be closed in a room across the house. His howling while I learned to squeak ... um, play, kept me laughing too much to practice. That’s been a woodwind and harmonica thing, it never happened with any bass I’ve played for any dog.

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

Clarinets are easier to learn. But can get really squeaky. However have you ever seen a klezmer band? Those guys can rock and you can't have klezmer without a clarinet.

It's okay to watch

Or a clarinet.

Did y'all know Marcus Miller is a classically trained clarinetist?
He told me so in this video:

 

[GwenOnBass]

Clarinet was the first stop after piano in my early years. Saxophone came next, with all the trimmings. There is a part of me who reads treble clef just fine, or fine enough to keep my chair. Lost my embouchure in my late teens following tonsil and adenoid surgery (so I probably wasn't doing it right in the first place).

Next comes university level music theory taught the way it is taught and this is when you do your homework in pencil. With the piano requirement and no particular instrument at the time ... at the time I took a few steps to the building by the lake and declared my English major. Where we, you know, listen to Jimmy Cliff in poetry class

The bass came the year after graduation — spent all my coin on the amazing Stingray and a combo amp I can't even recall. Save for it was nicked by some fool, and replaced with a Peavey TNT

My bass doesn't squeak

 

[GonePlaid]

Clarinet was the first stop after piano in my early years. Saxophone came next, with all the trimmings. There is a part of me who reads treble clef just fine, or fine enough to keep my chair. Lost my embouchure in my late teens following tonsil and adenoid surgery (so I probably wasn't doing it right in the first place).

Next comes university level music theory taught the way it is taught and this is when you do your homework in pencil. With the piano requirement and no particular instrument at the time ... at the time I took a few steps to the building by the lake and declared my English major. Where we, you know, listen to Jimmy Cliff in poetry class

The bass came the year after graduation — spent all my coin on the amazing Stingray and a combo amp I can't even recall. Save for it was nicked by some fool, and replaced with a Peavey TNT

My bass doesn't squeak

I can make my bass(es) squeak with rounds.

 

[WestyBassBob]

It's okay to watch


Did y'all know Marcus Miller is a classically trained clarinetist?
He told me so in this video:

I think I did know that actually. He is a cool cat. So many of these musicians we admire and love to listen to come from very musical backgrounds. It illustrates the importance of early childhood music education. I didn't pick up the bass until a couple of years ago but I definitely had a lot of musical experience to draw upon and I always made sure my kids got a musical education.

 

[ProbablyTooLoud]

I think I did know that actually. He is a cool cat. So many of these musicians we admire and love to listen to come from very musical backgrounds. It illustrates the importance of early childhood music education. I didn't pick up the bass until a couple of years ago but I definitely had a lot of musical experience to draw upon and I always made sure my kids got a musical education.

I've been a fan of his since I first encountered his playing with Miles in the 80s. This video just humanized him to the point where I could not be a bigger fan. Love it.

 

[GwenOnBass]

I can make my bass(es) squeak with rounds.

Well seen
and I'll soon see what rounds is all about again after a few years off. We had a baby shower for the cat bass that comes from the stork with DaD nickels ... getting the new room ready for the cat, and with GHS Pressurewounds as yet untried



... or GHS Balanced Nickels? None of the ladies at the shower gifted a new combo amp for the cat

* that's a Vox tuner at the right of the pedalboard, you know who you are, Vox people *

 

[themickster]

She does have a point, but until my ears can tell the difference between an augmented second and a minor third, I’ll stick with even-tempered instruments.

There's a difference between them in theory. The sharpened 9 or Hendrix chord has an augmented 2 and a 3. It's a 9 chord, as a 7 is in there. Root 2+ 3 5 7.

 

[SoulReflection]

Here is my family pics of combos as suggested by @iagtrplyr for this weekend. It is a small and light, but suitable, family. Top to bottom, Fender Studio 40, Fender Combo 200 (on it's side), Fender 1-15 Cabinet on the bottom.

The basses are there for effect. My newest, the P, is my avatar:

 

[Flamingo21]

Until my ears can tell the difference between an augmented second and a minor third, I’ll stick with even-tempered instruments.

As long as you stick with even-tempered instruments, your ears won't learn the difference between an augmented second and a minor third.

 

[Flamingo21]

On the other hand, I played violin and viola for many years, and I never learnt the difference. So I happily converted to fretted bass guitars.

 

[StatesideRambler]

I’ve not played music where the distinction would be discerned. That probably applies to nearly all of us. It is, after all, an esoteric distinction.