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I listened to lots of Jaco for about 3 - 4 months, After I had been playing for a couple of years. I learnt to play all the lines and licks that I liked. I haven't really bothered listening to him since then, it's been 20 years. I look at it like this, I checked it out, I learnt what I liked, then moved on.

What a truly humble man Tony Levin is! Blown away by him

The bigger challenge is that the levers are rarely labeled, so you need the courage to experiment (and fail) to find the ones with the outsized effects.

Loved this breakdown of shortscale vs. longscale. So accurate

After the Apple/Android discussion, it was already clear who owns the custom shop bass.

SBL needs Sharon.

❤❤❤

I agree. And I would advise, just out of my pain and experience, to learn the notes and triads. So you can sort of communicate. I just got into theory again a few years ago. I'm in my 50s. I just... idk. Life. Sometimes I feel so sad like I don't have a purpose. I know God must have me here for something. Just never stop playing. That's how you'll get good or die trying.

Once you find a good squire, you play and keep the good squire, I tend to find these occasionally at the guitar shops and the they play better than the spendy ones on the wall. I then go buy pickups from Guitar Madness as throw them in, boom! Yet another guitar or bass I didn't need, but will keep forever.

16:15 is the real start of the bass discussion.

15:00 I've tied them back together, I have a set of Ernie ball cobalt flats like that now, I used another length of string too to make it longer🤣. thank God it broke above the nut.

3:53 the second T is a D in my part of 'murica too.

pretty new to the channel and have been binging SBL content for the last couple of months. found you guys when i started really grinding the bass (percussionist of many years). i dont know if it is something he speaks of much, nor am i one to diagnose anybody, but I have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and a lot of Scott’s quirks remind me of things i struggle with. I wouldn’t say i was yearning for representation or something, but it is cool to watch someone with obsessive and ritualistic tendencies doing the damn thing. Keep doing what you guys are doing. The wealth of free information you guys provide is invaluable. Best of luck in the new year fellas.

Fender 9050's are made by D'addario, but you are 100% correct that they are different; they aren't just Chromes with a different silk color. The guy who developed the current 9050 "recipe" confirmed this in a thread on the Talkbass forum

Speaking of gauges and heavy top/light bottom, Fender flatwounds came in some wild gauges back in the 60s and 70s. Stuff like 50-64-80-95 on the F-80 flats, 53-61-75-94 on the 950 flats, and 55-71-88-104 for the 850 flats

He's the happiest bass player on the planet..the way it should be

This was better than slap bass. I love the bass stuff too. Idk. I'm going through a difficult time. This was helpful. I wish I could join in real time. But this was great. ❤

This was a great episode. Ian, if the SBL channel was a band, you would be the bass player. Scott and Sharon are fantastic, but you're the glue buddy. I feel you hard on the guilt/gratitude continuum. Respect to you for speaking about it. I've got a set of Fender flats on my #1 bass that are just about old enough to drink. I think they're probably 9050s, but also maybe they changed the recipe at some point. They have forest green silk at the ball end and no silk at the tuning peg end. I wish I knew how to get more of them. I've tried a lot of other flats and nothing is quite the same.

Android vs Apple is the same both have the market share, I can use either, and both are outrageously expensive for a phone. Mac machines is very expensive I can afford 3 PC machines I build for a high end MAC. I would rather use Linux instead of both, but most apps for musicians won't run on a Linux. PC has better performance for the price, and It's not a boat anchor on software when Apple decides to EOL a model and you are stuck with no updates. PC gets old you can turn it into a Linux machine and it will run extremely fast and still be usable. I repaired both for years, and will stick to the PC/Android side. More Open Source, I don't have to use Windows if I don't want too.

Quite the enjoyable listen!

I’d love to know your thoughts on what you string your fretless basses with. That could be a video unto itself!

Please cover Mike Gordon!!!!!!!!!!

Ibenez for soap bar

Wow happy I stumbled on to this. Just ordered a Source Audio CS4 pedal for a project that needs synths sounds.

DI question... Why not just run a Radial with a nice preamp pedal into it? I'm tempted by the tube DI idea, but tubes fail. I feel like the Radial is stupid-proof, simple, very clear signal, and insanely reliable. If a tube fails in your EQ pedal, at worst you can still send your sound to front of house through your DI. The Sushi Box is interesting though, but feel like a Radial with Slampegg (or your preferred tube pre) into it kind of does everything a multi feature DI does. So I guess my question is what other advantage does a DI with an EQ have? My other thought is just get the Origin Effects Super Vintage and call it good. It gets that tube sound very well for solid state. Or a Capo if I decide to not go the ampeg route.

Yeah,... I'm pretty OCD too. Maybe it comes with bass playing. Blu is absolutely gorgeous, and beyond bad on bass.

PLEASE DO A KEN SMITH INTERVIEW! There's so little about him and their basses on line...

Because you love each other? ^epic title response^

thank god someone remembers blue steels. picked up my 85 Ibanez RoadStar 2 with heavy gauge blue steels after 20 year break. still in tune and super mellow sound, never changing them. Big thank you to SBL for reminding me why i loved bass to begin with.

It was kind of sad watching them laugh about being victimized by predatory subscription based business models.

Sire is simply the most complete budget bass brand, you can get whatever budget of whatever type u want F for fodera M for mtd or fbass V for jazz P for pbass Even shortscale And for MTD, they have kingston line which is kinda pricy too, but still less than half of like 535 or 435 And if you like relic, you can relic your own bass, with sandpaper (do it lightly cause u cant undo relic but can add more if u want) and for color just leave your bass out in the sun(beware of rain so make sure youre on stand by near it) And ultimately, just open youtube, hear the expensive bass u want, then hear the budget version, and see what u like cause its all ur personal preference Nice brands for budget: Yamaha Ibanez Cort Harley benton Schecter Squier (make sure you can try what u buy if used, cause squier qc sucks)

Love it, I do so regognize the scattered thoughts or being completely absorbed by something.

lets define US and MEX fender : unconsistant, high price tag bad bad set up.. sorry NO WAY FOR EVER- Japan Fender - brilliant always - and because it was always licenced. there is no reason to have the fender brand to get a great fender gtr or bass

Technique is a funny thing. There are certain things you can teach and some things that just have to do with a person's physiology. There's a guy named Rick Renstrom. He's one of the fastest guitarist I've ever heard. He's definitely worth a look. He's a really great guy too. He has a live show at 9:00 Eastern on Saturday and Wednesday.

Give me a break! An Apple M4 is literally only $700. And its more powerful than any PC you can by at any price.

love the look on that ThunderJazz Lull. I have a Wal bass same color finish ;)

I like Billy. I like his playing. But he's wrong about this being some kind of 'golden age' for musicians and music. Music has become cheap. Anyone can get pro sounding recordings in their bedroom and the way music is consumed now totally devalues it. All these 'great bass players' on social media? I see what we used to call 'bedroom players' come to the fore, with really 'clever' and technical playing. But nobody who posts themselves 'playing' at home is talking about feel and phrasing and how to play with a drummer. There are pros talking about this stuff, but the bedroom guys just seem to want to show off their technical prowess, with little respect for musicianship - how playing just two notes in a whole song can make the song. And don't get me started on the grid, where musicians now 'look' at the music on a grid rather than 'hearing' the music as they play it. smh

You're very self-aware. I think that's fine. Some people say there is a tendency rest high on the scale of narcissism if you're very self-aware. Idk. I don't think so. I think it's just trying very hard and to me it's the opposite. To me it's empathy. I've watched a lot of your videos. They're kind of helping me get through a tough time right now. When I first started watching I took the vibe of you and Scott as trying to hard. I'm calling that out now and apologizing. You probably never even noticed it, and you probably aren't noticing this. It has always been my dream to play professionally. I'm getting pretty old. But I think I'll die with that dream still there. So, thanks for a really nice anecdote and vibe. You make it seem possible.

I have a Squier bass and Squier guitar that I love. The guitar is a 2002 Bullet Strat that was given to me. Pickups were super noisy but the setup and playability were amazing. I put $49 worth of Wilkinson hot rails into it, and it's my main guitar now. Amongst my other guitars, I have a 1989 HSS MIJ Strat Floyd Rose, which is cool in its own way but the Squier shreds circles around it. I only use that if I need the Floyd divebombs or trem work. The bass is a Mike Dirnt signature P bass. It has an EMG active pickup. It's my only bass but I love it. Same as the guitar, it has great playability.

Great interview. Love the wisdom.

SBL cruise 2025

I tried y’all but 15 minutes in and y’all haven’t brought up bass at all.

I appreciate Ian's reflection. I started learning bass at age 25 only a few years ago, partially as a way to mentally free myself from the scary parts of the world. Any time ive stepped away from bass to pay attention to news, it always feels a bit wierd to shift back into the bass world, like the guilt Ian talks about. But when I step back into it, seeing Scott and Ian's bass passion always reigites my own to keep learning and practicing. It feels like a way to heal ones soul from the shitty parts of life, and if I can do that for myself, then SBL is proof of that kind of healing can rub off on others too.

Guys, please do a series like this on amps! Different power sections, class types, tone differences between major brands, how to eq your bass, cabinet design (sealed vs ported, lightweight vs heavy), minimum wattage for gigging, etc. This info is really lacking out there and amps are huge in the tone signal.

Ian, you are such an amazing and empathetic human, got to meet you in your Seattle clinic with Amos the other day, thank you 👍 I love this community and don't take it for granted, I thank you for all you give us, we so fortunate!!🤘

I interviewed Billy on the phone once. He was the kindest most gracious dude. He plays a Yamaha Attitude here without headstock labels, which makes me more OCD than if he had a labeled one like the dozen on the wall. 😂

Christopher Walken needed more cowbell, I need more Sharon......lol.....she is knowledgeable, smart and, funny. The 3 of you are a dynamic team!

crazy that im sitting here watching this video, somewhat bummed that my PJ needs a major setup, while my T-40 hasn't been set up in decades and is rock solid. I heard yall talking about 1/4 sawn vs. flat sawn, and inspected my basses. the Peavey has the grains going the long way, the fender does not. whomp whomp

Man I enjoy listening to you guys. Bravo. Another great vid. So much fun...

The fact that they use so many EMG pickups in their basses always had me wary. The most colored bass pickup brand on the market. If their expertise in tonewoods is so great, why aren't they embracing more transparent pickups? Needless to say I was underwhelmed trying out many Fodera's.