Bilbo

I find it hard to make chart like this settle when the tempo is so fierce. The difference between two sixteenth notes is tiny and easy to flunk.

I have wanted to get something like this down for so long but it is really hard to catch it. Moises and Transcribe@ helped but this was still really challenging. This is my interpretation of the complete Ricardo Lugo bass part for the tune 'El Leon' from the 2006 Paoli Mejias album, 'Transcend'. I know you were all waiting eagerly for this one.... Seriously, this one will more for study and there aren't many of us that could sight-read read this kind of thing. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/el-leon-paoli-mejias/

I want to do Charlie Haden but his wife is fiercely protective of all things CH so I don't think its likely. I also thought of Steve Swallow and made contact with him but he said someone else was doing it (but that was years ago and it never appeared so maybe one day..). This time it isn't a bass player. Please don't try guessing as it isn't fair to say anything until it is ready for publication and I don't want to look like I am being small-minded about it. Anyway, shouldn't you all be practicing your reading?

Another Al Di Meola guitar transcription, this is his arrangement of the Beatles tune 'In My Life' from his 2013 album, 'All Your Life: a tribute to The Beatles'. It is only a partial transcription as a second guitar comes in half way through and I was only interested in the solo element so I stopped. I thought I would post it on here anyway rather than leave it sat there doing nothing. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/in-my-life-al-di-meola/

Close but no cigar.

What is really interesting when I look at the data on the website, the tunes with the biggest hit rates are not the ones you would think. Today it's the Ron Carter/Wynton Marsalis chart. It's actually the double bass players that get the hits. I am speculating that is probably because Jazzers are more likely to be readers?

Someone asked about Mick Karn transcriptions on Talkbass this morning and referenced this tune specifically. 'Talking Drum' from the 1981 Japan album 'Tin Drum'. I was never a massive Karn fan but I enjoyed doing this one. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/talking-drum-japan/

PS thanks for buying the book guys. It's appreciated. As are the comments.

I am 9 chapters into the next one so shouldn't be too long a wait. Very different as I have the full cooperation of the artist themselves this time. So much more satisfying.

Bless you. I am glad to be here and it was nice to know I was missed.

A really easy read but it's not easy to make it feel this good. A complete transcription of the Charlie Haden bass part to Pat Metheny's version of the Horace Silver tune 'Lonely Woman' from the guitarist's1983 album 'Rejoicing'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/lonely-woman-pat-metheny/

Try learning to read music? Assuming you can't already. 20 minutes a day and in six months you won't know yourself. Two years and you'll be the best reader on Bass chat! It opens musical doors in terms of learning. There are some decent packages out there, Jeff Berlin's course is decent enough, but all you really need is a simple explanation of the basic principles and the rest is just doing it, again and again and again. What is also good about it is that you don't have to be inspired. You just have to do it. It builds technique as well as reading chops all without needing to 'think' about it. Time well spent.

One gig in June. I had to stop gigging for a couple of years and it is hard to get out there again because people have forgotten you are about (and some may not know I am available for work). Also, my double bass is screwed so a lot of Jazz artists won't book me. If I didn't have my writing and transcriptions site, I would probably give up.

Winters End Prog Festival in Chepstow next week. Can't wait.

Nice job, Chris.

Just remembered one I can never quite pull off. Daryl Jones part on the John Schofield tune 'Techno'. Can't make it sit right.

I saw them early on with Fish. My kid brother is a massive fan but I never really got past SFAJT. It's ok but I don't get excited by the later stuff (and I am a Prog fan). One of those bands I want to like but it's just not happening.

Something a bit different today, this is the Ron Carter performance of the tune 'Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)' from the first Wynton Marsalis album (1982). Tough read - he's all over the place even though it's mostly a ballad. Slides and slurs and double stops. Great to listen to, impossible to transcribe. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/who-can-i-turn-to-when-nobody-needs-me-wynton-marsalis/

I am not judging people wot use backing tapes, I just think it's sad that a, they have to, and b, the audiences accept it. It somehow devalues the art of music making for me. The tragedy is that, when you look on line, there are so many monster players but, when you go out to watch live music, you get half arsed shite badly performed against backing tapes. I think we deserve better (by we I mean the listening public). And don't get me started on A.I.

I think that everything is playable, it's just a question of how long you are prepared to spend on it. Jaco took 9 years to nail Donna Lee. I gave up on HMWYRS because I decided the time would be better spent on other things. There is a tasty Al Di Meola guitar part on Suite: Golden Dawn from his first solo album. Impossible. It took me 30 years but I got there!! It's a question of how much you are willing to invest to get the thing nailed.

Bummer. I have played with Brendan several times and recorded an album with him a couple of years ago. It's a hateful thing to steal musical instruments. They are such a personal thing.

Things are going to get a lot quieter for a while, guys. I have a book project that needs my attention for the time being and that has to take priority. I will still post stuff when I can, though.

A really easy read but a love song - another from the Solstice album, 'Light Up', this one is called 'Home'. Five notes (maybe six) and all roots mostly on the one. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/home-solstice/

Another one from the same album, this is 'Wongle No.9' - Classic British Neo-Prog. Interweaving lines, odd bar lengths and a completely inscrutable title. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/wongle-no-9-solstice/

Another Solstice track, this is the Robin Phillips bass part for the tune 'Mount Ephraim' from the band's most recent album, 'Light Up'. Mostly 5:4 with some 6:4 and some 3:4. Bloody Proggers! https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/mount-ephraim-solstice/