What's on your mind?

[FatherAlabaster]

4 hours ago, Parker said:

Summer? Oh, yeah, the whole equatorial thing. 40? Oh, yeah, the whole different temp scale thing. 32 is literally freezing to me.

Anyway, I seem to be in a better mood today. Let's hope that lasts. At least this "in house arrest" has given me the chance to dig a whole bunch of new (to me) music, from Evil Blood (Croatia) to Vladimir Hirsch.

FatherAlabaster, I just noticed that you're in Lowell, MA. I'm in Douglas, MA. Small world.

Yup, we moved to Lowell about 6 months ago. I guess that puts us about an hour north of you? There are some really cool things about this place, but I haven't had a lot of time to spend getting acclimated yet. Mostly busy with family and music.

Did you want to post in that Pink Floyd thread? It shouldn't be a problem to open it back up.

[Parker]

Yes, I'd like to post in that PF thread. Everyone was shitting on that album so it would be nice to defend it.

[FatherAlabaster]

10 minutes ago, Parker said:

Yes, I'd like to post in that PF thread. Everyone was shitting on that album so it would be nice to defend it.

I think Relentless was the only one who actually heard it and disliked it, but, defend away.

[Parker]

10 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

I think Relentless was the only one who actually heard it and disliked it, but, defend away.

Thank you.

[DukeThylacine]

Yesterday, I went with my bassist friend to another town to buy that bass guitar I was talking about (Ibanez GSR 205, 5-stringer). Feels good man. Can't get it out of my hands xD
(can't share any pics because my phone camera is sh#tty)

The dude that sold me the bass had like 20 guitars hanged on the wall. Not sure if he's a collector or is re-selling xD
(although from what he spoke it sounded like he's a collector...)
Anyway, my friend and I tried the Hammer I originally wanted, but I quickly abandoned the though of buying it when he brought the Ibanez. Its sound was so much better than Hammer's. Even better thing is that the Ibanez is passive (although it said on the site it's an active one...his mistake in writing) and because of this he dropped the price down by 20 euros (payed 160 instead of 180 which was the price he put on the site).
Both my friend and I agreed that's it's a pretty good guitar; the only thing now I have to do is adjust the strings, because they're too close to the fret wires (if that's their name). Of course I wont do this by my own.

Now I've created a list of what I have to buy next: cable, strap, tuner, amp. The first 3 things aren't expensive, but I don't want to gamble with the amp and buy a used one. Instead I'm gonna save as much money needed and buy a new one.

Hope you peeps are doing OK

PS: I really didn't want to make this post a wall of text, but I always end up doing it 

[Parker]

What's the difference between passive and active? My amp has a passive or active switch on it and I don't know what to do with it.

[FatherAlabaster]

20 minutes ago, DukeThylacine said:

Yesterday, I went with my bassist friend to another town to buy that bass guitar I was talking about (Ibanez GSR 205, 5-stringer). Feels good man. Can't get it out of my hands xD
(can't share any pics because my phone camera is sh#tty)

The dude that sold me the bass had like 20 guitars hanged on the wall. Not sure if he's a collector or is re-selling xD
(although from what he spoke it sounded like he's a collector...)
Anyway, my friend and I tried the Hammer I originally wanted, but I quickly abandoned the though of buying it when he brought the Ibanez. Its sound was so much better than Hammer's. Even better thing is that the Ibanez is passive (although it said on the site it's an active one...his mistake in writing) and because of this he dropped the price down by 20 euros (payed 160 instead of 180 which was the price he put on the site).
Both my friend and I agreed that's it's a pretty good guitar; the only thing now I have to do is adjust the strings, because they're too close to the fret wires (if that's their name). Of course I wont do this by my own.

Now I've created a list of what I have to buy next: cable, strap, tuner, amp. The first 3 things aren't expensive, but I don't want to gamble with the amp and buy a used one. Instead I'm gonna save as much money needed and buy a new one.

Hope you peeps are doing OK

PS: I really didn't want to make this post a wall of text, but I always end up doing it 

Awesome news. Glad you like the bass, and that you got to try the other one, just to feel the difference.

I know I said this before, but I'd recommend a small practice amp to start, even a guitar amp will be fine. Just something to play through and learn. You should be able to pick one up for cheap. The good thing about that is, it won't put you out a ton of money, and you can always use it at home even if you wind up buying a larger amp and playing with other musicians.

5 minutes ago, Parker said:

What's the difference between passive and active? My amp has a passive or active switch on it and I don't know what to do with it.

Passive pickups are basically just electromagnets. Active pickups need batteries. They usually have higher output than passives, so an active/passive switch generally cuts the gain going into the amp to compensate for that.

[ChainsawAkimbo]

1 hour ago, DukeThylacine said:

Yesterday, I went with my bassist friend to another town to buy that bass guitar I was talking about (Ibanez GSR 205, 5-stringer). Feels good man. Can't get it out of my hands xD

Congrats on the bass, seems like it was a good choice.  

The string height especially on the bass is something thats really down to the player preference, some are super aggressive and need the strings pretty high, some prefer them really low. I´ve recently done an adjustment to my bass playing so that i can have the strings lower yet i can play much faster with just fingers.. i don´t use plectrum with a bass at all anymore, and i used to play 90% with that. Bass is a very cool instrument and a lot of fun if you dive into it more than just something "you gotta play a bit to get down some tracks" like it´s often for guitarists. I hope you have fun with it and keep on practicing.  

I personally wouldn´t recommend getting a guitar amp for bass, in lot of cases it´s perfectly fine but in some cases it can destroy the element in no time. Something like this will be super cheap, great for home practicing and if you ever feel like it you can use it with guitar too:

https://www.blackstaramps.com/uk/ranges/fly-bass

[DukeThylacine]

3 minutes ago, GrayscaleDawn said:

Congrats on the bass, seems like it was a good choice.  

The string height especially on the bass is something thats really down to the player preference, some are super aggressive and need the strings pretty high, some prefer them really low. I´ve recently done an adjustment to my bass playing so that i can have the strings lower yet i can play much faster with just fingers..

Thanks
I'd like to play faster, but fast or not I should really put them higher because right now the strings are basically licking the 1st and 2nd fret wire.

When it comes to amps I wont buy something huge. But first I'll collect money and then I'll see which one I'm gonna buy.
(of course I'll probably seek help here xD)

[Parker]

I should really get back into practicing my bass. Haven't touched it in months (years?). I got discouraged when my friend pawned my bass for H. I was mad at him at the time, now I just mourn him and miss him. Would give 100 basses to have him back. I do still have an old bass that needs rewiring (might as well just get a new one though) that I can practice on.

[ChainsawAkimbo]

10 minutes ago, DukeThylacine said:

Thanks
I'd like to play faster, but fast or not I should really put them higher because right now the strings are basically licking the 1st and 2nd fret wire.

When it comes to amps I wont buy something huge. But first I'll collect money and then I'll see which one I'm gonna buy.
(of course I'll probably seek help here xD)

Oh no i didn´t mean it like that, usually playing faster and more aggressive will require bit higher strings.. you mentioning it just got me going on a jibba jabba spree about my recent bass endeavours and what i´ve done to adjust my play style. You do whatever suites you m8, and indeed if the strings are buzzing it´s not good. Might of course be that the frets need leveling, or one or two frets need a bit of tapping in too. But i´m sure whoever you bring it to can see to that.  

7 minutes ago, Parker said:

I should really get back into practicing my bass. Haven't touched it in months (years?). I got discouraged when my friend pawned my bass for H. I was mad at him at the time, now I just mourn him and miss him. Would give 100 basses to have him back. I do still have an old bass that needs rewiring (might as well just get a new one though) that I can practice on.

Fixing guitar/bass electronics is actually quite easy to do, and if you have some basic soldering skills you are set. It´s actually quite fun to do a little project like that when the mood hits. Sorry about your friend.. I was talking to a friend about some issues the other day.. and he gave me the best advice ever. He just said "write a song about it!". That got me in to the mood for actually drawing inspiration from things that would usuall hold me back. Anyway.. i hope you find your inspiration too. Music is extremely therapeutic.

Talking about electronics and project.. i finished my Squier strat project that i basically swapped all the parts except body and neck, did a bit of painting and swapped the electronics. It has 2 humbuckers now with a 3-way switch and volume pot. Got rid of the tone entirely. It´s my best sounding guitar and i´m very happy with the result.  

[FatherAlabaster]

8 minutes ago, GrayscaleDawn said:

Congrats on the bass, seems like it was a good choice.  

The string height especially on the bass is something thats really down to the player preference, some are super aggressive and need the strings pretty high, some prefer them really low. I´ve recently done an adjustment to my bass playing so that i can have the strings lower yet i can play much faster with just fingers.. i don´t use plectrum with a bass at all anymore, and i used to play 90% with that. Bass is a very cool instrument and a lot of fun if you dive into it more than just something "you gotta play a bit to get down some tracks" like it´s often for guitarists. I hope you have fun with it and keep on practicing.  

I personally wouldn´t recommend getting a guitar amp for bass, in lot of cases it´s perfectly fine but in some cases it can destroy the element in to time. Something like this will be super cheap, great for home practicing and if you ever feel like it you can use it with guitar too:

https://www.blackstaramps.com/uk/ranges/fly-bass

Blackstar makes some good-sounding stuff, and that amp looks pretty cool. I do think an old guitar practice amp would be fine to get started, if it's something that he could find for cheap, and I doubt there's any risk of damage at low volumes. For that matter, I've seen several bassists use a guitar amp in their rigs for the mid-highs. Definitely wouldn't gig with guitar speakers trying to carry all of the bass frequencies.

I like my action pretty high, and I usually play with a pick; my stuff nearly always sounds best when I beat the crap out of my strings. Wish good strings weren't so expensive!

[ChainsawAkimbo]

3 minutes ago, FatherAlabaster said:

Blackstar makes some good-sounding stuff, and that amp looks pretty cool. I do think an old guitar practice amp would be fine to get started, if it's something that he could find for cheap, and I doubt there's any risk of damage at low volumes. For that matter, I've seen several bassists use a guitar amp in their rigs for the mid-highs. Definitely wouldn't gig with guitar speakers trying to carry all of the bass frequencies.

I like my action pretty high, and I usually play with a pick; my stuff nearly always sounds best when I beat the crap out of my strings. Wish good strings weren't so expensive!

I´ve been meaning to get the guitar version of that blackstar amp, it´s only something like 50€ and should be the absolute king of the minisize amps.  The reason why i have swapped from pick to fingers with the bass was simply i wanted to extend my tone options, and get more out of the bass. I used pick because as a guitarist it was the easiest route to speed with the bass. It´s an instrument with a lot of depth if you really get into it. For over 20 years i just treated the bass as something that i need to record some songs, and that was about it. Best part of music is there is literally no limit when you wish to learn new stuff and develope yourself. The other great part is that there propably ain´t 2 players who are exactly the same, theres always some personal preferences and so many different ways to go about it.  

[deathstorm]

The weather is today is warm in the 60s tomorrow snow  wacky weather two days away from the wrestling show in asbury park

[Parker]

I've waited all week to get the car back from the shop tomorrow. As deathstorm said, it will be snowing all day tomorrow. I won't be going anywhere. I know, it's just one more day, but that's what I kept telling myself yesterday. Further proof (as if any more was needed) that god hates me. 

[Parker]

Sorry to post twice in a row, but I'm bored as hell.

There are a lot of sites that will convert youtube videos into mp3 format. Does anyone know if this is legal in the U.S.?

[FatherAlabaster]

Almost completely sure that's not legal. Plus the sound quality would be crap. There is some pretty cool and obscure stuff on YouTube that's hard to find elsewhere, I understand the temptation.

[RelentlessOblivion]

Stupidly hot again today and the air con literally only works in one room at a time. Two weeks now we've been complaining and nothing's being done.

[Parker]

I pity you. It's nice and cold here in The Peoples Necrocratic Republic of New England.

[Natassja]

I can't handle the heat.

[Parker]

1 hour ago, natassja7 said:

I can't handle the heat.

Me neither. I'd rather shiver than sweat any day.

[RelentlessOblivion]

I actually prefer the heat more often then not. This though is just too much. The tar patchwork on our street is melting it's that hot.

[Natassja]

In bed cramping like fuck..guys have it eassyyy... lol

[Parker]

Hey guys, sorry if it seems like I'm stalking the forum and posting/replying too much or to often. This is day six of my confinement and as I recently deactivated my Facebook account I find this place an entertaining site to socialize on. Let me know if it gets annoying. Sorry.

[ChainsawAkimbo]

Just now, Parker said:

Hey guys, sorry if it seems like I'm stalking the forum and posting/replying too much or to often. This is day six of my confinement and as I recently deactivated my Facebook account I find this place an entertaining site to socialize on. Let me know if it gets annoying. Sorry.

I´ve been enjoying the raised activity levels around here, i´m sure others too. Seems like things have gotten bit more busy and it´s not just you. Could be that i´ve been visiting here only 1-2 times a day so it only seems like that to me though.