jakenewmanbass

Never heard of 18th notes so I reckon there's a misunderstanding (possibly) between: The 18th note of a passage (Note Number 18) And a subdivision of 1 beat into four parts (16th notes or semi quavers) The reason they are called 16th notes is that in 4/4 time (the most popular time signature) there are four groups (one for each beat) so 4x4 is 16 urgo 16th notes Forgive me if I'm being over simple, but I always feel a thorough explanation of these things is important because as your question shows it's easy to get confused... There is a saying: "A little knmowledge is a dangerous thing"

[quote name='maxrossell' post='477610' date='May 2 2009, 11:14 AM']There's an argument because on the one hand some readers are advancing the preposterous notion that non-readers are all missing out on an untold wealth of creative and professional opportunities that only readers have access to, and on the other hand some non-readers are advancing the equally preposterous notion that knowing how to read somehow makes you a worse musician. So basically you have a group of people who claim that their approach is the [i]only[/i] valid approach and as a reaction to that you have another group of people who are completely rejecting that approach as insular. The first group is coming off as elitist and the second is coming across as deliberately obtuse.[/quote] At some points I've suspected that you have been making points allied to covering for what [i]you[/i] feel is an inadequecy within [i]yourself[/i] and are then going on to be over archingly defensive of your position, which I do think does take place amongst the non reading lobby. That said I think the post I have quoted above is the most even handed representation of the argument thus far, possibly your arguments were a little mis-understood. For the record I am a reading player with quick ears too. My sight reading skills are not brilliant so I would always check the severity of the parts with a fixer before accepting a job. I can get by with standard fayre perfectly well and if a reading gig (e.g theatre) has rehearsal, I'm fine. I can busk very well and learn things very quickly. BUT... this is the main point about reading work: Sometimes you are called to do sessions in studios that cost £1500 for a morning, add a full orchestra and rhythm section at standard rates and you have a very expensive prospect, and if it's TV themes or incidental music you may be called to read some really difficult music. if you don't read the parts right, first time with very little rehearsal you won't get called again.... what drives that is commerce. So merit of method does not even enter the fray when those are the stakes. The same is true for orchestral gigs, theatre deps etc etc. It has to be right... end of. So it has to be said as a non reader one is not going to be involved in that sector of music production. A sector which is filled with excellence and more importantly good music. Now that statement, however difficult for non readers to swallow, does not constitute an attack on music created by non readers. It's just different. None of the above will necessarily (although it's possible) have a bearing on how good or successful a bass player you are as there is evidence for people doing well on both sides of the field. If you want to decide how good a bass player you think I am have a listen [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=47877"]here[/url]

good thing about webernet is it will seem like you have never gone (to us) I sincerely hope it is the right move for you and that you prosper, and if occasion grants you the chance to return and it suits you, I hope for that for you too.

[quote name='The Funk' post='476550' date='Apr 30 2009, 11:51 PM']I don't know how far you're allowed to go working on the drummer as MD[/quote] Lol... I OWN HIM..... [quote name='The Funk' post='476550' date='Apr 30 2009, 11:51 PM']EDIT: Depending on how work goes on Tuesday, I'll probably pop along for the next gig![/quote] would be great to meet you, no pressure though mate we gig lots in London, so plenty of chances.

[quote name='The Funk' post='476492' date='Apr 30 2009, 11:12 PM']You play for Yamit Mamo? Good sh*t! (I'll comment with some feedback once I've had a listen.) EDIT: That's a really groovy arrangement and I'm amazed that that's an untreated feed from the desk. The only thing I'd say is that the drummer could play with more snap on the main groove. All the breaks and accents are wicked though.[/quote] Thanks Man, I agree about the backbeat, I was making notes to take to rehearsal next week, It's a young band (apart from me) I have worked quite hard on the dynamics and pace of the grooves (all about how the vocals sit) that drummer was on his second gig with the band there, so hats off really. There's work to do..... always. We are at the Bedford again next tues, one of Tony Moores' nights, if you're around come say hello. Jake

I did a gig at the Bedford in Balham back in January with a project that I am MD for, I think for a live recording straight off the desk with literally nothing done to it it ain't half bad. what do you guys think. If it's not your kind of music please don't bother to comment about that, I am however interested in peoples thoughts on the live sound and the performance, but would really like to avoid a debate on genre based merit. Jake anyway here: [attachment=24619:5._No_Mo..._bedford.mp3]

Hi Chris, I've got a German factory bass circa 1920, I'll do some pics in a bit. No C extension but in great nick. It's had an ebony board put on by Vernons in Manchester and set up with a neck adjustment by Roger dawson it's got spirocore on at the moment which I think choke the sound a little, I had some Innovation on there before and it spoke really well. It's got a nicely carved front table and a flat back. PM if you ant to know more, I'm about 30 mins out from Twickenham Jake I would have loved to have your Mentec BTW

It's rumoured that I may be at Glastonbury, in a side stage but I reckon it'll be fun if it comes off.

[quote name='Stylon Pilson' post='474034' date='Apr 28 2009, 10:36 AM']Oh, well if we're playing that game - mine's a Learjet. S.P.[/quote] I use Starship Enterprise for anything above Birmingham

A citroen berlingo people carrier/van, it's crap but it's got 195000 miles on the clock (130k of which is mine) brilliant for gear can fit tons in. It doubles as transport for the wood I collect for my log burner so it's filthy dirty most of the time, loads of scratches and bumps that I simply don't care about... quite liberating really. I can use the family car too (7 seater people wagon) can get tons in there.

[quote name='Beedster' post='473373' date='Apr 27 2009, 02:01 PM']PS my apologies for the lecture above [/quote] No apolgy needed for me Chris, fascinating stuff. I think there are many parallels with sports and music performance. One of my favourites is the concept of a visualisation of a horseshoe for stress levels 0 being not bothered enough to perform well and 10 being too nervous to perform well with ag=bout the right balance to perform to optimum at 5 ie the top of the horseshoe, I think it gives something to latch onto to control nerves (not something that has really bothered me badly) but I still find it interesting and useful. Confidence = good performance

[quote name='maxrossell' post='473156' date='Apr 27 2009, 09:47 AM']I guess it's a matter of "how do you get to Carnegie Hall". But really, one of my old guitar teachers described improvisation as "taking bits of other stuff and putting them together in a different context". And it's true. You watch anyone improvise, you'll realise they have a series of licks they build their improv around, a different set for different keys and modes and so on, and for different styles. They're just licks they will have heard elsewhere and adapted for their own uses. Learn a few dozen of those, make them your own, figure out ways to chain 'em together. That's the basis for most substantial improv. The more you do it, the more fluid you'll get at it until you know it so well that you're making up killer stuff on the spot.[/quote] I think there's a lot of truth in this answer, being armed with a variety of available lines and passages which are well practised is a great start to learning how to piece together some phrases/lines/grooves that can mean something on the spot. Although I would be cautious about being too 'lick' orientated as great improvisors use less licks and more 'ideas' and there is the hard part. In order to be able to successfully convey your musical ideas first you need to have them, then you need the mastery over your instrument to get them out. The answer to that little statement is a full book and many hours listening and probably some high level tuition. That would be for a top flight improvisor, and I only know a handful of musicians from a 20 year career who really do improvise, guys that I've played with include Iain Ballamy, Mike Walker, Julian Arguilles, Iain Dixon, Jim Mullen, Mike Gorman, Mike Outram, Gareth Lockrane, Andy Schofield, Les Chisnall, they are all top improvisors At a level of wanting to be able to feel comfy on a jam session night as I said there is a lot of good info in the answer I have quoted. Finally, grooving is a nebulous term, If you can hold a solid line together for a song then you are grooving, being an in demand bass player in your area should tell you that you're doing that fine, being able to jam and try out your ideas is where your challenge as a musician lies and hopefully you'll enjoy it, there'll be time when you're sh*t scared and times when you feel you've played your ass off but it's all good P.S Al, you also have Gary Culshaw on your doorstep (I already passed his number to someone else this week) have a couple of lessons with him, he is one of the North Wests most absolutely monster improvising bass players, groovy as hell too.

If you're playing mainstream and standards/blues stuff then you need to learn to walk. There is a really good double bass book by Rufus Reid called the Evolving Bassist, it has a load of ideas and examples of how to play over various chords and sequences. It's a starting point. I would also say get a few lessons. If you're in the Pennine region you have Gary Culshaw over in Preston, He is a demon jazz bassist (he taught me) and knows all there is to know about how to play over changes. If you go to him say hello from Jake Newman. Best of luck and keep the questions coming if you need to. Jake

As the Funk said, my hands are big enough to reach 1234 easily however I have always employed 124 as I was initially classically trained, and therefore advocate that for students. Especially as my fingers are unusually long. (finding gloves to fit me is impossible!)

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='471691' date='Apr 24 2009, 04:47 PM']I could be out of date but as far as I know, as of 6th April 2008, businesses have an Annual Investment Allowance, meaning they can take 100% allowance for the first £50,000 of assets purchased in the financial year. I'm not sure what the caveats are in the AIA scheme, but I think instruments, amps, IEMs and the like should be allowable -- as long as they're solely for business purposes, of course! So in terms of profit and income tax, it doesn't make any difference if you claim them as an expense or as a capital investment. Either way, the whole amount's tax deductible! I've noticed that HMRC don't seem to have made a song and dance about the AIA, to the extent that some accountants are still unaware of it![/quote] Thats very interesting I shall look into it. Thanks

I'm also self employed and if I were to buy them they would not be capital with a WDA (writing down allowance or percentage claim) I would claim the full amount as an expense. Also FWIW instruments are not tax deductable in the sense in which I think you mean (correct me if I'm wrong), tax deductable as expenditure is what you spend in operating the business (i.e strings fuel costs office etc etc). Your instruments are capital investements and you are allowed 40% of their value in the year of purchase and 25% on the diminishing value in subsequent years. Thats how I understand it, the two things are in separate places on the tax return although it's arguable that it's all tax deductable

If I put my mind to it I can learn most things, takes a bit of work but I kind of agree with Bilbo that they bear little relevance to what you do for the job. (eg Bilbo, I can now play Grasshopper note for note) But..... I only agree up to that point. Beyond that I think we are the sum of all the music that we have inputted over the years and (add a dash of the individual) can only really get out what has been put in. When improvising at a higher level (which I only feel I'm only just beginning, after over 30yrs playing, to do) I feel that I am drawing on pathways of thinking and mechanics that I have taken years to acquire and they are all made up, from tiny to large measure, of all the bits that I have absorbed. Well, that and the general reverberations of the history of man... and no I'm not on some hippy trippy vibe there. I am currently reading Dan Levitins book 'this is your brain on music' it's a fascinating read by a producer turned neuroscientist who describes how our very fibres chime with the music that has been going on around us throughout our evolution and to which we are inextricably linked. I highly recommend it to anyone who thinks about music or brains. Edit: (my first album sessions were a pretty heavy contemporary jazz/funk vibe with some searingly tough parts all original by now Norwegian based composer Roy Powell with Mike Walker on guitar and Iain Dixon on tenor so I discovered early that time and patience means most things eventually fall under your fingers) Edit edit: check out the latter tracks on my myspace page if you want to hear how bloody hard those parts were!!

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='467305' date='Apr 20 2009, 11:07 AM']I enjoy the vocals more than bass,[/quote] s'cos you play a warwick

[quote name='51m0n' post='465566' date='Apr 17 2009, 09:45 PM']I cant even talk and play....[/quote] I think thats harder as talking is improvisational wheras vocal parts are set. I've learned to improve my talking whilst playing to teach and display at the same time, I still get stuck (verbally) sometimes. Playing walking basslines (or improvising lines in general) and singing is really hard.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='465485' date='Apr 17 2009, 08:25 PM']Sometimes there are parts which are a bit tricky, but honestly once you've got the syncopation down I find the only problem is avoiding letting your concentration slip too much either towards the bass part or the vocal part, and forgetting to do the other one![/quote] +1 thats the main issue for me, learning what happens between your hands and voice is the key to success. Also knowing both parts seperately really well helps.

[quote name='AM1' post='464539' date='Apr 16 2009, 11:08 PM']Last Saturday in Belgium!! Some guy dropped his trousers and hung his ass over the metal barrier at the front, while our singer then proceeded to climb on it and crowd surf. Am I supposed to play basslines whilst this chaos is going on?!?!?! I got absolutely wasted on free beer until 6AM then kipped on a piss stained mattress for about 2 hours then had more beer for breakfast. It didn't help matters that a few of us also stayed up drinking the whole night the night before going over to Belgium. I think I had 3 hours kip in 3 nights. Oh dear. Yeah...we're playing more gigs in London soon, I'll give you the details, come along, no mooning or crowd surfing though!! I think it's pure overdoing bass playing that's caused a bit of strain....[/quote] Lightweight... just in case:

[quote name='Simon' post='459402' date='Apr 10 2009, 04:17 PM']including one I saw on a John Patitucci video once, called the Spider. Very good left hand exercise![/quote] +1 for the spider, not only builds strength but independence too, and in fact gives equal excercise to each finger so over time the weaker fingers will begin to compete for strength with the stronger.

I had one exactly like it, which I got for a steal as it had been dropped in the shop. Lovely bass