general bass guitar playing updates

[bloke]

As I'm being asked to play more and more difficult cover charts and play all the very same notes that virtuoso bass players in top rock and pop bands played, I'm finding (in regards to reading the more difficult charts that I'm handed and executing them at an an acceptable level... and I ain't no virtuoso)

- I'm having to invent drills to teach myself how to find the 10th, 12th, 14th, etc. frets without looking at the neck..OR memorize these charts note for note.
- I'm having to work on strong hammer-ons and pull-offs, because I didn't do a whole lot of that when playing in mainstream jazz or dixieland combos. (Back when I did some finger picking on steel string guitars, I did a good bit of it, but it didn't require as much effort, being that the strings are so much smaller.)
- I'm needing to increase the top end speed of my right hand fingertips. (analogy: double tonguing)
- I can't be sloppy and hold the guitar down low or rest it on my right leg - like we see people doing in videos. It just messes up technique really badly... at least mine.
- unlike some bass players (apparently ?) I know where every pitch is on every string, but - again - going right to them without looking at the neck... That's another level. It's knowing vs. doing.
- My mind needs to come become more automatic and innate as far as planning ahead in regards to which string and which finger for which pitch depending on what's coming up next. I can always study a passage and figure that out, but I need to start being able to figure it out on the fly while reading.
ex. I might be able to jump up to the 10th fret of the E string and grab a D, but if I just grab it with my left hand index finger, there's a pretty good chance that I'm screwed, because I might need to play some immediately subsequent pitches on the A string on lower frets.
- My left hand pinky finger isn't particularly weak, but it needs to be a little bit stronger.
- I'm grateful that someone prompted me to pull this thing out from under the bed and play it again after 35 years of not playing it, and I'm grateful that - 47 years ago - I stumbled onto such a really well made bass guitar Switching to B flat tuba gave me something to do for a couple of years, but now that I've pretty much wigged all that out, tuba playing (at least orchestral and church gig note-reading jobs, though I'm going to continue to accept them, obviously) is becoming about as mundane as it was before.

A person - throughout their life - to continue to find new things.
The aging process, though makes it a little bit slower and more difficult to embrace and master new things.

[iiipopes]

Agreed. A player must always be on the lookout for new challenges. That is one reason I am playing a Kala U-Bass for a husband-and-wife ukulele group Uke66. It is quite the challenge to play not only "traditional" island songs, but to re-interpret folk, rock, jazz standards, etc., to arrange, provide the proper support, and sound good in this context. Plus, it is a lot easier on the fingers! (To say nothing of how much lighter the U-Bass is compared to a tuba!)
https://www.facebook.com/Uke66

[bloke]

Agreed. A player must always be on the lookout for new challenges. That is one reason I am playing a Kala U-Bass for a husband-and-wife ukulele group Uke66. It is quite the challenge to play not only "traditional" island songs, but to re-interpret folk, rock, jazz standards, etc., to arrange, provide the proper support, and sound good in this context. Plus, it is a lot easier on the fingers! (To say nothing of how much lighter the U-Bass is compared to a tuba!)
https://www.facebook.com/Uke66

You know... My incredible multi multi multi instrument friend, Jim Mahannah - who have talked about here... His wife is an organist, and makes a good bit of money playing the organ at funeral homes. (She's not interested in being a church organist and playing every single Sunday somewhere.) ... but SEVERAL years ago he bought her a uke bass and she began to learn how to play it. Now three of the four or five members of his combo are family members. He plays keyboard and 6,000 wind instruments, his wife plays the uke bass, and his younger brother plays drums.

redundant:
In the back of my mind, I'm still thinking about finding a decent playing five-string but setting it up EADGC (possibly a drop d lever on the E tuner...??) and stringing it up with a round wound strings.
Slapping just doesn't work with a crap with round wound strings... At least not those that are on my Fender. A few of the tunes that I play with this oldies band would sound a little better if I used some slap technique on those particular tunes. Taking two basses to a gig...?? I've taken three tubas to quite a few gigs.

I've been touching up the chipped gloss black paint on my '73 Jazz with a guitar finish touch-up people-recommended nail polish (gloss black of course...LOL) called "Hard As Nails" (Sally Hansen brand). I've been careful to not exceed the bounds of the chips, and they're blending in pretty darn well. If they sink enough over time, I may go back over with clear. I've heard that some lamp oil and some 2000 grit paper (after the clear has really hardened) renders such touch-ups remarkably strong and nearly invisible. (I know not to strip and repaint the body, of course, which would devalue it.)

[iiipopes]

Agreed. A player must always be on the lookout for new challenges. That is one reason I am playing a Kala U-Bass for a husband-and-wife ukulele group Uke66. It is quite the challenge to play not only "traditional" island songs, but to re-interpret folk, rock, jazz standards, etc., to arrange, provide the proper support, and sound good in this context. Plus, it is a lot easier on the fingers! (To say nothing of how much lighter the U-Bass is compared to a tuba!)
https://www.facebook.com/Uke66

You know... My incredible multi multi multi instrument friend, Jim Mahannah - who have talked about here... His wife is an organist, and makes a good bit of money playing the organ at funeral homes. (She's not interested in being a church organist and playing every single Sunday somewhere.) ... but SEVERAL years ago he bought her a uke bass and she began to learn how to play it. Now three of the four or five members of his combo are family members. He plays keyboard and 6,000 wind instruments, his wife plays the uke bass, and his younger brother plays drums.

redundant:
In the back of my mind, I'm still thinking about finding a decent playing five-string but setting it up EADGC (possibly a drop d lever on the E tuner...??) and stringing it up with a round wound strings.
Slapping just doesn't work with a crap with round wound strings... At least not those that are on my Fender. A few of the tunes that I play with this oldies band would sound a little better if I used some slap technique on those particular tunes. Taking two basses to a gig...?? I've taken three tubas to quite a few gigs.

I've been touching up the chipped gloss black paint on my '73 Jazz with a guitar finish touch-up people-recommended nail polish (gloss black of course...LOL) called "Hard As Nails" (Sally Hansen brand). I've been careful to not exceed the bounds of the chips, and they're blending in pretty darn well. If they sink enough over time, I may go back over with clear. I've heard that some lamp oil and some 2000 grit paper (after the clear has really hardened) renders such touch-ups remarkably strong and nearly invisible. (I know not to strip and repaint the body, of course, which would devalue it.)

It is great that Jim's wife is playing a U-Bass. When set up properly, a U-Bass is actually very versatile. I can make mine sound like a U-Bass, electric bass, or even a passable double-bass emulation all with my fingers and a few adjustments to the settings.

Larry Graham, who invented slap bass as a way of providing a back-beat to emulate a snare drum when his drummer flaked off a gig, I think started with nylon wound strings, later transitioning to light weight rounds.

Yes, you are correct on how to touch up nicks and chips. In a pinch, I have been known to simply use a black Sharpie, and go over the place a couple of times. But then again, I only own one bass that may be considered collectible, and if anything happens to that bass, my luthier knows how to touch up the brown sunburst-ish finish better than I do. You know, the Harry Callahan: a man's got to know his limitations.

[bloke]

speed...

With the various styles of music I'm playing, some of them require a remarkable amount of finger speed.

Just as with fast tonguing (ie. "Back off the distance of travel and effort/"hardness", in order to facilitate increased speed.")

I've created the motto, "Let the amp do the heavy lifting. If fast ALSO needs to be loud, turn it up."

[bloke]

The more difficult the tunes that I'm given to master (and do eventually master), the increasingly more difficult tunes I'm subsequently handed to master.
I believe this band leader is trying to trick me into becoming a better bassist.
(I believe he's talking to somebody about a once a week modern jazz trio thing. Yikes.) Well... Rather than being fearful, I should probably be grateful for new challenges in later years. (As I admitted in another thread, I rarely leave here, so - as I'm going to be here most the time - I might as well be expanding my mind and abilities beyond fixing horns, cutting grass, trimming trees and keeping the house from falling in on itself, and showing up at places getting paid to play whole notes with tubas.) At least, I've got an exceptionally good instrument...

[bloke]

...so I'm slowly becoming more educated re: "bass guitar stuff".

Apparently there is a Fender Jazz bass "Geedy Lee" (Rush) reissue.

His is a '72 - black with white pick guard (now: custom pick guard)

Mine is a (real, not reissue) '72 with a white pick guard.

(far more importantly - as I continue to realize how fortunate I am, as I look at others - with an amazingly flat/straight neck/fingerboard)


his:

[bloke]

With these single coil pickups on both of these Jazz basses, I'm getting ready to buy some 2-inch wide copper foil tape with conductive adhesive on the back. Is there anyone who's installed Faraday cages, and who might be available for me to text and ask a few questions, in case I need to?
Otherwise, I'm assuming that there are some pretty good YouTube videos.

[iiipopes]

With these single coil pickups on both of these Jazz basses, I'm getting ready to buy some 2-inch wide copper foil tape with conductive adhesive on the back. Is there anyone who's installed Faraday cages, and who might be available for me to text and ask a few questions, in case I need to?
Otherwise, I'm assuming that there are some pretty good YouTube videos.

Too much shielding will damp the top frequencies from intra-circuit capacitance, and can make the bass sound dull. Now, the alternative: it is difficult to work with, but Fender and others went to carbon-conductive shielding paint instead. The high resistance of the carbon paint does not lower the resonant frequency of the electronics significantly and is actually a better shield. Once you paint the cavity, you solder an extra wire with a lug on the back of one of the pots, probably the tone pot, and attach it to the cavity where the carbon paint is with a small screw. This is actually more effective shielding, and much less invasive to the bass.

[bloke]

With these single coil pickups on both of these Jazz basses, I'm getting ready to buy some 2-inch wide copper foil tape with conductive adhesive on the back. Is there anyone who's installed Faraday cages, and who might be available for me to text and ask a few questions, in case I need to?
Otherwise, I'm assuming that there are some pretty good YouTube videos.

Too much shielding will damp the top frequencies from intra-circuit capacitance, and can make the bass sound dull. Now, the alternative: it is difficult to work with, but Fender and others went to carbon-conductive shielding paint instead. The high resistance of the carbon paint does not lower the resonant frequency of the electronics significantly and is actually a better shield. Once you paint the cavity, you solder an extra wire with a lug on the back of one of the pots, probably the tone pot, and attach it to the cavity where the carbon paint is with a small screw. This is actually more effective shielding, and much less invasive to the bass.

k...good to know.
lots of opinions out there on "which is best". I very much respect yours...' sure sounds a heckuva lot easier than dealing with this foil (though I'm accustomed to bending and forming copper-based metals).

[iiipopes]

With these single coil pickups on both of these Jazz basses, I'm getting ready to buy some 2-inch wide copper foil tape with conductive adhesive on the back. Is there anyone who's installed Faraday cages, and who might be available for me to text and ask a few questions, in case I need to?
Otherwise, I'm assuming that there are some pretty good YouTube videos.

Too much shielding will damp the top frequencies from intra-circuit capacitance, and can make the bass sound dull. Now, the alternative: it is difficult to work with, but Fender and others went to carbon-conductive shielding paint instead. The high resistance of the carbon paint does not lower the resonant frequency of the electronics significantly and is actually a better shield. Once you paint the cavity, you solder an extra wire with a lug on the back of one of the pots, probably the tone pot, and attach it to the cavity where the carbon paint is with a small screw. This is actually more effective shielding, and much less invasive to the bass.

k...good to know.
lots of opinions out there on "which is best". I very much respect yours...' sure sounds a heckuva lot easier than dealing with this foil (though I'm accustomed to bending and forming copper-based metals).

Thanks.