Help with equipment

Myself and a few mates are looking into starting a band, playing a bit of Floyd. There are a few things that i really need help with please ...

1) What wou you think is a good song for not-so-good players like us to play? I thought WYWH.

2) I don't own my own Bass yet, and i need to know a good cheap bass to buy. I can only spend about $300 ...

3) What are some good Amps to use? My mate is using a marshall, but what would be best for a band?

I would really appreciate any input whatsoever, so don't be afraid to help :grin:

WYWH here is the first floyd song i learned to play and is possibly the easiest. You can play the early Barrett songs quite easily too, they're mostly just chords but they wont sound right without the wierd effects they use. 'Money' is quite easy too.

I no nothing about good basses, in my band before we got a bassist one of use would play bass using the bottom 4 strings on a guitar... same notes an octave higher.

And IMO the best amps are Marshall, Peavey and Laney, also Fender do quite good ones i hear.

Hope thats SOME help at least.

Indeed, "Wish You Here Here" is a very easy song. (However, the first song that I played on my guitar was "The Scarecrow"...)
May I suggest that you look into the Squier line of basses. They're made by Fender, using Fender materials... but they are a hell of a lot cheaper and and are built a lot more durably than most cheap basses out there.
As for amplifiers, may I also suggest a Fender. A Marshall is indeed good enough for a band's use... Peavey makes good amps, also.

The thing i find with squires are that, at least around where i come from, EVERY1 has one... and even if its not a squire its the same shape! (Tho' i have infinite respect for it if its a real Fender!). I guess this wont be a problem to you if its your first bass but all my friends who went the same route that i went (i.e. Buying a Squire Strat) have wanted to move on pretty quick, to be a bit different.

I wish i had a Flying V!!!!!!!!!

the old sixties flying v's are awesome.

You could get a cheap P-Bass, everyone sells them and/or makes them, they're a dime a dozen, and some of them are actually good quality.
I play bass and I use an ESP 5-string, the place I got it sold it to me for about 349 dollars if I remember correctly, it's very nice and the four strings are a lot cheaper. The tone is great.
Amps cost a lot more, a cheap yet good amp is a Fender Bassman 100 which would work well for live performances because 100 watts lets you be at least respectably loud. The list price is 700 dollars, but you can get one usually at around 543.
Mind you this is all in USD, I don't know what country you live in, so you'll have to find out.
As for songs, the first song I learned was Money, it is in fact not as easy for beginners, but if you have enough hand dexterity you can play it fine. I do suggest Wish You Were Here, but it includes learning a long bass line instead of a few simple riffs.
Good luck!

Another easy one is "Mother"... Just 3 chords..G, C and D played in the basic positions... (hell, even Roger himself played it on his acoustic on ITF, so that proves it's easy[j/k]) The electric solo isn't hard either.. You can get tabs on this very website. Don't worry about trying to sound just like Dave, you can come pretty close, and what the hell difference will the audience know anyway? BTW, if you want to pursue the Gilmour tone (good luck!) you can get the EMG DG-20 pro series active p'ups for your strat. Oh, never mind--just saw you're on a limited budget.

Flying Vee?? Good Gawd.

Les Paul?? NOW were talkin'!!

Thanlyou to all for your help.
I have decided i will get a Yamaha 4 stringer.
They are a really good bass for a band on a budget.

Does anyone know where i can get some Mullard E-34 valves?

cheers

honestly, and this has nothing to do with budget or anything related, I always had a love affair with the classic stratocaster. I have the upmost respect, upmost, for Les Pauls...but I never liked them much. Telecasters are nice and sound good from what I hear and i always liked that guitar Syd used to have...I think it was Danelectro? The black and white one, I saw Dave Navarro playing the same design in a video once. But overall, I always had an obsession with the one of a kind Red Special Brian May made with his old man...I don't know, beautiful guitar and sounds great and there's only one out there...well, at least until he had copies made.

the 80's metal ones are gay but kind of like the old ones. i would like a telecaster myself though.

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Nice picture you've included, Thorin. I love vintage guitars.
As for the whole "Fender vs. Gibson" debate, my brother and I have been fighting over this for at least two years. He is totally dedicated to Fender, which I guess isn't too bad... I keep an open mind, however. I like Les Pauls (I just wish they were cheaper), but I like Fenders a little more.

Yeah, nice pic, Thor...I have to concede that the Flying Vees do have an aggressive symmetry to them that makes them visually appealing. But you could disembowel yourself if you're not careful swinging it around onstage. Maybe that's where Rog got the idea for "Careful With that Axe..."

I love Les Pauls. (Maybe not the Goldtops--always looked like some idiot painted it himself with a can of spraypaint) But Shane is right, they are expensive--and heavy as hell, but that's probably why they have such great tone and sustain. Good tone control too.

Of course, Fender Strats are my first love. Probably because they are just so damned versatile and user-friendly. They're like hotrods, they just BEG you to f**k around with 'em: Adjust the action, adjust the intonation, adjust the pickup height, try out different pickups, install a custom pickguard, bolt on a lefty neck, install locking tuners, block/unblock the tremolo, rewire the pickup switching for custom tones, etc. etc.....good American fun!!

Another problem with Flying V's is that you can't sit down with them! I owned a Flying V copy once, and it annoyed the hell outta me. I eventually got along by sticking my leg in between the two horns, and playing it like a classical guitar. Not the most confortable position...

Speaking of Fender Stratocasters, I just brought mine home today. I've had it on lay-away since February, and it finally paid it off. It is a sunburst model, with a rosewood fretboard... it is SO sweet-looking.
Stratman is right, they are easy to mess with. I have already had to mess with the bridge... when I brought the strings up to pitch, the bridge got REALLY high. So I had to take the back plate off and tighten the screws...
I plan to put a black pickguard on it.
I'm so happy!!!!!

Hey Shane, congrats on the new strat...that black pickguard will give it that wicked SRV look.....way cool!

Good point about playing a Vee sitting.... Vee lovers take note!

SRV kicks some major ass...if i don't know any better, i'd call him the white equivalent of Jimi Hendrix