Haha yeah. I have a Squire Vintage Modified P Bass too and it sounds AWESOME. Even though it was pretty cheap, the sound that comes out is so grinding and "in your face." I let my girlfriend's roommate borrow it and I want it back now lol. For some reason it has a much better tone and output than my Jazz. I think I like the really aggressive sound of the P Bass vs the smooth sound from the Jazz...love both though. No I think Cetera left the band right? And the bass player is singing for him now? I'm not so sure though.

Yes! Sting and Squire are two of my favorites too. I don't listen to many bands that are fronted by bassists but I think it makes them all the more special and unique of a group.

In modern rock there's a group called The All-American Rejects (I'm sure you've heard of them), and while I can't say I dig their new stuff too much, they had some really grage band-ish sounding stuff in the early 2000s and the singer is a bass player. My friends sometimes compare me to him because my "natural" singing voice sounds like those pop-rock bands and I play bass. I've been working on getting a harder edge in my voice though to be more versatile in approaching more classic songs from the 60s to 80s.

Well, I don't let a low price dictate my choice of basses. The SX that I got is my favorite. It's a shorter scale (32 inch neck rather than 34 like a P bass). It's much easier on my hands. I don't feel like I'm getting tendinitis when I play a low F note. LOL! You should check out SX basses. They are a steal. They are pretty well made and have a good return policy if you don't like them. They are really good for "hotrodding". I'm thinking about putting a Leo Quan "badass" bridge on mine. Seriously that's the name of the bridge.

I'm not sure who sings for Chicago now. I just know that Cetera is a fantastic singing bass player. I love his stuff with Chicago.

Have you ever heard Kings's X? They are the greatest band that should have made it HUGE, but didn't for some mysterious reason. They have a pretty large following though. They are a power trio fronted by a great singing bass player. Their guitar player is very tasteful, but can shred when it's needed. All three members of the band sing and they have some really really lush vocal harmonies. When I listen to Alice in Chains it seems like they borrowed a LOT from King's X including the harmonies. Their first four or five albums are absolute masterpieces. The rest are kind of hit or miss. They have some really great lyrics too.

I've noticed that all my favorite singing bass players were singers before they played bass. I wonder if that is why they bring a fresh approach melodically to the bass. Just a theory.

I've heard of the All American Rejects, but I'm not familiar with their music. I'll check them out. Man, my natural singing voice sounds similar to James Taylor, which is fine sometimes. It kinda sucks because I want to be able to sing more rock stuff. I just can't seem to get that edge to my voice without straining. I can kick the crap out of some country music though. I guess it's good that I like so much music. I guess my voice is pretty decent for pop and contemporary stuff. I play and sing regularly at church and people seem to think I sound good. Do you perform at all? It is a whole skill set to be able to calm your nerves when playing in front of people. You feel so vulnerable. It gets easier over time.

I watched some videos from King's X. They got that nice heavy and progressive sound goin on. They do have some big harmonies too. I like how the clanky sound of the bass is very forward in the mix of some of their songs. Love that sound from the pick hitting the strings.

I have a Badass II bridge on my jazz bass and it makes the instrument a lot more stable in terms of tuning and intonation, but if you're looking for a tone change of sorts it won't do much.

Perhaps...Maybe guitar-playing bassists would do the same. I very much like how bass and drums can play off of each other. My girlfriend is a drummer and it's really entertaining to me to play and listen to the bass thumping on the bass drum or playing around the drums on the offbeat, and then combine melodic elements into the notes that fit these timings.

I've performed in a band playing guitar, in a band playing bass, and with one other person singing/acoustic guitar. So I haven't performed singing while playing bass. I've been training my voice really intensely, and I only started singing last year. I use several different programs and books and they help me "discover," is how I like to put it, my voice, rather than necessarily teach me. Most of my advances were from just fooling around during vocalizing and just strengthening the muscles. I can sing Journey songs now! woo. My friend was amazed that I increased my range from A2-G4 to A2-F#5 in less than a year. I had to get over the nerves at first when singing in front of people. It's a really psychological thing, but if you've ever seen the TV series "LOST," there's a part where the one character is afraid, and another tells them to give themselves 5 seconds to be afraid, because it's natural, then after that it's go-time and face whatever the challenge is with a more positive energy. Turns out they liked my voice though. I sang Beatles tunes like "Eight Days A Week" and "Yesterday" and random classic songs like "Jessie's Girl"(Rick Springfield) and "All Out of Love" (Air Supply).

Do you like using pick or plucking? I like both, depending on the context of the song. The time I played bass in a band, we played outside, literally in dense fog with high speed winds, right along the California coast of the Pacific Ocean, and my fingers were freezing. I couldn't get my hands to play fast enough for fingerstyle so good thing I always keep a pick underneath the pickguard lol.

http://www.box.net/shared/90ftgry661

This is me just fooling around with screams in the 5th octave. Turn your volume down! and I think I put too much reverb haha.

The reason I want to replace the bridge is that it's the only part of the bass that is cheaply made. It was pretty difficult to get it intonated. I'm not looking to change the sound. I love how it sounds. I think the original BadAss bridge is the one that will fit my bass.

Kings X albums: Gretchen Goes To Nebraska, Faith Hope Love, and Out of The Silent Planet, and self titled albums are essential. Their other albums are good (I really like Dogman), but they set the bar high with those first albums. I hear a LOT of bands that did some heavy borrowing from King's X. They are probably my favorite rock band. If you like that progressive melodic rock sound you might really like Porcupine Tree if you haven't heard them.

I agree about bass and drums. I find it really hard to play a song with a drummer that isn't solid because I'm listening to them so much and trying to play off of what they are doing. I hate when I play with a drummer that slows down and speeds up.

I've been training my voice everyday for about a year now too. I'm not really trying to increase my range much, but more trying to improve the tone and power of what I've already got. I think one thing that was holding me back was that I thought I was a lower voiced singer than I am. It turns out that i was kind of pushing my voice down and straining it even though I didn't realize it. When I just "let it fly" my comfortable singing range is actually pretty high. I had a lesson with Oiselle where she taught me to drop my jaw correctly, basic support, dropping tension under my chin and just letting my voice go where it wants to. It has made a dramatic improvement to my sound and I don't feel tired after singing for a while. I would love to be able to sing some Journey stuff! That's great man. Yeah, the wife and I love Lost. We are watching season 6 right now on Netflix.

Dude, I like playing with a pick and fingers. It really just depends on what sounds better on a song. I've found that typically when I play more driving rock stuff that I sound better with a pick. When I'm doing slower ballads and more groove oriented playing that the fingers sound better. I like em both. I almost never slap and pop though. I think it is over done and I just don't like how it sounds when I do it. Some people sound amazing with it though. It's just not me.

I went to an acoustic jam last night/band tryout. The told me told me that I was an excellent guitar player and a really good singer. They invited me back next Tuesday! :)

I'll listen to your demo later. I'll have to record myself singing sometime.