51m0n

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='653262' date='Nov 13 2009, 12:49 AM']Well, having watched that I'm astonished. What follows is [i]just my opinion [/i]and does not seek to deny in any way the pleasure some may experience from this piece. I was under the impression I was going to see some sort of musical God and hear the voices of angels. What's delivered seems little more than that which a moderately accomplished amateur six-string guitarist might knock up in their bedroom. Turgid tune, crude and predictable use of harmonics and drop-tuners. In one word - clunky. I cringed with embarrassment as I watched a grown man go gooey-faced while delivering something he does not realise is so comprehensively underwhelming. It seems to me that the approbation he garners is down to the fact he's doing it [i]on a bass[/i]! That's sad. I'm terrified to think that brains might well explode if anyone here happened to trip over some Adrian Legg or Pierre Bensusan or Jerry Donahue. Speaking of whom - This is how to use harmonics - Start to 1:02. Not a drop tuner in sight - and [i]musical[/i].[/quote] I cannot believe that you honestly consider that this:- is clunky and contrived and less musical use of harmonics than this:- Which appears to be a very standard (and contrived) bit of country picking, and although very very well played is definitely neither in any way exploring the limits of any instrument, or in any way played better, or in any way better (or even close) compositionally. IMO. It may be that that is really your opinion, but I'm afraid mine will always be very very diffrent to yours.... Ain't music great It's funny though, Manring haas been quoted many times with saying that the people who have the biggest issue with his music are more often than not bassists. I can't understand it at all myself. I rejoice in the fact that there are people out there who can compose and play music that is that beautiful for me to enjoy. Other people seem to wish to make out that it is flawed in some way, yet whenever I listen to it it absolutely blows me away with the beauty of the melody/harmony and emotional content. IMO it really is just simply your loss.

Over 14 years....

And for those of you who havent seen it, he gives some insight into the Hyperbass and where he's coming from in this:-

How about this side to his playing then??

[quote name='Rich' post='652495' date='Nov 12 2009, 11:56 AM']Watch him carefully -- that's [i]four[/i] detuners on the headstock and at least two at the bridge. Good luck in finding a 5-string (or in fact an anything-string) capable of all the different tuning combinations possible with that lot (I can't be arsed to do the maths) For anyone not put off by his tunings or his trousers, there's a good interview [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=121387"]here[/url].[/quote] Apparently its around about 10000 variations. I've no idea how he gets anywhere with it at all!

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='652481' date='Nov 12 2009, 11:49 AM']It still sounds like beaver documentary music to me.[/quote] Superb, I'd enjoy the documetnary in question far more for the soundtrack then

[quote name='bumfrog' post='652394' date='Nov 12 2009, 10:51 AM'] so because we don't like something you're willing to call us closed minded and absurd??? It's called an opinion and other people have different ones to you. Is it really that hard to accept? I can totally accept that this floats peoples boats and that's cool. But you sound like a preacher trying to convert people and you're coming off as quite frankly rude, eliteist and standing on a high horse that we can't hear you from because it's sooooo high.[/quote] Then I'm afraid you missed my point completely. I said I can understand and accept anyone whose opinion is that they dont like the composition, or they feel that in some way the playing was substandard (assuming they can back that up). You absolutely have every right to any opinion you like. If your opinion is that you dont like it cos he achieves through a technical means that 'doesnt float your boat' then I think that that is absurd and close minded. I dont care if he achieved this with 3000 green bottles on awall and a whole lot of puff. It is very very beautiful music. End of story. If that music doesnt float your boat thats fine, a huge amount doesnt float mine and I dont mind letting anyone know my opinion. But I dont think I've ever considered a piece of music that is brilliantly played, and very beautifully composed as being flawed as quickly as some here just because of the manner in which it is created. If I came off as being on a high horse, thats only cos of how low some of the comments seemed to stoop in order to bash this work. My apologies, I'll try and get down to the same level as everyone bashing it in future. I certainly am not 'preaching' - that would suggest I felt I might be able to convert some of you, and I dont really care if I do or not; but I do feel that people watching rather than listening, and commenting more on what they see than hear have totally missed the point. That is my opinion, and I have just as much right as you to make it. Any suggestion that this could be achieved on a five string is also showing a woeful lack of understanding of what he is actually doing to make this piece of music.

I wonder if some of you (those mentioning watching him change the tuning being an issue) actually understand what he is doing and why? If you just listen to the musicality and dont worry about exactly what he is doing to achieve it then decide you dont like it I can completely accept that. But the fact is you cant play his stuff (whoever you are, Janeck,Tony, Vic or Bob Monkhouse) without changing the tuning on a 4 string bass. Thats the point of the bass he has, it allows him to produce music that is physically impossible to play on a normal bass. If you want to hear his soloing on a standard instrument in a group conttext, look for it, he is every bit the equal of any other player mentioned in that regard too. After all he was the Wyndham Hill label's in house session bassist for years, he might be rather good then.... Those of you saying it doesnt apply to you, well in that case neither does any music that you arent directly involved in stylistically or any instrument not used in a context you would normal play in. Dont ever listen to anything but that one style, you could learn somethig new, cant have that can we. No doubt I'm wasting my time saying all this, there are people who will discount his playing on the strength of his technical approach to achieving his compositional ideas on the instrumetn, or the fact that he plays a 3 octave fretless, or that he wears the wrong jeans, or that his instrument enables tuning changes on the fly, or that he makes use of eBows, or that he has a big nose (really). All that this does is make you all sound ridiculous though. Listen to how close minded and absurd the comments are. Clearly the man is a virtuoso performer. Clearly he is pushing boundaries in his solo work. If any of you who bothered to comment on his music and use of his instruments capapbilities had bothered to check his playing out in other scenarios you would know he is absolutely the real deal as a composer and (more importantly to a lot of you) a straight ahead bassist too in more standard bass situations. If any one of you can compose anything as beautiful as Selene (on any instrument at all) and has had some success with it, and is merely comenting on his composition then really I have no issue with you at all. But for all those who are complaining about how he achieves his own personal musical vision, please go back to the playground.

Used all sort s of HH gear, amps and cabs (their big 'ole 215 did for my back when I was young and thought I could lift anything). Even my previous rig (Laney G300) was actually HH power amps inside. Good simple gear. Not even close to as good as my new fancy gear, but certainly good enough, better than most (Peavey for instance) IMO.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='651728' date='Nov 11 2009, 04:11 PM']You need a mechanics degree & a user's manual just to play that bass!!! [b]I can be impressed by it all, but find it self-indulgent and relates little to what I do.[/b] G.[/quote] Poor you, I find his stuff some of the most musical compositions I've ever heard. Each to his own I guess....

Yeah, I saw Selene performed live in London a few weeks ago, from about 6ft away. It was the single most impressive displays of purist musicianship I've ever seen. Still gIves me goosebumps thinking about it!

Didnt mean a derail, but honestly foot ball is a completely alien concept to me, I happily know nothing about it, and would like to remain this unknowledgable. Bilbo's post was excellent, if I hadnt been writing my own nonsense at the same time and had seen it first I'd have said nothing, as I couldnt have articulated the point so well - obviously looking at my sorry effort . I 'm sure to those with any interest or understanding of the foot ball then that post was also helpful. For me it was entirely gobbledegook I'm afraid, hence my response. Look I dont even know what kind of bat you do the foot ball with, or how you score trys in it, or what the showers are for. It is a wonderful and mysterious thing that I know I need to know nothing about, thats all.

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='650543' date='Nov 10 2009, 12:30 PM']Think of music/songs like football. Bass players are the hard tackling, short passing midfielder. A bit like Dave Mackay. We drive the team forward. If you all play and do your jobs well you'll get a good result. We all know who the prima donna goal hangers with all the tricks and no end product are though....[/quote] What is this foot ball of which you speak???? Nah, dont bother, its wasted on me mate....

Well there is the old addage that if its done properly you only notice when its taken away. Really staggering bass playing need not be busy, or full of clever technique, it just has to be a beautifully composed 'right' bass line for the song. Couple of weeks a go I got to take Plux along to the Brighton Bass Bash and we saw Herbie Flowers playing with his little band. He used more minims and semibreves than anyone else there, and I dont think he played a semiquaver for the entire set. But his playing was staggeringly musical and really beautiful. No one could deny the amazing quality, no punter would notice it consciously, but if you swapped his playing for any of the other people there that night it would almost certainly have been detrimental to the music. And if you'd just taken it away it would have been a bunch of buskers in comparison. It was the best lesson I have ever seen in real bass playing, and I felt very priveledged to be able to be there. I continue to play no less than 42 notes a second on average myself of course, thats cos I'm rubbish

Yup, me too (see sig). With the addition of a set of EMGs you have a really good active bass there! Mine's the much ligher maple bodied variant, but I've played these ones too.

Well there are two rigs in the house, plus a practice amp (the old Nemesis N8 - which has just about managed gig volumes with a drummer). My rig is the MB sa450 into a Berg ae410, and that covers anything loud I'll ever do. Then there is Plux's rig, an LH500 into Berg HT210 & HT115, which can obviously be split up to give 3 varieties, and all of those sound different if driven with my head instead of the LH500. Really after a Barefaced T'Midget (if it sounds like I think it should ) or a Berg ae112 for those occasions when I dont need a lot of volume (rehearsals for instance) but want great tone (always). If I'm practicing I either use Plux's BP8, or my Zoom H4n or lappie into headphones, I find I am able to be far more critical when monitoring with headphones whilst practicing, especially the Shure bud type of thing. I am more critical of string noise etc and timing too. My take is that if I almost always practice with headphones then when I play through the rig all the good things I have been working towards will just be 'there'.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='649399' date='Nov 9 2009, 09:14 AM']If you want to hear a truly great funk album, try to get a copy of 'Nard' by Bernard Wright. I think he was discovered by Marcus when Wright was a 15-year-old piano-playing prodigy. Marcus plays on a fair few tracks, and the rest of them have equally amazing playing. Might be a bit hard to find these days but trust me, you won't be disappointed.[/quote] Nard is on Grooveshark Love grooveshark soooo much!

Sit down. Put your bass next to you. Dont play. Wait for 10 minutes in silence. Listen to the music that comes into your head. Really really concentrate on it. Learn the phrasing, really precisely. Pick up your bass and work it out exactly as you imagined it. Record it. Analyse the chords you are playing through. Work them out on your bass. Record them. Listen to what you've got twice. Stop. Sit down. Repeat.....

[quote name='Sibob' post='647919' date='Nov 7 2009, 10:41 AM']Ok cheers I'm looking for a lightweight backup to my Ashdown EVO II 500, but like to use the tube to get a bit of dirt......not too much though. Sounds like the LMT won't do that...back to the drawing board! Si[/quote] The Shuttle on the other hand does do tube grind.

[quote name='Sibob' post='647749' date='Nov 6 2009, 10:52 PM']Has anyone had any experience of the Little Mark Tube yet? Very interested in the idea of it, just wanna know if it delivers Si[/quote] I've tried one and couldnt tell the difference really between full SS and full tube. Very clean tube like the LH500 pre IMO

[quote name='ped' post='647602' date='Nov 6 2009, 08:14 PM'] My rig on the left - nicer rigs elsewhere![/quote] Heeeyy, yours may not be the nicest looker in your opinion, but I thought it sounded superb, and thats before you applied more squelch than a pair of wellies full of custard! And if I'm not mistaken that'd be my rig to the right of the picture, niiiice

If you've got the money a Bergantino AE410 or HS410 will just about slay anything for tone and or volume, without going to a significantly bigger volume, IMO. Or a pair of Berg 112s (HT112ER or ae112), which are 8 ohms each.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='647544' date='Nov 6 2009, 07:11 PM']That tuning frequency calculation seems way too high to be accurate. Use the signal generator on WinISD Pro to get a sinewave, put your cab on its back, sprinkle some salt on the woofer, and then sweep down from 150Hz towards 30Hz. The salt will bounce more and more until the port starts to join in and at the tuning frequency the bounce will be minimal. Once you go below the tuning frequency the bouncing will rapidly escalate. You'll have to go back and forth to narrow down to an accurate measurement but you should be able to ascertain the port tuning to within less than 1Hz. Alex[/quote] Neat trick Alex!