Playing the electric bass
Well, I had to switch to playing the bass guitar - just when I thought everything was going so well between my guitar(s) and effects. That's life, I guess.
The reason for the change is because the number of bassists in the church applying for time-off; the main reasons are wedding plans, part-time study, and business-trips. It's quite understandable since I will also be applying for time-off as well to settle all the stuff for my wedding. Anyway, I foresee that the change will be good since I will still be serving God with my current band (my bassist applied for time-off because he's studying part-time), and what better person to switch than a guitarist? Besides, it's a lot easier to find a willing guitarist than a bassist. Also, this will probably help me in the long run to be a better guitarist since I will be more focussed on what the drummer is doing, and learn how to groove.
Gear purchase
Anyway, my first gear would be the bass guitar. I had a lot of options due to the many bassists in the church who are upgrading. I tried to play with the Fender Jazz belonging to the church and somehow, it didn't fit me too well. I guess it's too different a feel compared to the guitar: the neck is too long, and the frets too big. I talked to Reginald, a bassist from the band A2J (Addicted to Jesus: our so-called "outreach" band) and got some tips. He recommended that I check out this ad from the Singtel classifieds. Apparently, a person is selling his Yamaha BBG5A for S$400 inclusive of the strap and gig-bag. It's a super deal, since the usual price is S$625 (without accessories). Even with the sale price, I would not expect the price to go below $500.
The specs for the Yamaha BBG5A are as follows: blue alder body with transparent maple top, 2 active humbucking pick-ups (with treble and bass boost), bolt-on maple neck with rosewood fingerboard. Pretty similar to the 4-string bass picture on the top of the page (except that mine is a 5-string). Yep, I got the bass after meeting this guy in Kembangan MRT...and Shuhui was wonderful enough to sponsor half the cost after seeing how happy I am with the purchase. Even my team was pretty happy with the sound - not as boomy as the others.
Next would be lessons, kinda important so that I do not pick up too many bad habits. I did a fair amount of research on the Web and found this website: Active Bass that included almost everything I need to know about the bass - including free lessons. I promptly printed out most of the lessons and started to learn from them. Additionally, I also bought books off the Web but they'll take about 3 months to arrive from the US. I also scouted for some videos and bought this set of 2 videos and 1 book called "Beginning Rock Bass by Tom Bogert". I have no idea who Tom Bogert but apparently he's a legend with this band called Vanilla Fudge (never heard of it). In fact, the most incredile thing happened: for Christmas 2000, Shuhui got me a gift of the John Patitucci video series for the Electric Bass. Excellent!
Vocabulary
It's pretty weird that the people that bassists associate with are so different from guitarists. When I was a guitarist, the names that are familiar to me were Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Eric Johnson, Tommy Emmanuel, and a few others from well-known bands such as Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones, Paul Gilbert from Mr. Big, Richie Sambora from Bon Jovi. At least I know the bands they're from.
For bassists, the bands are Bela Fleck and the Flecktones (Victor Wooten), Weather Report (Jaco Pastorius), Tower of Power (Rocco Prestia). About the only names I know is Stu Hamm who plays with Joe Satriani and Adam Clayton from U2. Very interesting - here goes another chunk of cash to buy CDs. Even the cool (expensive) brands are different - Aguilar, Sadowsky, Tobias, Kinal, etc.
Effects
Well, the bassist usually do not use effects. However, I'm using the BOSS compressor/sustainer left over from my days as a guitarist. Turns out that the sound is actually pretty cool. So, that will be the only effect I will have in my arsenal. Plus the fact that Shuhui won't be too happy if I keep on buying toys for myself :-)
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most recent update: Jan 3, 2001
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