Silly question

jwr2 · Post by **jwr2** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 6:40 pm

back to the Entwistle typwriter method ... it is sorta like slapping except you let the notes sustain ...

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 7:08 pm

I have to fine "The Kids Are Alright" but when I do I'll give it a try.

dean712 · Post by **dean712** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 8:03 pm

Nate... a couple of things...

Callouses are your friends. Once your wounds have healed, get to jamming on your bass on a semi-regular basis that builds callouses on the four fingers of your left hand and (if applicable) your two plucking fingers on the right hand (and even the right thumb, if you anchor on the pickguard of the 4003 like I do - enough playing time will earn you a small callous on your right thumb).

You want the callouses to be built up and maintained. Go get em! Once you have them, the best scenario is you do wonderful bass practice exercises every day that work all the fingers and keep all the callouses. However, even if you only play "Brown Eyed Girl" over and over again, if it works all your fingers, that will be enough to help. Just be sure to do enough work of one type or the other to keep some callouses full-time. That's really the only object/goal.

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 9:16 pm

Well the reason they went away was my dad made my Ric disapear for 6 months. As it was my only bass I was without anything to mess around with for the entire 6 months (Minus the one gig I did {my first} and played someone elses bass.) I play everyday but every now and then my middle finger splits open. (Bridge pickup surround?)

My left hand is fine. My right hand is the problem. Index finger: fine, Middle: split, Ring: no callus as of yet (I need more Iron Maiden CDs), Pinky: nothing (I'm not Billy Sheehan).

I don't like Van Morrison so I don't know "Brown Eyed Girl". Is "YYZ" good for all the left hand fingers?

dean712 · Post by **dean712** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 9:43 pm

Nate, if your left hand is okay, you are most of the way there...

The "Brown Eyed Girl" reference was a nod to those of us American bassists who have to play that song all of the time, because it is the #1 favorite American dance song.

On the right hand, just go slow and build a callous on that middle finger. Work it for an evening until you feel the typical 'burn' or 'tingle', then let it rest and go at it again the next day.

I hope this is helpful!

By the way... Steve Harris of Iron Maiden is amazing... I really wish he'd play a Ric once to show it off....

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Wed Apr 27, 2005 10:31 pm

Yeah he's good. Steve gets close to the Ric sound with a '70 P-Bass. I wish he would use the real thing though!

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:13 am

Nate wrote:

... I have to fine "The Kids Are Alright" but when I do I'll give it a try. ...

Nate, if you have a hard time finding a copy, let me know. I have one (new, unopened, sealed) that I was planning on putting on eBay.

ojobob2 · Post by **ojobob2** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:17 am

Your breaking bass strings???? whoa!!!!

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:41 pm

Four things, the bass line in Brown Eyed Girl is great and is a study in simplicity and taste and the guy had a great sound (I think it was the Them bass player, Van's first band, who was a great player and used a pick) and secondly if you are breaking bass strings you are playing WAY too hard and no wonder you keep ruining your callouses.
And thirdly tube amps blow away SS amps for sound. Amen. If you don't want it and want a 'modern' SS amp sell it to me (cheap, haha!)
Fourthly the typewriter method is for secretaries.

doctorwho · Post by **doctorwho** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 12:58 pm

Oops! Nate, I checked your profile before posting, but it just dawned on me that my Region 1 (USA, Canada) disk won't work in NZ, which is Region 4.

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:11 pm

Wow, I didn't know hitting those things that hard was that bad. My tube amp is OLD, small (I don't know the wattage), and not very loud. That is my problem with it. Not loud enough. I can crank it but it gets all distorted. I smash the string like that because of the old 4001 pickup on my bass. I need them rewound or something.

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:17 pm

I could get a PAL DVD player. That plays all regions.

rictified · Post by **rictified** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:21 pm

Relax Nate, you can probably get a good sound out of it especially in your home just take it easy, have you bypassed the cap in the bridge pickup circuit in your 4001? That makes a world of difference with a small amp. I used a 5 watt Philips tube radio a few years ago when I was living in Peru for a while because it was all I had there. I bypassed the cap in it and it actually sounded good at low volume

nattiep · Post by **nattiep** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:30 pm

No, I didn't do the cap thing yet. I play in the Rick-O-Sound jack too so the treble pickup is all I have to use. The cap bypass would help alot. I'm stuck with the tube amp because amps are EXPENSIVE here. A 15 watt Fender bass amp is $300. Heh.

ojobob2 · Post by **ojobob2** » Thu Apr 28, 2005 1:37 pm

why are you using the ROS jack? why not use the normal jack? And yes, if you only have the treble pickup on, and it is capped,,,,,well you NO bass or mid there whatsoever and thats why your amp probably seems to sound bad!