Comments for MostlyBass.com

Comment on Rants! by mark stefaniw

mark stefaniw — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:07:47 +0000

Peter, I also support the “no tenor clef” in DB music. Some publishers (Liben and Ludwin) have picked up on this. But — you know — there’s a lot of bass music with tenor clef, and the bassist simply must be open to learning tenor clef in order to access some of these classics (like Eccles sonata from International).

Comment on How do I put the bass in the car? by mark stefaniw

mark stefaniw — Fri, 11 May 2012 00:40:35 +0000

And guess what else works? The Volkswagen New Beetle!

Comment on Be a Better Student by admin

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:49:30 +0000

Well then I shall update this post!!

Comment on Putting on a Case by admin

admin — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:48:36 +0000

Excellent advice!

Comment on Putting on a Case by mark stefaniw

mark stefaniw — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:43:47 +0000

Nice video Peter, I also teach my students how to put on, take off the bag. The big advice I always give is to always do this job by yourself. If someone comes up to assist, confusion may set in as to who has control of the instrument and it could fall. The student politely must say: “No thank you, but can you please hold my coat? I must do this myself so we don’t accidentally drop the bass.”

Comment on Be a Better Student by mark stefaniw

mark stefaniw — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:36:28 +0000

I stopped using the word “try” in my studio. My students like this because it is zen-like, and helps them approach the bass as a disciplined warrior would.

“No! Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.”
–YODA, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Comment on Jazz Plucking by mark stefaniw

mark stefaniw — Thu, 10 May 2012 23:17:49 +0000

Yumi, that weird sound is the vibration of the string (called “excursion”) being so large that the middle of the string (called the “belly”) vibrates against the finger board. Focus on the direction that you pluck the E-string. Take care to pull parallel to the curve of the fingerboard under the E-string. The opposite would be to pull the E-string up and away from the finger board. On student basses where setup (bridge height, fingerboard scoop and fingerboard curvature) is not optimal, you may have difficulty plucking the E-string w/o it hitting the finger board. Have your teacher take a look at your bass — you might be able to nudge the bridge towards the E side f-hole, and/or raise the bridge a bit if you have adjusters. Good luck!

Comment on New Carvin Icon5W Electric Bass by admin

admin — Sun, 06 May 2012 20:25:04 +0000

You may still need to get a new nut but I would try the strings first. As far as the top B string, a slightly heavier C string seems it would work. Check out the Circle K brand of electric bass strings – they do a lot of different gauges. The whole process should be really easy – regular 5 string->possible new nut->correctly gauged strings->happy musician.

Comment on New Carvin Icon5W Electric Bass by Bill Berry

Bill Berry — Sun, 06 May 2012 15:42:45 +0000

Thanks for the info. I agree, but when I got my six-string, I was taking lessons from a great guitarist (Warren Nunes) who convinced me to try the more guitar-like B tuning on the C-string. At this point, I don’t think I can go back…

Comment on New Carvin Icon5W Electric Bass by admin

admin — Sat, 05 May 2012 17:22:16 +0000

Usually people who want a five string with a higher string tune it to C. This is fairly common. You may have to get a new nut carved if there is too much space with the lighter gauge strings. But I would just order a set from http://www.bassstringsonline.com and string it up.