Perhaps as a result of the recent nonsense on Aeroscale, modelling’s tasting a little bit sour just now and (as usual) I fall back to my second passion – music. Normally, that would automatically mean the guitar, but I’m making a real effort to get my efforts on electric bass a bit more presentable.
I’ve signed up with Philip Conrad’s new online Four-String Fundamentals course: https://philipconradmusic.teachable.com/p/four-string-fundamentals and I can already tell it’s going to be a huge help.
So, next week should be fun! Learning the bass, getting in a few country walks (weather permitting…) and, maybe, I’ll dust off my modelling area and get a build properly underway.
Hi again
Well, I’m plugging away at Philip’s lessons and I definitely feel like I’m making progress! There were fundamental foundations missing in how I approached the bass previously, so I’m taking my time to try to put those in place belatedly before anything else. But it’s a real blast – and I can already see some cross-feed benefits back into my guitar playing.
As well as trying to get my efforts on bass sounding better, I’ve been inspired to try Nashville tuning for the first time. I’d obviously heard of it, but (probably because I already have an electric 12-string) it never quite clicked as something I should try. My mistake! After watching videos by Robert Cassard on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/c/RobertCassard) it was really clear that Nashville tuning is something I need to experiment with because it offers so many tonal possibilities for my recordings.
So, I grabbed my Gretsch G5230T Electromatic Jet and put on the light strings from a D’Addario electric 12-string pack and it was instantly transformed into something quite unique in my arsenal! It’s got the chime of a 12-string, but is tighter and more controllable.
Setting it in a mix alongside my Tone Fox Elcaster, the combination was fantastic “straight out of the box”, and then the REAL magic happened… I ran the “Nashville” Gretsch through Neunaber’s Wet Reverberator plug-in! It sounds simply incredible! Shimmering, crystal cascades of notes that I’ve often dreamed of, but have never achieved until now. This adventure with Nashville tuning is going to be fun!