Category: 004. Product Recommendations

Finding my guitars’ voices.

When purchasing the Fender Rumble Studio 40 bass amp 4-5 months ago, my wife had questioned my choice, as I was paying a $200 premium for the Studio model over the basic 40 model. The differences being the 100 different built-in bass effects and the connected capability of the amp to join your Wi-Fi   network to sink and up-date itself. In my opinion, the extra $200 was worth it!

However, at the back of my mind, I had been thinking if I had again fallen for a gimmick with functionality which I’d never use.

But I’m here to say, the Studio 40 has been fully worth it and here’s why!

For the first 2 months of Bass amp ownership, I had only used 2 effects and thought I had squandered $200. As for the first couple of months I had purely only played 2 different basses on the Rumble amp. So, the other 98 built in bass sounds remained unexplored and unused. And perhaps here was where the problem lay, when I first bought the amp I was scrolling through the various bass sounds, and the second pre-set already caught my fancy, and I stuck with this sound effect for the first 2 months.

But a few weeks back, I was determined that I was going to explore all 100 bass sounds, just to hear what they all sounded like. So, I pulled up a chair, plugged in one of the other basses whom I hadn’t found ‘their voice’ yet, and literally forced myself to go through all 100 sounds, plucking a few lines to hear what suited that guitar.

And the amazing thing is this! Each of my 6 basses has their own unique character, thus needed their own voice.

For the Fender JMJ Mustang bass, it has a powerful split-coil pickup placed in-between the bridge and the neck, and with flat wound strings, the deep 02 Basic Bassman OD was the ideal sound! As it emphasizes the almost up-right bass sound of the JMJ with its flat wound strings.

While for the Sterling by Musicman Sting ray bass, as this bass was best for slap & popping, then 29 KGB – 800 Slap was the ideal sound! This effect emphasizes the sounds coming from the string, like just sliding your fingers along the strings these sounds are captured and magnified thus perfect for some thumb slapping!

For my very first guitar, the Fender Player Mustang PJ, this guitar undoubtedly has the weakest pickup of them all. Toggling to Jazz, the sound is so muffled and barely audible that you simply can’t use it.  And toggling to Precision, it’s better but still very underwhelming as an instrument. So, to give this thing a sound boost 09 Deep Rumble was perfect! This pre-set is so booming, any other guitar would cause things on the walls to vibrate. But because the Mustang Player has cheap pickups, the weakness of the guitar and the power of the amp actually gels perfectly to create an acceptable tone.

The Hofner Contemporary Club bass is a hollow body bass, so the sound effect it needed was something to emphasize its hollow body nature. 24 Basic Tube Pre does just that! I scrolled all the way to 100, trying to find the perfect sound for this guitar, and in the end I came back to 24, as it just works with a hollow body!

The G&L Tribute Series Fallout bass was the hardest to work with, as this guitar is like an untamed wild beast. The humbucker pickup is by far the strongest and I already replaced the round wounds to flats to try taming it’s natural booming voice. Literally using the previous 4 pre-sets with this guitar was ear piercingly painful, as it hits a frequency which literally hurts my eardrums. And the only way to get around this problem was to turn down the sound on both amp and guitar by half. But wanting to find its own unique voice, I ended up on 25 Basic Redhead, it’s hard to describe the end outcome, but this is the only setting which makes this guitar sound good. From being something which literally hurts the ears, with this effect the guitar actually sounds melodic and on the D and G strings, it literally sings like a bird! So, it’s funny the guitar has gone from being like a Death Metal singer, to the Vienna Boys Choir! Haaha.

And lastly, my latest purchase, a Fender Made in Japan Jazz bass! At first I was just plugging it in and leaving it on whatever setting I had the last guitar on. But I just kept thinking to myself, ‘boy, this thing sounds pretty crappy’. But that was until I started to play around with the sound effect toggle nob, and the best sound for the Jazz was 07 Fender Rumble V3 Vintage. Although I wasn’t particularly looking for a vintage sound from the J-bass, but this sound just suits it so well! And brings out that Jazz sound which I’d been chasing down ever since bass guitar number 1 with the Mustang PJ.

So, now that I’ve found the voice for each of my basses, of course my end verdict is that the Studio 40 has been a good buy! There’s no question of that. And if you want to geek out, you can literally customise each sound to your hearts content! Not to mention there’s a Fender community who create their own tones, and then shares them through the app for all to download, as you have an additional 100 empty channels to save new sounds to. So, the Rumble Studio 40 can certainly be the first and last bass amp you ever buy, as who needs another, when your existing amp keeps getting better as time goes by?

So, to check-out the Bass amp which I’ve been raving on about, click HERE to learn all about the Fender Rumble Studio 40! Boom!

Is this the end of Foursenses.blog?

This week I didn’t have a clear plan on what I wanted to blog about, however the topic of AI kept arising, frankly it was a bit hard to avoid! How would this change all of our lives as we know it! Yeah yeah, that sounds overly dramatic, but it’s true for bloggers like us! Take the below as an example.

Earlier this year I was geeking out on Fender Play, the online guitar learning platform, and now that I’ve finished all the bass guitar lessons, I’m wondering what else is out there!? Whilst kicking myself hard that I paid in advance for an entire year, thinking that a 10% discount was a no-brainer! But fast forward 6 weeks and I’ve already completed all of the bass lessons. D’oh! So, the natural next step would be to explore other similar platforms like Scott’s Bass Lessons, yes those guys with all of those annoying Youtube ads which I skip as soon as I can.

And in the past, I would of eventually signed up to Scott’s Bass Lessons (SBL), and after a month I probably would write a compare and contrast blog, comparing Fender Play to SBL. But pump them brakes! There’s now no need to wait for a further 12 months for this blog content, instead I plugged that exact query into ChatGBT (specifying to make it conversational and in Australian English,  and it produced the below:

No worries mate! I’d be happy to give you a rundown on Fender Play and Scott’s Bass Lessons in a more conversational, Aussie-style.

Fender Play is an online app for learning guitar that’s perfect for beginners and intermediate players. They cover a range of styles like rock, pop, blues and country, and provide step-by-step lessons on chords, scales and techniques. They’ve also got a ton of popular songs that you can learn to play.

Scott’s Bass Lessons is an online platform designed specifically for bass players. They offer a comprehensive curriculum covering everything from basic techniques to advanced concepts. There’s also a community of bass players where you can connect with other musos and get feedback on your playing.

Here are some key differences between Fender Play and Scott’s Bass Lessons:

1. Focus: Fender Play is focused on guitar players, while Scott’s Bass Lessons is all about bass players. This means that Scott’s Bass Lessons is likely to be more specialized and comprehensive when it comes to bass-specific techniques and theory.
2. Curriculum: Fender Play is more structured, with lessons organized into courses and levels. Scott’s Bass Lessons, on the other hand, is more flexible, allowing you to pick and choose which lessons you want to take.
3. Learning Style: Fender Play provides video-based lessons that are easy to follow and understand. Scott’s Bass Lessons, on the other hand, provides more detailed lessons that are geared towards intermediate and advanced players.
4. Community: Scott’s Bass Lessons has a strong community of bass players who can provide feedback and support. Fender Play, on the other hand, doesn’t have a community feature.
5. Price: Fender Play is cheaper, with a monthly subscription starting at $9.99. Scott’s Bass Lessons is more expensive, with a monthly subscription starting at $20. However, Scott’s Bass Lessons offers a free trial, while Fender Play doesn’t.

To sum it up, Fender Play and Scott’s Bass Lessons are both excellent online learning platforms, but they have different focuses and teaching styles. Fender Play is great for guitar players who want a structured learning experience with a wide range of musical styles. Scott’s Bass Lessons is ideal for bass

It’s pretty wild hey!? ChatGBT’s article was both factual, informative and balanced. Much better than my usual bias gushing blogs…… But it does expose some weaknesses in the program- as ChatGBT isn’t aware of facts/details after 2021, therefore unaware that Fender Play has now introduced a Bass path, increased their monthly fees, and they now also provide a 14 day free trial just like SBL. But aside from these small issues, it’s incredible in how it produced a solid and factual ‘blog post’, a post which could of fooled anyone into believing that it was written by a human who invested time, effort and money to bring you their unbiased opinion. So back to the opening question, is this the end of foursenses.blog?

Well, I hope not! As I really enjoy writing and leaving an online  journal of my experiences/thoughts/life for all to read on the internet as a proof of my existence. But will there be the odd occasion where I’m too lazy to write my own blog posts and lean on a Chat bot to essentially take-over my hobby? Well,….. Let’s see hey?

To check out ChatGBT, just Google it, just make sure you don’t call it OpenGBT, it doesn’t like that and corrected me harshly for my mistake. Haaha.

How I’ve taken this thing for granted!

Each Saturday morning as I write this blog post, I wonder to myself…. “What can I write about?” And most times I have an idea in mind, as I’d just finished watching this or that show, or I’ve experienced something which I’ve been dying to tell someone about! But oftentimes, I simply write about what’s been consuming my attention this past week. And this week it has been Spotify!

This all came about as we had an ice-breaker session at a work workshop I attended mid-week. As part of the ice-breaker, we had to share about a hidden talent of ours, and although I didn’t share about this. But a colleague shouted it out as their guess of my hidden talent. And that was my past interest in Djing, spinning those wheels of steel! And the next morning our Senior Manager asked me if I’d be interested to put together a playlist for an all-day planning session coming up next week. And of course, I agreed. But then it dawned on me, the pressure!!!!!

1. Because it’s a work event, therefore song choice is critical i.e., no cussing and no sexually suggestive undertones.
2. Inevitably people are going to judge you on your musical taste.
3. And lastly, your personal life is now going to merge with your work life, and aren’t we all just a little bit different outside of work?

So, for these reasons I’ve been spending hours and hours on Spotify, attempting to create a curated 16 track playlist which will keep vibes up, not offend, and not sound too commercial or generic so that people think they’re just listening to another pre-made Spotify playlist.

And here is how I’ve taken for granted the fact that I’ve always had a paid Spotify premium account. I remember when I first got Spotify, I wanted to listen to music on demand. I wanted to hear the song that I wanted, when I wanted it just like my very own jukebox. So, the $12 per-month was a no brainer. I considered it as half the price of a physical CD album per month, but it enabled me to ‘own’ every song in the world (or close to it).

And as I was putting my playlist together, I had taken for granted that I could bring up whatever song I wanted, I could skip it after the first 20 seconds if the initial bars hadn’t grabbed my attention, and afterwards when I was enjoying my playlist I commented to my wife, “This sound quality is really, really good!” As the acoustic covers, you could hear each string ring out, a level of quality I greatly appreciated, when coming out of a simple Google Home Mini speaker.

And the access to songs is incredible! So, what I ended up creating was this. I wanted to create a body moving playlist, but nothing too outrageous that you felt like you had to scream to be heard, or that you feel like you’re in a club while at the office. So, I ended up pulling out all of my tracks from a work-out playlist which I had made for myself, but the songs which I kept were just the ones which had actual singing in it (unfortunately no rap or hip hop for my 50+ year old colleagues). So, I ended up with tracks like Miley Cyrus’ Party in the U.S.A, and Ed Sheeran’s Don’t. But also, not wanting to just sound like a playlist of songs which had been used in a recent TV commercial, I decided to also make a second ‘reimagined’ playlist, so the exact same songs in the exact same order, but they’re either remixes, covers, or mash-ups. So, when you hear the first few bars, your brain thinks it knows what’s to come, but boom! Then you’re thrown a curveball when a chick starts to sing (instead of Ed), or instead of a deep thumping bass note, it’s a more chilled acoustic guitar! So, with 2 playlists (the original and the reimagined), my Senior Manager can now elect which playlist to play, depending on the scenario e.g., background music during morning-tea- you need more up-tempo; or if it’s background music during team build activities- then you need the toned down version. Brilliant!

So yeah, back to the access to songs point…… Honestly, some of the more popular tracks, there are like 20 different versions of the same song! Either various edits by the original artist, unofficial and official remixes, covers, mash-ups, live performances, instrumental only, and of course those sped-up chipmunk versions. It was crazy, I lost myself in listening to so many versions of the same songs, liking a couple and then going back and doing my own little song battle. Pitching one version of ‘Love yourself’ with another, and then choosing one to keep for my reimagined playlist. So much fun!

So, without a paid account, this experience would have been so painful! Made to sit through ads, unable to skip to my hearts content, and most importantly, unable to listen to the songs in the order which I want them to be! And that’s important, as songs in a DJ set needs to be in an exact order to allow the songs to build off one another. 

So, yeah, if you’re still sitting on the fence on a free account verses a paid account? Try the one month free trial of Spotify Premium, I promise you, once you have the power to listen to what you want, when you want it, as many times as you want, in high fidelity!? You’ll never go back! You’re hip pocket isn’t going to thank me, but your ears and sanity will!

And why has it taken me over 6 months to write this blog post?

Oh, it seems like such a long time ago. Last year in 2022, I was obsessed with wanting more and more bass guitars! At the mid-point of the year, 3 hadn’t been enough and I was longing for my 4^th. I was telling myself, this was going to be the last, so I had to make it good! Money wasn’t an issue, I just wanted the best out there. An oh yeah, have I forgot to mention, I was only in the market for short scale bass guitars, as after going in for my first 30 inch scale guitar, 3 Short scales later, I was in too deep to start playing full scale basses now!

So, I was literally researching every guitar brand, and seeing if they were producing short scale bases. I even had this detailed spreadsheet where I was collecting all the specs and details on each bass, and after researching for 2 months I decided to go G&L! Because my first guitar was a Fender, my second was a Musicman, so it just felt fitting if the last of my guitars would be the 3^rd and final company Leo Fender was involved with, i.e., George Fullerton & Leo Fender (G&L Guitars). As I mentioned, money was not an issue here, and I would of loved an American made, but down here in Australia, that isn’t that easy to get a hold of. So, I resorted for G&L’s import line, the ‘Tribute Series’.

Besides for wanting to complete the trilogy, the handful of clips I had heard on Youtube in how the guitar sounded, it sounded great! To this point I was still looking for a short scale bass which actually had a deep tone, like a full scale, and I thought that G&L’s short scale- the ‘Fallout’ did just that! So, I made steps to acquire one.

In Australia, it seemed that only one music store was stocking the Tribute Series Fallout Bass, and at that time they only had one remaining guitar per colour. A surf green, A Candy Apple red, an Olympic white, and a Jet black. And as the 3 basses which I had previously bought, were black, white and aged natural- I wanted some colour in my life this time! And the idea of a Candy apple red guitar appealed to me greatly! So, I snatched up the last Candy apple red G&L Tribute Series Fallout bass in Australia! Yes! **Note: Funny enough, the G&L ended up being the cheapest guitar I had bought at an affordable price of $1,069.

My initial thoughts when it arrived. ‘Man, it was big!’ Yeah, I had viewed enough reviews to know that this thing defied all logic of a short scale bass. As the Shorties were meant to be more compact, so it was easier to play for us short people. But actually, having this in my hands, it dwarfed all the other short scales I already owned.

The Fallout is both large, heavy, and loud! Plugging this thing into my rock amp, with the dials all tuned in for my other basses, it was literally unplayable! It sounded so grungy, and muddy, that to get a reasonable sound out of it, I had to turn everything down by half. And once it was turned down, it then sounded like all my other short scale basses, i.e., not bass-y enough!

So, now I had this dilemma, I bought this thing because it had promise of being a deep toned short scale, but because it was so booming and overwhelming up-high, I had to tone things down to be even able to play it. And now that it was placed in ‘its box’, it was just the same as all the others, but with the downsides of being too heavy and harder to play than the others. So, I packed it away. I told myself I’ll eventually get around to taming the beast, but until then, it was going to sit in the closet.

Subsequently I changed the strings to La Bella Flat-wound strings, as the Youtube video which made the G&L sound the best, had also changed out their strings to La bellas. But even after the string change, it was still too much for my sister’s old rock guitar amp (it was just a guitar amp). Then I decided to get a proper Bass amp, hoping that this was the last reason why all 4 of my short scale guitars didn’t sound bass-y enough. And thank God, that was the reason why!

But with this revelation, I still spent more time playing my other basses on the new Fender Rumble V3, rather than using the G&L. The reasons for this was due to it’s weight again, and the contrast from going from a short scale to the more full sized like G&L.

And in terms of hardware, it also felt a little bit cheaper than my other import lines. The Polyurethane finish just didn’t feel as premium as the others, the neck plate wasn’t embossed like the Fender nor Musicman, and the toggle switch to change between modes seemed so weird. Just a single bare metal stick, which when I first received it I had thought that a plastic nob cap had fallen off during shipping. And oh yeah, the default strings on the guitar were cheap and thin (not a whole lot of thickness difference between the E and G strings).

But what was in its favour was the killer pickup, saying it was strong is an understatement! The magnets on this thing are so strong that if you push the strings down onto the pickup, there is a moment that the magnet actually attracts to it, not wanting to let it go! Which doesn’t happen on any of my other guitars. And I have to admit that the neck and the finger board does feel really nice- nice and smooth. And the bridge is chunky and premium feeling.

But the main hold-back was still the weight and size, from my understanding is that the guitar body is pretty much a full scale (if not, it’s still pretty close to it). But how it’s a short scale bass, is that the bridge is set higher up on the body, so from bridge to nut it still measures 30 inches, so it’s basically a short scale in a full scale bass’ body. The fret spacing is probably closer to a full scale’s, as it has fewer frets (19) so the markers are spaced out further apart, so the reach is definitely different from a short scale- so for me, who is all about muscle memory, it did take a while to adjust. And the way that I like to have my guitar, slung low around hip height, now with the weight, it was a bit of a back and shoulder breaker! So, after 20 minutes I’m usually already tapping out.

And the last reason why I didn’t play the G&L much,  was that my wife forbade me to bring another different guitar on-stage at church. *Grumble grumble*. So, I didn’t have the motivation to practice with it.

Until, until 2023 swung around! My wife’s rule was no ‘Red guitar’ on-stage until 2023, and now it’s 2023!!!!!! Woohoo!

So, this is why it’s taken me 6 months to finally write this blog post, reviewing my experience with the G&L Tribute Series Fallout bass.

Sound

So, even with the Fender Rumble V3 bass amp, I had to turn the guitar’s volume to 50%, to avoid distortion and vibrating things off the walls. Haaha. But with the right settings on the amp, it still sounded very bass-y. And with the La Bella flat-wounds on them, it made the guitar sound very melodic as well, at times it blended in with the tones my wife was producing on her Taylor GS Mini Koa.

Dealing with the weight

Admittedly in-between songs, each time I would take-up the weight of the guitar onto my hands, giving my shoulder and back a rest. And that did the trick, but it also made me look pretty wimpy and soft at the same time. Haaha.

Adapting to the larger dimensions

Eventually we got there, after a week purely playing the G&L, it became second nature to find the more spread-out frets and moving around a chunkier neck. And the overall size of the guitar was starting to grow on me.

And on the day of playing, on-stage at church?

It sounded great! With the Fender Rumble V3, any bass sounds good through it, because it has 100 different tones to choose from, and with the digital technology it could make any bass sound bass-y! But as church didn’t have a designated bass amp, so what it sounds like at home, isn’t how it sounds like at church. So, the guitar sounds like what it actually is as an instrument, after all the digital trickery is stripped away i.e., not good, and never loud enough. But for the G&L this Sunday, with it’s heavy duty pickup, and the fact that I sneakily cranked my guitar volume up to 90%! The end outcome was, that our Minister’s feedback to my wife after the service was, ‘the bass sounded too loud today’! Score!!!!! They can actually here me on the bass! Moohaaha!

The fallout

Well, the fallout is this, after spending a week with the G&L Tribute Series Fallout bass, all my other short scale basses feel so small in comparison. Now the other guitars feel like I’m handling a kids play thing. D’oh! The thought did cross my mind…… What if I try-out a real full scale bass……

But don’t worry short scale community, I’m too invested in being a short scale connoisseur, that I can’t possibly go full scale now! But what I do now have in the closet, is a faux full scale, just when I feel the need to look like, feel like, and sound like  a real bass player! Haaha.  

For more on the G&L Tribute Series Fallout bass, just search for it on your web browser! Good luck finding one to purchase though!

This thing really works!

A little over a year ago, I recommended the Waterpik Waterflosser Nano, and raved on and on about it! As after visiting a dentist for the first time in 5 years (you read correctly), they actually admitted that my teeth were in quite good condition considering the time-in-between visits. And I contributed that result, to the Waterpik Waterflosser as I’d been using the pocket pressure hose in the 6 months leading up to that dental appointment.

And in that post I had shared how my original Waterflosser (the Ultra) had stopped working after 6 months, but after experiencing firsthand the benefits of the product and the confirmation from the dentists that my teeth were looking great. Then I immediately purchased a replacement Waterflosser but had gone with the cheaper Nano model- half the size, but definitely not half the power though!

So, 12 months on I’m back at the dentist for my annual clean. And I can already tell that the dentist is not impressed that we’ve elected to only come once a year, rather than the advised every 6 month routine. But once he looks into my mouth, I can hear the surprise in his voice, if I remember correctly his exact words were “your teeth are actually in quite good condition, just a small amount of build-up.” And inwardly I was doing fist pumps, while outwardly I was looking fearful as I hate being in the dental chair. *Shudders*.

So, after the previous year’s clean, for once in many many years I was able to suck air through my lower front teeth again. The sign that the plaque build-up had been broken down and things were as clean as they’re ever going to be. And in my past experience, usually within a week, my ability to suck air through my teeth is gone, as build-up starts and over time it turns into impenetrable plaque. But after last year, I vowed to myself to see how long I’d be able to maintain these clean gaps between my teeth. And I even got a little bit nerdy about it. At night after a day of eating, those gaps between my lower front teeth are filled with bits of food from the day., so no ability to suck air through those gaps.

Then I hit my night-time oral health routine. I first brush my teeth with an electric toothbrush, and then test the suck. Still no ability to suck air through the teeth.

Then I rinse my mouth out with mouth wash, really working that between my teeth. And then try the tooth gap suck again. Still no luck in sucking air through those little gaps.

And then I do the Waterflosser step of the night-time routine, and bingo! Gaps between teeth are back again! And I’m able to happily suck air through my teeth! And I’ve proven a point to myself, the most vital step of my nightly oral hygiene is the Waterflosser step, and for the whole 12 months I was able to maintain the air suck, but admittedly at a slightly reduced air flow by the end. Yes, of course you can get the same level of clean from using conventional string floss, but can you always get back to the molars for a good clean? And I think using water is more environmentally friendly than creating more waste with disposing lengths and lengths of floss each day. And perhaps over a year, you might actually spend less money? As the Waterpik costs under $105, and fingers crossed it might last you a few years! While dental floss isn’t cheap.

So, I’m completely sold on the Waterpik Waterflosser Nano, and I can honestly attest to its effectiveness in cleaning your teeth as good (or better) than conventional dental flossing, even though the majority of Dentists don’t endorse water flossers.

Check it out for yourself! Click HERE to read more and to purchase! Oral health made easy!

The journey continues!

It seems that whatever I’m obsessing over this week, then becomes the topic which I end up blogging about that week- and 4 weeks on, I’m still geeking out over the Fender Play app!

So, last week I spoke of completing the Bass Guitar (Rock) Path, and was about to give the Funk path a go- so, a week on I’ve kinda completed the Funk path? As in, the vast majority of lessons are exactly the same as the Rock path as regardless of style the basic techniques are the same. So, all I had to learn was all new Funk songs (which was more like R&B songs), and the handful of techniques which are unique to the Funk bass playing style. And again, I’ve been impressed by the teaching approach and the structure of Fender Play lessons! What I was curious to see was how they were going to approach the teaching of the Funk Slap and Pop technique. As I’ve tried learning the technique several times via Youtube with various Youtubers to absolutely no success (probably doesn’t help that I can’t see what they’re doing on screen). So, I was curious to find-out if Fender Play would be able to teach this blind guy how to Slap & Pop. And I’m pleased to say that they were successful! Yay for me!

The difference maker was the approach, they actually broke the technique down to explain what you’re trying to achieve with the technique. On Youtube they just say, “Hit the string with the bony part of your thumb” for the Slap technique, and “just do the turning key wrist action” for the Pop technique and then they proceed to Slap/Pop like a freakin’ pro! And when you try it, it doesn’t sound remotely like that, and then you get discouraged and give-up.  But with Fender Play, they explain the why, the Slap technique is to turn your bass guitar into a percussion instrument, and the Pop technique was to pull the string out far and hard enough to result in the string flicking back forceful enough to hit the fret board when you let it go. And hearing the technique described like that, it was such a revelation moment when I heard it described, so much so  that I was immediately able to perform those techniques to 50% of what they were showing (I still have a long way to go to perfect the technique). So, with the Slap technique, I’m playing the strings like I’m playing on a bongo drum, as I’m beating it like a percussion instrument. And with the Pop technique, I just have more confidence in pulling that string back like a bow and arrow, and just letting that string flick back with force- like the instructor on Fender said, pull it back as far as you can without snapping the string. Haaha.  

And it was the structured exercises which reinforced the learning, they first show you, then put you through exercises to encourage you to practice what you’ve learnt, and immediately afterwards the next lessons build on what you’ve learnt by either teaching you a song using that technique or putting you through a slightly more advanced exercise to hone what you’ve learnt! So, I think that’s the difference between a free Youtube tutorial, and the professionally produced paid Fender product. And have to admit, practice is a big part as well. Since first learning the technique, and after a week of practice, I have to say I’ve come a long way in a handful of days!

So, I’ve got 3-4 lessons to go, and I’ll have completed the Funk path, they’re pretty much songs which are beyond my skill level at the moment. So, the plan is to loop back to them in the near future when I’m more confident with my Slapping/Popping. And I’ve also learnt that not all guitars are made for Slapping/Popping. So, after I was more confident with the technique on my Sterling by Music Man Sting Ray short-scale (a very slap-able bass), I tried the Slap/Pop technique on my other bass guitars, and the effect isn’t the same. I wouldn’t go as far to say that the technique completely didn’t work, but the sound quality and the sharpness wasn’t there. It seems Slap/Pop is less effective on Flat wound strings, and the Slap/Pop technique is less effective on basses where the pick-up is located too close to the fret board. So, Slap/Pop is best on a Jazz style bass where the pick-up is located closer to the bridge, and the sound is much brighter with Round wound strings.

And since I’ve placed a temporary pause on my Funk path, I’ve started the Ukulele path, as we have a random  Ukulele lying around. And this has been interesting, as I embarked on the Bass paths already having some experience with playing that instrument. But for the Ukulele, I was coming in as a 100% novice, didn’t know the instrument nor how to play it correctly, and it has been great learning with Fender Play as a completely new beginner! It has been super fun learning everything for the first time, I’ve been soaking it all up like a sponge, and I’ve even recommended the Fender Play app to a mate who also has a ukulele randomly lying around. He is also a completely new beginner, even a new beginner to any musical instrument. So, I’ve joked, perhaps we can both learn the Ukulele and this same time next year, we can aim to perform to our wives as an Ukulele duel. Haaha. And anything is possible, with the help of the Fender Play app! And of course, with some practice!

So, if you want to check out what I’ve been raving on about for the past month, just click HERE! We luv you Fender Play!!!!!