Conference napalm::guitar

    Have you tried playing one of the latest 8 string basses. These
    are set up like a 12 string guitar in that there are 4 pairs of
    strings. How about some of the new 5 string or 6 string basses
    on the market. I would think that increasing the range of the
    instrument would add a lot more than simply going to a fretless.
    
    Simply switching from fretted to fretless will give you a diferant
    feel and sound, but may not open the door to a lot of new creativity.
    
    You may be able to buy a fretless neck that will work with your
    bass for cheap bucks. I would look into a Stewart Mac fretless
    neck. Chandler has some inexpensive necks and bodies. They may
    have a good fretless neck for small $$.
    
    Good luck,
    
    Mark Jacques
    
    

    
    You can have the frets removed and filled.  Basses sound much better
    when flesh is stopping the string rather than metal.   
    
    Of course, an upright would give you a lot more string...

    
    RE: .1
    
    I disagree.  Going fretless adds a rich set of subtle warm and sexy
    sounds.   Warm vibrato, sliding into and out of notes.
    
    In fact, it even becomes possible to play in tune.   It is not possible
    for a well tempered instrument to play in tune.  (Ex-play the 7th
    tone in a scale (the leading tone) closer to the tonic.  Really
    improves melodic passages.

    Mark mentioned having the frets removed. I have a Guild acoustic bass
    guitar (B-50) that I had custom made with the fret slots sawn and
    filled with black plastic binding, sanded smooth to the fretboard. The
    reason I did this is because it is sometimes very difficult to hear
    yourself well enough to get the intonation exact when playing in a
    group, and the fret marks provide me a point of reference in these
    situations. So I have the sound and look of a fretless (the black lines
    are almost invisible to anyone else but me against the rosewood), with
    the aid of fret lines. This would be any easy modification to any
    fretted bass.
    
    - Ram

    reply to note 931.1
    
    Thats a good idear!
    I have never heard of a 8 string bass that must be nice sounding
    plus Im not to fimilar with alot of the music stores where is this
    chandlers or do you know the number I could call and get some info
    on the neck.
    plus I have heard of the 5 and 6 string basses, infact I put a add
    in the music note but I havent been able to get in latley to see
    if there is any offers is that note down for some reason.
    
    
    
    thanx 
    Mad Dog   "country music lover"

    
    MacDuff's in Shrewsbury has a Hagstrom 8-string (used) hanging on
    the wall even as I type this....
    
    

    Chandler is the same company that markets the tube driver
    rack mount and floor model preamps. They sell inexpensive
    components (necks and bodies) for building instruments,
    ranging from fender clone parts to flying v bodies, and
    hockey stick necks. They advertise in GP, musician, guitar
    world, etc. Whether or not you can find one that will bolt
    onto a Peavey bass is unknown to me.
    
    Mark

    I own all three (4 string, 8 string and a fret-less).  I enjoy
    switching off between them.  My 4 string is a Rich 4001, 8 string
    is a Kramer with a stainless steel neck (forget the model number)
    and the newest addition is a BC Rich Warlock Fretless.  They all
    have their place.  The Warlock does have an incredably warm and
    kind of ouzzie sound to it.  The 8 string is kind of my personal
    favorite becasue of the fullness of the sound.  
    
    I will have all of them wired for stereo and run one channel though
    some effects the other straight into my Bassman head. 
    
    I have found the flexiablity stimulates my creativity a bit.
    

    This article really hit home with me.  I felt I'm having a lot of the
    same problems and some different ones.  I guess I'm tired of practicing
    scales and want to learn some applications to hold my interest.
    
    Mike
    
Newsgroups: rec.music.makers
Subject: Intermediate guitarist seeks advice
Date: 18 Aug 90 20:47:11 GMT
Organization: Digital Information Systems of Ky (DISK), Louisville, Ky
 
     Hi all.  I'm rather new to the group here (2 months) and have finally
decided to post concerning the problems I have playing guitar.  I've been
playing 2 years, practicing quite regularly, and enjoy guitar alot.  I'm
a "late blooming" player (started just before I turned 17) and live in
an area where it's "only cool if it sounds like the record."  I always
try shying away from the mainstrem stuff but lately all my stuff is sounding
the same.  I find myself relying on old licks I created rather than new ones
and have also discovered a few "mechanical flaws" in my playing.  I was hoping
sombody out in "net-land" could help me figure out my flaws (ezp jaz, because
after reading his article on the "Steve Vai" guy, I felt inspired to write
for help because I feel somewhat help needy myself).
 
Here we go..          
 
(These are things I know mixed with relavant things I don't)               
 
*  I know my 7 modes, 3 minor scales, and some "goofy scales" (Hungarian,
   Symetrical, etc) but when I try playing in a mode, it always wants to
   reside into Ionian (when playing Lydian and Mixolydian) or Aeolian
   (when playing Dorian or Phrygian).  I have better luck with the major
   modes than I do the minor
 
*  I know alot of chords, but when I'm "Jammin'" with buddies, I can't
   get any of them to work for me.  I stick with root-5th.  I KNOW other
   chords sound cool, but I can't whip them out within a proper context.
 
*  A can play scale-type licks pretty well, but when I start playing alot
   of "bluesier" stuff, I find it alot more difficult.  I KNOW this blues
   isn't much different, but I think my fingers are too used to
   playing a sequence of notes its hard to unprogram them into playing
   "the bluesier stuff."  Any suggestions?
 
*  I can play in time good rythmically and for slower soloing (about
   8th notes at 150 I'm good at).  But when I start speeding up to
   the 16th note stuff and higher while improvise soloing, I find
   myself sometimes slipping out of time.  I can recover ok from this,
   but why have to recover when I shouldn't falter in the first place.
 
*  I got solo's in my head but can't play them (this is probably because I
   have a hard time playing solos by ear).  I can usually get my main ideas   
   for songs working, however (I know, it doesn't make alot of sense).
 
*  Can pick good, can hammer/pull/tap good, but have trouble putting them
   together (if I start picking, its hard to throw in hammer/pulls/taps and
   vice versa).  Also, my sliding is somewhat shabby.
 
If I can solve all of these problems, maybe I can be the guitarist I wanna
be.  I hope I get a ton of replies to this (because I need a ton of help!).
Thanks in advance and post anything you find important publicly.

    
    
    
    	Mike, I got some good advice from my teacher about 6 months ago,
    and I'm much happier with my playing today as a result...  It was
    simple.. He told me to spend more time "taking apart" the stuff I knew
    well, ALONG WITH practicing my ass off on new stuff that was difficult.
    
    	Practices form me begin with technique and theory (the hard work
    for me) but end with me.. ohhhhh... taking apart a raised ninth chord
    and having a ball doing it.. many of the licks I'm using today are the
    result of finding something cool just outlining chords... or playing an
    old worn out scale but rearranging the notes...   Mikey!!  It's gotta
    be fun..  
    
    
    
    Steve

	I was blazing away on the modes, ripping down everything I came
	in contact with and starting to get dulled out by it all. Worst
	of it was that it still wasn't comming out when I go play with
	other people - I'd sorta numb out and just do routine stuff and
	try to stay in the pocket. What to do?

	I diagnosed myself as "rhythmically retarded" and bought a drum
	machine. Now I will not play in the house without turning on the
	drum or a metronome. I'm still working on neck/mode/chord studies
	but I gotta do it with the beat.

RE -.1

Yeah, "rhythmically retarded" ... I'm familiar with that.  One thing I've done
to help with the problem is to practice scale (or whatever) studies with 
different "feels".

For example, instead of practicing scales using regular 8th note or 16th note
patterns, I'll play 1,2,3,4,5,6 notes per beat (7 might be useful for some, but
I've never used it).  You'll probably find some of these real simple (1,2,4) 
and some a little weird (3,5,6).  You can also use other rhythmetic feels, 
such as shuffle and so forth.  It's probably impossible to do this accurately
without a metronome of some type.

This has helped me reduce the mechanical dependence between note selection 
and rhythm or phrasing.  You know, that feeling when you say, "Gee, I'd like
to play these notes, but it sure feels awkward"  It's also helped me "hear" 
different rhythmetic possibilities in a given situation while soloing.

steve