just make sure you like the scale length and the nut width since those are the most difficult and certainly expensive things to modify on any stringed instrument
4 Likes
oh no I don’t think it’s a bad question! just that v few choices regarding instruments are strictly better or worse. very middle of the road (tonally) strings could be like, daddario XLs or dr low riders, for a kind of stringy bright tone maybe rotosound 66s, for kinda thumpy and dark la bella flatwounds. I think the usual thing is just to start with whatever mid-light gauge (like 45-105 usually) roundwound steel strings are priced decently, and adjust from there if you don’t like how they sound or find them comfortable.
also agree w brooks that scale length and nut width are top priority, for a direct comparison of nut widths you could try out a squire or fender jazz bass (narrower nut) vs a precision bass (wider nut). stingrays also usually have wider nuts. it’ll also vary between 4 and 5 string versions of the same kind of bass, but idk if you’re interested in 5s at all. like I find the usual 4 string stingray neck v uncomfortable but love the 5.
3 Likes
@SLUGGER When I finally restring sunbeams were going to be my choice. I think I liked them in some kind of “shootout” and from my understanding - lowish tension, pretty warm (or at least, neither bright nor scooped)? More or less correct to your experience?
1 Like
yep that’s basically it ime, when they’re brand new they can be really zingy but broken in they’re just well defined without being overly bright, and the tension is low but not like, floppy
1 Like
I play mostly finger style but have a chopped up middle finger so I appreciate low tension, even floppy, so great! One day I’ll spend $100 for the ti flats
1 Like
this is sweet but i’ve barely touched a bass in years and my go-to was the Cort p-bass copy i got for my 16th birthday … i have never changed the strings or had it serviced coz i like how gross it sounds but i do fear the day the E string snaps and gouges my palm
1 Like
Bass string breaks usualy aren’t that dramatic because the wraps don’t snap like with guitar string Most times it’s just the center wire that snaps and the whole thing goes slak kind of suddenly
4 Likes
this, + neck profile (thickness, shape, whether it feels good in the hand). if you don’t like the neck don’t buy it
–
saxophone adventures. today i practiced some overtones, which is more than i can say for my previous 7 years playing this instrument in school. also used this thing i bought
which is basically a little sharp metal stick you scrape against the back of your reed (and optionally the shoulders) to even it out and make it play better. honestly the thing works, it’s just nice to have options with these stupid little pieces of cane to make them not make awful noises
practicing is less daunting now that i have a sense of how to progress…
Step 1. Find information about what to do
2. Try it on the instrument
3. Hone in on a minute detail of that and try to improve it
4. Take breaks when bored or tired, and either repeat or go back to step 1
So step 1 below… and then go from there.
1 Like
Not being able to vape means I’ve needed to find other ways to occupy my hands, so I’ve been playing my Duo-Sonic a lot lately (it’s so compact but in a comfortable way, it’s probably the most comfortable guitar I’ve found so far), and managed to get the solo down from Ratatat’s Seventeen Years pretty consistently, as well as the guitar loop from Soul Coughing’s Circles, though, it doesn’t sound particularly good acoustically from an electric guitar and the strings on the first fret of the Duo-Sonic are pretty tight compared to the Mustang or the Stratocaster, so it’s not really comfortable to try to play. Still not really coming along at all with chords, though.
Also, I highly recommend trying to get a 22.5" Duo-Sonic or something if you’re learning guitar and find things like the Stratocaster uncomfortable to play. It’s even more comfortable than a Mustang.
3 Likes
update on learning alto saxophone and piano
saxophone, just focusing on getting a strong powerful sound for now. if i can get a strong sound together then everything else will come in time. just trying to inhale massive and blow the thing to 100db (i wear hearing protection and the house is pretty okay at sound dampening thankfully)
piano: i just started on a lark cuz i bought a digital piano off my gf’s dad (88 key, weighted keys etc) but surprised at how quickly it is coming to me. other people in my jazz classes seem to be surprised as well altho i may be reading too much into the reactions. i logged on to the zoom class with my guitar today and teacher said “we gonna hear some piano later?” and later someone else referenced it as well. so that is neat i guess. choosing to believe i have some sort of hidden talent that is being unlocked
4 Likes
yesterday i bought a bass. feeling like a rube because a) got a five-string bass because “i’ll grow into it, right” and immediately realized how much more difficult it is to mute that extra fat string at the top and b) while tuning, i thought i’d be clever and have the instrument tuned like E-A-D-G-C for the extra higher note but in the proccess of finding that C with the tuner, i broke the thinner string. it’s christmas so until tuesday at least i’ll be playing a 4-string bass.
it’s hard! it’s been like twelve years since i touched this type of instrument. i don’t know how to control my fretting hand; the fingers get all contorted and i can’t seem to stretch them to the point where the pinky is useful at all. the thumb on that hand is another huge problem; i can’t really tell from the youtube videos i’ve been seeing where it should be resting, and how strongly.
surprisingly though, i’m getting a somewhat consistent plucking form with my other hand, although i’m hitting the wrong string every now and then.
4 Likes
steve swallow does this! he rules! but yeah you need different strings for it.
typically behind your middle finger, you want to mainly use the tip and not squish it down if you’ve got a hitchhikers thumb, it should be a pretty light touch so that hand can stay mobile
2 Likes
I second both things that SLUGGER said.
Once you get the right strings, you might consider either taking your bass to a tech and having them do a setup for that tuning, or doing it yourself if you feel comfortable with that and have the tools (you can search bass guitar setup or the like). That way you can get the action you want and that kind of thing. The tension on the neck will be different than with B-E-A-D-G, so if you switch to E-A-D-G-C and keep the setup it came with from the shop, you may end up with an extra-high action or that sort of thing.
Also, I wouldn’t necessarily write off B-E-A-D-G in musical terms, it’s worth at least trying and playing around with and such especially while you have the bass set up as it is; I’m a “treble” guitarist but when I do play a 4-string bass I always wish I could go a little lower, much moreso than higher. The low B string has a delicious superfat tone that can be very satisfying. Of course it’s totally personal and you may find you feel differently, it’s just worth trying out some I think.
As far as the playing technique, I would basically say the exact same thing as SLUGGER—you want the tip of your thumb resting lightly on the neck, supporting your fingers but easily moveable. Put it wherever you need on the neck in the moment to give your fingers a foundation; you can probably feel out where to put it based on how easy it is to fret the strings. You don’t have to be religious about using just the tip of the thumb all the time but that should be your default. Be careful about gripping the neck too tightly, or just having too much tension in your fretting hand in general; you want to stay nice and relaxed and not use more force than you need to. If your hand starts to hurt, stop and take a rest for a while so you don’t get an RSI. If you still feel unsure, it might be worth taking some lessons if you can afford it—there’s nothing quite like having a good teacher watch you play and adjust your posture and things firsthand.
EDIT: Something I forgot to mention—this might be obvious, but when you’re fretting a string, you’ll generally get the best tone if you put your fingertip just behind the next fret. You can get buzzing or at least poor sustain if you put your fingertip further back than that, because the string won’t be making contact with the fret as tightly. You may do this instinctively with time because you can hear the difference, but I remember I found that to be helpful advice when I was starting out.
EDIT 2: Another thing I forgot to mention 
take care about the angle of your wrist on your fretting hand. If you keep a sharp bend in your wrist for a long time while you play, especially if you don’t change up the angle, it can cause pain and eventually injury. As a general rule, it will be the most ergonomic when there’s a straight line from the back of your hand down your forearm. Naturally it’s awkward to keep that position all the time, but kind of like using the tip of your thumb, I’d say it’s good to think of that as the default.
All of this just takes practice—it feels really awkward for kind of a long time at first. I have tiny hands and I don’t feel limited at all by that at this point, but when I first started playing guitar I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to get the hang of it. From being a total beginner, it can take, like, 6–12 months of daily practice for it to start feeling relatively fluid, and maybe 3–4 years before you start to feel actually “good” (depending on your goals). The first year is the most frustrating though, I think, because it can be hard to make even the simplest lines not sound kind of awkward and mistake-ridden. You just have to stick with it and perservere; it’s hard but once you get through it it will never leave you, so you only have to do it once.
2 Likes
spent the last month gaming and it’s absolutely cannibalized like 80-90% of my practice time. feel pretty bad about it
1 Like
One thing I’ve found can help is if you keep your instrument right next to where you play games or use your computer or whatnot, ready to play (like, out of its case or the like). That way, if you’re waiting on a loading screen or a slow website or something, you can play your instrument for a few moments to pass the time. Sometimes a few moments turns into a while if you get into it. You can improvise along with the music of the game you’re playing or a video you’re watching or whatever too, that can be fun.
3 Likes
yeah! I would do this except the piano and sax are upstairs where they’re less likely to disturb my gf lol. i do have a guitar down here though. i was thinking about getting a little toy keyboard or something for downstairs, something with built in sounds where i can practice fingerings.
1 Like
Aww, well, that makes sense. I guess I have it kind of easy as an electric guitarist (if I’m worried about bothering other people with the noise I just play it unamplified). If your guitar is electric you could do that too if you like to play clean, but it sounds like you’re more into the piano. If you can find one of Yamaha’s old Portasound keyboards at a thrift store or something, that might be fun for the purpose you’re describing; when I was little my dad got what I think was a VSS30 at a garage sale, which has a little cheapy built-in microphone you can use to record samples and then play them back pitched up or down with the keyboard, and I remember I thought it was the most fun thing in the world. The samples come out super crunchified and scratchy, and it will play back its silly ice cream truck demo song using the current sample, so I would wander around the house recording the cats meowing or myself making duck noises or things and then play back the demo song and laugh until I cried. Although, having written that, I’m looking around and now they appear to be overpriced collector’s items 
grrr…but maybe there’s some modern little keyboard thing that’s just as fun and hasn’t yet become something people charge five times the original retail price for on eBay, which you could still find for pennies at a thrift store or garage sale. Some of the other Portasound keyboards seem to go for very cheap, too, so maybe they would still turn up in that kind of context, and although they might not have that sampling feature they do have cool old-school FM synth sound.
1 Like
in the roundabout $200 range i was looking at this guy. 10 lbs, carry handle on the back, guitar strap buttons, and a recent sound chip that sounds pretty good :V
only question is what to put it on, i would kind of rather it be on some furniture than a cheapo X stand that isn’t versatile. we have a little wood bench that we use as our coffee table and it seems like this might just fit on that if we clear our shit off it. or maybe i could just play it on my lap on the couch, idk if that’s crazy. 37" x 10"
2 Likes
Ah that makes sense, that’s a more of a “real instrument.” When you said “toy keyboard” I thought you meant like, really toy. That Casio probably makes more sense for piano though I guess, since it’s got a wide enough range that you can do standard two-hand things. Reading about/listening to it, it sounds pretty fun to me, too.
I think you could put it on your lap if you want, though if it weighs 10 lbs. you might get sick of that after a while, and it would kind of put your wrists at an awkward angle which could get uncomfortable too. For keyboard I always think it’s nicest to have it on a stand or at least a low table or something that you can put your legs under and that raises the keys up to a comfortable height. Since it supports a sustain pedal, too, you could easily use one that way. A bench might be a little too close to the ground I would think, but you know your own body best. You could always get the keyboard first and try these different approaches, and only get a stand if they turn out not to be comfortable. I think the major advantage of a stand over the obvious alternatives is that you can adjust its height to suit your physiology, which isn’t true of most pieces of furniture (or your lap exactly), but you might luck out and realize you have a piece of furniture that’s just the right height for you. Also, maybe this is kind of left-field, but I’m reading that the CT-S1 has pins where you can affix a guitar strap, so you could also stand up and play it keytar-style. Maybe that wouldn’t be the most useful way to practice piano—I’ve never tried playing a keyboard that way so I can’t speak from experience there—but it wouldn’t cost anything if you already have a guitar strap around. I bet it would be fun to play its clav voice that way.
1 Like
i have a yamaha pss-680 i got for $40 at a thrift shop for casually playing on battery power. definitely poke around a bit and see what you can find cheap if it’s not your main keyboard
(it is very goofy)
2 Likes