Tag: bass

Senior ELK Plays Bass on YouTube

My favorite YouTubers are ELKs: they are enthusiastic, likeable, and knowledgeable. Many of them are young, but youth is not necessary. Today’s ELK is even older than I am.

Leland Sklar has been a professional bass guitar player for over fifty years. Wikipedia lists some of the hundreds of artists he’s worked with, and projects he has worked on.

Leland’s YouTube channel is wonderful. My favorite videos are those in which he plays along with tracks, as well as talking about the people and songs involved. Today, Leland went way back, with a recording (and play-along) of a rehearsal featuring James Taylor and Carole King.

Leland is a great musician. He’s also a warm and compassionate person. Today’s video shows all of that, along with his impressive white beard.

Changing of the Bass

I haven’t played bass guitar much recently. The acoustic bass that was right for me when I bought it a couple of years ago ceased to be right for me when I had problems with my right arm (not due to playing the bass). It was just too thick.

So I decided to switch to electric bass, with the constraint that I should be able to get an electric for about the same price as I could get for my acoustic. That was less than $200: my Ibanez acoustic retails new for $250, and may occasionally go on sale for less than that.

I sold my acoustic through Craigslist, asking and getting $180. I’m pleased with that: it’s a fair price, the instrument being in excellent condition; I didn’t have to cave in to lowballers; the buyer came to my house with cash in hand; and he hosts music nights for friends, so the bass will be in good company.

I bought a Yamaha TRBX174EW Mango for a cent less than that: well, a little more than that, thanks to Rhode Island taxes. But the price was lower than usual, since Musician’s Friend had a 20% off “Rocktober” deal, and free shipping.

So I’m looking forward to a more compact bass that I can play comfortably. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Bass: Electrifying

I bought an acoustic bass guitar, rather than an electric, in part because that meant I wouldn’t need an amp right away.

I bought an amp today. I went back to Guitar Center in order to: try a few amps; make sure that the electric components of my acoustic electric bass (AEB) actually work; buy an amp if it seemed like a good idea after trying a few; try out a few electric basses, since I suspect I’ll get an electric at some point.

I did try a few amps, my bass played just fine through them, and I did buy one of the amps I tried. It was a second hand Acoustic B15 15W Bass Combo Amp. By the way, the link is to Guitar Center. It’s not an affiliate link, so I don’t get anything out of it, but I did spend a while in the bass room of the the North Attleboro store trying stuff out.

A 15W bass amp can prevent an acoustic bass being drowned out by an acoustic guitar or two. It can annoy immediate neighbors, but not the whole neighborhood. It is an example of a “practice amp”: it can be used by an electric bass player for practice, but is not powerful enough for performance anything but the smallest and quietest of venues and ensembles.

I did play a few electric basses through the amp I was about to purchase. They are a lot smaller, and in particular slimmer, than the acoustic I have. Short scale electric basses seem tiny; I didn’t try any of them.

If I’d bought any of the electric basses I tried, it would have been the $200 Yamaha. I wasn’t able to play a similarly-priced Squier bass. I did try a couple of Squiers in the used and dinged categories. I don’t think that a P-bass neck is for me.

After trying the electric and before buying the amp, I plugged in my AEG again. I was nervous about doing so. Would my visit to the electric wonderland show me that I should have got an electric bass and an amp in the first place?

I’m glad to say that I like the sound of my AEB at least as much as that of any of the electrics I tried. It also felt good to play after the slimmer electrics.

My time in Guitar Center was well and enjoyably spent. I know not everyone likes the chain, but I appreciate being able to try out a variety of instruments and equipment. Similarly, not everyone likes acoustic bass guitars. Not everyone likes to buy used gear. I felt more confident buying a used amp than I would buying a used instrument: a solid state amp has very few moving parts to go wrong.

Thanks for reading this far. Even more thanks if you comment.

About That Bass

What do I need to learn bass guitar? A bass, obviously. But what kind of bass? And what else?

I asked myself those questions a month or two ago. How about an acoustic bass guitar? That would mean that I didn’t need an amp. I could spend almost all my first burst of money on the bass itself. At least as important, an acoustic would be consistent with my musical tastes, which tend toward the folky.

I went with an Ibanez AEB5E from Guitar Center. Guitar Center allows trying before buying, and there is a branch in Rhode Island, little though my new home state is. There’s also a branch in nearby North Attleboro, Massachusetts.

AEB stands for Acoustic Electric Bass. The E means that the instrument can be plugged into a bass amp: it incorporates a pickup and preamp.

All I needed, apart from the bass itself, was a means of learning bass. I went with a book: yes, one of those old-fashioned things printed on paper. To be specific, I got the Hal Leonard book.

Now, I should stop posting and resume practicing. More about the bass in future posts…