jakenewmanbass

Had to add these 2 pics, my latest foray into the studio, back in the wonderful AIR studios, Studio 1 a fabulous modular live room the drums and percussion set up behind the wall in the distance in photo 2. Photo 1 is my little station with my Alembic the amp and the schroeder are in the cupboard behind, I have a talkback mike too as I'm producing/band leading this project. [attachment=43179:P1000404.JPG] This pic is looking into the control room so the image you see is a reflection of the live room in the control room glass. In this pic you can see a 1950s Bosendorfer grand and a similar aged Hammond organ, both used on our sessions by the wonderful Mike Gorman both those instruments came from the original AIR studio that was founded by George Martin in Oxford St [attachment=43180:P1000402.JPG]

Hi Marvin, sorry for the delay, only just noticed this... I usually say that i will try to hook up with long distance folk when I have a gig their way but I don't get down your way too often, although I gave Silverfoxnik a lesson recently and he is convinced it could be done with Skype so I will look into that and let you know the results and see if you think that would suit. Jake

I think the major point is that there is something a lot more than just notes to music. Grasping that takes more than mere woodshedding. Herbie and Wayne Shorter are on a Joni Mitchell album called both sides now... on that album you can hear exactly what they are getting at in those sentiments there is not flash moment on the album but both of them can kill you from a hundred yards with just one note...

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='746481' date='Feb 15 2010, 08:37 PM']Practice isn't just something you do when you start learning an instrument. I've been playing for over 40 years and I still need to practice. For me there are three main aspects to practice: 1. To warm up the fingers, to strengthen all the muscles, to feel as one with the instrument. 2. To get my fingers around a particularly difficult passage or technical bit that someone else is asking me to play - like a composer or arranger or producer. 3. To find new ways to approach my own creative playing, to create lines, motifs, licks, riffs , tricks - or whatever else you want to call it. To be honest, I wish I could find more time to practice these days. After a long day of maybe 5 or 6 hours rehearsal or performance, its hard to find the enthusiasm to do more playing. But on a day or morning off, I always try to do enough to make me feel prepared for the next day or session. Playing on gigs or performing in concerts is actually quite bad for your technique. By which i mean that you can develop all sorts of bad habits that you then need to sort out in practice time. If I do manage a day or two without playing, it always takes me another half day to feel I'm back to where I was before the break. The Major[/quote] and again... I don't need to say it

[quote name='XB26354' post='746466' date='Feb 15 2010, 08:28 PM']... and it's worth mentioning that all that practice and woodshedding may lead you to play that one note at the right time, in the right way. Great players play simple stuff beautifully. There are musicians that just want to play fast, or complicated, but all the great musicians I've ever heard know the simple as well as the complicated. Indeed, the whole point about getting better is that you play less, but make each note count more. Practice opens your eyes to options. The more options you have, the more likely you will, over time, choose the right option for a given situation. I've heard Gary Willis say something similar in a clinic. It's fine to come out with a statement like that when you've played thousands of gigs and recorded with top players for years![/quote] again... exactly

[quote name='Doddy' post='746429' date='Feb 15 2010, 08:06 PM']It's easy to misunderstand that quote. The fact is that Herbie practised and studied for years before saying that,and he can now approach things in a different way because his grasp of the fundamentals is so solid. He's paid his dues both on stage and in the woodshed. I understand where he's coming from,but-and this is the important thing-he is Herbie Hancock. Jaco said in his video that most of his practise is without the bass in his hands,and a load of players took it the wrong way. He had spent so long with the instrument previously that he knew exactly how it worked and could concentrate on music. Only when you have such a solid grasp on the fundamentals of music,and your chosen instrument,can you start to approach it in this way.[/quote] Exactly...

I came across this on the Marcus Miller site. Marcus said he included it (it's by Herbie Hancock) because of the message in it. I couldn't agree more with the sentiments and think it's a great read. QUOTE "The following text is not from Marcus but an excerpt from an interview Herbie Hancock did with the Detroit Free Press. Marcus asked me to put it here because he loves what Herbie has to say. The full interview text is online. HANCOCK: One word Wayne and I use that sums it up is: possibilities. Limitless possibilities. FREE PRESS: How do you do that if you don't practice? HANCOCK: There's so much spontaneity involved, what do you practice? How do you practice teamwork? How do you practice sharing? How do you practice daring? How do you practice being nonjudgmental? Life itself is the practice. FREE PRESS: You have to have extraordinary command of the fundamentals to play this way. HANCOCK: Yes. But these ideas are very different than if your goal was to be a virtuoso. I decided years ago that I wasn't interested in being a virtuoso of the piano. The value of music is not dazzling yourself and others with technique. The value of music is to be able to play one note at the right time in the right way. FREE PRESS: But you are a virtuoso. HANCOCK: Nah, I'm not. Keith Jarrett's a virtuoso. Chick Corea is a virtuoso. Actually, I do want to start practicing. Wayne Shorter told me something recently that I never thought about before: Sometimes you can practice something but what you wind up playing when you're out doing a gig is not what you practiced. What you learn is not necessarily what you practice. When I was coming up, I practiced all the time because I thought if I didn't I couldn't do my best. But when I was with Miles, he would never practice. His practice would be as we're walking onstage he would play a chromatic scale -- brrrrrrrrrip!"

Here's a depping gig I did last summer: Not much of me but you get the idea

[quote name='Protium' post='744021' date='Feb 13 2010, 02:30 PM']Ahh Alexanders, many an underage drunken band night was had there [/quote] I played the opening night and had a residency there for about the first year. Bob Monkhouse was the headliner on the opening night. What a pro that guy was. Have a good gig Pete

Very sorry to hear this. I can't understand people who poke fun at others for something they can do nothing about. It's a terrible thing and this appears to be so often where it ends. So very sad...

[quote name='Mykesbass' post='741577' date='Feb 10 2010, 10:59 PM']Just want to say thanks Jake for the community spirit - those pictures are really helpful. Will let you know how I get on with the new technique (hope it's not like it was when I was taught how to play squash properly - didn't win a single game after that) [/quote] Thanks for the thanks.... It is a community, which is one of the nice things about it... so I'm only too glad to help. As I've said before though I am no world authority on these things so my observations should perhaps be taken in balance with the views of others. Jake

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='741137' date='Feb 10 2010, 03:59 PM']Thanks, Jennifer. And I am simultaneously learning about how much these things COST to play First its the bass, then a set-up, then the strings, then the bow, then the pick-up, then a case and that's before we get to changing the damn car so you can get it in with an amp!! Every single aspect of the process seems to involve a compromise due to finances. Good professional basses 'start' at £3K unless you are lucky, strings for £80 + or £150, 'cheap' bows at £120 - £400, £250 for a good pick-up (which may need to be fitted by a luthier at even greater cost), cases start at another £150.... And then all the good teachers live over 100 miles away!! I need a long lost rich aunt to appear to fund all this!!! Still, I do love it [/quote] on the positive side, once you're set up they are pretty low maintenance, I have only ever bought 3 sets of strings in my entire playing life. Thats one set of thomastiks, one set of gut strings (off ebay quite cheap) and the ones I'm using now Innovation silver slap. my last pick up was £80 second hand.

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='737618' date='Feb 6 2010, 09:03 PM']Even if you do say so yourself! lolz seriously nice recordings though, although i don't think the drumming was exactly first class, sorry.[/quote] Jeesus mate what exactly qualifies you to blast into a thread like this and comment? The drumming on the tracks I listened to was unwavering and totally consistent... My qualifications? well I've been a pro player for 20 yrs have worked in studios all over the country (including AIR which is mentioned on the myspace) and played with some world class musicians including drummers. I just don't get the reasoning you're using to say what you are about the drumming. I can only assume that you are 1) in a class all your own or 2) talking without any real grasp of the subject with any objectivity. Which is it? If your views are entirely subjective (ie you just don't like it) then I would think it best if you save those views for another thread, like those that ramble on in off topic. These comments I'm afraid are just not helpful to a very interesting studio build thread.

If by 'drawing' you mean slowing down, then I totally disagree with your mate, slowing down kills the music in my view. Sags and drags and loses vibrancy, I would much prefer to play with a drummer that is on top of the beat. If a drummer rushes you can pin him down a bit, and it can make your feel sound fat and at the back of the beat. If a drummer slows down all that happens if you stick to it is you sound like you're playing everything in front which unless you're playing a driving swing feel is awful. The best of all is a shared sense of time with a little breathing but time keeping in my opinion is very very important. I did some sessions with just me and guitar last week where myself and the guitarist were so 'on' the time that without using a click or any stretching the engineer was able to comp several sections from different takes together to make one great take. We just played at the exact same tempo every take.

[quote name='silverfoxnik' post='738570' date='Feb 7 2010, 10:46 PM']Thanks Jake![/quote] Now learn it in twelve keys....!

This exercise is one that I have been giving out in lessons for years. It is a very straightforward way of playing through all the chords (as arpeggios) of a major scale. The exercise goes up the arpeggio and down the scale to the second degree which becomes the tonic of the next arpeggio and so on. I have written the chord sequence out once, it repeats every eight bars. The great use for this is getting your fingers accustomed to making those shapes so that once you know it by heart you can make those sounds without thinking. But that is not all... It's very important that you eventually see it as a global concept and look within it for the continuity that should if you really investigate allow you to expand each of the component sounds (chords) all over the instrument, so it's a lot more than just an exercise if handled the right way. Enjoy and feel free to comment or question. This is for Silverfoxnik.... [attachment=42024:Arpeggio...nic_exce.pdf] You will notice that once you have played it through once it then is done backwards with the arpeggios upside down (from the seventh) this is just one variation there are lots and I recommend investigating them for yourself. Jake

Many thanks Nik, the nice thing about giving lessons to guys like you and the others on here is getting to meet some nice people so the pleasure is mine as much as you guys' I am going to post an exercise in theory and technique which is the arpeggio and scale exercise I mentioned (and showed you) in the lesson. so look out for that. It will hopefully act as an aide memoir to what we discussed about chord sequences as it is all the chords of a major scale laid out. Look forward to the next one. Jake

I haven't read the entire thread but think I have the gist. I would say this: Many people that I have played with over the years have made comments about this that or the other thing 'not mattering' to audience perception whether that be the sound the level of accuracy etc etc I have always tried to (rather clumsily) counter with the following We deal with details in music in a way that the public generally don't, but what we should never do is underestimate the sophistication of judgement that can be available to an audience. We must remember that they are responding in a very base (no pun intended) way to what we do, there is a communication on a level at which we are barely conscious. The one thing that playing in various places across the world has taught me is that there can be a time and a moment where everything drops into place and it all just goes right... I can't recount individual examples particularly as I would be here all night as I have played literally thousands of gigs over the 30 years I've been gigging but I've been lucky and there have been a number of occasions when I was utterly electrified by the events of an evenings work. What I'm trying to get to is this... the elements of what I'm trying to explain are many and varied and I have to say that 'tone' is one of those elements. Especially for the bass because it moves people, right to their core. For my part I think that comes mostly from the player....

A nice heart warming reply that Iconic

[quote name='BigBeatNut' post='734750' date='Feb 4 2010, 08:53 AM']"blockless wonder" ? Andy[/quote] Hi Andy, yes a blockless wonder, just what I've been told it is. I think (but can't be sure) that it's something to do with the neck construction.... having no block...!?! Somebody here might have more info than me. All I know is that it's a bit on the quiet side and can be hard to amplify but with a good mic in front of it it has a really beautiful massive, fat, deep, dark, woody, growly, vibrating tone. Jake

A quick update as I'm back recording some nice project stuff at the mo (it's been a while since I took my camera on a session) This is the live room at Strongroom in Shoreditch, great facility. I was recording an acoustic track with Yamit Mamo, Lee turner guitar and Abi and Stac (otherwise known as 'The Good Stuff) on BVs It's an 'in position' shot of the bass and a very tasty 60s Neumann mic. The session was the first of many and will end up as an album with some great players on. [attachment=41789:P1000396.JPG] Here's a shot of the desk and them listening to the rhythm track we had just done, [attachment=41790:P1000398.JPG] The bass, work done, having a rest by the piano, [attachment=41791:P1000397.jpg] I'll update as we go along cos there'll be some nice sessions in some great studios and my Alembic will feature later too. Every now and again I think to myself I will sell that bass, it's a German 1880 blockless wonder... then I go and use it in the studio and it just records soooo well. I'll get some clips up asap (but that will be a while)

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='733194' date='Feb 2 2010, 05:21 PM']Yes thats what I meant as well, but 5/64th of a beat!!. I was joking by the way - reference to my earlier postings in this thread show that I couldn't hear anything wrong![/quote] you couldn't hear that

[quote name='Count Bassy' post='732176' date='Feb 1 2010, 08:38 PM']I'd have thought closer to 5/64 than 1/16 . Has anyone put this into an editor and measured trhe error?[/quote] not a semiquaver... 16th of one beat.....

I've played my fender jazz once since I got my Alembic It's more like a P than lots of Ps and it's more like a J than lots of Js

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='732481' date='Feb 2 2010, 02:07 AM']Well I spoke to this bassist acquaintance today. He says there's a ply bass that I could have for £4-500, it's already well set up with quality strings on it, structurally good, etc. I should have a chance to try it out in the next few days so we'll see. He was making positive noises about it and he's not the sort of guy to wilfully sell a lemon to somebody. I'll report back when I've played it - and more importantly heard him play it, so I'll know how it's [i]supposed[/i] to sound! [/quote] Good News.. You should really have it at home for a few days. Play on it for a long stint and see how you bear up try to get some sound out of the full register, and if poss play it with some other people. The last Bass I bought I had at my house and did several gigs on for 3 weeks before I agreed to buy. You can discover little niggles a few days in so with such a big commitment a good try out should be expected (although to be fair I did pay 10 times more)