urb Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Hi Peeps A little vid of me attempting to play over a set of changes from a Gary Willis tune called 'Speak' and goes through these changes: Bm7 Gbm7 - C#m7 G9 - D9 Gb7 - Abm7 Abm7 - Bb7 Fm7 - Cm7 Am7 - F#dim C#m7 - Dm7 Dm7 It's a wicked sequence but it's taken me a few years to start to really get my head and fingers around it - I stuck the chords into Band In A Box today - let me know what you think: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3xDyj2Fk5M"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3xDyj2Fk5M[/url] Cheers Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Inspiring as always Mike! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lenny B Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Looks like you've got the sequence wrapped now. Enjoyed and very impressed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassjamm Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Sounds cool man!!! Really getting into playing fretless at the moment...how do you have the action on yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwbassman Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Nice one mate - you make it look so easy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super_Mario_Bass Posted June 7, 2007 Share Posted June 7, 2007 Theres something about fretless bass, that smooth squelch. Im slowly falling more in love with it P.s Nice playing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted June 8, 2007 Author Share Posted June 8, 2007 [quote name='bassjamm' post='13730' date='Jun 7 2007, 06:43 PM']Sounds cool man!!! Really getting into playing fretless at the moment...how do you have the action on yours?[/quote] Hey thanks people - you're most kind - and I have my action very low - one guy who played my bass after he'd been playing his Japanese Jazz bass said "forget low action - this is no action!" - but hey it works for me and helps with getting a really long sustain - the ebony board really helps as well. Everytime I need some technical inspiration I listen to Gary Willis as his touch and ability to pull notes out of the finger board and attack them from every conceivable angle is just astonishing - he is quite literally the man on fretless these days. Thanks again for checking this out - much appreciated Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassjamm Posted June 9, 2007 Share Posted June 9, 2007 [quote name='urb' post='14048' date='Jun 8 2007, 10:19 AM']Hey thanks people - you're most kind - and I have my action very low - one guy who played my bass after he'd been playing his Japanese Jazz bass said "forget low action - this is no action!" - but hey it works for me and helps with getting a really long sustain - the ebony board really helps as well. Everytime I need some technical inspiration I listen to Gary Willis as his touch and ability to pull notes out of the finger board and attack them from every conceivable angle is just astonishing - he is quite literally the man on fretless these days. Thanks again for checking this out - much appreciated Mike[/quote] That's cool Mike...so your notes don't get choked up the fingerboard then? I'm guessing you must have to have your neck dead straight for this then yeah? I've had mine taken down, but the action is still quite high up the neck...i'm thinking of getting it strung E - C as well, but i'm not too sure on that one yet...i reckon i'll get it set-up somewhere though...can you recommend anyone who does a nice job of fretless basses? And what do you reckon to the whole E - C thing...i'm loving it on my Smith at the moment, but i don't know if i'll miss the low B on the fretless or not...hmm!!! J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted June 10, 2007 Author Share Posted June 10, 2007 [quote name='bassjamm' post='14878' date='Jun 10 2007, 12:43 AM']That's cool Mike...so your notes don't get choked up the fingerboard then? I'm guessing you must have to have your neck dead straight for this then yeah? I've had mine taken down, but the action is still quite high up the neck...i'm thinking of getting it strung E - C as well, but i'm not too sure on that one yet...i reckon i'll get it set-up somewhere though...can you recommend anyone who does a nice job of fretless basses? And what do you reckon to the whole E - C thing...i'm loving it on my Smith at the moment, but i don't know if i'll miss the low B on the fretless or not...hmm!!! J[/quote] Hi Jamie (it is you right?) Yes the neck on my bass is dead-on straight - if your's isn't definitely get it set up, I think a fretless neck is like a fretted on in that every 'fret position' should be perfect for intonation - the one thing that fretless finger boards can suffer from is dead spots - I don't have any on mine thankfully. So you should aim to get it some that you have total consistency across the entire neck low to high. As for E - C I have tried that on my fretless and unfortunately I hated it - but for my own reasons. My bass is already a very light instrument - the African mahogany is very light and aside from the ebony fingerboard that's the only wood on the bass - and that combined with light strings when I strung it E - C it just 'felt' wrong. My thought on the main reason for going E-C on any bass is that it's great for playing chords and extending the harmony (a la Matt Garrison/Janek G etc) but in all honesty every time I listen to Gary Willis his rumbling B string is totally inspiring - plus when I play my fretless in my band I love hitting those lox Ds but also playing low A on the 10th fret position - and when you have 6 or so songs in A minor that's handy! I also love the way a B - G 5 string just feels really balanced - there are plenty of 'new notes' to discover within the confines of a regular tuning it just boils down to practice and playing lots - but let us know how you get on - I'd be interested in how you find it. Cheers Mike PS Give the Bass Gallery a bell regarding a set up - failing that the Bass Centre are good for repairs/set ups Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bassjamm Posted June 10, 2007 Share Posted June 10, 2007 Thanks Mike, (yeah it's me, Jamie) That's cool, mine till has a bit of a bow in it...i was thinking of getting it set-up though, i think i'll take it down to the Gallery, they did an awesome job on my Fender Jazz!!! I've got my Smith strung E - C at the moment, and i've set it up and adjusted the intonation for it, and quite simply, it sounds amazing, and it's insane how nice the high C sounds, and it's so useful!!! I did try it on my fretless, i found it a little thin, but then again, i didn't really give it much of a try. I really love the options the high C offers, but i can't afford to keep the F Bass, Marleaux, Smith and Jazz...the Smith and Jazz need to go, dispite how much the Jazz means to me, and how great the Smith is playing/sounding! The plan is to sell them both, and then next year get a custom bass that's either 6 string, or 5 with E - C, and fretted. But the idea behind the E - C on the fretless was that it would sound unique in a sense, and there aren't that many 6 string fretless players about! But would i miss the low B...that's the question! I think i would, but i've got on with the Smith without the low B, it's a different beast to the Fretless though... Hmm, i dunno. Thanks for the info though my friend...really digging the whole jazz thing at the moment, working no end on my jazz harmony and jazz chops!!! J Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urb Posted June 10, 2007 Author Share Posted June 10, 2007 [quote name='bassjamm' post='15002' date='Jun 10 2007, 12:08 PM']Thanks Mike, (yeah it's me, Jamie) That's cool, mine till has a bit of a bow in it...i was thinking of getting it set-up though, i think i'll take it down to the Gallery, they did an awesome job on my Fender Jazz!!! I've got my Smith strung E - C at the moment, and i've set it up and adjusted the intonation for it, and quite simply, it sounds amazing, and it's insane how nice the high C sounds, and it's so useful!!! I did try it on my fretless, i found it a little thin, but then again, i didn't really give it much of a try. I really love the options the high C offers, but i can't afford to keep the F Bass, Marleaux, Smith and Jazz...the Smith and Jazz need to go, dispite how much the Jazz means to me, and how great the Smith is playing/sounding! The plan is to sell them both, and then next year get a custom bass that's either 6 string, or 5 with E - C, and fretted. But the idea behind the E - C on the fretless was that it would sound unique in a sense, and there aren't that many 6 string fretless players about! But would i miss the low B...that's the question! I think i would, but i've got on with the Smith without the low B, it's a different beast to the Fretless though... Hmm, i dunno. Thanks for the info though my friend...really digging the whole jazz thing at the moment, working no end on my jazz harmony and jazz chops!!! J[/quote] I hear all that - I know that high C on a fretted bass does sound wicked - but my fretless just growls sooooooo nicely on the low end I would definitely miss the low B - anyway post some jazzy noodles - be good to hear your progress. Sounds like you have one too many basss... - having seen Tony Grey on 6 string as opposed to a E - C Fodera, I thought he had a much better balanced sound, he's an amazing soloist, but the fact he could dig into those low 'pocket' bass notes really added a huge bottom end to Hiromi's overall sound - if you get a custom I suggest you go 6 - but I reaaly think the bottom end is very end important too - as Laurence Cottle once said to me when I asked him why he didn't string his bass E - C - he simply said "well, it's a bass isn't it!?" Cheers Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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