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Thunderbird Club

#163,421
Ok, all ready for trick or treat..
F7B7118D-BBA6-4F49-978C-60BD6114936F.jpeg
 
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#163,423
PillO said:
I have been debating with myself for several weeks. "How useful is BEAD tuning?" I have a bass tuned BEAD. And then I tuned one to DGCF.

I am finding that the bulk of the songs that I want to play with lower than standard tuning are in Drop D. So D standard may be the more useful tuning to me. And D standard doesn't require me do lots of thinking about where the notes are. So I question if I need a BEAD bass.
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I usually have at least one bass tuned DGCF. C#F#BE also works well for heavy music. I tend to just think of the bass being in standard tuning.
But its good brain exercise to play your regular stuff on a bass tuned down.
 
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#163,424
PillO said:
Well of course you need at least a couple more `birds...

But what is with Eb Ab Db Gb tuning? There is plenty of music done in that tuning (and some done in D# G# C# F#). U2 and SRV come to mind, but there are plenty of others. You can play the songs in standard tuning and unless you are playing with the recording, and no one will notice (assuming everyone is in standard tuning). So why down tune half a step? Is is guitar players who want to be in The Princess Fingers Club?
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I like a lower Eb, but sometimes I’ll just downtune the E.
Hendrix played in Eb a lot, so a lot of people followed. It’s a little heavier.
 
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#163,425
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#163,427
MCF said:
I tune to the recorded versions because I don’t have any playmates.
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That is just so sad. No one wants to play with @MCF ...

Actually, I spend lots of time playing with myself, well playing with my bird.

But rather than mess with tuning down a half step, I use Spotify and the Amazing Slower Downer to tune those songs back to standard.
 
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#163,428
GBassNorth said:
String choices for birds are always a great question and I'm sure you'll get a bunch of helpful info from others in the club on roundwounds. I don't think I've actually seen a general consensus on the best Round for a bird. If you're interested in flats there's a lotta love in the club for Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats (not so much for the rounds). And if Tapes interest you, a lot of us are running La Bella Black Tapes on our birds with great success.
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For rounds, various steels seem to be popular, especially RS66, SIT, and Ken Smith.

I also have had good experiences with DR Black Beauties.
 
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#163,430
GBassNorth said:
Pretty much the same here, other than garage jams with the guys a few times a year all the playing is done in the bass room these days. I haven't really gigged since I retired almost 8 years ago. I miss playing on stage but I don't miss the late nights, the bars, the load in and out and the band drama. Now I mostly throw a stack of CDs in the player or turn on Pandora and hit random to play along.
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I shoulda never stopped in ‘83. I itch to get on a stage. Kinda doubt that’ll happen. But I keep practicing.
 
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#163,431
KaraQ said:
That's currently my primary life-goal, to just load up a playlist on random & be able to competently play along.
Work-in-progress at the moment :thumbsup:
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Great goal!
I play pretty much by ear so the challenge I set for myself years ago was to try to spend at least an hour every day playing along with songs I've never heard before. If I can pick up the bass line it's great but if not I at least try to hit the melody. It's great for ear training and pattern recognition. I'm not going to claim I hit every song note for note the first time through, but after practicing like this for a while you'd be surprised how close you can get on a first run with a song you've never heard before.

Today I started out on YouTube here...


And about ten songs later ended up here...


If I run across a song I really like I'll write the name down and come back to it for extended loop practice to the point I can competently play it without any significant clams or muffs. Just my way of having fun on the bass without getting in a rut.
 
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#163,436
PillO said:
You mean your own creative take on the bass line...
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Exactly.

My creative take could be pretty much note for note or it might be what I perceive as the proper note regardless of what is being played. Touring bands like Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin rarely played their songs note for note on stage. Heck, the Grateful Dead practically rewrote every song every time they played it on tour. Unlike studio bands like The Eagles that rarely deviated from their studio recordings while on stage. It takes all kinds, one is no better than the other, unless you're in a tribute band, then you better play it like the original.

As an Engineer, a business leader, a corporate manager, a husband and father most of my adult life, I took great pleasure in the one little bass playing slice of my existence where I didn't have to be a conformist. It was and still is refreshing and relaxing to be interpretive and creative. But my hat certainly goes off to those who insist on nailing every little nuance of every little note on every song they play, that's a skill that I'll probably never have on a broad basis, and actually not one that I really want either.
 
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