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Thunderbird Club

#25,341
There's a lot to it, and I suppose it's a personal preference thing. I like flats, especially on the Precision. Cobalt flats sound good on the '91 with HongKongBuckers. But, I'm thinking the pickups will get swapped out for Thunderbuckers one of these days. The 2001 is magical and has rounds. I'm still figuring out what the 2015 needs on it. It wasn't quite right with Sunbeams. Perhaps Hibeams will be the right strings for it. Usually, I'm trying to find a balance between bright and thump, but there's a lot more to it than that. There are sounds that come out of different strings when they are on different bass guitars. Not that anybody in the audience ever knows.
 
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#25,342
marko57 said:
For me it was the Hofner violin bass ala Paul McCartney. Later the EB3 after seeing Dennis Dunnaway on the back of the Love It To Death album, where Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton also had SG's.
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Looks like I outted myself as a Beatles fan here didn't I? It's true though, it was the Beatles that set my on the musical path/journey I've been on since the age of 7. Was a diehard Beatle fanatic until someone turned me onto The Who in the summer of '71 via the Tommy album, then I phased into Alice Cooper and then Uriah Heep until I was all over the place with what I liked. Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal but it all funnels back to the day I saw Help! in a movie theater. Before that it was whatever my parents listened to. The Beatles gave me my own musical identity to move on with. I'm not a mega Stones fan but would say that I prefer the Mick Taylor years if anything. Good music is subjective innit? :)
 
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#25,343
marko57 said:
Looks like I outted myself as a Beatles fan here didn't I? It's true though, it was the Beatles that set my on the musical path/journey I've been on since the age of 7. Was a diehard Beatle fanatic until someone turned me onto The Who in the summer of '71 via the Tommy album, then I phased into Alice Cooper and then Uriah Heep until I was all over the place with what I liked. Classic Rock, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal but it all funnels back to the day I saw Help! in a movie theater. Before that it was whatever my parents listened to. The Beatles gave me my own musical identity to move on with. I'm not a mega Stones fan but would say that I prefer the Mick Taylor years if anything. Good music is subjective innit? :)
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It's okay, my musical journey basically started with my parents playing Beatles albums. I still love those songs. Especially their mid-late material.
 
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#25,345
I listened to the Beatles a lot in the past. But, for about eight years now, I have been playing in a band with a couple guys who would be happy if we played nothing but Beatles songs. I'm really tired of Beatles songs. Really, really tired of them. But I like the guys in the band, so I'll live with playing those songs as long as we also play other stuff.
 
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#25,346
bylar13 said:
Well, having been "out of it" for quite some time, I keep seeing references to playing flats here and on other threads on TB. I am wondering what the attraction is? I always thought of them as "less than" virtually any round wound string unless you were trying to emulate an upright. T
Though I feel like I may be prying open a can of worms (personal preference and all of that) what would be the attraction? Couldn't you just turn your tone knob down and get 99% of the flat experience?
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I would have to say no. There is a difference between the two, just turning the to e knob will not make a Pro Steele sound like a Half Round or a Chrome or other flats. If you only like rounds then thats fine by me, different strokes for different folks.

For me I just put Nickel Rounds (EXL160) on my BaCH Bird and have Half Rounds on my SpectorBird(Rex) and Cobalt Flats on Ol Blue(Goth) & my Gibby RoadStar.
 
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#25,348
Gaolee said:
I listened to the Beatles a lot in the past. But, for about eight years now, I have been playing in a band with a couple guys who would be happy if we played nothing but Beatles songs. I'm really tired of Beatles songs. Really, really tired of them. But I like the guys in the band, so I'll live with playing those songs as long as we also play other stuff.
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Ah, okay.

I don't play in any cover bands, so luckily don't get sick of things that way.
 
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#25,350
Klondike said:
I would have to say no. There is a difference between the two, just turning the to e knob will not make a Pro Steele sound like a Half Round or a Chrome or other flats. If you only like rounds then thats fine by me, different strokes for different folks.

Makes sense. Just hadn't though about flats since the early 1980's. Thanks!

For me I just put Nickel Rounds (EXL160) on my BaCH Bird and have Half Rounds on my SpectorBird(Rex) and Cobalt Flats on Ol Blue(Goth) & my Gibby RoadStar.
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#25,352
Korladis said:
Ah, okay.

I don't play in any cover bands, so luckily don't get sick of things that way.
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Playing covers is a pretty good way to figure out how to do things you didn't think of on your own. There have been riffs and other stuff that I have had to learn for covers that ended up expanding the number of things I do when I'm not playing covers. Macca bass lines, included, even if I'm really tired of playing Beatles songs.
 
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#25,354
Gaolee said:
Playing covers is a pretty good way to figure out how to do things you didn't think of on your own. There have been riffs and other stuff that I have had to learn for covers that ended up expanding the number of things I do when I'm not playing covers. Macca bass lines, included, even if I'm really tired of playing Beatles songs.
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I do learn to play covers, but mostly as practice exercises. And yeah, it has definitely brought things other bassists do into my "toolbox" so to speak.
 
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#25,355
Korladis said:
I do learn to play covers, but mostly as practice exercises. And yeah, it has definitely brought things other bassists do into my "toolbox" so to speak.
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Agree about their value as a learning tool.

Have pretty much never played a straight cover, with the exception of the Hendrix version of Hey Joe.

A good example of an interpretation improving (or not) a song would be Aztec Camera's version of Van Halen's Jump.

 
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#25,356
kat888 said:
I have pre


Agree about their value as a learning tool.

Have pretty much never played a straight cover, with the exception of the Hendrix version of Hey Joe.

A good example of an interpretation improving (or not) a song would be Aztec Camera's version of Van Halen's Jump.

Click to expand...

Yeah, if any of my bands are going to do covers, it would be in our own style.
 
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