Considering dabbling in the Dark Side

TwoNotesSolo

TwoNotesSolo

Student Of The Blues
IMG_20151006_083329-480x632.jpg IMG_20180911_105725-1214x1619.jpg

Showing off my basses. One is a $30 Rogue brand bass from the early 90s, the first years of production are highly regarded, and it is one of those. I string it up with round wound, both beacuar it made learning a little easier on the fingers and because I like the more mellow sound. This one has active electronics for tone controls, but I tend to play it with all knobs at the middle detente.

The other one I made from an Ammooon kit my son gave gave me from Christmas last year but is modified from the kit. I changed the electronics to have a blend knob, added the pickup covers because I like the look even though they can restricr your play a bit.

I am a big fan of Fender Rumble v3 bass amps because theyare highly portable. I use the 500W but I do play bass in a band. The 100w is a good choice for home playing and jamming with others.
 
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david moon

david moon

Attempting the Blues
TwoNotesSolo said:
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Showing off my basses. One is a $30 Rogue brand bass from the early 90s, the first years of production are highly regarded, and it is one of those. I string it up with round wound, both beacuar it made learning a little easier on the fingers and because I like the more mellow sound. This one has active electronics for tone controls, but I tend to play it with all knobs at the middle detente.

The other one I made from an Ammooon kit my son gave gave me from Christmas last year but is modified from the kit. I changed the electronics to have a blend knob, added the pickup covers because I like the look even though they can restricr your play a bit.

I am a big fan of Fender Rumble v3 bass amps because theyare highly portable. I use the 500W but I do play bass in a band. The 100w is a good choice for home playing and jamming with others.
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Did you really mean to say round wound for easier on the fingers and mellow sound- or flat wound?

I have flat wounds with nylon over cover on my fretless J-Bass.
 
PapaRaptor

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
david moon said:
Did you really mean to say round wound for easier on the fingers and mellow sound- or flat wound?

I have flat wounds with nylon over cover on my fretless J-Bass.
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My old fretless P-Bass that I had in the late 60's/early 70's had flats, but Fender flats were about all the local stores carried for bass strings. I hated that they seemed to go dead in hours.
The MIM J-Bass I bought a few years ago with a fretless neck had flats. I took them off and put regular EB Slinkys on it. Later I took the neck off and replaced it with a new maple fretboard neck. The Dano Longhorn had flats when I bought it.

I know a lot of people really like flats, but I'm just a whole lot more comfortable with cheap and dirty round wounds.
 
TwoNotesSolo

TwoNotesSolo

Student Of The Blues
I subscribe to a few YouTube channels on bass but Luke's is the one I get the most mileage out of as intermediate (ish) bass player. I think he makes a great channel for beginners.
 
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MarkDyson

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
Thanks for all the links! I've thereby accumulated a metric crap ton of stuff to review and to learn from. :Beer:
 
david moon

david moon

Attempting the Blues
Here's an example of how there's no great technical virtuosity in the bass line, but the rhythm is all-important.

Tempations My Girl

I assume that was James Jamerson in the original. Can you imagine that song withour the bass line?

Mostly the 1 and the 5 of the chord, and a few passing scale tones to get from one to the next. Really a master class there.
 
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MarkDyson

MarkDyson

Blues Hound Wannabe
So, after sitting down and noodling for a couple of minutes I discovered an important thing: the setup on this PRS wasn't. Full stop.

Just finished adjusting the action and the intonation and things feel lots better now. Had to learn the difference between fret buzz from too-low action and buzz because wimpy fingers. Methinks I got it sussed for now. I can always tweak later ad hoc. :Beer:
 
TwoNotesSolo

TwoNotesSolo

Student Of The Blues
Lol, after I posted my pics above I started tweaking the action on my homemade bass and decided the nut nut needed slightly deeper slots. I then realized that the cheap plastic nut had a hairline crack in it, so now I'm in the process of making a new nut for it. I decided to try aluminum because cutting nut blanks from bleached bone stinks (literally) and I happened to have a piece of scrap aluminum that was already the right width.
 
TwoNotesSolo

TwoNotesSolo

Student Of The Blues
The thing with bass strings is that many prefer the way they sound after they age and mellow out a bit (unless you're slapping I think?) so it's a much slower journey to find strings you like.
I'm not too particular about strings on my guitars (currently using Fender 9s and 10s because I got them in 10 packs for $1.75 a pack or something).
On bass I find that the string style (flatwound or round wound) makes a lot of difference to both the feel and the sound.
I was able to play a couple basses at a friend's when I first got mine so it was a little easier to know where to start.
I'm happy that I have 2 basses with 2 different string styles and gauges.
 
PapaRaptor

PapaRaptor

Father Vyvian O'Blivion
Staff member
TwoNotesSolo said:
The thing with bass strings is that many prefer the way they sound after they age and mellow out a bit (unless you're slapping I think?) so it's a much slower journey to find strings you like.
Click to expand...

When I was a teen, it seemed the only thing around were Fender Flatwound strings and I honestly didn't know any different. I always complained that the flats went dead so quickly for me. Flats are definitely a more mellow sound than round wound and back then I was playing bass with a pick. When I put on a new set of strings they always sounded so good, but it seemed like in just a few days, they were muddy.

I know a lot of guys like the thumpier sound of flats and there were a lot of hit records made in the 60's and 70's with Fender flats on Precision or Jazz basses, so it's clear that one style isn't superior to the other. Again, it's whatever you're most comfortable playing.
 
A

AlanT

Blues Newbie
This is a great thread guys......I’ve been learning bass for a few months now and my dabble with the dark side may become permanent.

I’ll be interested on your views....is it fingers or pick?

I found that for me it’s both...depends on the tune. I tend to favour picks for faster songs.....but not always.
 
TwoNotesSolo

TwoNotesSolo

Student Of The Blues
I always use fingers on the bass and pick and guitar. There is something tactile about using fingers that make me feel like I play better. Knowing how to use both is probably a good thing
 
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