clifford_bao_777's forum posts 274

For an all-around genre type of bass, I've been playing a 2019 Washburn T-24 Taurus for Rock/Metal/Jazz/Funk/Prog./Grunge, etc. since I was 15 y.o., Perfectly ergonomic (Maybe 'cause I learned to play on it, but still...) and also a very attractive bass in an Alembic-esque kinda way, while still within a budget.

Only problem is:.. I don't think they've made them since 2019, so you'd probably only be able to get a used model off of Reverb .com or somewhere. I got mine new for around $750 or so.

Okay, without listening let me point out that Frank's console was a custom job...

Not to be a pain in the neck, but the effect is right there from the first few seconds, so no skipping needed.

So I've been collecting Effect pedals for about 6-7 years, and I've personally collected about 50 pedals or so.

That being said, I'm absolutly baffled as to what effect Frank Zappa is using in this track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zg19hjBuGq8

^Finally found this tune after hearing it about a year and a half ago, and not knowing the title of it...

I've heard a friend say that he's just "Plugging his guitar straight into the console..." whatever that implies. It sounds to me like some sort of envelope-filtery... thing, but much more 'harmonic' for lack of any better discription.

So... "What is it Batman?"

I might also chime in... SRV did actually use Marshall amps with his Fender amps, Marshalls for clean tone, Fenders for Overdive (backwards to how most people do it).

(Sorry for Guitar-nerding...)

I'm just going to pretend insted of "EVH" you said "The Beatles" (whom I'm not a fan of personally).

This video pretty much sums up how I feel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxrwjJHXPlQ

...The 2 finger walking method of bass is used in classical guitar for one line phrases because that's what's used for pizzicato 1 line phrases on all 4 instruments if the classical string section. That's where the jazz upright style comes from, it even spawned the term "walking bassline."

My attitude toward electric bass is that every technique from the string quartet and classical guitar is fair game...

I couldn't agree more on the "string quartet" idea, all the cello/contra-bass type stuff... As far as the more classical & flamenco influnces, I'm more interested in the techniques that specificlly interact well with heavier gauge Bass strings, flamenco could be helpful in addition to my Jeff Beck/Wes Montgomery style "thumbing" on electric guitar (when my thumb isn't cracked out), but as far as Bass strings, Rotosounds are a different animal, heh.

And if I were trying to get into the classical/flamenco style of guitar, I'd probably start off with Steve Howe of Yes, and Robbie Krieger of The Doors (Think like "Mood for a Day" and "Spanish Caravan" type stuff), and work on from there.

Clifford, if you don't mind me asking, what is it about 2-finger technique that isn't working for you?

There was never anything that wasn't "working" for me, it's just that I've been playing Bass with 3-fingers for the last 3 years (that sounds like a long time, but it took a f*** of a long time to integrate...), my ultimate goal is to basically play like Chris Squire of Yes, but without the Herco pick.

As far as the "Picks vs. Fingers" arguement, I always thought 'Why not both?'. John Entwistle of The Who used 3-Fingers in addition to a heavy Herco pick, perfect balance.

I've been thinking hard on this topic for the last 8 months or so, even to the point of studying 3-Finger Bassists & to further my own technique.

There just aren't that many videos that I've found on Youtube focused on 3-Finger Bass lessons, at least, not that many that I find useful anymore.

So far I've got:

John Entwistle

Stuart Hamm

John Myung

Billy Sheehan

Tim Commerford

Alex Webster

Sting (sometimes)

Matteo Mancuso (not Bass, but he plucks the same)

Can anybody else think of any other Bass Players that used the 3-Finger technique I should be looking into off the top of their heads?

Would probably be my first pedal ever, the EHX Green Russian Big Muff reissue, such a full, bassy, 'Wall-of-Sound' type Fuzz almost my whole Guitar/Bass sound has been shaped around it since the start.

For effects pedals (like for actual effect), probably the MXR Stereo Chorus (the big yellow box), one of the lushest, deepest chorus pedals I've found next to the EXH Small Clone.

I also have a Dunlop JD-4S Rotovibe that I only got recently, basically just a Uni-Vibe inside of a Wah pedal housing so you can adjust the speed with your foot, I use it to speed-adjust that churning, folding, pulsating feedback, kinda like Billy Corgan from the Smashing Pumpkins does.

Probably those three.

I've been playing bass with 3-fingers for about 2-1/2 or 3 years, I'm pretty comfortable with it by now, but I'm still looking to further embellish on my technique.

Was wondering if anybody could turn me on to some 3-fingerd players I don't know yet, I've already looked over Billy Sheehan, John Entwhistle, Frank Bello, Stuart Hamm, Tim Commerford, & John Myung.

Even would be willing to check out some Jazz/Funk bassists, even though that's not really my taste/playing style.

I've been thinking back a lot to this February, when I had a run-in at a guitar store... Nice place gotta say, they had one small room in the back with all of the more boutique-range guitars (you know, stuff I could never afford for my left ___...), I had already tried all the cheaper Fender/Squier trem-systems, just feeling the difference in action & smoothness. Walking in this room, it was mostly up-scale Gibsons and stuff.

Among those was a fancy white Gibson SG (probably a '61 LP/SG reissue), apon picking it up I noticed the trem-arm was oddly hinged but didn't think much of it. While playing it, I went to use the whammy, and quickly figured out it worked sideways...

I've been playing Bass & Guitar for about 5-years, so I've heard about the sideways-hinged Gibson Maestro Vibrolas, but I had never encountered one in the wild, so only being acquainted with the Fender in-'n'-out style trem-systems, this totally caught me off-guard in person.

So, a long while after leaving the store, I was looking around on amazon and... just can't really seem to find any trem-systems that haf the same design. Does anybody know of any top-mounted, side-hinged trem-systems that cost under $200?

Is it possible to delete submissions under "Gear Photos"?:

https://equipboard.com/gear_photos/20555#comments

Actually haven't listened to them at all yet... I started looking at gripped picks held sideways when I read Steve Morse did it on his 4-pickup Telecaster, with these "weird, old nylon picks made by dunlop" that he said they didn't make anymore (I just assumed Hercos). Also heard SRV held them sideways, but never seen or heard of him using a gripped pick (usually Fenders).

Morse mentioned in the interview, when he held the pick at an angle, he could get all these weird, scratchy sounds like sandpaper by letting the grip catch the unwound strings, that's kinda what peaked my interest.

Herco picks are about the best I've found for having a corse grip all the way to the edges.

Edit; found the interview too:

[Musicradar.com]: You still have a pick tucked underneath the tailpiece. Any significance to it?

[S.M.]: "That was one of probably two or three picks that I owned. These nylon Dunlop picks were hard to find. I played with the rounded edge, on the side, and they wore away very slowly. The reason I used the edge, especially with downstrokes, was that I could get some unusual sounds - it would kind of scrape the strings. It would pull a little bit, like a hint of sandpaper.

"I was funny about picks back then: I never changed them and I never gave them away. I had one spare pick and that was on the guitar."

A thought just struck me today, has anyone seen someone try to custom-make a Stratcaster out of Mahogany, and a Les Paul out of Alder for tone comparison?

Maybe custom-building the guitars from the normal woodtypes as well for a standard homemade comparison?

(Disclaimer: I know tonewood is the great un-ending Snakeoil arguement among the guitar player community, and that other things like picks & strings, or how the individual piece of wood formed in the wild, dictate more of the overall tone than the woodtype itself (kind of), I just wanted to ask is all.)

You've posted about accordion, the bodhran, converting a classical guitar to steel strings and now mandolin. Maybe pick 1 instrument and focus on it. Theres no way you're mastering all the typical folk/country instruments at once, kiddo. Just focus on one, then next year expand your repertoire.

Well, yes and no... While I do think it's important to sit-down, shut-up, and focus, I also think it's healthy to exparament with everything, especially when you're bored. So you do you man.

In other news, I've seen where Ernie Ball came out with Cobalt Flatwounds for guitar, happened a few weeks ago (I missed out on it until now somehow).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAUk4QcQQXM

Apparently, the higher output from the Cobalt makes them feel like flatwounds, but sound like roundwounds. They only got them in 9-42, 10-46, & 11-48 so far (I'm trying the 11-48s, I'll let you guys know how they turn out...).

I guess I should update this, being on how it's been 3 years since I last posted here...

Strat Scale-Length: 9-48 in E, 10-52 in D#, 11-54 in D, etc.

Les Paul Scale-Length: 10-54 in E, 11-56 in D#, 12-62 in D, etc.

Short-Scale Bass (30"): 40-110 in E, 45-115 in D#, 50-120 in D, etc.

Long-Scale Bass (34"): 35-100 in E, 40-105 in D#, 45-110 in D, etc.

(Gauges are kinda intended to be different variations of Skinny Top, Heavy Bottom setups.)

Lately I've been messing around with a set of 13-62s & 14-58s on a 24" scale Squier Mustang HT, trying to get a good, bright, blues tone. Also been messing around with a set of 65-115 Rotosound Tru Bass black nylon-coated strings on a 34" scale Bass trying to get a nice, mellow Standup-Bass-type sound. What's actually cool about the black nylon strings, is because they're coated, you don't get Nickel/Steel in your fingerprints, making them good for short bits of playing without needing to scrub the metal off your fingertips.

Another thing I like to do, I do with my Short-scale basses. I'll take the old strings off my Long-scale basses, cut the tuner-curled parts off, and see if there's still enough length to reach the top tuners of the Short-scale... if so, I get a second use, and save $20 - $30.

Lately I've been looking for Nylon guitar picks, about 1.0+mm, with a grip that goes all the way to the edge of the pick for playing with the pick's 'shoulders'.

I've found these picks so far, was wondering if you guys know any picks with similar grip designs:

Herdim Nylon 351 Picks

G&G Mel Bay Green Bullseye Picks

Herco Flex 75 Picks

Simply enough, if you're an Ernie Ball guy, I'd suggest EB Ultra Slinkys (10-48) or EB Turbo Slinkys (9.5-46), they even sell both in 3-packs.

Ultra Slinkys

Turbo Slinkys

Don't really like this guy, but I thought this was interesting enough to post being on how we all seemed to just forget about the whole shortage thing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og3OI4DI3Oc

We could also do this one while we're at it...

https://equipboard.com/items/guitar

B.T.W: I actually put up a Forum post on this subject more than a year ago:

https://equipboard.com/forums/general/topics/this-needs-deleted-6ccbc033-53f4-4429-9386-6b4753b3d2b4

Another idea I've had floating around for a while: What about adding manufacture dates to items? aswell making options for discontinuation/revival timelines (e.g. Fender Mustang: 1964–1982, 1990–present).

Another thing I've been thinking about is maybe we should add a few more categories for instruments, but not many, mainly Bass. I'm not talking anything too specific, I'm thinking like "Fretless Basses", "Extended Range Basses" (e.g. 5+ Strings), "Multi-Neck Guitars" (Guitar or Bass neutral category), and maybe "Extended-Range Acoustics" (not so much like 7-Strings as like 12-Strings).

Have no experience with the guitar strings, but I use the bass strings almost exclusivly. Ordered a set of Roto-Blacks (12-60) to put on my Mustang (24"in tuned to D) so I'll tell ya how that turns out.

Yeah I would also have to say Sadowsky.

Sometimes when I edit a photo, (say like in Paint 3D or something...) I might use rotate on the image while editing it, and once saved I'll find it with the same orientation as before the edit, so that leads me to wonder, are you editing the photo's orientation?

I personally found the previous formatting alot easier to navagate, aswell the previous item layout was about perfect (in my opinion), and if I had to make suggestions, I would say keep the old formatting but incorperate the new features (e.g. the "Hide incorrect submissions" switch, and perhaps the "Sort by" dropbox).

The Artist pages in particular are what's bugging me, everything else is fine.

Is the new formatting bugging anyone else?

Keep: https://equipboard.com/pros/alex-venturella

Delete: https://equipboard.com/pros/alessandro-venturella

Keep: https://equipboard.com/pros/shawn-clown-crahan

Delete: https://equipboard.com/pros/michael-shawn-crahan

Keep: https://equipboard.com/pros/barry-harwood

Delete: https://equipboard.com/pros/barry-lee-hardwood

I don't know how, but anyway heres four of the same guy:

Keep: https://equipboard.com/pros/james-shaffer

Delete: https://equipboard.com/pros/james-shaffer-munky

Delete: https://equipboard.com/pros/james-munky-shaffer

Delete: https://equipboard.com/pros/munky

Quick question: Do music videos fall under "Promotional" or "Studio"?

I'm an Ernie Ball guy, I use the Slinky series because they're all made of the same metal type and come in many different gauges, so if I'm trying to make a custom set the strings won't sound brighter/darker than eachother. I usually use heavier gauge strings, and I may have found the best set for my playing style about a week ago, Skinny-Top Beefy-Bottom Slinkys (10-54) on a short-scale Les Paul neck tuned to E. I'm looking for the best set for drop D on a short-scale now (No help required).

Except Gibson. Don't buy Gibson 'cause their guitars are overpriced as shit.

As much as I love Gibson and all, I'd have to agree.

What I hear is a Delay pedal and maybe a slight phase or chorus effect.

On a separate subject, what about adding manufacturing dates to items? basicly just introduction year, and production status (e.g. "Boss DS-1, 1978-Present").

Boardwiser - Beer of Geeks

"Smells like guitar polish. Tastes like guitar polish."

Late suggestion:

What about Borrowed/Rented gear? I belive I remember hearing some story about Alex Lifeson of Rush renting a Fender Strat to record an album when he didn't have the money to make the purchase, aswell I've seen many pictures/videos of band members swapping/using eachother's gear (e.g. a photo of Metallica's Bass player using their Guitarist's Flying V.) I think it might be useful as there are many examples of trading/swapping/borrowing across the board and rather than labeling incorrect what is otherwise a perfectly valid submission due to the fact that the wrong person has the item, we could include borrowed gear without it technically being incorrect.

Or have I misundersood and this is only a filter for usage and not ownership status?

So I belive you're looking for what these guys have? (Best shot 0:50 in)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIC7KQPDuDc