Musicians check in here. If you play, tell us about it!

[bassthumper]

Yeah I sort of realized this after I typed my comment. Sorry guys.
And I didnt even stop to think who I might have been talking to. I should have more respect I'm sorry bassnut.
I promise in person I'm a much more understanding person. Reading words online aren't my forte

Any one listening or reading should always know you will learn alot more from your elders and professionals than ANYONE ELSE.
I learned more from playing with you older gents than anything!

 

[DaveP]

Yeah I sort of realized this after I typed my comment. Sorry guys.
And I didnt even stop to think who I might have been talking to. I should have more respect I'm sorry bassnut.
I promise in person I'm a much more understanding person. Reading words online aren't my forte

Any one listening or reading should always know you will learn alot more from your elders and professionals than ANYONE ELSE.
I learned more from playing with you older gents than anything!

LOL! I can't speak for Bassnut, but I'll admit to being an old rocker. I bought Beatle albums on vinyl the week they were released in the 60s. Two of my first really heavy guitar idols were Carlos Santana and Jimi Hendrix. My first money making local band changed its name to Purple Haze! After looking at band name listings on the internet today, I've decided that we weren't so crazy to pick that name. This was the era of Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, Rolling Stones, and Gerry and the Pacemakers, among many others. After all, what's in a name?

Anyway, welcome to the thread, BassThumper. You'll find lots of friends here. We are getting new musicians here in a pretty steady stream and the thread is only a little over a month old.

 

[Del Boy]

Guys guys. . . . . Bass players are supposed the more laid back and chilled musicians.

Gotta tell you this. I was 14/15 when punk rock kicked in over here. I didn't like it all. It weren't music to my ears. I was a bit dissillusioned with music and it's direction at this time.
Then one day we were in the van on our way to a job. About a half hour drive. When this very rythymic song came pumping through the radio. The other lads in the van were talking at the time and wouldn't let me turn up the volume. I had to lean in to the speaker nearest to me to hear it. I loved it. And for me music had just made a comeback. The song was the "sultans of swing" by Dire Straits. i had to have it . I had to own it. I had to play it a thousand times (once i'd bought a copy) just to setlle my excitement to a more bearable level. That rythym. That guitar. For me that day screamed...there is hope.
Sure enough musical content and ability started to matter again.
Now i ain't saying that this song is in anyway special. Just saying that for me it re-awakened my hunger and enthusiasm for good sounding well formed and presented music. see ya later punk rock. (if you can't play....you're in).

 

[bassthumper]

Good song.
We're chill just a misunderstanding. Not even a big one.

 

[bassnut]

deleted unnecessary comment.

 

[DaveP]

Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) was a student of the Chet Atkins guitar course, which was a book and some records. He developed the fingerpicking style of Chet and later, after he debuted in Dire Straits, met with Chet and they recorded a studio album together. It's worth a listen.

 

[bassnut]

That was a pure joy to watch. Thanks, Dave.

 

[bander68]

Ecf jam...haha, hey I'll give you a horn sound since i'm still in the earliest stages of learning to play bass. There's a very interesting band from the New Orleans area that started off as an online collaboration. Not able to look it up right now, but if you're so inclined, go check out one of the most unique videos of all time. Mutemath-Typical. Great band, incredible drummer, backwards video that plays forward, meaning they all learned to "fake" the song in reverse. Confused? Go watch the video.

 

[bassthumper]

Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) was a student of the Chet Atkins guitar course, which was a book and some records. He developed the fingerpicking style of Chet and later, after he debuted in Dire Straits, met with Chet and they recorded a studio album together. It's worth a listen.

Hell yeah. See, I wish I could pick like that on guitar.... lots of great arpeggios

 

[Hypnophone]

What's the deal with all the string wangers? Are there no drummers here?

Well, here's you're drummer.
Heres the rig(s):
1978 Pearl wood-fiberglass 7 piece.
199? Pearl maple 9 piece.
A shiite-load of zildjians (including 2 26" rides)
2 Roland Octapad-IIs.
A rack full of blinky-light-stuff.
Hammond B-3 (built in 1962).
Hammond PF40 tone cab.
1974 Stereo Rhodes stage model.

I like ELP,Yes pre 1980, Zeppelin, Captain Beyond (1st LP), Genesis pre '80, ZAPPA, Billy Cobham, BOC (first 4 albums), Uriah Heep(first 4), Deep Purple, Floyd (not Wall), Rush (up to '80), and
anything that has odd time signatures and don't suck.
Yeah, I can play it.
I'm in a Floyd tribute band in Dallas.

Smoked for many-many years and the peevees have kept me off the evil cigs for 4 months now.


Where are the drummers and keyboardists???

HUH???

 

[Hypnophone]

OOPS,
I missed some of the back and forth between the bass-boys.

We have regular jams here with 2-3 geetar-boys, 1-2 keyboard-boys, and 3-4 bass-boys(at the same time). You expect a big
audio Charlie-Foxtrot, but they all have different styles, nobody steps on anybody else, and I'll be danged if'n it don't work.
It can get kinda loud, but what the h-e-double hockeysticks, that's rock and/or roll.
We got bass-bass, rythym-bass, lead-bass. It's awesome. We got Ricks and Fenders. I've been tryin' to get everybody to learn Big Bottom...

 

[DaveP]

Well the original post did specify "musicians" not string frammers, and it takes percussion to keep a band on tempo. Drummers are welcome!

Welcome to the thread, Hypnophone. It's still young, yet.

 

[Wench]

Another guitar player here.
Started at 13 with a borrowed Sears accoustic that was total crap but it played which was all that really counted then. The next upgrade was a electric Yahama fender clone from a pawn shop along with a ancient Peavey tube amp and it went from there lol
So total of 25 years of being a bedroom rockstar haha

 

[DrChong]

Hey all,
Metal guitarist, love anything shred and abit of blues and jazz too
Been playing 8 hours a day since i was 18,

Here's my baby, Absolute monster of a thing

Seymour Duncan Blackout 18v installed (and a volume pot finally)
New trem saddles and locking nut
Tremolo now held in by no nails hahaha
Sanded down (Original Ibanez Wizard Dimensions) and oiled neck
Frets smoothed
Paintjob done miself
and retro volume kno

 

[Wench]

I play through a Peavey Vypyr Tube 60. It's a microprocessor front end with a 12AX7/dual 6L6 power amp with a 12" speaker. The little box with the dual antennas is a Nady UHF wireless system. It's sitting on a Musicians Friend stand that they sell for $19.95 (China made, but sturdy)

How do you like the Vyper? I was looking at that along with the Fender Mustang at the Guitar Center sale this weekend.
I didn't get a chance to mess with them because they were busy.
I love all that it can do but someone there said the Fuse software was a pain and a few bugs that needed worked out on certain effects so I ended up just sticking with my Marshall for now lmao

 

[DaveP]

Another guitar player here.
Started at 13 with a borrowed Sears accoustic that was total crap but it played which was all that really counted then. The next upgrade was a electric Yahama fender clone from a pawn shop along with a ancient Peavey tube amp and it went from there lol
So total of 25 years of being a bedroom rockstar haha

I, too, started on a Sears acoustic. At the time, I was drooling over the Sears electric model with the amp built into the guitar case! It's a good thing I didn't get it, though. I played a Harmony electric at 15 in my first band and later could afford a Hagstrom from the music store I worked at for a while. A few years later, I was finally able to buy something a little higher on the quality list, but the cheap ones worked just fine while I had them.

 

[DaveP]

How do you like the Vyper? I was looking at that along with the Fender Mustang at the Guitar Center sale this weekend.
I didn't get a chance to mess with them because they were busy.
I love all that it can do but someone there said the Fuse software was a pain and a few bugs that needed worked out on certain effects so I ended up just sticking with my Marshall for now lmao

If you have a tube Marshall and all the effects pedals you need, I'd say stick with that. If you are playing SS and want to move to tubes without paying $1500 and up, I'd say look at the Vypyr closely. It's a good amp and I haven't even thought about anything else since I got it over two years ago. Every sound I want is there (or creatable) and programmable to a button on the Sanpera II foot pedal.

I'm pretty simple in my needs for an amp. Give me an amp that I can drive into breakup and clean up with a roll back of my guitar volume control and I'm set. I like to keep it on edge with the guitar volume rolled back about a quarter turn and roll it to max for a dirty solo. I'll use chorus where necessary and a crystal clean if I have to.

There's a good Marshall PLEXI model that I use most of the time. The TWIN model will make you think of surf music. It has that pipeline reverb that slaps and the model is crystal clean. It's impressive how much it sounds like the real thing. The B-KAT model is a full, thumping class A sound that will make you think you have a 4x12 cab behind you.

The best advice is to check it out when you have a while to play it. GC will roll it into a rehearsal room and let you crank it and play with it. There are some issues with various software levels, and there are some who find it difficult to program. Creating or changing a model is basically setting the controls and saving the result under a name (using the controller pedal). There are three dual function knobs that let you enter edit mode by pressing. You change the parameters on the effect or stompbox and press the knob again to go back to play mode, then save. Those who can't deal with multifunction, software driven amps are probably better off with a plain old combo amp and some stompboxes (not that there's anything wrong with that). I just like everything in one box in the Vypyr. I need nothing but the amp, the controller (Sanpera II), a midi cable to connect them, and a plug for the power cord. No more snarl of patch cords!

 

[Wench]

I, too, started on a Sears acoustic. At the time, I was drooling over the Sears electric model with the amp built into the guitar case! It's a good thing I didn't get it, though. I played a Harmony electric at 15 in my first band and later could afford a Hagstrom from the music store I worked at for a while. A few years later, I was finally able to buy something a little higher on the quality list, but the cheap ones worked just fine while I had them.

I remember seeing those with the amp in the case : D
My guitar I drooled over but never managed to get back then was a Jackson Firebird ,which were discontinued around the late 80's/early 90's : (

I have a more expensive guitar that is great but I still end up on my cheaper $200 ESP LP clone most of the time.
I may have gotten a odd one that plays freakishly fantastic but it just plays well, and just something about it that makes me reach for it.

Thanks for the run down on the Vypyr. I'll definitely go play with it then.
Amp's have changed so much it's amazing really and looking at everything in the store , it can get overwhelming when trying to compare lol.
Being able to create any effect you want was what really made me look at it, and then having something compact and so contained without a zillion pedals all over is another feature that makes it seriously nice.

 

[DaveP]

Who solos? I found it amusing that the 90s brought us the concept that soloing was showoff playing and was condemned by bands all over. My first thought was that the art had been lost on pop musicians and carried on by a certain sect of players (who were outcasts). Still, I love injecting little riffs to enhance the music and if you give me a verse, I'll solo through with pleasure.

What's the deal on little single note solos that guitar players do these days? They play the same note for a chord change and change notes for the next chord. Do these guys know scales or are they just able to find the root and bang on it?

 

[bassthumper]

I'll do a bass solo if given the chance. Bass solos are tricky because you still want to support and lay a foundation at the same time while creating a solo and following the changes.

I know my scales pretty well so that really helps.

The single note solos guitarists are doing is simply a result of not knowing their scales! Do you have a good example of one?
I mean, you don't have to play fast or a bunch of notes to make a cool solo. If it sounds good, I don't have a problem with it.
Show us a solo you're talking about I'd like to hear one!