The Last Bass Outpost

When I started to play bass, I played fingerstyle only.
I had taken guitar lessons from a flamenco teacher and he taught me to use all fingers on my right hand (except for the pinky. don't know why). Hours and hours of training, alternating between the fingers (PAMI, PIAM, PMIA, etc).
It came in handy when I started to play bass in band that did Iron Maiden covers et cetera. Steve Harris was my idol back then ;-)

It wasn't after ten years in a band that I learned to play with a pick. I had started a tribute band doing Thin Lizzy songs. And Phil Lynott had this very steady pulsating right hand pick technique. Again hours and hours of practice to get that down pat.

I'm glad I learned both, because it just extends the palette of choice.

Never been much of a slapper though

I used to alternate between pick and no pick depending on the song but these days I play all finger style because we play mostly oldies. A long time ago, probably 1967 I saw a Chicago area band The Flock. The bassist played a Fireglo Rickenbacker bass and used all the fingers on his right hand. I was impressed but rarely use more than two.

I installed them yesterday & like them so far. I’ve used D’Addario short scale strings for years but never flat wounds. Sweetwater sells 3 gauges of Gibson Brite Wire flat wound strings that I considered, but I went with the chromes. Oddly, the strings on the ES Les Paul Bass look almost identical to the Chromes. Same blue thread windings on the ends, strings look the same, just doesn’t have the color coded end thingies like the Chromes.

I was under the impression that the ES Les Paul bass came with Chromes from the factory. Mine did.

So, I subscribed to RFD TV for the show Trains and locomotives, which some of the trainspotters here would enjoy, but I found this program: The Bluegrass Trail. Bluegrass usually features banjo, fiddle, guitar and mandolin. Until tonight every mandolin has been a Gibson.

I had to watch it all.

I thought the S stood for standard as opposed the the deluxe features of the bound 4001, but according to Paul Boyer on another forum:

By all official accounts, S stood for "special" in that they were originally made "special" for a large export order to Rose-Morris in England for sales in Europe. RM chose a lower trim package, presumably to result in a lower sale price and to satisfy European taste. Rose-Morris gave them their own model number: RM1999. Eventually, the S model was offered for sale in North America, first as the 4001S. In the last years (to be determined), the 4001S and the single-pickup 4000 shared the same "chassis" - a set neck glued to a one- or two-piece body; no neck through. The 4001S and 4000 went away in the mid 1980s, and for a while, the 4003S was made with many interesting permutations, such as the 4003S5 five-string, the 4003S8 eight-string, and the sought after 4003SPC models called the Tuxedo (White), Redneck (Red), and Blackstar (Jetglo), each with painted maple fretboards with tiny microdot position markers.

If it was fretted I would have bought it weeks ago.

Thumbs down on that color. Almost as bad as Antigua. Oh well, it will make someone happy.

I like Antigua, at least the recent Mexi version. This green, not so much but the black toasters are cool.