Good Bass Day

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Good couple weeks. Learning songs much faster. I’ve found I’m starting to be able to work out songs by ear in realtime. Usually having a workable feel for them by halfway through.

When I started playing bass, I wanted to be able to put on music and just… play along with it. I’m starting to be able to do that.

I feel like in a video game when you unlock a new ability and start just powering through situations that used to be a struggle before.

I think that secret ability is mostly Minor Pentatonic Scale.

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@howard I’m still a n00b in these parts … I’m in my ‘off season’ from work… so I have a LOT of time to spend with my bass now. :slight_smile:

I am into Module 6 of the B2B course and am starting to get into content where I am discovering new techniques, better habits… every time that happens… I call that a good day :slight_smile:

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Yesterday was the 2nd rehearsal with the 3.5 piece band (vocalist sometimes plays simple keys, but rarely). I also got a proper amp and cab (Ampeg SVT-200T, and a Genz Benz 115 LX) and was trying those out for the first time.

Things are starting to click with the group. I got to show off unexpectedly in a song.

We practiced “Seven Nation Army” and the guitar player was like, “I’m not sure what there is for you, since I’m playing with the pitch shifter.” I assured him that I’d come up with a good complimentary bass part.

I then proceeded to que up a fuzz effect, and unleash ominous thunder. At the end of the chorus I just plucked a massive open E and held the bass close enough to speaker to let the feedback start to build.

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I am bassist … hear me ROAR!! :rofl: :metal: :metal:

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In other “Good Bass Day” news, I’m starting to attack that list of 50 songs included here :slight_smile:

Got one learned today… Seven Nation Army. Ya … an easy one… but playing it start to finish is what matters :slight_smile:

Don’t stop Believing is next :stuck_out_tongue:

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FTFY :sunglasses: :joy:

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LMAO!! :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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Open E says, “DOOOOMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmmmm”

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Dropped my bass down 1/2 step to learn Feel Good Inc all the way through … damn that sounds good down there … I may need another bass.

oops.

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I got the tools out today and gave the truss rod on my BB a tweak. While I had everything out and the bass on the bench, I compared the string height on it vs. where @soulman had it set on the G&L. I ended up dropping the the strings on the Yamaha 2 full turns on all 4 strings, fixed the intonation, tuned her up and holy cats that old BB plays so fast now. I feel like there’s still some room to bring them down another 1/2 to full turn before I need to worry about buzz. I may play with that some more.

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I’ve found that in general and provided the necks are set with very little if any relief the G&L Saddle Lock Bridge and the Babicz FCH Bridge have always allowed me to get the lowest action possible with no fret buzz.

Of course technique and string gauge/ “stiffness” will also come into play. I play with a fairly light touch and use heavier gauge hex core strings which also helps. With the LaBella Flats on my PBass the action is incredibly low.

Good to hear Yamaha’s basses can accommodate low action as well.

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Yesterday a bass player that saw my thread about fretless modding on zzeee Zzzerman forum visited me, as he wanted to play my modded bass.

He brought his expensive custom made fretless, that was built for him by a (apparently) very famous luthier here in Germany (forgot his name).

It was a long scale with custom made Jazz PUs, so it had some advantages tone wise, but he was quite impressed by the sound of my little modded Harley Benton MV-4MSB … and made it do sounds I never heared before. The “mwah”, the “singing”, suddenly it was all there.

It was great! Very…

Of course I gave him my other basses to play too. Really, my basses never sounded better, having a pro guy (30 years bass playing, several bands) playing it.
He stayed for more than four hours, and I noticed that he had my newest mod - the two Humbucker Ronin - in his hands, most of the time.

So we talked, and he played, and then asked me, why I don’t play. I told him about my shyness, not even being able to play in front of my girlfriend for a long time, but after some time I casually took up Pink’s Hot and started noodling with him (noodling, as in playing bass, guy! Behave :-))

My first time, playing bass with somebody else. It was like that scene from Deliverance ^^

So, that was very cool! While playing he showed my quite a lot of tricks, most of them I have forgotten already, but it was cool to not play only with the “internet”.
Playing bass with somebody else is a different thing. When you’re not in sync, the sound instantly becomes muddy, but when you’re in sync, magic happens!

In the end I asked him about my modded basses - if there were imperfections, where I could optimize or change stuff.

He did not find … anything!

And I made it really clear to him, that empty compliments give me nothing … I can only improve by pointing out weaknesses.

Still … nothing.

He thoroughly enjoyed my basses. The fretless sounded like a very good fretless bass … and Ronin was really earth shattering, and clearly his (and my) favourite bass.

This was a great bass day!

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everything about all of that… is AWESOME!! Congrats on the jam :slight_smile: Also nice to see your work appreciated!

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Yeah - it really is.

Sitting at home, modding stuff, playing BassBuzz lessons or covers. It’s all a black box.

You mods might be good, they might be bad. You just don’t know.
You might might play really bad. Have developed stupid mistakes in playing. But B2B seems to be a good online course … of course it showed that I am a beginner, of course it shows that I started old and he started when he was in his teens.

But there were moments where we were in full jam mode, I forgot my shyness, and he was playing with me, nodding his head, tipping his foot, enjoying the growl of Ronin - which brought Pink’s Hot into submission! Need to change PUs on that one :slight_smile:
Almost like equals (ok, the songs were not terribly complicated).
Maybe I will ask him to be my teacher. Not only to learn stuff, but to enjoy the jamming…

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That’s really awesome - this feels like a fateful and very impactful encounter and it’s great when stuff like this happens.

I have heard similar stories even from professionals… someone who might “envy” someone else’s bass or tone and once getting a chance to play that “hero’s” bass, it sounded nothing like the hero. While the hero, picking up the other’s bass, could make it sound like him right away… So, yes, there is something to the old saying that “tone is in the fingers”. It comes down a lot to how you approach the instrument, how you pluck, the angles, the strengths, every nuance of it…

This!! Absolutely, you should ask him about lessons!! And I agree: what I enjoy about working with my teacher is not only technique and scales and stuff, but even more so talking about music in general, why something works, and not something else, what to listen for when listening to music, or to others playing etc etc.

NB: he might turn out not to be a “good” teacher (not everyone is), but you already seem to be having a good vibe with him, and that’s a very good start.

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Exactly!! If he managed to get through the shyness barrier! I call that a HUGE win already :slight_smile:

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Tone really is in the fingers!
I kind of knew that before, but it’s different, when the magic happens and your bass is in the hands of a great player. You feel the thunder, you get struck by lightning! (Also, my JBL PA spaker showed what it could do, and my neighbours five floors higher finally could enjoy my bass too!)
It’s hard to make a bad instrument sound good - but easy to make a good instrument sound bad.

Bottom line: I have some absolutely great basses … and have quite a long road before me to honour their capabilities!

Hahaha! Yeah, he is kind of a nerd and a little socially peculiar. But being here at Bassbuzz (especially the responses on the “should I shoot my new bass” thread) prepared me for those kind of people, so all is good :slight_smile:

Also, he brought cookies he baked himself, which was very endearing!

I felt like the fox in “The Little Prince”:

Come and play with me," proposed the little prince.
“I cannot play with you”, the fox said. “I am not tamed”.

I needed to be tamed :slight_smile:

Also, it’s hard to have somebody playing your basses for a few hours and not do anything yourself. Why should complete strangers have all the fun?

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You could also turn this slightly around (and this is for all my GAS-ing friends here): if you have superior technique, you can make any instrument sing. If you are still struggling with your technique, a better instrument improves your chances of sounding good significantly :wink:

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Hahaha! Maybe. I am not good enough to have a real say in that.

But that means, that GASing is just vanity in the end, for great players at least (“if you have superior technique, you can make any instrument sing”) - which is exactly what I think about GASing for new / expensive / cool / brand / played by [insert personal hero here] basses :slight_smile:

That, of course, makes negative remarks about modded Harley Bentons (“send it back”, “burn it”) a little … stupid :slight_smile:

And I can confirm, that a better sounding bass (like Ronin, which makes me doubt if I am playing the bass or the bass is playing me) at least submits me into feeling like I am in another reality. It’s a wall of sound!
Still I am in total awe - even the day after - what such a bass does in the hands of a skilled player.
I have a goal now, my life finally has meaning :slight_smile:

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Yeah, emphasis should probably be on “can”. I guess all players can appreciate instruments that allow you to play with less effort and thus let you focus on what you play and not so much on how you play.

But, agreed, us “hackers” buying more expensive and perhaps even personal hero signature basses, has an element of vanity to it; or just some deep down hope that some of this voodoo will actually make us better. And, you know, maybe it does, on a very subconscious level… Playing on a really nice instrument and channeling some [personal hero] energy is not a bad thing at all :smile:

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