Tendonitis is a bassist’s worst nightmare. Do take the rest seriously – better to rest a few weeks now than to struggle with it for months.
Great version of She Sells Sanctuary by the way!
Since you are digging into the archives while you heal, I was wondering if you might be willing to share this in a new topic I just started?
I’m trying to gather “Gig Reports” (Setlists, Venues, Gear, etc.) in one place so we can build a resource to learn from each other’s real-world experiences. I think your post here would be a perfect addition to build up that library, if you’re up for it?
First cover of 2026 and we’re firmly in our “pacing the house staring out rainy windows” era. Sigh.
This one was a challenge not for the technicality, or even primarily the rhythm, but for the dynamics. I’m a bit of a caveman with these “small-large Hobbit hands” (my cousin’s words, not mine), so neat, quiet, measured plucks are not my natural setting. This song forced me to get honest about that.
I’ve also been questioning the SR500’s role in my 3-bass lineup lately. The stock Bartolinis do “polite” extremely well: clean, controlled, balanced hi-fi. It sits where you put it, behaves across the neck, and doesn’t pick fights. The trade-off is that any kind of snarl or grind takes real effort on the back end.
Which, honestly, made it a great fit for Easy On Me. I EQ’d and compressed the living-ish out of it to keep the warmth without letting it get boomy, and to compensate for my ham-hands. The other battle was keeping the bass and piano glued together without sounding like I was trying to lead and crush the vocals (because with Adele on the mic, that’d be a mortal sin, right?). Also: first time I’ve ever found myself “locking in” with a piano for time, and that was its own weird little skill check, but I think I got there.
Used FCPX’s Magnetic Mask for the first time too, and it did a pretty solid job hiding the fact I’m filming in an office at work. Nerdier sound-chain stuff is in the YouTube description.
Always open to feedback, constructive critique, and “try this next time” suggestions.
GORILLAZ - CLINT EASTWOOD https://youtu.be/c9nxfkzYqV4?si=XrHyj-6k7yCGv2f0 My thumbnails don’t attach for some reason, so I’m going to attach it separately. I love creating art and coming up with crazy ideas so I’d love to share it. Thanks for watching and have a great weekend.
Great cover, John! Even the wildlife approves! I love watching your outdoors covers in this beautiful place. What could be more relaxing playing in a place like that!
How do you record your covers outdoors? I’m just curious, and I have no intention of recording outside myself, especially right now (the snow is beautiful, but it is 50°F )
I’m sorry to hear that. I hope Mac users here are able to help you. I’m a PC user, and I haven’t ever made cover videos yet. I’ve edited other kinds of videos before with Adobe Premier Pro, but it possibly wouldn’t run on your computer. Some people use DaVinci Resolve, but it might need more processing power.
Thanks Andrea and also for the response to my question! DaVinci Resolve is indeed the best of the best when it comes to a free video creation tool. I did my own research after posting here, and Resolve is the only product of its capability that has a super capable free version, and it can also be bought outright, for a few hundred dollars, which I’ll end up doing if the I’m happy with the free version of Resolve. On top of that, I’m happy to support a software company that provides that purchase model.
I first wanted something for one of my Macs because I was doing part of the process there, but I can easily output the sound files from Garage Band to my real workstation, which is a very capable PC that I built myself.
This process is fun, but it takes time to learn.
Thanks again for the reply and recommendation!!
Been a little while and I might have posted an earlier version already but here’s an up to date cover of Hazy Shade of Winter by the Bangles.
No fancy animations or titles, just an old guy playing along to a YT video.
I realized it’s been a few months since I posted something here. I wanted to test out my new tube preamp (Sushibox fx JC Emerald), so I figured that I might as well since I was going to be recording anyway. The tone I was going for was refined but close to the edge of the tubes breaking up. You’re lucky I like you all and tossed on jeans, a flannel, and ran my fingers through my hair, cause otherwise ya’ll were about to get the grey sweatpants treatment.
Don’t - unless you need a feature behind the paywall, which is doubtful - but - if you do, buy one of the editing consoles for it as they come with the full version bundled! You only need either if you’re going to go “both feet in”, and if you are you will want one of the speed editor consoles anyway. I have the smaller one and it’s awesome, if I can remember the shortcuts/key commands
Thanks, Andrea! Yes, very relaxing playing outdoors especially now that the cooler weather is here. It sounds super cold where you are but you get to enjoy snow in the winter! As for recording outdoors, I just take my MacBook outside and have a Focusrite Scarlett audio interface plugged into it and my bass plugged into the Scarlett. The MacBook serves as the power supply for everything. I record into GarageBand and I’ve got my backing track loaded on there with the bass from the original track removed using Moises. The video is just recorded with my iPhone. After that, I just put the GarageBand audio file and the iPhone video into iMovie and sync them. I sometimes leave in the audio from the phone if there is something interesting going on like a cool bird call or the ducks are making noise.
Well played, Travis! Funny new name on YT!!
Well done, dude…that rocked!
Sounds great, Matty! I thought you lost your pick at 1:30, and then was like…”there it is!”
Really enjoyed that one! Tone sounded nice…especially when you get that clear sound with just you and the keys and drums at around 4:30 and then at the end. Your fretting hand looks nice and relaxed when you’re playing that line up the neck (no rigor mortis pinky that I am slowly getting rid of when I use my ring finger!).
Thanks for the insight John! When I downloaded Resolve I noticed their huge array of consoles. Good to know the full version is bundled with at least some if not all of them. I don’t think I’ll get back into video enough to go that route but you never know.
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