Category: Bass Guitar Gear

Bass Guitars, Effects, Amps, Accessories and more

Build Finger Strength With The Gripmaster Exercise Tool

Gripmaster – Extra Light Tension

As any guitarist will tell you, playing in a live band will definitely test your stamina in ways you never would expect. It’s really hard to build the type of endurance you will need to be able to play an entire live gig when you don’t play out a lot. You can practice on your instrument of course but it’s hard to practice for 3 hours to simulate the live show experience. Even if you do play regularly it’s a good idea to have some tools to help you build your finger strength and stamina. Years ago I bought a Gripmaster Exercise Tool finger exerciser and I have used it to help stay in playing shape over the years. I have recommended this product to many of my students as well to help them build up their finger muscles.

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Fender Standard Jazz Bass Guitar Review

Fender Standard Jazz Bass – Midnight Wine

I recently helped one of my students purchase a Fender Standard Jazz Bass guitar. He is going to be using it in his live band. Even though the Standard Jazz Bass is made in Mexico I was very impressed with the quality of the build of the Bass that he purchased. The Standard Jazz Bass has all the components that made the Fender Jazz Bass famous. It has two single coil pickups each with their own volume control and a single master tone control. This gives you the ability to mix the sound of the two pickups together in a multitude of different ways. It gives the Jazz Bass a lot of tonal options that you wouldn’t get with the Fender Precision Bass.

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Music123 Sale, 15% Off Your Entire Order

**This Offer Has Expired** Check out other great offers from Music123!

From now until November 26 you can get 15% off your entire order at Music123. Music123 is an online music store that caters to every type of musician whether you play live or just like to record. I’ve always had good experiences ordering from Music123. Here’s an experience I had recently when I ordered a product. I had ordered several different types of guitar picks to experiment with including the Jellifish Chorus Guitar Pick. Somehow, the Jellifish got crushed during shipping and all the wires on it got bent. I called Music123 and they sent me out a brand new one, completely free without making me return the damaged one. Now that’s customer service! So make sure you check out the great sale and excellent products at Music123.

Now is the perfect time to get your big ticket items for Christmas. These top items sell out regularly and can be hard to get closer the Christmas. I recommend these top selling products from Music123: (more…)
Planet Waves CT-03 Pro String Winder With Cutter And Tuner

$Planet Waves CT-03 Pro Winder\Tuner\Cutter$
Planet Waves CT-03 Pro WinderTunerCutter

One of the most essential tools you can have for your guitar and bass collection is a string winder. It’s a real challenge to hold the string in place while with one hand while having to reposition your other hand every time you want to give the tuning head a half turn. The other tools you need every time you change strings are a string cutter and a tuner. Well, the Planet Waves CT-03 Pro String Winder\Tuner\Cutter is the tool for you. You can have all 3 tools right there in your hand while changing strings. The built-in tuner is so handy you’ll wonder how you lived without it before.

The Planet Waves CT-03 Pro String Winder also has a built-in bridge pin puller. It’s nice to have that for pulling the bridge pins on your acoustic guitar. The string winder is a really handy tool and makes changing your strings so much easier. (more…)
Michael Kelly Firefly 4-String Acoustic-Electric Bass

Michael Kelly Firefly 4-String Acoustic-Electric Bass

Since discussing playing an acoustic gig in yesterdays post on Live Musician Central I figured I should talk about an excellent solution for bass players. I’d like to point you to the Michael Kelly Firefly 4-String Acoustic-Electric Bass. It’s a very affordable acoustic bass guitar and is an incredible bargain for the price. It can be very difficult to find an acoustic bass that sounds good unplugged but the Michael Kelly Firefly really sounds good unplugged. Of course, it’s on-board electric pickup gives you the ability to plug in and that’s where this bass really shines.

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How To Get Your Band In Tune

Peterson Stroboflip VS-F

I’m going to talk about a common problem that I hear quite often when I’m out listening to bands. It’s a problem I’ve encountered working with various musicians in my studio as well. The problem that I’m talking about is the use of several different electronic tuners while tuning the various instruments in a band. You would think that a tuner is a tuner and that they’re all properly calibrated but the truth is that any individual tuner can be slightly out of calibration. If you have two different tuners and they’re both a little bit out of calibration, let’s say one is slightly sharp and the other is slightly flat, you’ll hear a big difference in tuning between the different instruments that have been tuned on them. The audience will simply hear an out of tune band which isn’t good for any performance by a live musician.

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The Peterson 490-ST AutoStrobe Tuner

Peterson 490-ST AutoStrobe Tuner

I have a Peterson 490-ST AutoStrobe Tuner that is by far the most accurate and best tuner I have ever used. It is a strobe tuner so it has unparalleled accuracy when it comes to tuning your instrument. I use the Peterson 490-ST AutoStrobe Tuner to set the intonation on my guitars and it works flawlessly.

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The Amazing Ebow Plus

One of the most interesting devices to come along for guitarists and bass guitarists is the Ebow. It’s a small handheld device that you hold just above your guitar string. The Ebow causes the string to vibrate using magnetic energy which gived the effect of a bowed cello string. It’s really an amazing little device and it’s been used on a lot of recordings over the years. The Ebow Plus is an updated version of the classic Ebow. The Ebow Plus gets the strings moving a lot easier than the old Ebow which required you to pick the string to get it moving.

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Save Money On Accessories With Coupon Code From Music123

Save 15% On Hearos Ear Plugs

   There’s a couple of really good deals going on at Music123 that I wanted to make you aware of. Right now all the accessories ship free on orders over $49. That’s half the usual amount to get free shipping. You usually have to order $99 to get free shipping but for the accessories you only have to order $49 worth of stuff to get free shipping.

   Second, there’s a great coupon code that you can use to get a 15% discount on all accessories. You can save a bunch of money by entering this coupon code during checkout when ordering accessories. Just click this link: 15% Off All Accessories with Coupon Code: B2S15 at Music123.com That’s a great deal and it’s not going to last forever. So if you’re a live musician, now is the perfect time to pick up some much needed accessories for you and your band.

   Here’s a list of links to accessories that you can buy using the 15% discount code.

Horizon Concert Series 24-Channel/4-Return Stage Snake Standard

Mogami Gold High-Definition Neutrik 1/4″ Straight Instrument Cable 18 Foot

Mogami Silver Series Microphone Cable 50 Foot

Nova 12-Pair Hickory Drumsticks Wood Rock

Roc-N-Soc NRX Nitro Rider Drum Throne Black

Furman PM-8 II Power Conditioner with Digital Volt And Current Meters Standard

Yamaha Portable Keyboard Survival Kit B Standard

Drum One Shield Two Drum Shield Standard

Fingerease Guitar String Lubricant Standard

Fender Instrument Care Kit by Meguiar’s Standard

Big Bends Nut Sauce Tuning Lubricant Standard

Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB Humbucker Pickup Black

EBow PlusEbow Electronic Bow for Guitar Standard

Clayton Acetal Standard Guitar Picks .80MM 1 Dozen

Dean Markley 2556 Blue Steel Regular Gauge Electric Guitar Strings Standard

M-Audio SP-2 Sustain Pedal Standard

   That’s just a small sampling of the types of accessories that you can get right now at Music123. With the combined discounts of 15% off the price of the accessory and free shipping on orders over $49.00 you can save a bundle. So make sure you get in on the sale while you still can!
Planet Waves S.O.S. Guitar And Bass Tuner

Planet Waves S.O.S. Strobe Tuner

If you’ve read up on electronic tuners then I’m sure you know that strobe tuners are the most accurate tuners in the world. You can’t get any closer to perfect tuning electronically than with a strobe tuner. I have an excellent Peterson 490-ST Strobe Tuner that cost me around $750.00 to buy. I use that tuner at home to tune my piano and setup my guitars. I certainly don’t haul it around to gigs with me. What if I told you you could get a strobe tuner for $14.95?

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