jakenewmanbass

[quote name='MB1' post='169015' date='Apr 3 2008, 11:25 AM']MB1. Is this not ,where one should use.......... "THE LEGENDARY BROWN NOTE!"[/quote] enlighten me, the legend has not reached my door.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='169011' date='Apr 3 2008, 12:18 PM']Rhythmically the first Estelle song was a mess cos bass chops was not playing in time with the drums -[/quote] Do you want to qualify that statement? I've been listening to bass players closely for 35 years, I have played professionally for 20 and I teach to degree standard, which has led me to assess bass players abilities for 10 years, I think your assessment is slightly off the mark. His time is good, he locks with the kit which I think was on a click, the only justifiable criticism to my mind is he overplays. Jake

While I don't think the guy is a bad player, seems to have a nice feel and can groove, the level of interest in that seems potentially quite narrow to me. Is music in danger of closing its own sphincter behind itself as it disappears into its own anus? Thats a thirty something year old song, and sounds nowhere near as good as the original. Has a feeling of emperors new clothes about it to me.

[quote name='OldGit' post='168937' date='Apr 3 2008, 11:02 AM']What I'm really talking about here is when someone says "play something for us" and you reach for the bass ...[/quote] I don't. Believe it or not I'm a bit shy. (I know this is not obvious from the tone of my posts)

It occured to me reading through again that civilians actually have an acute awareness of the potential of the bass, it's just that it's subliminal. The evidence for this can be found on dancefloors all over the world, where you will find people thrashing away the second something with an irresistable groove is played. Or conversely, if the bass player on the gig is not fulfilling the potential, the floor clears.

This is entirely a personal viewpoint on the subject, I don't mean it as an absolute, more as a principal, or kind of rule to which there are of course always exceptions: If you want people to know what you've done on a gig, get out of the bass chair. You'll be doing it and yourself and the music no favours. Rather, be satisfied that the music would have fared much less well without your presence (or somebody covering those frequencies eg Hammond left hand/pedals etc) Jake So, I don't have a party piece. I do have 150+ gigs a year though. PS I'm not really counting jazz gigs in that assessment, as there is a bit more appetite for bass solos.

[quote name='lowdown' post='168880' date='Apr 3 2008, 08:38 AM']Crawling all over the LEAD VOCAL line... Did not help the song...[/quote] on that point specifically, its arguable that Jamerson crawled all over the lead vocal, where his genius lay (IMO) is that in his case it [i]did[/i] help the song, and in some cases made it. The word here is Musicality, which is what Kiwi pointed out, and then Ferret set fire to it.

[quote name='lowdown' post='168880' date='Apr 3 2008, 08:38 AM']Crawling all over the LEAD VOCAL line... Did not help the song... So you are proberly right about his youth shinning through. Garry[/quote] I didn't enjoy it particularly, as I said in my earlier post I thought James Taylor gave a vastly better performance, but then he has been doing it for forty years. My point was that to say as BF did, that he had "f*** all groove", was more than a little inaccurate and it seems to me based in some form of twisted inability to congratulate someones achievements, I could be wrong, its just how it sounds to me.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='168819' date='Apr 2 2008, 11:45 PM']Watched it and the guy had all the chops and f*** all groove. He did not find the one until the last verse or so when it all came together. Surprised (or not) that only me and the Kiwi felt it. Dont know what the bass was - i'll take CK's word it was a Schecter and his rig was a GK.[/quote] He was certainly busy and I can understand someone being turned off by that (I am a bit) but to say he "has f*** all groove" sounds a bit like an old bitter fart unable to give credit where credit's due. When the boy calms down a bit, when the flushes of youth are expunged from his veins, I wouldn't be at all surprised if he could lay down a fatter track than the vast majority of guys on this board.

I've got side LEDs on my Alembic. I thought they were a bit gimmicky until I used them on a really dark stage, then they were great. I don't look at my hands very much but the glances were made easy by the lights

I once played an old English bass in the Bass room at the Phil in Liverpool. Can't remember the maker but the bass player I was with told me it was worth £50,000 plus.

A few people have said only the drummer needs a click, while I wouldn't seek to just say people are wrong (because people should do what works for them) I can think of a few potential pitfalls if you follow that advice. 1. Only handing the click to the drummer can place a psychological burden on the him/her/it as it implies he is solely responsible for the timekeeping. If he's up to that task then no problem, but one to consider. 2. In the event that you have little time for overdubs, by each member having the click and sticking to it you will have more useable material from the the original passes and (dependiding on the recording format) can save valuable studio time for other aspects eg vocals. If you can create a good feel and the drummer can sit on the click no probs, then the above points become irrelevant. but they are points that could save you time if things are not going easily. Jake

Great live playing, good feel, definitely very capable players. It's probably through me approaching old fartdom that I found it all a bit lacking in taste. I would take nothing away from them, and I'm pretty sure I'd enjoy a gig of theirs, I just think they could keep some chops in reserve. 'sa bit bling innit! (i'm talking about Estelle) wheras James Taylor knocked me out. (I'm definitely becoming an old fart)

A great example of positive thinking, best of luck with it.

[quote name='Mikey D' post='167585' date='Apr 1 2008, 12:14 PM']Some will say Wow! Some will say Why!? But this man can definately play. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeJt1cB7AA0"]Giant Steps[/url][/quote] phenomenal, ridiculous, unbelievable.... I'm pissing myself, and I love it! Thanks Mikey

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='167566' date='Apr 1 2008, 12:57 PM']You'd be amazed how much time you'll have to allocate for mix-down! Assuming the recording goes swimmingly and the engineer knows his stuff the biggest let downs can occur in the final stages and though this guy is paying for it and has every right to things being his way, you can give valuable insight to the balance in the final mix. To this end take along a CD / tape recorder and try to listen to the mixes on a bog standard machine through 'normal' speakers rather than the super-duper studio reference monitors, as that is how it will sound when you get it home.[/quote] another +1 A jingle studio I used to work in put all their final mixes through a sh*tty old blaster before they went out to make sure everything could be heard, as this was what most people would hear their mixes on. If you can't get your hands on one with a phono input the same thing can be achieved (hearing everything that is) by listening really really quiet.

[quote name='guyl' post='167547' date='Apr 1 2008, 12:32 PM']Apologies Jake - no offence meant and bollo*king accepted. I should have added that being stereotyped as a "noodler/frustrated guitarist" tends to make ERB-ers over-defensive and tetchy. Rockin' out on my old fender (4) on tonights blues gig will probably help! I'd still recommend anyone trying a 6. Maybe you'll be lucky enough to find a high c that doesn't sound like a "sh*t guitar".[/quote] Very gracious of you sir, and it warms me to find people who have the balls to stand up to their words. Cheers Jake

[quote name='Adrenochrome' post='167469' date='Apr 1 2008, 10:20 AM']Yes, the DI from your amp will probably be okay. All the recordings I've done were from the DI on my amp. I'm not one of those people that get giddy about the effect their cabinet has on their sound so others may disagree with this. I'd suggest recording a few practices (preferably with a multi-track recorder) and really listening to each individual part and checking that all the parts really DO sound as good as you thought they did (you often can't tell while playing them live). When we did a 'proper' studio recording of an EP we recorded the whole band first take but with the full intention of doing the vocals, guitar and bass (if needed) after and using the original guitar and vox as guides. Luckily I didn't need to re-do any of my bass so we spent the best part of 2 days layering the guitars and vocals. Our guitarist ended up using his 3rd choice guitar as it was the only 1 that had good enough intonation up the neck - we'd never noticed before! He also had to simplify one of his riffs as the quirky timing that sounded great live just didn't sound good at the desk.[/quote] +1 some examples here of what I was talking about.

Update: just had a listen to the MySpace, the material is not particularly techinical, so what is required is a good feel, it's arguable that to achieve a good feel you need to feel good (cheesy I know) It's not an absolute but I'm sure it helps. Jake PS Pirsig is a genius

As Nik says, there are times where you need patience, and then you need to be able to perform when called upon. I can't stress enough how important it is to know your parts before you go in (unless you're are a really proficient improvisor) Not only do you need to know them, but you also need to know you can play them well and be sure they sound good in playback, it can be shocking to find you don't like what you've been playing for ages. If you get those things in place then I agree with Nik, its a fascinating environment, I've been lucky and recorded in some of the worlds best studios, mostly in the UK too which tells you something about our industry here, rivalled only by the U.S*. The first concentrated effort should be getting solid drum takes that can be succesfully played over, I think its best to play together to get the performances and groove, but everyone apart from the drummer should remember that their parts can be fixed later if necessary, so don't stop because you heard a fret buzz or a wrong note. Stopping and starting can sap the energy from the takes so its good to get a few down uninterrupted. If you are using a click allow for the ebb and flow of human time keeping and if you find yourself off the click than don't make drastic adjustments, just aim to 'breathe' your way back to it. Also aim to place your notes at the back of the click as it's massively easier to catch it up than to adjust from in front of it, that ethos also brings with it a feeling of fatness. When I started writing I thought to myself 'I don't want to make this sound daunting', but reading through I've gone in to a bit of detail, the main thing to remember is that you're making music and the song comes first, so it will benefit enormously if you are all having a good time. Jake * a quarter of hollywood film scores are recorded in London which if you consider the size of the industry over there is a massive accolade to the standard of musicianship of Londons players.

[quote name='acidbass' post='167071' date='Mar 31 2008, 06:27 PM']It sounds to me like a Fender Precision played with right hand muting?[/quote] I figured that (pick maybe?) and I reckon its some kind of ampeg amp. I just wanted to hear what others reckon. Jake

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='167063' date='Mar 31 2008, 06:19 PM']Same as the above. Not picking up a bass until I was 25 years of age. Not much I can do about that now though. Also continually being a spineless loser who hasn't got the b*llocks to join a band because I'm so critical of my sh*te playing. This is ongoing.[/quote] I never thought I'd feel sorry for you but on this issue I do. Think of it like this, there's a band out there that has a bass player that doesn't play as well as you do (I need you to trust me on this, I'm hugely experienced) AND there are bands out there that have no bass player at all and you're better than their last one. So what you're actually doing is denying them the chance to enjoy and utilise the skills you DO have in order to sit at home being overly critical of your own playing. Give those poor bassistless bastards a chance will you, do it for them, not you. I promise you won't regret it and if you do I'll eat my words and post a picture of my hairy arse in some public location for all to sneer at. Jake

there's no accounting for taste, or lack of it!!!! fuse lit, fire in the hooooooooooooooole

This is the original of that lovely Madness tune. Its by Labi Siffre, and the bass sound is great to my ears. Any clues? [url="http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4WHEnBafYQ"]http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4WHEnBafYQ[/url]

[quote name='stingrayfan' post='166694' date='Mar 31 2008, 01:31 AM']The only time the dancefloor emptied was when the DJ came on in the break.[/quote] Now theres a refreshing change