We have tons of topics for people having bad days or struggles.
I thought it was time for a topic for those great days we have from time to time.
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Itās been a few months since I did anything serious with bass as I have been working on other instruments for a while. I decided to pick up both of mine and have some fun before work this morning.
The BB was still set up perfectly and was only slightly out of tune, just very slight seasonal flattening really. Tuned up a few cents and all was well. Setup was still perfect.
I threw into a riff I had been working on a few months ago andā¦ a little rusty but nothing bad. Got it on maybe the third attempt and jammed it a bit.
Next up, the SBV - and it was essentially almost in tune as well and the strings were perfect relative to each other. Setup needs a tweak (I left it too flattened) but nothing big.
Jammed out the riff again and it was perfect first try, Iād forgotten just how playable both of these basses are. I absolutely love the 40mm nut width, such a great balance between Jazz playability and Precision solidity.
Ahh, great way to start the day.
The riff I am working on for those curious:
Prime Hooky bass pose and face there 
Not on his usual BB but Iāll take it
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Well I almost never play my SBV. itās too āJBā for me overall, even if I love the very high quality of the instrument. I love this bass but itās obviously not my everyday ride.
Recently Iāve started to learn Psycho Killer to my girlfriend, and she played the SBV because itās the easiest bass I own (narrow neck, low action). Setup was perfect, tuning really almost perfect after maybe one year without touching the bass. impressive.
Otherwise, my last good bass day have been my first experience in a jam session. Very motivating.
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Oh awesome! Great bass for her to learn on.
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Actually a short scale could be better for her, but we do with what we have here. Iāll get her a Bronco or a Mustang if she embrasses the bass.
Her first bass experience is on an Ampeg SVT and a Yamaha SBV, thatās not so bad 
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Oh man I hope she has a substantial bass budget going forward, youāre starting her off quite close to the top there
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Today was a good bass day.
Put in an early session around lunch, module 7 lesson 5, Improvising Bass Lines
With The Major Scale. Really had a lot of fun with it, a lot of things just gelled for me in the fast work out, especially doing all quarter notes. Theory and practice just clicked.
A little later in the afternoon, trolling second-hand sites, I came across a Beatbuddy bundle, with footswitch and premium library card for <$300.
Iād told myself no more GAS for awhile, since my Katana Go shows up on Tuesday, but I just couldnāt pass on that price. Plus after todayās improv lesson, i feel about ready to get some good use out of the buddy.
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Any day when I have a bass in my hands counts as a good bass day. But sure, some days with the bass are better than others.
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It was a good bass day today. I was going to finish the room but just go lazy.
I just modded the Electric Upright a bit to a mono leg instead of the stand. I just bought a walker bottom and just forced its way into the pole. itās not the perfect height but who cares for now, Now I can sit down and play with it. My arms hurts like hell because of the position but it was a good pain. I have to take a short break and shake it out.
Started on the playlist and just went for it. My intonation was way off but I had a big smile on my face plugging away. Not to mention the distance and the curvature of from E to G is like half way round the world.
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Maybe not today but yesterday I finally figured out the combination of settings and such that I needed to get a usable recording of my bass. I still have a bunch of tweaking I need to do but, as far as Iām concerned, the hard part is done.
The first song I recorded was a half-assed attempt at Radar Love. I used Moises to separate out the parts and then pulled everything into Ableton and re-recorded the bass part. I only did one pass through so itās rough but itās still good enough to get me excited to work more on it.
I think Iām going to try āThe Chainā next.
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I posted in the what song are you working on thread linked below about trying to learn evolve by the warning and needing to increase my plucking speed. I can pluck plenty fast now, and am making good progress on cleaning up the couple of sections I donāt quite have down at tempo. Hopefully Iām a week or two from being comfortable enough to record it
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Just back from band practice. Hard to describe how much fun it is:
A. Playing with others.
B. ZZ Top bass lines on a cranked amp!
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I had a great time two days ago when I jammed some old tracks and remembered most of the bass lines, hit the slides (yay!) and overall felt competent. 
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After complaining a lot about the Johnny Christ 5 String signature bass and being very disappointed with it some month ago, I still couldnāt forget it. It is the one bass that catches me most. 3 weeks ago I saw the 4 string version for sale in Berlin and I decided to ride 800 km over night just to try it out and maybe buy it. Iām so glad I did it, the sound was great and it looked gorgeous. I bought it and now everyday is a good bass day
A positive side effect, my GASing for basses stopped instantly. 
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Well, yes, you are treating the symptoms, not the ādiseaseā, trust me 
Congrats on the bass, though!!
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I played through a sight reading exercise yesterday and today and felt like a boss for the entire time. 
I used to be able to read at a moderate/low speed, and now I have learned about a āsystemā to sight read. Feels like this is going to help me with clean fretting, too.
It was so good to just practice, and the fact that I just enjoyed practicing for the sake of practicing felt nice, too. After practicing songs for the last gig this is a nice change.
Hope you have a great bass day!
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Whatās the system?
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Itās all about playing from a position, i.e. you fret exactly the same finger and note combination every time the note turns up on the page. Itās part of the TalkingBass.net course Bassic Fundamentals.
I think the system is common to upright bass playing, too.
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Another weekly band practice and our singer said at the end āyou seem ridiculously happy when youāre playingā.
I said that the honest truth is that starting at 49 I thought it was probably too late. So to be able to play music with others and not suck is so far beyond where I thought Iād get.
Playing loud music with others is where itās at kids!
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