help....

felix'apprentice · Post by **felix'apprentice** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:36 am

ok so heres my deal. i used to be very into this baptist church - and was actually in bible college out of north carolina, but i DROPPED OUT because i wanna play music. and thats something i wasnt allowed to do there, it was all devil music

. so anyways, im really passionate about music, obviously cause i threw my whole life into a whirlwind when i dropped everything to go after it. i love playin guitar, so ive started this band. so we originally had everything filled but one members mother got luekemia and she cant do the band thing now, anyways. so we were out of a drum player, so our bass player says i will play drums, and i know a lead guitar player

- im supposed to play lead. ugh .. so heres my deal, for the sake of the band do i suck it up and play bass and do i say nah, we need to look for a bass player cause im playin lead. dont get me wrong, i like the bass, but i LOVE my strat lol. so heres the question .... BASS or LEAD?????

help me out here rockpagers!

- k a Y l a

DrumAndDestroy · Post by **DrumAndDestroy** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 2:13 am

if you don't mind taking the bass spot for a while...do it. you can buy a fender jazz bass if you like strats that much. you can take this time to get songs written and even play some gigs. keep the search open for a bass player so at some point you can switch back to guitar.

be patient...anyone here can tell you some of these things take time.

rickw · Post by **rickw** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 2:51 am

Didn't you say you started the band? Because you started a band you must have some goals that you would like to see the band achieve. Do what's in the best interest of achieving those goals.

VENTGtr · Post by **VENTGtr** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 1:39 pm

The big added upside of playing out is that it ups your chances of finding
someone at a show who either is, or knows, a bass player you can at least
contact.

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:35 pm

An advantage of learning and playing bass:
In the last PA Musician, there were 29 Musicians Wanted ads. 12 of them were for bassists wanted.
A good bassist is NEVER out of work. Everybody wants to be the flashy guitar hero or the frontman, but the bassist ties everything together. I'd rather hear a band with no lead guitarist than a band with no bassist.

If you feel led to pick up a bass, by all means, do it. Sometimes you have to go where fate and the music lead you. Few of us are exactly where we thought we'd be in this music thing... I started as a bassist in a speedmetal band and after playing hair metal, classic rock, country, honkytonk and blues, I'm playing dobro in a bluegrass band. Hell, how do you know you're not an awesome bass player until you try it?---?JMS

REDillon · Post by **REDillon** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 3:43 pm

Learn to play as many instruments as you can! You will be sought after for years to come. We lead singers are a dime a dozen, but a bass player is worth her/his weight in gold. When you get the band together and a kick ass set ready, give we Kitty Whippers a buzz. We'd love to have ya share a stage and a case of crabs....okay, I'l throw in some butter.

Ruschelle

DickShackBass · Post by **DickShackBass** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:21 pm

Play the bass. Its awesome.

Blue Reality · Post by **Blue Reality** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:35 pm

Songsmith is right. Anyone who plays a bass well, will never be out of work. I encourage a lot of my guitar students to play bass. So many want to be out front, but don't have the skills or determination to play well. If you can play lead guitar and bass, you just might be able to make a descent living in music.

felix'apprentice · Post by **felix'apprentice** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 5:30 pm

songsmith .. you said it right, i wanna be the flashy guitar hero..lol. but im gonna take one for the band here and play the bass. my only issue now is i have a fender squier bass - basically it just doesnt sound good, so i need to upgrade some stuff, anyone know where i could get a whole pickguard with hardware for a decent price and a decent sound? cause god knows i cant wire anything...thanks. looks like im spending my whole paycheck at the music emporium friday lol.

and it would be awesome to play with kitty whip, i do need to come check ya all out sometime.

and im not giving up on the lead guitar thing, i just love playing guitar way to much to put it down. my strat is like my child, you touch it and i will kill you

and my thinking is this. ...if this band thing doesnt pawn out, i will be able to find another band quicker cause i can play two instruments

thanks all!!!!!

- k a Y l a

moxham123 · Post by **moxham123** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:03 pm

When I was in my first band, I actually started out as a percussionist since I was a drummer, but I was learning to play guitar and became the 2nd guitar player in the band. One day, the bass player quit and I was automatically the bass player by default since the other guitar player was much better than me at chords and leads. That was one of the best things that could have happened to me. I have NEVER been out of work in 39 years of playing bass. If you become good at bass and also sing well, you will be highly in demand anywhere for any style of music.

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 6:45 pm

REDillon wrote: We'd love to have ya share a stage and a case of crabs....okay, I'l throw in some butter.

Ruschelle

Your posts always make me laugh!--->JMS

slackin@dabass · Post by **slackin@dabass** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 7:03 pm

hey i mean... i'm a drummer by choice but a bass player by force!!

nothing wrong with squire. just get some better pickups or whatever. seymour duncan quarter pounders. hot as fresh snot, but much better sounding than anything else. i put a set in my shitty first bass and the difference was like night and day. a set of pickups, some new tuners, your golden.

i mean... hey... i'd play it

RobTheDrummer · Post by **RobTheDrummer** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 8:14 pm

slackin@dabass wrote:hey i mean... i'm a drummer by choice but a bass player by force!!

nothing wrong with squire. just get some better pickups or whatever. seymour duncan quarter pounders. hot as fresh snot, but much better sounding than anything else. i put a set in my shitty first bass and the difference was like night and day. a set of pickups, some new tuners, your golden.

i mean... hey... i'd play it

You want me to pick up bass and you play the drums?

slackin@dabass · Post by **slackin@dabass** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:23 am

RobTheDrummer wrote:
slackin@dabass wrote:hey i mean... i'm a drummer by choice but a bass player by force!!

nothing wrong with squire. just get some better pickups or whatever. seymour duncan quarter pounders. hot as fresh snot, but much better sounding than anything else. i put a set in my shitty first bass and the difference was like night and day. a set of pickups, some new tuners, your golden.

i mean... hey... i'd play it

You want me to pick up bass and you play the drums?

oh yea, just make fun of me why don't you

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:09 pm

A few thoughts here...

First, don't throw away everything else in your life for music, especially if you are in the beginning stages of actually being a musician. Perhaps Bible college wasn't your bag, but I'd suggest developing some sort of other day gig career as you pursue music. I've seen some very talented musicians struggle between good music projects because they didn't have other skills outside of music that they could fall back on.

Next, keep in mind that bass is not just a guitar with four bigger strings. It is a different instrument with a different approach. Many guitar players make the switch, but they just end up sounding like guitar players playing bass. Also, if you decide to be a pizzicato player, then you'll have to develop your touch, which is something that many guitarists making the switch lack. I suggest spending a great deal of time both watching and listening to bass players to learn how they approach their instrument and the thing that seperates true bass players from guitar players just mucking around: The Pocket. I'm not slamming guitar players who wish to play bass here - Paul McCartney, a former guitarist, is one of my favorite cats on four strings - but I'm just saying that many don't successfully make the transistion for the reasons I stated above.

Next, what type of Squier are we talking here? Precision? Jazz Bass? Bronco? A Precision generally takes one split humbucking pickup. To upgrade that and staying with a passive design, you're looking at around $75. A Jazz takes two single-coils. You'll be looking at around an average of $100, though you may be looking at an average of around $200 if you go ultra high-end (e.g., Nordstrand, Lindy Fralin).

Lastly, if you think that it's guitar that has all of the flash, check out a few of my favorites players.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw8ytGHTbNc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaoJevgJC1Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuMLIHatC9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Q_J2fIKPI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYqQJALzygk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSdvqkwFj_s

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh6BB_rs5S4

JackANSI · Post by **JackANSI** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:50 pm

Forgot a few there Paul

John Patitucci
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1njgc ... g-ma_music

Richard Bona
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jjGvSIXzms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5JUnCveLTQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mO0gr2TIwg

Adam Nitti
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b13rwM2XPxQ

Steve Bailey (has some of the funniest Jaco stories on the planet I might add)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLJwGdC-hkE

Billy Sheehan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5omFFeLEXFE

lonewolf · Post by **lonewolf** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 2:59 pm

And another:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFrXpZ8mRZs

f.sciarrillo · Post by **f.sciarrillo** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:16 pm

I agree that there are lot of very good bass players out there.

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:43 pm

Did you mention Rocco Prestia from Tower of Power? The man's a monster.---->JMS

f.sciarrillo · Post by **f.sciarrillo** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 3:54 pm

What about Michael Manring and the dude from Yes. Not to mention Flea ...

felix'apprentice · Post by **felix'apprentice** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:27 pm

bassist_25 wrote:A few thoughts here...

First, don't throw away everything else in your life for music, especially if you are in the beginning stages of actually being a musician. Perhaps Bible college wasn't your bag, but I'd suggest developing some sort of other day gig career as you pursue music. I've seen some very talented musicians struggle between good music projects because they didn't have other skills outside of music that they could fall back on.

Next, keep in mind that bass is not just a guitar with four bigger strings. It is a different instrument with a different approach. Many guitar players make the switch, but they just end up sounding like guitar players playing bass. Also, if you decide to be a pizzicato player, then you'll have to develop your touch, which is something that many guitarists making the switch lack. I suggest spending a great deal of time both watching and listening to bass players to learn how they approach their instrument and the thing that seperates true bass players from guitar players just mucking around: The Pocket. I'm not slamming guitar players who wish to play bass here - Paul McCartney, a former guitarist, is one of my favorite cats on four strings - but I'm just saying that many don't successfully make the transistion for the reasons I stated above.

Next, what type of Squier are we talking here? Precision? Jazz Bass? Bronco? A Precision generally takes one split humbucking pickup. To upgrade that and staying with a passive design, you're looking at around $75. A Jazz takes two single-coils. You'll be looking at around an average of $100, though you may be looking at an average of around $200 if you go ultra high-end (e.g., Nordstrand, Lindy Fralin).

Lastly, if you think that it's guitar that has all of the flash, check out a few of my favorites players.

ya, i didnt quit my job and stuff like that. i just quit the church thing cause they wouldn't let me play anything but gospel music. i still work 50 hours plus a week, im not lookin to make millions of dollars on music, i just love to play. and no disrespect to bass players (i didnt mean it to sound like i was dissing anyone), i understand its a totally different instrument.

i dont know what style bass it is, its got two pick ups on it though, i do need to change them but i dont know how or where to get the right parts. ive seen some pretty good bass players and i totally admire them, cause just like any other amazing guitar player, they too spent tons of hours playing to be that good. anyways.

hopefullly my transistion from guitar to bass will go smoothly, i can play along with a few songs already. but we'll see how it goes.

*you get what you put in, and people get what they deserve*

- k a Y l a

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:35 pm

does it look like this

or like this

what does it say on the headstock?

felix'apprentice · Post by **felix'apprentice** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:40 pm

it looks like the second, it said squier p bass on it .. if i remember correctly - cause i took it apart and painted it lol.

MeYatch · Post by **MeYatch** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 4:51 pm

what kind of music are you playing?

Unlike the strat, the pickups in the P bass are mounted directly to the body, and not to the pickguard. So there are no prewired pickguards that I am aware of for bass.

Also, even with a pre-wired pickguard, you still have to solder the bridge wire on, so I'd just solder the pickup wires to the existing controls. Some people report a difference with adding higher quality potentiometers to a squier, I have serious doubts anyone would notice the difference. Unless they are noticibly bad, like scratchy sounding.

Here are some pretty cheap replacement pickups
http://store.guitarfetish.com/gfsbasspickups.html

I have no experience with them, but people say good things about the guitar pickups.

Pretty much any aftermarket pickup is going to be an improvement over the squier pickup.

I'm sure some people will be along later to offer reccomendations. The only replacement precision pickup I've ever installed is a Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounder pickup. I'm not really a huge fan. If you're planning on playing punk-rock maybe? I don't know, I'm not a big precision fan in general.

Also, for future reference the pickup in your bass is not 2 pickups, its 2 halves of one pickup.

You will never find one of the halves for sale or anything like that.

songsmith · Post by **songsmith** » Thu Jan 29, 2009 5:24 pm

If your Squier has the original strings on it (sometimes happens on beginner instruments) you'd get a major improvement by slapping on a new set. $20 or so. My first bass was short-scale Murphy Mart special that had super-old flatwounds on it... a new set of roundwounds made all the difference.--->JMS