Live Shows and Drinking

It seems that live music and drinking go hand in hand.  I enjoy a good beer as much as the next person and I love trying out new beers wherever I go.  Generally I try to arrive at the venue an hour or so before the first band takes the stage to make introductions, network, and muse over the beer selections.

I used to drink all the time at a show, before, during, and after until the wee hours of the morning.  Then I began scaling that back so that I was not drinking during our set.  I would have a beer or two before stage depending on how long we had before taking the stage.  A rule of thumb that I followed was one beer per hour and no beer inside the hour preceding our set.  Now I have gotten to the point of where I do not consume any beer prior to stage and only have a few after we have all of our gear off stage and safely stowed.

We record our shows and I compare performances afterwards to see where I can make improvements in my playing and performance.  Sometimes it is really difficult to watch myself as I am my own worst critic.  One common thread I have found when it comes to poor personal performance is consumption of alcohol prior to playing.  This is not a judgement of others - merely a personal observation.  I am just not one of those musicians that can pull off drinking before playing and do well.  I made a personal choice to refrain from drinking before playing for the sake of presenting my best at each show.

The Difference Between Practice and Rehearsal

There is little else that is as unproductive as showing up for a rehearsal unprepared.  Depending on the size of your group there are anywhere from three to five or more other members counting on you to show up prepared to run through the songs.  It is one thing to have a momentary lapse in memory or concentration and entirely another to show up to rehearsal with the intention of learning your parts on everyone else's time.  This is completely apart from writing or composing.

For me, practice is what I do at home in my studio to prepare for a rehearsal, show, or audition.  In fact I view each rehearsal as a personal audition - it keeps me on my toes and up on my material.  So what does practice entail for me?  Almost exclusively I practice using my laptop, Focusrite interface, and headphones.  I warm up with a few scales and fiddling around for around five to ten minutes depending on how much time I have on that particular day, then I get right down to it.

I start off by going through any new material we are working on and any problem areas I may have on any of the songs.  There is a set list for each of the bands I play in.  Typically we vary the set-list from show to show.  I play through each set list in the order that it will be played for the upcoming show. By keeping up on the material I find it is easier to incorporate new material to the set-list.  I make a special effort to exercise critical listening and critique my playing.  I find that using headphones really helps me to isolate certain aspects of my playing in order to fine tune what I am working on.  This enables me to be prepared for rehearsal and not waste anyone's time.

Bottom line is that it is hard enough to get everyone in the same room together so time is a precious commodity.  Anyone who chooses to use rehearsal as practice is stealing both time and progress.  

Straps

Straps to a bass player are like shoes to a woman.  <yep here it comes - I am going to catch hell for that opener>  There are as many straps as there are basses.  Long straps, short straps, leather straps, nylon straps, padded straps, and that doesn't even begin to touch the tip of the iceberg on colors.  Which one is right is purely a subjective exercise - what works for one may not work for another.


I have found that I prefer a wide strap and it just so happens a wide nylon strap is one of the cheapest straps on the rack at my local national guitar chain. <bonus for the founder of the CBC>  I know a few bass players who prefer wide straps because it helps distribute the weight of the bass across their back.  I don't have back issues but I do find that a thin strap ends up digging into my shoulder so a wider strap really is much more comfortable in that respect.

Back in the eighties I made a fixed length custom leather guitar strap with a thick wide piece of leather from the local leather shop.  In the spirit of Iron Maiden I installed chrome pyramids on the strap after first dyeing it black. It was a conversation starter and was actually quite comfortable.  The raw unfinished underside of the strap helped keep my bass from shifting around and stopped neck dive.  Ultimately I gave it to our guitarist and never saw it again once the band went our separate ways.

Now I am considering making another wide strap for my bass - something around four inches wide.  This time around I would not make it out of leather.  I think I would probably go with nylon or some similar, durable material.  I have not seen anything online that strikes my fancy but maybe you have some suggestions.  Shoot me an email at dasjugghead@gmail.com with any ideas or suggestions.

Thumb Rest Update

A few months ago I made a set of thumb rests for my bass and wrote about it here.  I have had some time to try them out both at rehearsals and individual practice as well as at s few gigs. There are aspects of them that I like and a few things that I would like to change or modify about them.

For starters I like having a consistent anchor point all along the area between the bridge and the end of the fret board.  I believe this has helped both with consistency of attack on the B string as well as reduced fatigue and stress  particularly when navigating an intense passage.

On the other hand, and this is not so bad as to make me remove the thumb rests, I do find that my fingers sometimes strike through the string and hit the thumb rest.  I have also noticed that I am more comfortable with my thumb just a little further away from the B string than the current thumb rests allow.

I made a new thumb rest and tried it out for a few minutes but realized right away that it placed my thumb to far away from the B string.

So here is the new thumb rest.  I will try it out for awhile and report back.  I know it looks crude but if it works then I will make a new one that is better designed. 

Strap Locks

Back in the eighties when strap locks first hit the scene I scored a set from the local music shop and installed them on my bass with great excitement.  That excitement turned to dismay the first time they failed me at a rehearsal.  From that moment on I employed a different method to secure my strap to my bass.

I discovered that a nice sized set of fender washers would secure the strap to my bass without the risk of the strap slipping off the strap buttons.  It is a semi permanent solution that does not allow you to remove the strap from the bass but it also ensures the strap will not come off the strap buttons as well.  Since doing this simple modification I have never had a strap come off a bass under any conditions.  The trade-off of not being able to remove the strap from the bass is a small price to pay for the piece of mind I have gained.

Having my strap semi-permanently affixed to my bass does require one small additional step when putting my bass in its case.  To protect the body of my bass when stowing it in the case I lay a hand towel on it to protect it from the buckles on the strap. Other than that the fender washers do not interfere with playing, storing, or transporting the bass.  As far as low-cost/high value modifications this one has to be my favorite.  While the galvanized look is just fine for me I might try to put a patina on a trial set of washers with a blow torch outside to see how they turn out.  As a note to the reader galvanized steel off-gasses toxic fumes when heated so if you elect to try this out yourself make sure to do so outside in a well ventilated area and avoid breathing the fumes.

For now the galvanized fender washers somewhat match the color of the hardware on my bass.

Speaker Cabinets

I currently play through a set of Mesa/Boogie Subway 112 cabinets and I have traveled a long road to arrive at my current speakers.  I have never been more pleased on more levels with any other cabinet I have played through than these; they are lightweight, not cumbersome, and sound amazing.

I ran up to Sweetwater to test a number of cabinets. I brought my bass and my Bugera Veyron head to test all the cabinets below:

First in line was the Bugera 115 My initial impression was that I was surprised at how small it was - for some reason I was expecting something bigger. Not sure why. It had fabulous mids and highs but the low B string was mud. It lacked the articulation that I was looking for.

Second was the Hartke HyDrive HD115. This was moderately better but I expected it to be much better. A lot more clarity and articulation in the mids and highs but again the lows lacked the clarity I sought. The low-end clarity was better than the Bugera but still not what I was seeking.

Third was the Harke HyDrive HD112. This cabinet was excellent and I very nearly bought it. I played a pair of them and they were very articulate and clean even on the low B. I really really liked them.

Then for S&G's I played three Mesa/Boogie cabinets. I figured since I was there I may as well play them even though I had not budgeted for them. So continuing on:

Fourth I played the Mesa/Boogie Subway 115. Wow. WOW. GREAT sound. Very articulate. Better than the Harke HyDrive HD112 although they were very very close. I spent about half an hour going back and fourth between them.

Next I played the Mesa/Boogie Subway 210. It was good but not as good as the Mesa/Boogie Subway 115 and not as good as the Hartke HyDrive HD112. I played it maybe five minutes but that was enough to move on.

Lastly I played the Mesa/Boogie Subway 112. It was almost immediate. I was blown away with how good it sounded. I ended up A/Bing this against the Hartke HyDrive HD112 for a good 20 minutes. My sales engineer switched cabinets for me while I faced the opposite direction so that I used only my ears without knowing which cabinet I was playing through. Each time, each test, I ended up choosing the Mesa/Boogie Subway 112. I took a ten minute break to grab a cup of coffee, reset my ears, and then came back and did it again. It was very very close but the Mesa/Boogie Subway was the clear winner for me.

Miracle of miracles my sales engineer found a demo and was able to cut me a deal that I couldn't pass up. So now these are in my basement. I realize everyone has different tastes and different needs. What necessarily works for one may not necessarily work for another. I can tell you that I believe the Hartke HyDrive HD112's were excellent and would have done quite well for me and I probably would have been happy with them as well. But given the right circumstances I was lucky enough to be able to get a good deal on what I found to be the very best.

Finding Time to Practice

Practice makes perfect was a phrase I grew up hearing a lot of.  I started off my musical journey in front of a piano for hours a day which was later scaled back to accommodate practicing trombone. When I started playing bass during my senior year of high school I had to find a way to practice bass that did not bother my parents.  While they were very supportive of the piano and trombone they were adamantly opposed to my playing bass.  If they could hear it they insisted I stop playing.  They even went as far as to prohibit me from storing my equipment at home and it had to stay at a friend's house.

The bass fit under my bed so I was able to hide it there out of sight and out of mind.  At the time, and through my first couple of semesters of college I worked at Pizza Hut and, worked a lot of irregular hours.  As a result I was not always able to practice during the day when my parents were away at work.  I would come home from work at 2 or 3 am and sit on the floor in my bedroom with my back against the bed and my bass resting in my lap.  I would play by laying my left ear against the horn of the bass so as to be able to hear myself without disturbing anyone else in the house.

Fast forward many years and I have a wife, a son, and a mortgage.  I have a basement where I can practice pretty much whenever I want and my wife is extraordinarily tolerant of my musical pursuits.  She even allows the band to rehearse here.  Still, to this day, I am conscious of the fact that not everyone appreciates what I play and I use headphones to practice so as not to to disturb anyone.  One of my favorite silent practice methods is to plug into my Focusrite Scarlett Solo USB Audio Interface which allows me to practice along with tracks from my laptop.  

When I am just jamming or fiddling around I find that I really like using my Zoom B3n Bass Multi-effects Processor especially if I am trying to write in a new style.  I find that all the various effects inspire me to try new things or new approaches to writing.  The Zoom B3n has a 1/4" stereo output headphone jack that works perfectly for private practice. It even has an 1/8" input jack that I can connect to the headphone output of my laptop if I do not have my interface with me when traveling.

Elevating Speaker Cabinets

"I can't hear myself."  It's a common complaint from guitarists and a bassists.  The infamous volume wars have their root in this statement.  I struggled to hear myself for years until I employed a simple fix by building a cabinet stand to get my cabinets up off of the floor and closer to ear level.  This has made a huge difference in not only being able to hear myself as well as the over volume levels both at rehearsals and on stage.

I looked at designs and methods employed by other bassists.  In this respect guitarists have it easier in that there are stands readily available to use that can support the weight of the typical guitar combo.  Bass rigs on the other hand are usually too heavy to employ the typical guitar cabinet stands.  This usually requires unusual approaches utilizing everything from appropriated coffee tables, milk crates and folding work stations, to custom purpose-built stands.  I tried a few different approaches before landing on building my own cabinet stand.  I drew heavily from this gentleman's design from a popular bass forum.

I liked this approach and did something similar.  My stand incorporated a storage area for cords and has a shelf where the Burgera Veryon M BV1001M bass amp is mounted.  I also mounted my Furman Power Strip on the stand as well.  I like being able to have everything in one place rather than coiling up cords and cables to put in a separate carrying case.  This arrangement saves time on load-in and load-out as well as set-up and tear-down.  I have only used this for the past three shows but for the most part I do like it. 

There are a few things I will change on the next build (yes there will be another version) to make this work a little better.  Plugging in the extension cord for my pedal board in the dark on the back of the stand which is usually pushed up against a wall is a little more challenging.  I think the next rendition will have the power strip on the front of the stand.  Another feature I have found myself contemplating is a set of fixed wheels on one set of legs (probably the side as opposed to the front or back) to make the stand easier to move around.  Lastly I would like the stand to be a little taller so that the platform of the stand would be at about waist level.  Okay I lied - lastly I will paint the next stand.  

 

 

Thumb Rests

I have been thinking about thumb rests and ramps for quite some time now.  I had read about bassists using these and it always seemed to make sense to me.  After weeks of intending to build a set and try them out for awhile I finally got around to fabricating a set of thumb rests out of some scrap wood this morning.

So what is the purpose of adding a piece of wood to the top of an otherwise perfect condition bass?  For those of us who play with our fingers we frequently find ourselves anchoring our thumbs on the top side of one of the pickups.  I tend to play all over the length of the open space between the end of the fret board and the bridge of the bass.  By adding thumb rests this gives me a broader anchor point for my thumb as my right hand moves the length of the distance from the fret board to the bridge.  It will also hopefully help me establish a little more consistency of attack on my B string.  Having played for a number of years using the floating thumb technique and having established a good foundational technique I felt it would be okay to experiment with the thumb rests.

I temporarily affixed the thumb rests to the top of the bass using Command Strips so that they can be easy removed without damaging the finish on my bass.  The thumb rests bridge the space between the neck pick up and the end of the fret board and the space between the neck pickup and bridge pickup.  I used a sander to round over the top edge of each thumb rest.  Just for kicks I stained them using some leftover stain we had laying around from a previous project.

So I will try them out for the next week or so and report back on my observations.  If I find that I really like them then I will make another set out of some very old oak we discovered while renovating our drummer's garage to convert it to a rehearsal space.  I will have to give serious consideration to attaching them with stainless steel wood screws if this is the route I decide to go.

Intonation

I started out playing piano and studied privately for ten years.  I played trombone starting in fifth grade all the way through college.  I think perhaps these two things contributed to my obsession with intonation and tuning.

In my mind it is inexcusable to be out of tune or not properly intonated.  With the widespread availability and affordability of quality tuners proper intonation and tuning are easily achieved.  Nothing quite says "amateur" like a band out of tune or guitars improperly intonated.

Tuning is pretty straightforward and most of us can handle this.  The problem arises when tuning is not checked frequently.  Personally I check my tuning between every song when playing live and during any break during rehearsals.

Intonation is a little more challenging on the front end but once you understand the basics anyone can do it. I begin by getting each string in tune then I tackle intonation. By fretting the twelfth fret I look at the tuner to see if it is sharp or flat.  If the fretted twelfth fret is sharp then the bridge saddle needs to move back toward the tail of the bass.  By moving the saddle toward the tail of the bass you are lengthening the distance from the saddle to the twelfth fret thereby bringing the fretted string back into tune.  By doing so this then makes the open string flat so tune the open string again.  This is a back and forth process to bring both the open string and the fretted string at the twelfth fret into tune.  Naturally if the fretted twelfth fret is flat then the saddle needs to move forward toward the head stock of the bass and again the tuning of the open string and fretted twelfth fret is performed until both the open string and the twelfth fret are in tune.



Once the strings are intonated I play my bass for a day or two and double check the tuning and intonation.  When I am satisfied that both the tuning and intonation are perfect I reference the strings at both the nut and the saddles.  This is a crucial step many people overlook when installing new strings.  Referencing is done by pushing down on the strings just before the nut and just before where they enter the saddles on the bridge.  This helps the strings stay in tune and is something I truly wish someone had shown me years ago.

Bass Strings

Like many of us I am on an unending journey of the search for the perfect set of bass strings.  I have tried more strings than I can remember.  Mostly round wounds, usually as bright as I can find, stainless, chromes, heavy gauge, medium gauge, and everything in between. Recently I have found exactly what I have been searching for and it was literally right under my nose.

I recently purchased another bass, an ESP-LTD B5E.  I already had one and needed a second one for another project I had in a different tuning.  I wrote about that here.  I couldn't help but notice how excellent it sounded compared to the first bass and did a little investigating to find out what strings were on it.  They turned out to be Cleartone strings and man do they sound amazing.  So far I have them on for three months with at least an hour of playing every single day and most days closer to two hours of aggressive playing . . .  and they still sound great.  In fact they sound as good as they did the day I plugged in the bass and played it the day it arrived here.

Not only do they sound great and last way longer than any other string I have ever tried but they play great because of the coating on them.  I do a fair amount of slides, glissandos, and trills and being able to do so without leaving skin all over the fret board is pleasant. One of the things that come with the territory of being a bassist is the high cost of strings compared to what a set of strings cost a guitarist.  Cleartone strings are no exception - in fact they are about two to three times the cost of an average set of bass strings.  The fact that they have lasted as long as they have so far, coupled with how well the sound and play, makes it a little easier to accept.

During my initial search for replacement strings I found a four string set but not a five string set. I was able to put together a five string set using the four string set and a special order B string.  After a little more searching I was able to find an actual five string set here:

https://www.cleartonestrings.com/product-page/nickel-plated-bass-strings