108 Days of Practice Wrap-up

And so...

...my "108 Days of Practice" adventure has finally come to the same end as Monty Python's Norwegian Blue parrot, which:

Has passed on 

Is no more
Has ceased to be 

Gone on to meet its maker 

Bereft of life 

Pushing up the daisies 

Metabolic processes are now history 

It's off the twig 

Kicked the bucket 

Shuffled off it's mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding' choir invisible!

To be honest, it has been dead for quite some time, having been nailed to the perch so to speak.  

Looking back, I learned some great Duck Dunn tunes, along with a few others.  Also got to put some honest practice time on a 5-string bass-- a first for me.  

Looking forward, I will try another practice challenge, but shorter in length and with a partner to keep each other on track.  

In the meantime, our music-room needs remodeling, along with several other projects around the house, and I still have Sunday service to keep my bass chops up for, so...

...stay tuned, and in tune!

Gear Review: Fender Rumble Version 3

Convenience has become an obstacle in my 108 Days of Practice adventure.  

A great sounding practice rig, and lovely space

My main practice rig is fairly large; it consists of my main amp, a powered monitor and a Mac laptop.  As such, it remains in my practice room.  It is true, I can move it from room to room, but the setup requires a lot of space-- and frankly, I hate moving the entire rig up and down stairs. 

Boss TU-88 is a great alternative
 for silent practice

My alternative practice rig is much easier to move around, but is limited to playing though headphones.  It consists of a Boss TU-88 Micro Monitor & Tuner, laptop, and headphones.  This is a great setup for playing though headphones, though it is limited to sitting in one spot and using something to keep the light-weight Boss unit in place; stand up to stretch and the unit goes with you...

So what to do?  Use the above excuses as reasons not to practice?  Admittedly, that is exactly what I have done over the last few weeks when skipping practice. Granted, I still got in some good practice sessions, but not quite every day as the project requires... more like every other third day.  

Sweetwater to the rescue!

While taking an honest look at my practice habits last week, I logged on to my favorite on-line retailer to explore items that would address my reasons for skipping practice, thereby enabling me to practice more often.  After an hour or so, I narrowed my search to something that is easy to carry from room to room, with a built in speaker, headphone jack, and auxiliary input; and one rather important feature-- it must be under $100.  All of which pointed to a small practice amp, though most were outside my price range, or starter amps that are just too cheap to bother with.

Then there was one!

First test-run of the amp with my G&L LB-100

Two actually; Fender's third generation Rumble bass amps in 15 and 25 watts.  The Rumble 25 was only about $20 more expensive than the 15, and considering the 25 was still within my budget I placed my order.  My hope was this little practice amp would be light enough to easily move around the house, heavy enough to remain in place when I want to stand while practicing, handle input from my laptop, or iPhone, and sound good though the speaker or headphones.  Photos of the amp suggest that leaving it in our living room would also be a welcome option as it is very easy on the eyes.  Reviews on-line were overwhelmingly positive, so I had high hopes for this little Chinese made amp.  Five days later it arrived.

Sound Test

As soon as the amp arrived I grabbed my favorite bass and plugged in; mainly to make sure nothing was damaged from shipping.  At first I intended to spend a few minutes going through the controls just to make sure everything was good.  Surprised at how good this little amp sounded, I ended up spending the next two hours playing though this little box of tone.  Part of the initial getting acquainted period was fiddling with the knobs and the two switches.  

Everything I require in a practice amp

Controls are simple: volume, bass, mid, treble.  As is my starting point, I ended up leaving all at their center detent except the volume, which I set to roughly 25%.  The tone is classic Fender, and loud enough to fill our living room.  The two switches (buttons, to be precise)  are "overdrive," and "contour."  The first does what one would expect, which never really appealed to me.  "Contour" seems to scoop out the midrange; again, a feature that I could happily do without. 

Metronome, iPod, headphones, and a great sounding speaker!

Surprisingly, the Rumble's eight-inch speaker sounds much bigger than it is.  Turn the volume up to half and the house is rocking!  This would be a wonderful amp for acoustic jams-- it is very light-weight (about 20 pounds), sounds terrific and can really wail.  This is primarily a practice amp though, and as such it really shines.  The aux input allows for playing along with an iPod, or a metronome as I have been doing a lot lately.  Unlike some practice amps that have trouble reproducing songs from an iPod, this amp handles it with ease.  Add my bass to the mix, and both sounds come out wonderful-- exactly what I was looking for in a practice tool.

Sounds just as good as it looks!

Aesthetically it is a vintage, simple look that either appeals to you or not.  Personally I really like it; more importantly so does my wife, which is a real blessing!   Because she likes it, the amp is welcome to reside in our living room, making it easy for me to plug in without the bother of moving around a lot of gear.  

Since its arrival last week, I have played the heck out of the Rumble.  Will this little wonder of an amp encourage me to practice more often? We will have to wait and see.  In the meantime...

...stay tuned & in tune!

Gear Review: Carvin Guitars "Ultimate Soft Case"

Those of you who know me, already know that I really don't care for the old hardshell cases.  Soft-cases are far and away my preference.  As a result, I've owned several versions that are on the market today.  

While I've yet to find the "perfect one," I do have a few favorites: the Reunion Blues Continental, and the iGig G525.

Kiesel/Carvin have had their own model on the market for several years; known as the Ultimate Soft Case.  Now that I have a few months of real-world use on mine, I thought I'd share my thoughts here.

L: RB Continental. R: Carvin USC

To begin with, I really like the Carvin soft case.  Possibly the most notable characteristic of the Ultimate Soft Case (USC) is the relative slim size of the soft case.  Especially compared to the RB Continental.

Next, the second most notable feature of the case is the large "Carvin" label on the front.  The company is predominately Kiesel now, and on 19 September Jeff Kiesel will no longer refer to it as "Kiesel Guitars, Carvin Guitars."  So why the big Carvin logo on the case of a Kiesel bass?  Perhaps this will change as old Carvin stock is phased out for new, Kiesel branded items.  

Padded handles are similar between the two, with the Carvin (as it's branded) being significantly smaller than the RB, though far better than most soft-cases which are simply nylon straps.  

Please keep in mind that this is not intended to be a comparison of the two-- I am only using the RB as a point of reference as most bassists are familiar with the RB-- with no intention of declaring one better than the other...

Something that I'm not especially fond of is the limited end-pin protective padding at the bottom of the case.  Kiesel's large, standard endpins-- and more so the Dunlop strap locks-- really work their way into the padding after a month or so.  Granted, they have added a rectangular rubber foot to the outer portion of the cases bottom... which is better than nothing, but not as good as it could be.


I've chosen to deal with this by changing the standard Kiesel end-pin with a smaller, more strap-friendly G&L version that I had in my parts box.  Must say however, kudos to Kiesel for improving the quality of the screw used to secure their end-pin.  In days past it was a very small, flimsy little thing; now it's a screw slightly larger than that which accompanies the Dunlop strap locks, or G&L.

 Something that left me scratching my head is the placement of the nylon patch found on the lower interior, intended to protect the case from sharp portions of the instruments bridge.  It comes nowhere near the bridge.  Looking photos posted by others reveals the same thing-- it's useless for just about every instrument intended to fit this case.  To overcome this, I rest a polishing cloth over the bridge.  Doing so not only protects the case, but reminds me to wipe the bass down before stowing it. 

Protection for the headstock is excellent!  Not only is the neck supported by a pillow that also keeps the neck positioned properly, but there is an extra section of thick padding at the top, should the top of the case impact something when carried by its handle; something I've done on several occasions when my hands are full trying to squeeze past people congregating near a doorway.


Finally, the shoulder straps on the back can be secured nicely by tightening up the ends as well as a chest strap.  This makes the straps less likely to snag on something when loading/unloading, or when walking through crowded areas such as a subway station, or after a church service.

Overall, it's a great case.  Not perfect, but again I have yet to find that one.  Is it better than the G&G hard case?  Well, that's a matter of preference, but I believe it is far superior in most situations.  

That's not to say the G&G is a bad case-- it's among the best available for those who like hard cases.  Kiesel has updated them slightly as well; the old style raised metal logo historically fixed to the face of the case has been replaced by a Kiesel Guitars badge underneath the handle.  A classy touch.

The Ultimate Soft Case is going to be my choice for all future Kiesel builds, however that big, bold "Carvin" logo would keep me from buying one for a non-Kiesel basses.  That may be overly OCD of me, which is okay-- I've got several other soft cases to protect those basses.

For my review of the Vanquish bass that came with this case, check out the post, "Kiesel Guitars Vanquish V49K."

Stay tuned & in tune!

108 Days of Practice: 10 Weeks In...

Excuses, excuses...

As I've written about before, it's been really tough to practice on a daily basis and there have been spells of non-practice.  

Such as it was during the last few weeks.  We are in the middle of a remodeling project on our home, and it has consumed most of my time.

The time I did spend practicing were mostly in preparation for our Sunday morning worship the last few weekends.  Two weeks ago I took along my new G&L 5-string for its first time on stage.  Having used it in my practice sessions prior to that Sunday, I was feeling pretty comfortable with that additional string and significantly wider neck.  It turned out that I wasn't quite ready.  

A's become E's... practice, practice, practice

Being a visual learner, that 5th string kept tripping me up.  This problem was not about me actually looking at the fingerboard, rather I have a mental image of the fingerboard and that guides where my fingers rest.  There were several times I was thinking "A" (5th fret, E-string) but ended up playing the "E" on the B-string.  That disconnect between my brain and fingers continued throughout our set, but not enough to be a distraction.  It was however, enough for me to sideline the hotrod 5-string for a while longer-- just until I can reprogram my mental visualization to include separate "maps" for each type of bass.  

Sunday morning rehearsal with the Roadrunner

For last Sunday's worship set I used my Plum-Crazy G&L LB-100, which is a P-bass type four-string.  Having missed several days of practice-- including our weekday rehearsal due to the work on our house-- I was far less prepared than usual, so having a four-string that I'm comfortable on was exactly what I needed.  Unlike the week before, I could now focus my attention on making music and timing.  Now, I still enjoy my five-string-- I just need to spend a little more time with it before bringing it out again on Sunday morning.  

My Plum Crazy G&L Roadrunner

Last time I mentioned that Queen had been on my radio quite a bit lately, and that I wanted to add a few of their songs to my repertoire.  Because their 1980 classic "Dragon Attach" had been stuck in my head for days, I squeezed some practice time into my schedule to work on the song.  So far I have down the main riff and the baseline during the guitar solo.  The bass solo is very close to the main riff, so I'm not far from having it down.

Duck Dunn remains at the top of my practice routine.  Having the notes of Green Onions down, I have since been working on his approach to the song.  Listen to the recording, then the 1962 live version and you will notice there is more "bounce" to the live version.  That bounce is still there in the recording, but less noticeable.   There is also an interesting timing which I noticed missing in my playing, though I am getting better at it as I keep chipping away at the tune.

Moving forward with my 108 Days of Practice, I am going to try changing my approach a bit.  In a recent Q&A video with Jeff Kiesel (the first from Kiesel's new factory), Jeff mentions that  Greg Howe suggests practicing for shorter times, and more often, opposed to long practice sessions once or twice a week.  For example, 15-minutes in the morning, 15-minutes in the afternoon, and another 15-minutes in the evening.  By adopting this to those days where I am busier than normal, my hope is that I will be able to be more consistent with my daily practicing.  To find out if this approach works for me...

...stay tuned & in tune!

Gear Review: Kiesel Guitars Vanquish V49K

In late 2013/early 2014, Jeff Kiesel of Carvin Guitars (now Kiesel Guitars) released photos of a prototype instrument that would later become a production model called the, "Vanquish Bass" in April 2014.

Prototype Vanquish Bass

Fast forward two years; April 2016, I was finally in a position to place my order for my very own Vanquish-- a graduation gift from my loving wife as I was wrapping up my masters degree.  Happy day!!

Five-weeks later it arrived, thanks to my salesperson's special effort to get the instrument to me in time for graduation. 






Here are the specs I ordered:
- Light-weight ash body
- Antique ash treatment
- Satin/matt finish

- Aqua (non-burst) finish

- Matching headstock
- Maple neck

- Birdseye maple fingerboard
- Abalone dot inlays
- Luminlay side-dots

- Stainless steel frets
- Black Kiesel logo
- Dunlop Straplocks

- .45 Dunlop Strings
- Ultimate Soft Case

It was a beautiful day when the bass was derived by FedEx, so I decided to take the  shipping box outside for the official un-boxing.  

In the mid-day sun the bass first looked to have the requested aqua non-burst finish.  However, when I brought it inside the finish is clearly an aqua-burst.  During the 10-day trial I really struggled with the decision whether or not to send it back for a rebuild in the full aqua finish.  After spending time playing it, I realized I could not let this one go-- it really is an amazing instrument!

Sometimes color transitions in burst finishes are abrupt, which is not the case with this one; the colors seem to flow together seamlessly.  Underneath the aqua-burst is a treatment to the body wood Kiesel calls "Antique Ash Treatment."  Not to be confused with a distressed "relic" treatment such as those offered by Fender, it is a staining process that enhances the natural grain pattern which gives the wood grain an older ("antique") appearance. 

A few updates to the model were instituted between the time it was released and when mine was built-- the most obvious being the neck heal.  Its old four-bolt neck plate has been replaced by five countersunk bolts on a beveled neck heal-- much like Kiesel's new "Aries" model guitar.  This particular update included an official switch of the bass's Carvin designation to Kiesel; a move that has been fairly common in their catalog during the guitar companies transition back to its original name.  A non-visible update is the inclusion of dual carbon fiber reinforcing rods in the neck.  

2016 Master of Public Administration graduate!

Admiring the aqua-burst finish and grain pattern in the bass is one thing; playing the bass is another-- and this one is a joy to play.  Its light-weight ash body is just heavy enough to offset the neck so it balances very nicely when playing it resting on my leg.  On the strap it sits right where I set it without any neck-dive.  This feature alone is a welcome improvement over some of my other favorite basses.  Reading about the pickups radiused profile to match the 14" fingerboard at first seemed like just another marketing jingle.  However, these really do make finger-style playing more comfortable as each string sits an equal distance above the pickup.  It is a feature that I wish more pickup manufactures would use; you don't know what your missing until you play one with radiused pickups.

Tone report:

Birdseye maple with abalone 

Tone is such a subjective thing, I won't spend a lot of effort describing it.  Pickups are humbuckers and the electronics are 18-volt active.  It does include passive mode capability by pulling up on the volume knob.  Because I prefer to keep things simple, active basses never much appealed to me.  This bass again changed my perspective about active electronics.  Its preamp is very useable even for a simple guy like myself.  Other than the volume, each knob has a position detent that I really like on active basses.  

In action a week after delivery

Usually on basses with two pickups, I rarely (almost never) use the bridge pickup on its own.  This is the first bass with a bridge pickup I like on its own; it retains enough bottom end that I expect to hear from a bass along with added tremble that makes it sound unique from the neck pickup.  Together the pickups have the growl of a Jazz, with the wider fullness of humbuckers.  In cases where the neck pickup alone sounds too big, the blend knob actually works to balance things out-- this has become my favorite setting.  Another important thing about the pickups is that the volume level remains the same in both active and passive mode.  My only complaint with passive mode, is that the only controls that work are the volume and blend; treble & bass do not.  This is not a major concern for me since I really enjoy using the preamp on this one.  However, it's always nice having a passive option for emergencies (i.e. dead batteries).

Factory action setting

String action is fantastic! Kiesel is now using Dunlop "Super Bright" strings which I really liked.  Wanting to experiment with other strings, I installed a set of DR "Pure Blues."  Surprisingly the new strings required me to adjust the truss rod a bit.  Surprising because I did not expect there to be much difference in tension between the two sets.  While I enjoy the DRs, I will be installing another set of Dunlop's because they had such a great feel.  Both sets sounded great on the Vanquish.

Luminlay in different lighting conditions

Another new option that is a mere $30 upgrade is the Luminlay side-dots.  These are glow in the dark markers that look like average side dots at first glance, but they glow when exposed to sunlight, or light from a cellphone camera.  At first I thought these might be a distraction, but I wanted to leave my comfort zone with this order and thought this would be a fun option.  There was no need for concern because these things are great and far from distracting.  The Luminlay option is something that I will include in all my future orders-- I like them that much.

New case logo

The bass arrived in a newly updated G&G Tolex case with a new Kiesel logo under the handle.  Even though my order specified the Ultimate Soft Case, the more expensive Tolex case is really nice.  After a quick call to my Kiesel salesperson the soft case was on its way to me free of charge.  Customer service at Kiesel is outstanding.  

Now, after several months of playing the Vanquish I have really become spoiled; the satin-finish neck feels great in the hand, the action is really low and without buzzing, fit & finish is outstanding, and its tone-- soooo nice!  Kiesel's Ultimate Soft Case is also a great upgrade to the traditional Tolex case, and since I am very fond of soft cases I wanted to do a separate review of that, so...

...stay tuned & in tune! 

108 Days: Green Onions and Other Tasty Morsels

Song #1 in my "ode to Duck Dunn" study:

Booker T and the M.G.'s are responsible not only for their backing of popular artists such as  Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, Albert King, and Wilson Pickett, but also for their own fantastic records.  Green Onions is one of the most popular R&B instrumentals ever.  

Duck Dunn actually had nothing to do with the writing of the song-- Lewie Sternberg was the original bassist.  However, Dunn was did play the song for many years along with his M.G.'s band mates.  And that is enough for me to include it in my studies.  Here is a great video of the band squeeing all they can from this 12-bar blues: 

Green Onions was the primary focus of my practice sessions for about a week.  By itself, it is pretty straight forward.  In its original record version the tune is a bit shorter-- short of 3-min, compared to the live version (above) at about 4:15. A different, more energetic vibe is present with the live version and as such it changes location of some accent notes.  It was helpful to first learn the recorded version, then with the foundation established learning the live version was much easier.  Again, it is a straight forward bass riff that repeats itself steadily during the course of the song-- and it is GREAT FUN to play!

My new practice space-- I now have a window!

When learning the tune I used the sunburst G&L SB1, though once I had it down I switched to my 5-string G&L JB.  Doing so was mainly to become more comfortable on the 5-string, and with a little tweaking of knobs on the bass and amp, I achieved a tone respectable enough for Green Onions.  

Because I am a visual learner, writing out tabs and notes for the song was a big help.  It also reminded me that learning to sight read music notation is something I need to include in my practice routine.  Tabs are great in conjunction with a recording, and a lot of practice, but music notation provides a visual account of the rhythm and duration of notes-- something I very much want to learn.  

The list of songs I want to dig into is long, and I keep adding to it; I think something from Otis Redding should be next in the queue-- perhaps "the Dock of the Bay... but then there are the Staple Singers, Sam & Dave...

...stay tuned & in tune!

Gear Update: Reunion Blues Continental & Aero Bass Cases

Sometime in 2015 one of my favorite soft cases received a few changes and updates.  Wanting to let folks know about the changes, and to address several questions I've received about the Reunion Blues Aero-- the time was right to do a few videos to cover the changes and updates.

For those interested, here are the original posts of each:

"Gig Bags that Rock! iGig & Reunion Blues"
Review of the RB Continental and iGig 525 (1 July 2015)

"Instrumental Protection for the Minimalist"
Review of the RB Aero case (1 Feb 2016)

Reunion Blues Continental Bass Case Model Updates:

Reunion Blues Aero Bass Case Update:

In the videos I mention using G&L basses and use them as a guide for the typical Jazz and Precision basses.  Knowing that the dimensions vary between manufactures-- and at times between specific instruments, here are the length dimensions of the basses mentioned (add approx. 1/4" for the strap button):

G&L JB4 = 46_1/4 inches (offset body: measured at furthest point)
G&L JB5 = 46_1/4" (offset body: measured at furthest point)
G&L SB1 = 45_3/4"
G&L LB100 = 45_3/4"
Music Man Stingray = 44_3/4"

Reunion Blues advertised internal length of each case:

- Aero = 47" (mine measured in at 46_1/2")
- Continental = 48.5" 
                   (my all black version measured 47_1/2")
                   (my blue trim version measured 47_3/4")

So there you have it.  Remember that the basses measurements are without the strap button, which will extend each by roughly 1/4"-- some of which will push into the bottom of the case, and give you a bit more room at the top, near the headstock.  

Changes to the Continental Bass Case have resulted in a fantastic case that is available at a lower price.  It is still a tick or two away from being perfect, with the iGig 525 being a close second-- it still remains my choice for a soft case.

Kiesel Guitars, the company formerly known as Carvin Guitars, have released their own soft case they have christened the "Ultimate Soft Case."  As fate would have it, one of their cases arrived at my door just a few months ago.  To learn what I think of it after spending some quality time together... 

...stay tuned & in tune!

Five Stringed Adventure: Long Live the Hot Rod!

Well this is news!

     My resistance to the B-strung world has ended.  What happened to provoke such a radical change of heart?  

     To celebrate completing grad school, my wife approved the purchase of a new bass, so I placed an order for a custom aqua-colored Kiesel Vanquish.  19 weeks and four failed order attempts later, I canceled it and asked for a refund, which processed on a Thursday.  The next day I discovered this photo on G&L's social media page: 

The photo was posted in July, and mentioned it was being shipped to the Bass Place in Peoria AZ.  Excited, I checked their website, only to discover it had been sold right away.  Next I learned that there may be one in stock at the G&L factory, so my favorite dealer said he'd check on it Monday morning.

Saturday, two days after canceling the order with Kiesel, I discovered an advertisement listed for a "Turquoise G&L JB5."  After checking the G&L photo against that in the advertisement, I learned that it was the very same bass!  Suspecting the bass at the factory was likely way out of my price range, I made the seller an offer and he accepted.  Result: five-string bass is now part of my repertoire.

Turquoise Metal Flake is a pretty bold color scheme-- why was I looking for something like that?  As a kid in the 1970s I was fascinated with hotrods, motorcycles and drums, all of which embraced bold metal flake colors and I was smitten.  It should be no surprise that my admiration of such things has only intensified with age.  And heck-- why should our drummers have all the fun?! 


Turquoise appealed to me because it is the same as my grad-school cohort's colors-- a teal, turquoise, version of blue/green. Again, I waited 19 weeks for Kiesel to build me a bass in the same color (what they call "aqua"), and when they failed to meet the challange I shifted my attention to other builders and returned to G&L.  It should be noted that Kiesel has recently announced that they will do metal flake finishes-- something they've resisted for many years, claiming "it gunks up our sprayers."  Their metal flake option adds an additional $600 to their basses, which prices their instrument out of my price range.  If I were to buy the G&L new, it would have cost about $1,700.  This is why I am so excited to find the exact bass I was looking for on the used market and within my budget.    

After a very quick trip from California, the bass arrived on a Wednesday afternoon.  Tuned up the strings, gave the bass a good inspection, and I spent the next hour or so in the music room getting used to having an additional string.

Overall, the JB5 is a traditional Jazz Bass, but with G&L's higher quality and premium materials.  This particular bass has an empress wood body, which really lightens the instrument-- just a hair over eight pounds. Pickup covers are a step above the typical covers found on most Jazz basses; these are made from a slightly textured satin-finished material that gives the bass a special feel and provides a comfortable spot to anchor my thumb.

Left: standard JB pickup. Right: JB5

Other than the neck being a little wider than normal, it seems a bit flatter as well (thickness of the neck from front to back).  Getting accustomed to the different neck and the additional string did not take long.

Some initial impressions of a 5-string: 

Being a visual guy, my brain recognizes the B as an E when playing at first.  Adjusting to the additional string has been easier the more I play. Some of those lower notes are fun to play, specifically the low D, but what I find more useful is being able to play the E at the fifth fret, and keeping my hand position in pretty much the same area of the neck.  

There is quite a bit of sympathetic resonance happening when playing around the fifth fret on strings other than the B. So while playing I can hear the B faintly sounding. Perhaps one of those fret-wrap things will help while I work on a right hand muting technique. 

String spacing seems slightly tighter than on my four-strings, so paying more attention to my right hand technique is important to avoid accidentally striking unintended nearby strings. 

On a four-string I typically anchor my right thumb on the pickups edge when playing the E, then on the E string when playing the A, and so on. I'm enjoying using the B as an anchor to play in different areas-- between the neck and the pickup, or between the two pickups for example.  This might change somewhat as I work on that muting technique mentioned earlier.

One week in, and playing on the JB-5 is becoming more comfortable with each practice session.  However, there is still something to say for the simplicity of a four-string-- such as the Kiesel Vanquish V49K, which I will review real soon.  Until then...

...stay tuned & in tune!

108 Days of Practice: Days 21 - 32

14 - 25 Aug

One of the most difficult aspects about committing to a daily practice routine is the unavoidable fact that life happens.  

And these last few weeks life has happened in spades.  My attention to family matters always comes first, and sometimes that means time away from my instrument; which is what happened during the last few weeks.  So, I'll be picking it back up here today and press on.  There were days that I did get some practice in, but they were few and far between.  

Not all that happened was bad.  Even though I elected to cancel a custom build though Kiesel Guitars (a story for another day) I did find a great deal on another used bass-- a five-string no less!  After a few hours on this new bass, having the additional string isn't quite the distraction I thought it would be.  There is still a learning curve, but more on that soon.

In addition to my "Duck" Dunn studies, I've been listening to a lot of old Queen, so a few of those tunes will be moved up the practice queue.  Lastly, my practice space will soon be moving to a room with a window as we make updates to our house-- for that I'm excited!  Getting back to my practice routine is something I very much look forward to...

...stay tuned, and in tune! 

108-Days of Practice: First 20 Days

25 July - 13 Aug

Boss metronome/tuner, and my logbook

Overall:
With a little more than two weeks in the books, the project started well, but keeping the schedule was challenging.  Some days I got a good two-hours or so, but there were days when I struggled to hit that 30-min minimum that I established at the beginning.

Practice:
Much of my practice has focused on using the metronome.  Awkward at first, now I am really enjoying it. BPM is usually set at either 120, or 80 for practicing on my own without a track running in the background.  

To avoid the dreaded "noodling," I am practicing the major scale, while speaking aloud the note position on one run, then its name on the second.  Again, this is practiced with a metronome.  Within the scale, I try fining catchy melodies while focusing on incorporating those bottom two strings (D & G).  

My alternate, "summer-time" practice space

Something else I am intentionally focusing on is my right-hand picking; nice smooth consistent striking of the strings, rather than accidental pulling up on the string and having it clank the note.  

Application: 
Last Sunday I was able to apply some of what I have practiced-- namely using the D & G strings.  For instance, one song featured a   C - F - A - G progression, and I explored playing the A and G on those bottom two strings at the 7th fret.  Again, not having a drummer with the band I had to focus on the basics, then when the song had additional space, I would throw in the higher octaves for a little spice. 

During rehearsals I also applied my major scale exercise to include a few passing notes that fit the specific chord.  When used sparingly,I was able to fill the empty spaces where the drums would normally be. 

Proof is in the pudding

Gear-notes: 
I am really enjoying the new Kiesel Vanquish.  Playing finger-style over the pickups is a real joy because the pickup radius matches that of the fingerboard; that radius really makes a difference.  While working on my right-hand technique, I've discovered a tuneful sweet spot-- just behind the neck humbucker.  Notes played here seem to have a round, warm tone that reacts to  subtleties in my playing.

Upcoming:
Practice routine will remain the same as there is a lot more to learn there.  Song analysis and deconstruction of our songs, and I really want to dig into a "Duck" Dunn tune.  

There are a few video ideas I've had in mind, so I may get to those.  You may have noticed I mentioned playing a Vanquish bass; yessiree-- there is a NBD post brewing as we speak, so...

...stay tuned, and in tune!

NBD! Ode to Donald "Duck" Dunn

New (used) Bass Day!

Last Friday I took delivery of a gently used G&L SB-1 bass.  It was posted to the musicians online marketplace, Reverb, by Downtown Music located in New Orleans French Quarter.

Downtown Music's store front (via GoogleMaps)

For several weeks I had been looking for a used, American made Fender Precision style bass fitted with a maple fingerboard that was within my very limited budget.  Of course the limited budget was the big hurdle.  

Why was I searching for that particular style of bass?  As a tribute to one of my all-time favorite bassists. Donald "Duck" Dunn became my favorite bass player after seeing him in the 1980 movie, "The Blues Brothers." When I discovered that he and Blues Brothers guitarist Steve Cropper were members of Booker T & the MG's I began digging deeper into old Stax and Motown records.  

Donald "Duck" Dunn: King of the Electric Bass

Duck Dunn was one of the main reasons I moved to playing the bass.  As part of my 108 Days of Practice I decided to undertake an in-depth study of Dunn's playing style by learning and analyzing some of his more popular songs.  Using a bass similar to that which I associate most with Dunn would psychologically take my study to the next level; sound logic and reasoning I recon...

When I found this SB-1 it was priced out of my budget, but there was a "Make an Offer" button below the listed price-- so I did.  After a very pleasant email conversation with one of Downtown Music's employees, the bass was on its way to me!  Once it arrived, our security officer insisted on inspecting the shipment before anyone was allowed to open the box.  Once satisfied, he returned to squirrel patrol and I was free to liberate the bass from its shipment container.

Opening the case revealed a beautiful bass that was in need of a little TLC.  The frets were somewhat oxidized, and the bass overall required a good scrubbing.  After cleaning, polishing and installing a new set of D'Addario XL strings, the bass was ready to catch the Katy.  

How does it sound?  Like a P-bass with... more!  More of everything.  With the volume full-up it sounds powerful, meaty, and clear.  A little tweaking of the volume and tone knobs gets easily into the zone of classic Fender Precision tone.  

Compared to a typical Fender P, the SB-1 has a slimmer body, and a more comfortable forearm relief.  Since I normally anchor my thumb on the pickup corner the SB-1 is the place I want to be as it is rounded and slightly textured, where the Fender is sharp and uncomfortable after a short while.  There is a real mojo to this bass that few others have, which must be attributed to its time in the French Quarter... it sounds so sweet that it is tough to stop playing.

On of my favorite aspects of this bass, is the quartersawn neck; not only is it a little stiffer than a flat sawn neck, the grain stands out in a really nice way!  G&L offers several different neck sizes and each feel great in the hand; this one is called a #12 which is slightly wider than a typical Fender Jazz bass, yet slightly narrower than a Fender Precision, and is rounder (meatier) in the back.  Frets are medium-jumbo, the body is alder and the neck is fitted with six countersunk bolts.  For being such a straight forward, no-frills bass, this baby offers a lot of flexibility in sound and plays effortlessly.  

For anyone looking for a wonderful, American made bass built to last a lifetime, be sure to add G&L to the top of your list.  Even without a lot of money, one can follow my example and buy a used model for about the same, or less than an Indonesian import.  

Now with the appropriate instrument at my side and a Blues Brothers album cued-up, it's time to hit the practice room and get to business...

Stay tuned, and in-tune...!