Thunderbird Club

[Engle]

So I know the Beatles are geniuses. I tried playing some of their songs years ago when I was a mediocre guitar player and eventually gave up. So I never considered playing bass lines for their songs. Last night I decided to punish myself and try to learn a line. I chose “Help”, and was reminded why Paul was a genius[1]. At the same time, I realized this is a song I can learn. And that makes me happy.
[1] He also didn’t get the memo about the “money frets”. Just like Jack Casady, Jack Bruce, John Entwhistle, Leon Wilkeson, Nikki Monninger, and most of my favorite bass players. I’m really glad for all the times I ignored “conventional wisdom” unless it was proven true, but wish I’d ignored it even more.

Paul has a unique approach to bass lines. Even when I learn his phrases note by note, it's a challenge copying the feel.

 

[JJR58]

Paul has a unique approach to bass lines. Even when I learn his phrases note by note, it's a challenge copying the feel.

One band I was in decided to take a stab at, Getting Better.
I was in love with that bass line.
But I learned it first before I got to feel of it.
It’s amazing what Sir Paul does with it.

 

[Engle]

Can anyone suggest a compact, simple, basic and reliable DI box that I can keep with me for use when I use my AD200B, which has no XLR/DI out. It does have a slave (1/4”) out, but I’ve had experience where that caused the house sound person some issues. I like to be prepared.

I have the dual version of this. It's rugged and simple.
ART Pro Audio - Passive Direct Box

 

[Engle]

From this:

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To this:

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I just love the nickel pickup covers, rings and hardware instead of the black on black look. And I prefer the black pickguards (thanks @Engle ) This is the ‘99 I just got a few weeks ago.

It’s twin, a black ‘97 with the chrome Gibson re-issues, chrome hardware, and PG and TRC from Engle with shiny silver logos, is getting a lot of playing time, in Eb tuning.

This new one is for E standard.

First impressions on the Dunable D-birds is good, and although I won’t know for sure until I play it in the studio at rehearsal. I think they are going to be what I was hoping for. They seem like a bit less dark version of the TB+. Same character, but different. 8k neck and 11.1k bridge. Ceramic magnets. Different than my other ‘birds vintage style pickups with A5 mags in the various flavors.

This one’s going to the shop first, I can’t quite get it set up to my liking. It had high action when I got it and I did a quickie adjustment on the stock bridge to lower as much as possible, but it was still high. But it was playable without a lot of fret buzz. Now that I have swapped the bridge with the Babicz, I have the intonation set but the E saddle is almost max, still with high action, but slightly less than before, and the E is buzzy. Neck relief is typical, maybe a pulling a touch more forward than necessary. I’d like to avoid putting a spacer under the bridge, and I’m thinking it’s in need of at minimum, a fret leveling. I can get lower action on the other strings without buzz. So I’ll have that done first. All of the pre-‘01’s I have, have had less than flat neck/frets. Hoping to avoid an refret, so hopefully a good leveling and pro setup will get it. Also gonna get a brass nut on this one.

Looks great with the nickel hardware (and black pickguard)!

 

[Engle]

You’ll get there with Help. Most of the lines up to Revolver are fun, but not so difficult that you can’t pick them up pretty quickly. I think maybe because he had to perform them live while singing and he was still developing as a player. Try tackling I Want You from Abbey Road. That one is pretty tough.

I've done "I Want You" with a few different groups. It took a fair bit of time to get my playing close to where I wanted it. Sure was fun though!

 

[JIO]

The ones in stores by us went away during Covid.

That sucks - probably used it as an excuse not to offer that service.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Hah, that might be the only Beatles song I have tried to learn. I got halfway through, then, um, wait, look something shiny. I need to get back on that. That song is a great example of what I like in music that I like the most, it’s very heavy (it even says so in the lyrics), and while I am definitely a heavy music fan, it’s that heavy plodding dark feeling song that is what I like in songs. Heavy rock bands obviously do it, but some other bands, to my ears, have a lot of songs with that heavy dark feeling vibe. Throwing Muses, PJ Harvey, Bauhaus/Peter Murphy, some older REM, Mazzy Star(! super dark and atmospheric) are a few that come to mind.
Look up LA Witch, also great band, Mazzy Star sounding vox with a lot of Fender Super Reverb guitar tone. Surf tones but not surf music.

totally digging that direction…these guys…

 

[JIO]

I've done "I Want You" with a few different groups. It took a fair bit of time to get my playing close to where I wanted it. Sure was fun though!

"she's so...."

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

One band I was in decided to take a stab at, Getting Better.
I was in love with that bass line.
But I learned it first before I got to feel of it.
It’s amazing what Sir Paul does with it.

harder for a finger player as he likes plectrum picked ghost notes imho…

 

[JJR58]

harder for a finger player as he likes plectrum picked ghosts notes imho…

I found that out the hard way.
But what was more difficult after learning all the parts was singing the harmonies and playing the song.
That’s when I actually could sing.

 

[JJR58]

totally digging that direction…these guys…

Love this!

 

[JIO]

You’ll get there with Help. Most of the lines up to Revolver are fun, but not so difficult that you can’t pick them up pretty quickly. I think maybe because he had to perform them live while singing and he was still developing as a player. Try tackling I Want You from Abbey Road. That one is pretty tough.

We (TSC) played "I Want You/ She's So Heavy" back when we were a trio but not since. We also learned "When I'm 64" for my 64th B-day show at Winters' and only played it once - our 1st show as TSC. We still play "Hey Bulldog" and "I'm So Tired". There are a number of Beatles songs with great PM bass-lines that would be fun to play.

 

[JIO]

One band I was in decided to take a stab at, Getting Better.
I was in love with that bass line.
But I learned it first before I got to feel of it.
It’s amazing what Sir Paul does with it.

That is a great swooping bass-line, and needs to be played on a hollow-body for that woody tone.

 

[JJR58]

That is a great swooping bass-line, and needs to be played on a hollow-body for that woody tone.

I had a Ric at the time.
But def wasn’t a hollow body.

 

[JIO]

I found that out the hard way.
But what was more difficult after learning all the parts was singing the harmonies and playing the song.
That’s when I actually could sing.

That's where his uniqueness comes it - playing those bass-lines while singing expressively. "Lady Madonna" comes to mind.

 

[JIO]

I had a Ric at the time.
But def wasn’t a hollow body.

A Ric can come close which is probably why he chose to play one in the late '60s.

 

[Ringhammer]

I have the dual version of this. It's rugged and simple.
ART Pro Audio - Passive Direct Box

Thank you! Purchased!

 

[TBird1958]

That amp is like a secret weapon.
So looking forward to trying it out.

That amp sounded SO GOOD last night, I'm blown away by it!

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Thank you! Purchased!

fancy schmancy…..uses a transformer, the way it should be imo…..Trace Elliott’s implementation, works ok..

 

[JIO]

totally digging that direction…these guys…