Saturday 31 October 2015

150 Customs and counting!

I posted custom 150 this morning - "No Time This Time" by The Police, which completes Reggatta de Blanc on CustomsForge. Just a few left to do on Outlandos d'Amour and Zenyatta Mondatta now.

Friday 4 September 2015

Tabbers with five string basses

Just because you have a nice, shiny 5 string bass, it doesn't mean that everyone else has one (although I do....). Don't create tabs for songs which are played on 4 string basses specifically for your 5 string. It's not big, and it's not clever.

Thursday 3 September 2015

60 Customs and counting....

I think I'm running out of steam now. There must be at least 30+ customs which I have in progress and need the Guitar Pro files correcting. Why post something on Ultimate Guitar.com if it's useless? (The answer is, if you post a tab, you get free lifetime membership....) Some of these will get looked at, others will be consigned to the Recycle Bin.

Christmas Wrapping is still causing me problems. I've got a really good looking tab but converting it into Guitar Pro is a headache. Maybe closer to December one of the other custom makers will put me out of my misery and upload it.

I really should concentrate more on playing as for the past two weeks, I've only been testing the customs I've made. I have a massive backlog of DLC and CDLC to get through. 

Tuesday 25 August 2015

28 customs and counting!

I'm getting pretty good at this custom-producing lark now and just released my 28th track. My main disappointment though is the quality of tabs out there. I have at least 25 more customs half built, but they will never see the light of day unless I go in and manually change the tabs. What's the point of uploading a tab to the Internet if it's crap?

Sunday 23 August 2015

Why I only produce bass for Rocksmith Customs

The reason I am only producing bass parts for Rocksmith customs is that I can't play, and don't currently have, a guitar.

The tabs for songs available on the web are very hit and miss. Some are perfect reproductions, others build your hopes up until you're halfway through the custom creation process, and you realise that it would be easier to start from scratch.

Being a bass player, I can correct the flaws in any bass tabs, but if I were to include guitar parts, I'm 100% reliant on the guys at the Classic Rock Coalition on CustomsForge to test out my tabs. I'm really not keen on asking them to test a guitar part which could be utter rubbish - I don't want to waste their time. I'd rather concentrate on producing the best bass CDLC which I can.

This may sound selfish but on CustomsForge, there are many guitar-only customs which I'd love to play bass to. I've contacted a couple of the creators only to be told that they either may do it at some point or after uploading the custom, they were sick to death of the track.

There is a bass emulation mode on Rocksmith, so the guitarists don't really have an excuse to not supply the bass track for every custom. Bassists aren't so lucky unfortunately as there's no guitar emulation mode for bass.

Until I can get hold of a guitar, all my CDLC will be bass-only. I've been disappointed by some customs where the bass has been very poorly written - I don't want any guitarists to feel the same about my work.


Friday 21 August 2015

18 Customs and counting...

I'm now up to 18 released custom tracks, which have been downloaded over 2,000 times in total. Adding guitar parts is still a problem (not having a guitar being the main problem!) and I've still got to get my head around adding lyrics and dynamic difficulty. 

The team at CustomsForge could not be more helpful though and are more than happy to help me fix my issues. Getting hold of decent tabs is the main issue. I see a tab for a song which I'd really like to turn into a custom, only to find that the tab might as well be for a completely different song.

As I've got the sheet music for all The Police songs, there'll be a few more of those published in the coming weeks, starting with the earlier, more frenetic stuff.

Tuesday 21 July 2015

Custom DLC here we come!

I finally got my head around the software needed to create Custom DLC (and built a PC to run it from some old spares) yesterday. The first track I was going to attempt was "Resolve" by Foo Fighters, but just as I'd got halfway through it, I discovered that one of the other posters on CustomsForge was about to release it today.

So, now my first released attempt is going to be "Bend and Break" by Keane. It'll just be the bass part - yes I know there was no bass player in Keane - but let's take things in easy steps....

Friday 15 May 2015

Babicz Full Contact Bridge for Gibson basses

Imagine my joy at seeing this:

http://www.fullcontacthardware.com/fch-3-point-four-string-bass-bridge-gibson-style.htm


I've always been very happy with the Babicz bridge on my Squier Affinity P Bass so being able to change the piece of **** bridge which came on my Epiphone Gothic Thunderbird for a Babicz really has an appeal. At a converted price of £100 though? That's half the price of the bass!

The standard Epiphone bridge really is crap. Trying to adjust the action is near impossible. The leading screw is seized solid and it's going to take some serious effort to loosen it. Once (if!) the Babicz replacements come down to a sensible price, I will have to have a black one.

Wednesday 22 April 2015

Bernadette....

I've wanted to try Bernadette by The Four Tops for ages. A classic Jamerson bass line 
which keeps your left hand really busy throughout. I was on course for a high score until the last section. I missed an note and the multiplier dropped from 99 to 50 which screwed everything up. More practice tomorrow I think...

Friday 17 April 2015

Yes! Top Spot on Dancing in the Moonlight.

I doubt that this score will stay #1 for long, but it's good to be at the top.

The final section is the difficult one. It helps to not let your mind wander onto other issues, such as work, at this point.

I mentioned to my dear wife that I was only fourth yesterday and she told me that only the top spot would be satisfactory. Well, there you go Wifey!

Thursday 16 April 2015

Eklipse - The Best Heavy Metal Band of the Late Eighties (in Peterborough anyway!)

Eklipse were, in my opinion of course, Peterborough's best pub-playing Heavy Metal band of the late 1980s. Originally a five piece, I was drafted in as a replacement bass player by my old mate Danny Frost. The full line up was:

Nigel Smith: Vocals
Glen Stokes: Drums
Mark Guest: Guitar
Danny Frost: Guitar
Me: Bass

I think it's fair to say that our musicianship was pretty good. This was way before the Internet, and back then, the only way to learn songs was to either pick it up by ear (which we did) or hope you could get sheet music. I couldn't read bass clef then, and still can't.

Mark left after a gig or two, but the band continued as a four piece, performing songs including:

Dio - Stand Up And Shout
Dio - Rainbow in the Dark
Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer
Iron Maiden - Running Free
Iron Maiden - Moonchild
Iron Maiden - Two Minutes to Midnight
Black Sabbath - Iron Man
AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
AC/DC - Chase The Ace
Anthrax - Madhouse
Ozzy Osbourne - Bark at the Moon
The Cult - Li'l Devil
Steppenwolf - Born to be Wild
Twisted Sister - I Am, I'm Me (I think!)

and a few others which I can't remember.

There were also some self-penned songs including such forgotten classics as "Demon Mind Destroyer" ("You're the darkest demon in town") and "The Driver" which I wrote and was frankly a poor rip-off of a Y&T song. Titles of any more have long since faded from my memory.

L-R: Danny Frost, Me, Nigel Smith, Glen Stokes, Mark Guest

Rehearsals took place in a garage behind The Lion pub in the centre of Peterborough. The workers at a nearby solicitors regularly complained about the noise, but as we were practicing outside working hours, this only resulted in us turning the volume up.
This is from my final gig - a sold-out free to enter gig at The Scotgate in Stamford. We had blagged a 1,000W PA for the gig and in such a small space it was deafening. 
















There are probably many more things to recall, and I'm sure I've forgotten much of the history of my time in the band so watch this space...

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Thin Lizzy DLC

Had an early start this morning to run through the new Thin Lizzy DLC. It wasn't too complicated, but some concentration was needed in parts.

My favourite so far is Dancing in the Moonlight. Getting 99% on the first couple of run throughs was surprising, so it shows it's not that complicated. Now on to Score Attack to see how everyone else is getting on.





"Tonight there's going to be a jail break, somewhere in this town". Hmm, let's see. That'll be at the jail then. Nice words Phil.








Again it was surprising to get over 99% first time out. My score on the CDLC version wasn't nearly as good. I'd go with the pukka Rocksmith version though as much of the available CDLC relies on dodgy tabs and the RS team generally do things properly.








Tuesday 14 April 2015

My Bass History

It all started in 1983 (or was it 1982?) with a trip to Monkey Business in Romford. The original plan was to buy a Tokai Precision Bass copy but a Fender Mustang Bass caught my eye. It was in natural finish and the previous owner had added a set of DiMarzio pickups. I didn't look at anything else and left the shop with the Fender and a Roland 15W amp.

The Mustang served me well for a couple of years, but I decided that I needed a full scale neck. Back to Monkey Business, looking for a Precision Bass again. It was a used black Jazz Bass though which came home and the Mustang was traded in. I now wish I could have kept it.

In 1987, Hohner released the B2A and I had to have one. It's still probably my favourite bass. Never goes out of tune, looks great, and weighs far less than any of the Fenders/Squiers.

Sometime around 1987 I bought a Kay Precision Bass from my friend Rich. He'd gigged it the once and before going on stage had dropped it, cracking part of the headstock. Undeterred, I paid him £40 for it, then took all the frets off and got a strip of some exotic wood from a woodwork teacher who lived nearby to stick over the fretboard. It wasn't a total success and it soon ended up at the local tip.

Not long afterwards, I got the chance to buy an unlined Hohner B2A FL (fretless). I never really got on with it though as getting the intonation right was harder than it needed to be. Had I realised at the time that the dot markers on the side were the actual positions of the frets and not the middle points of the frets as on regular basses, I might have got used to it. 

Wind forward a few years and the Hohners were both stolen in a burglary. The thieves left the Jazz Bass behind so clearly didn't know much about the value of basses.

After a break in playing of a few years, in the late 2000's I decided to get back into it again and bought another B2A, restrung the Jazz Bass with some gold strings (the ones which John Entwistle used) and bought several more Boss effects pedals.

Things died down again until I read about Rocksmith. I'd been playing RockBand with my wife and eldest stepson for a while and always wished that something similar using real instruments was available. Now it was.

After buying the original Rocksmith, I was appalled at how bad my playing was. After a few months of playing for an hour in the weekend mornings, I was getting back into it and beginning to trouble the High Score leagues on Rocksmith Buddy.

I bought a black Squier Affinity P Bass in 2013 to use as a mule for upgrading various parts. In hindsight I should have spend a little more and bought a VM Precision Bass because the machineheads on the Affinity are a smaller diameter than standard machineheads, so upgrading is impossible unless the holes in the headstock are drilled out.

The Affinity has had a Babicz bridge added, new pickguard, fretmarker stickers, and will one day have a new wiring loom, pickups and copper tape shielding added.

More to come...

Thin Lizzy on Rocksmith at last!

The Riff Repeater confirmed that this week's Rocksmith DLC pack is from Thin Lizzy. "The Boys Are Back In Town", "Dancing In The Moonlight" and "Jailbreak". That's a definite buy for me!

Monday 13 April 2015

Rotosound Tru Bass nylon strings

A few months ago I replaced the flatwounds on my Squier Precision Fretless with these black nylon strings.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the sound and feel, and the prospect of them lasting forever despite my sweaty fingers.

I had to widen the slots on the nut for the E and A strings slightly, but other than that, have had no issues with them so far.

Appearance wise, they go very well with the ebony fretboard. It initially feels odd not having metal strings, but that soon passes. 
More to come.

Project - my Squier Affinity P Bass

I bought an Affinity P Bass because at the time I hadn't got a Precision style bass and I also wanted to try out my skills at upgrading a bass.

Step one was to replace the white pickguard with a black one. Step two was replace the bridge with a Babicz bridge. I've got a Badass II on my Jazz bass, but the Babicz looked rather interesting.

It certainly makes a difference. The sustain is much improved and it looks much better than that old piece of tat which comes as standard.

I wasn't keen on the single ply black pickguard and decided to replace it with a three ply black-white-black version. After buying a few which didn't fit (hole spacing etc), I managed to find this one:

 It looks much better with the white line around the pickguard.  This also shows the new fretmarker stickers. These were cheap as chips from Japan (or China - I can't remember) and very easy to fit. The difference is amazing. I've never really liked dot markers.

The next modification was to put the original silver string tree back on. My original plan was to have an all black bass - bridge, string tree, machineheads etc, but the machineheads I bought wouldn't fit the headstock holes without some serious re-drilling. I wimped out and gave them to my stepson who has installed them on his Precision Bass.

Next on the list is to replace the pickups. This will either be with Seymour Duncan Quarter Pounders or Dimarzio pickups. I've also got a new wiring harness to install, but this I'll do at the same time as replacing the pickups to save soldering everything twice. Whilst all the internals are out, I'll be lining the cavity with copper tape to reduce interference.

Sunday 12 April 2015

And in case my fingers weren't blistered enough...



Iron Maiden's Phantom Of The Opera. Some of you may remember it as "The Lucozade Advert with Daly Thompson". There are plenty more points on offer here, as I made countless mistakes. This is a track I always wanted to be able to play back in the day. Things are a lot easier now that there's an Internet full of tabs and software like Rocksmith....

Sunday's Rocksmith activity

Ok, I know that custom DLC (downloadable content) for Rocksmith goes against the grain - copyright infringements etc, but as everyone else is at it, I'll have some of that!

This morning I've been on a mission to improve some of my high scores. First off was Summertime by Janis Joplin.

Still a bit of work to do to get to 100%. There are a few tricky sections in there. I still stand by my view that bass players in the Sixties and Seventies did a much better job than those of today. 



Next up was Rikki Don't Lose That Number by Steely Dan. Emanhall and Toddwohlrabe are two of my "Rocksmith Yardsticks". If I can get close to these two, then I consider that I've done pretty well.






One of my favourite basslines is "Diamonds In The Mine" by Leonard Cohen. This is one of Aludog's CDLCs. Whenever Aludog posts new CDLC, you know that a) it's probably some gem you've not come across before and b) it's going to be good:

I still haven't hit 100% on this one and it's difficult to see where I'm missing out.



A favourite Elton John song is "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting". Again, I haven't managed 100% on this one as there are a couple of tricky sections along the way.









Now, I always say that you can't beat a bit of Rush. I prefer the pre-Power Windows stuff and here's my attempt at A Farewell to Kings.

100% is still up for grabs, so there are more points to be gained here.






Finally for today, there's the version of The Pink Panther Theme by Hi Standard. This is insane!