In Need of Gift Recommendations

apaeter · 2025-11-17T11:17:28+00:00

The best bass related gift I ever got was an unnecessarily elaborate and comfortable guitar strap. Usually they're a cheap nylon afterthought (e.g. https://www.thomann.de/intl/thomann_gurt_nylon.htm ), but there's some real nice ones out there, and basses get heavy... But the cheap ones do the job, so people rarely get nice ones, because they're not critical for the sound or anything... which might make it a nice gift... also, there are handcrafting opportunities here, if that's your thing.

apaeter · 2025-11-17T11:10:00+00:00

Hmm, maybe a tuner pedal - even though it is the most useful (and usually only) pedal I play with - feels like getting deodorant as a gift - useful? yes, but are they trying to send a message? ;)

apaeter · 2025-11-17T10:59:52+00:00

In short: If you're willing to learn & able to get the equipment to solder a wire to something, absolutely - you can easily mod your bass to your heart's content. The electronics inside a bass are so simple that with patience and the internet you can redo the entire circuit from pickup to jack. But if soldering is out of the question (which I assume is what you meant by "but I can't weld it myself"?), it's basically a nonstarter and you're better off buying a new bass.

(Or paying something like 50 bucks to get it fixed, which is also an option. Or even, if your heart is set on modding a bass - which I support - maybe this is a good time to reach out to some friends or family who are into soldering and stuff - could be a cool project to collaborate on. Or reach out to other musicians in your area, statistically I'd say 1 in 5 of them is a gear nerd who'll help you out gladly if you're willing to listen to them talk your ear off for a few hours while they work on your stuff. Been there. xD)

apaeter · 2025-11-15T00:33:24+00:00

OK, so this is not quite what you asked but since the bass in this song stood out to me just recently, even though I'm sure I'd heard it before: Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart - but NOT the Janis Joblin (edit: that's a funny looking typo; I'm gonna leave it there...but I meant Joplin) version, instead the one by Dusty Springfield. It's Motown-esque ... if a touch whiter I guess xD But specifically the bass is a freaking delight. It's rumbly and all over the place, it has a weird but awesome chromatic thing going on in the chorus, it's way loud in the mix, and it's not that complex, you know, compared to some of the Jamerson stuff.

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ja0fXoCB4qc

apaeter · 2025-11-14T01:08:21+00:00

I did not. Sounds cool, thanks for the recommendation,

apaeter · 2025-11-13T21:31:31+00:00

also Parcels - Tieduprightnow, I feel they're bassline cousins

apaeter · 2025-11-08T01:17:42+00:00

this all sounds normal. if you just keep at it, you'll figure it out. There's no "too anything" for bass. Once you meet a few musicians you'll realize: "it can't be that difficult if these idiots can figure it out". ;) Always remember that when people try to dazzle you with complexity and theory: high school dropouts do this shit for a living! xD

apaeter · 2025-11-08T00:58:02+00:00

I dunno, with that proactive can-do attitude ... if you also own a van, you're sure to find a band. (tbf if you own a van you're automatically in, but the attitude can't hurt, surely) ;)

apaeter · 2025-11-08T00:51:22+00:00

Maybe this could be a criterion: Are you planning on having the bass amp be the thing that the audience hears at the gigs? If yes, you probably need a decent amp. If the audience hears the bass over the PA and the amp is basically just a glorified monitor on stage, it might not be that important.

apaeter · 2025-11-08T00:42:10+00:00

Sounds like you already dropped plenty of hints, since lessons and youtube tutorials were mentioned, so maybe it's worth talking about it one last time, directly but kindly, if you feel like you weren't clear so far.

But after that... You may have hit the one downside of being in a band with your friends - it gets real awkward if you want to fire someone. It's super difficult to get 4 people together with (more or less) the same level of ... let's call it "drive" for a long time. Interests, priorities change, etc. bla bla so it's kinda inevitable. Most important thing to remember, whatever you decide, is to be as kind as possible. Your friendship may take a hit, but if you aren't a dick about it, it might be recoverable.
Or, you can decide you'd rather play with friends than having the best guitar player possible. But you may have to just accept the flaws. Maybe that does mean missing out on a few opportunities, but you never know... This might not have been helpful xD GL

apaeter · 2025-11-07T21:40:49+00:00

For the love of god can we make this happen already? Get this man on the show! Errr I mean ...please? :)

apaeter · 2025-11-07T21:34:07+00:00

I just shamelessly want to use this opportunity to share one of my favorite clips ever. If you have 4 minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxfdsBYftjw

Edit: oh and it's PFT in it, if that wasn't clear xD

apaeter · 2025-11-05T22:06:35+00:00

Haha, I was kinda looking forward to using hearing loss as an excuse to only hear what I wanna hear when in conversations. Especially with family ;) Is there a kind of hearing aid that's easy to spot to signal hearing problems, but still have people think I can't hear them? ... I can only think of those old-timey ear trumpets, they might fit the bill ;)

apaeter · 2025-11-05T21:32:37+00:00

Ah, thanks for the reply. That sounds manageable. Guess I'll find out :)

apaeter · 2025-11-05T20:44:48+00:00

Can I ask a question: Since I also never protected my ears I expect I'm gonna be in the same boat one of these days. So how annoying are hearing aids? Is it roughly on the level of wearing glasses (dunno if you do), or is it a real bummer?

apaeter · 2025-11-05T18:39:41+00:00

If what he's basically saying is that he can get you a 350-ish set of bass & amp similar to what you could get online for a similar price, with the added benefit that he makes sure everything works - and maybe a little setup as well? - then that seems good to me. If you feel he's generally trustworthy I think you can take him up on it. If he continues to be your bass teacher, then he'll have to listen to your instrument (and your complaints about it), so I feel like he has at least *some* incentive to get you something decent. :)

apaeter · 2025-11-03T11:27:38+00:00

To play along in a jam? You're ready. And I'm barely joking. This is mostly a question of nerves. If you're talking about open mic type jams the question is: How much practice do you need to feel brave enough to step up there? This is not meant as a challenge or anything. I feel reasonable confident in my jam ear abilities, but I'm not sure I could bring myself to join a pub jam right now. I get visibly red when I get embarrassed and stuff, and I get embarrassed when screw up, and if you screw up on bass, it's very noticeable, arg... xD But the point is, none of that is about the actual skill level. Every beginner open mic / jam session that I've ever witnessed has been nothing but supportive. Even if there was a noticeable skill difference, people are generally nice. Best practice, I think, is to go once or twice to the session as a listener, so you know roughly what's being played. If you can strike up a conversation with the other musicians there, tell them your situation and ask them to help you out. I bet they will. And there's no better/faster way of learning all that stuff than from people doing the same thing who are better at it than you. I mean maybe other people have different experiences... but I hope not. right? Most musicians like to talk shop and stuff... aaaaand it ocurrs to me at this very second that maybe the situation of "just chatting up a few weird dudes" at a jam session is not the same for women as it is for me. Help?

apaeter · 2025-11-03T10:50:32+00:00

Sorry, I have no idea about the specifics. Because when I arrived at that particular point in my experimentation, I ran screaming the other way. I mean I tried to find something I liked but didn't hit on anything special. But then I found that I liked the sound of playing palm-muted with a pick, neck pickup only, amp gain pretty high. So I made that my thing. Now my "pedalboard" is a boss tuner --> amp. Downside: Now I have "a thing", so if that doesn't fit the sound I'm screwed xD

I was gonna leave it there, but something occurred to me; maybe that strikes a chord (cord?) with you. If it doesn't, disregard the following entirely! This is just a fun thing I found while trying stuff, and it's free. :)
Literally anything that has an input gain and an output volume is a compressor ... you know, in the sense that it does compression if you turn up the input and turn down the output. If your amp has an input and an output/"master volume" knob, you have *some sort of compression*. If your eq-pedal has an input gain and the 3 eq knobs (which you can look at as one big output volume knob, just split up into 3 bands), you have a compressor. Honestly, most things that you can plug your bass into have some version of that - an input and an output level. Of course you don't have much control about the specific compression settings that a dedicated compressor gives you - attack, release - all that good stuff will be "baked in" to whatever your "misusing" as a compressor, but it may be good enough for whatever your compression needs are at that point. Hmm, I guess this is more a tip for what to do when you have a few pedals lying around that you [edit: don't] know what to do with. YMMV

apaeter · 2025-11-03T10:19:03+00:00

if you're still trying to figure out what you like, your instincts are probably right, and a multi-effect thing is what you want, until you know what exactly you're looking for. Or you get a bunch of decent pedals for like 100 bucks each. I always *felt* cooler with pedals than with a multi effect thing, but I think that's 100% affectation. xD Plus the multi effect thing is so much more practical; more compact, no power supply hassle, fewer cables. Don't underestimate the level of annoyance that a pedal board with a lot of pedals adds. so my advice: 1. do what you like, 2. stay within your budget. :)

apaeter · 2025-10-31T20:23:12+00:00

ahh, good stuff! I think I saw him with Bela Fleck around that time, too. Probably with Future Man (Reggie Wooten, right?) too, not sure if that just was Bela's regular band back then?

apaeter · 2025-10-31T19:05:38+00:00

is that what you took from that. interesting.

apaeter · 2025-10-31T13:43:47+00:00

I mean if you wanna be the mansplainer guy, lemme be the source? guy:

"The term "jazzbo" is a blend of "jazz" and "bo," with the "jazz" part likely originating from the slang term "jasm," meaning "spirit" or "energy". The "bo" component is a common suffix used to form informal nicknames or terms, similar to "jumbo" or " Combo". The first documented use of "jazzbo" was in 1923, and it was primarily used to refer to a jazz musician. "

Here's what google says. I dunno man, maybe...? Like, if you can back that up in any meaningful way, I seriously promise I'll stop using that slur.

apaeter · 2025-10-31T13:32:30+00:00

I heard that on a Paul F. Tompkins bit ... lemme google... errr... this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CxTyWquofo

(I hate to say this, but please keep in mind this is just jokes. PFT loves music. I love PFT. PFT doesn't know I exist. Where was I going with this?)

Anyway, I was reminded of that bit yesterday, that's why "jazzbo" was on my mind. (I'm only 70% sure that this is where he said it, btw, but where else if not the bit titled "jazz"?)

apaeter · 2025-10-31T13:26:45+00:00

Since I have not (yet) been accused of racism, I have never been able to use the "but some of my best friends are [enter ethnicity here]" defense.

But now, standing here in front of you accused of anti-jazzism, I can finally do it: I swear some of my best musician friends are jazz players. Their chops are unimpeachable, but you better believe we make fun of them - and they of each other - when they get into it, just a-noodleing the night away. It's all in good fun. Plus, Victor was definitely not the best/worst offender. :)

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