Members Live Streamed or Video'd Gig Links.

[gearhed289]

Hey Tim, my favorite ZZ Top song! Bass sounds great. Hope you're having fun.

[gearhed289]

Hey Tim, my favorite ZZ Top song! Bass sounds great. Hope you're having fun.

[David Houck]

Nice video Tom, very good sound quality; and you're playing is great.

[rv_bass]

Sounds great, looks like you guys are having fun too 😊

[BeenDown139]

We tune down a 1/2 step, and then drop "D", actual C# for most of the stuff.

IIRC unless ya had it modified, that's a medium scale bass, did you go up in string guages or do ya just like that flappity-flap ya gets when ya hits an open string? 

Hey Tim, my favorite ZZ Top song! Bass sounds great. Hope you're having fun.

thanks, we're almost havin too much fun.   i gotta tell ya, imho ya haven't lived until you've danced around with an SII strapped on ya playin some ZZTop.

[gearhed289]

Thanks David, the band carries its own in-ear rig with a Midas M32 rack. We took the feed off of that to record the tracks, and the singer/guitarist mixed everything. The audio will be going up on bandcamp in March.

I figured someone would ask about the scale length and down tuning. Here's the funny thing - I was a couple of weeks into practicing the stuff when it finally occurred to me that this was on a 32'' bass. In other words - I didn't even notice a difference. Somehow, there's plenty of tension with my usual 45-105 DR Hi Beams.

[BeenDown139]

ok here's another first time outta the gate count it out and go for it take from the old guys in the basement.  this time featuring  a slightly different camera angle, a little less bass-heavy mix ( i'm working on my live ambient mic placement) so i'm not the star of the show for a change 
back in the day i'd pop a C-120 into the boom box, set it at the back of the room, hit record and that was how we recorded our band demo.  guess times haven't changed that much.
 imho if a band can get it like this first time outta the gate then we should be able to do it live, which is ultimately the point of this exercise.

The Alembic cuts like a knife, even with mellower tones. Sounds like you have a solid drummer there, congrats.

well now you can see him in action.  i like this guy - he's got great chops plus i think he's got a helluva voice.  for a drummer.
it's all been peaches and cream up to this point.  then they dropped the bomb on me yesterday - they wanna do touch of grey by the dead.  i realize this may be heresy on this board and i hope i don't get banned for it, but the grateful dead just aren't my cup of tea.  but i'm always up for a challenge and i've had to bite my lip through other songs i idin't like so i guess i will survive.  it.
i wasn't looking for an 80's band when i started out on this adventure but it sure looks like i stepped in it with both feet.

cheers!
t

[rv_bass]

You guys really sound great! 😊

[David Houck]

Touch of Grey should be a fun song to play; while fairly straight forward, the chord changes and dynamic/rhythmic touches should make it an interesting addition to your set list.

[jazzyvee]

Touch of Grey is on my bucket list of bass lines to learn.

[BeenDown139]

Touch of Grey should be a fun song to play

Touch of Grey is on my bucket list of bass lines to learn.

well it wasn't on mine.  i started on it yesterday after a day of getting the melody of the bass part memorized.  i got a guit@r chord chart plus a phrase trainer from the 90's in the woodshed, this combination never lets me down.  i got up to the confounded bridge yesterdy, should be able to get the rest of it presentable today 'cause i gotta stand and deliver tomorrow.

now that i'm this far into it, i gotta say it's one of the cooler bass lines i've learned, i like the way it flows and has that "riffy" feel. 

soooo...... lessons learned?  never say never?  ormaybe i got my musical horizons stretched.  either way it's all good.

also btw this plays much better on an alembic than it does on hte status.  can't figger it out.

[Songdog]

now that i'm this far into it, i gotta say it's one of the cooler bass lines i've learned

Keep listening - I mean listening - to Phil's bass lines and you'll be saying this more    I recommend a few hits to deepen the appreciation....

Two exercises for extra credit:

• Find several live recordings of a song from about the same period. Identify what Phil considered the constant, essential elements, and what he improvised from night to night.
• Find recordings of the song over as wide as possible a range of its history. Observe how the song evolved.

Yeah, I'm an unapologetic Phil fan 

[David Houck]

 

[goran]

Wow nice playing, you guys sound nice! Man I love your bass! Love to see how you guys are having so much fun playing.

[BeenDown139]

Two exercises for extra credit

thanx for the tips.  i'm still working thru it.  tried it out at rehearsal yesterday.  the other guys mostly know thier parts, pretty sure they've performed it before.  myself i've got two days in on it and i'm still scrambling a little.  needless to say, we didn't nail it our our first try.  as you probably know, playing along with the record is one thing, doing it live without a net along with other (critical) musicians is another thing entirely.   it wasn't a train wreck, but we're gonna give it another whack this coming friday, so i got a coupla more days to work on it.  i like a challenge and it's a rare cover song from that era that i really have to work this hard to learn.  at least they didn't have me learn the fiddly parts to sister disco.  that's one i was never able to really get.

Love to see how you guys are having so much fun playing.

thanks.  we're 4 grumpy old men in a basement packed with model airplanes and high-end musical gear.  everyone's laser focused and usually brings their 'A' game.  how can ya not have fun?

cheers!
t