Awhile back, I commented on a Facebook post from a friend of mine where you could pick a number to ask them about music. I selected #2, which asked them their favorite song. They replied with a link to this song. I had not really listened to much punk rock since the late 90's (Rancid's And Out Come the Wolves being my favorite), and even then, I was more into the ska bands (Reel Big Fish, Save Ferris, Mighty Mighty Bosstones). So I had never heard this song. It definitely had a catchy bassline, which proved to be more challenging than I thought, both in required speed and left hand dexterity. Even though I have had some issues playing lately, this old rocker wasn't ready to call it quits yet, though this definitely put me through my paces.

Another challenge was that this song sounds (to my ears) much better with a pick. In the last couple years, I've been tinkering with guitar some, so I am actually able to play with a pick to some extent. I was happy to say that I could nail a good 90% of the song with a pick. However, that other 10% kept me from doing that for my cover. While my covers are definitely not perfect, I try and get them as close as possible. So I covered the bass fingerstyle, and needed to select a bass that could bring some growl to it to make up for losing out on the cutting tone a pick can bring. I think the original was recorded on a picked p-bass, which sounded killer when I was using a pick, but didn't work as well with my fingers.

Which brings in the newly acquired G&L. After doing a huge sell off last fall, I remodeled my room. I also sold a few more instruments this spring and finally bought a Fodera. After doing so, I took a new wall picture and posted to a bass group. One person mentioned I was lacking a G&L. Truth be told, I had been wanting to try one for years, especially once finding out about the potential for the single coil mod (SCM) you can order. While I thought about orange metalflake, I also really liked their tangerine orange metallic finish. Sadly, even "option orders" that aren't full custom shop are taking 6-8 months right now, so I thought it was going to be awhile. I saw one with most of the options I liked used on Reverb, but missed out on it. Then one day G&L's page posted one that was almost exactly what I wanted. Tangerine metallic, matching headstock, ebony board, with the single coil mod. They even had the inlays left off, which I wouldn't have thought of, but really dig the clean look. I commented that it was what I was after, and another member commented that he thought it was going to a store called Rocket Music (he had ordered his bass at the same time from them, and was waiting for it to come in). I quickly contacted Rocket Music, and low and behold it was available. I bought it, and the next day it arrived from G&L at their shop. They inspected it and sent it on to me the same day. And since it was ordered last year, it had the old price before the recent increase. #win

I was originally cautious of G&L because of only being a 2-band preamp. However, experience with Sadowsky and the East J-Tone on my beloved AC signature J-bass has shown me that this is definitely a viable option. I heard how powerful the MFD pickups were, and that the bass was quite versatile. I can say without hesitation that everything good I heard about the bass was accurate. In parallel mode the pickups have a great tone for fingerstyle, and even slapped using the treble boost option. Series mode gives you an insanely fat reggae style tone. And the single coil mode is my favorite. Can get pretty close to a JC tone for Tool stuff, and the neck pickup soloed in passive can cop a good p-bass vibe. Even with the warmer attack of fingerstyle (which is almost muffled by comparison to using a pick), this bass cut right through. So it ended up working out great on this song. Both pickups on, Single Coil Mode, Active Preamp engaged. Bass around 8, and treble around 4.

Took me some time to learn the song, and a handful of takes to get it right (mostly without either hand cramping up on me), but here is the end result. As always, it isn't perfect. But, it was fun, I accomplished what I set out to do, and I am definitely in love with the G&L, and welcome it as a worthy addition to the arsenal. \m/ \m/

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