Bilbo

I have to say, this is an astonishing piece of kit for the money.

It's the bit where everyone stops and you keep going (generally thinking 'oh, fcuk!! Is this right? Shoudl I have shut the fcuk up by now or what'? 'Why is everyone staring at me'? It is usually a bass cliche but best check before you play it .

Paul Chambers had lessons off Ray Brown. It shows.

Milt Hinton and Ray Brown.

Tough call this month. Every one a winner. A hell of an achievement for all involved. I think there is growth across the board (except Garry who is a feckin' genius already).

She HATES Jazz and thinks it's all pretentious b*ll*cks.

Decent crop again. Bodes well.

It ain't a Fodera Anthony Jackson Presentation bass that's for sure but, interestingly, I think it's shortcomings may end up being it's strengths for me. I want to play it as a 'bass guitar' not as a bass, if you get what I mean, so I don't want it to be an 'awesome' sound but a clean one. Anyway, here is a sample I recorded this evening. Direct in with no EQ and only a little reverb. For the record, my wife ordered it from Thomann. It arrived on Monday but, due to a scheduling error, it was left over night at our local Post Office and collected on Tuesday to be left at my in-laws place. I received it Thursday morning. It was still in tune. https://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/alice-in-wonderland

No real problems. I am playing it with a pick and it sounds incredible!! I can play tunes and chords etc although it's difficult to cover four note chords over five strings but it is early days. This is so much fun!!!

I wanted to try one of these Harley Benton seven strings tuned BEADGBE (not BEADGCF) and did mention it in passing. It was my birthday yesterday and look what Mrs. Baggins had it store!!! I knew she was a keeper!!! [url="http://s283.photobucket.com/user/bilbo230763/media/DSCF0395_zpsdgbe0ld2.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s283.photobucket.com/user/bilbo230763/media/DSCF0396_zps4y3gkqip.jpg.html"][/url] [url="http://s283.photobucket.com/user/bilbo230763/media/DSCF0400_zpsfjaqmjbj.jpg.html"][/url]

Pictures to follow!!!

'explaining chops'. I gotta get me some of those.

OMFG!!!! It's my birthday today and you'll never guess what my fabulous wife bought me?!!!

You can't argue with that.

Brilliant post, Hector. Sums it up perfectly. As for fast solos; I always think in terms of short phrases, strong rhythms and leaving plenty of space to allow ideas to breath, to sink in and to be digestable. You can fly on something like a soprano sax but, on a double bass, this can end up sounding muddy because the note's timbre has no room to speak.

[quote name='bassace' timestamp='1437556339' post='2826942'] At the end of the sixties it seemed you couldn't give a double bass away, such was the ubiquity of the bass guitar. I remember some article hailing the BG as the most significant new instrument in jazz for the past three decades. At that time my DB fell apart and I went over to BG and it would be fifteen years before I had a DB again. Thing was, I'd started on DB and due to my early influences - notably the blessed Sam Jones - I played in front of the beat. As the BG spoke a lot quicker I found myself playing very much in front of the beat. When I went back to double bass I remember a muso saying to me, words to the effect, ' I didn't realise you were a good player because on BG we didn't think you were too hot'. [/quote] An interesting story. I think there is a lot of this that comes out of the Marsalis neo-classicist era. Marsalis LPs always carried the tag 'this LP was recorded without the dreaded bass direct'. The purist message was all but universal during that time and, since that was the ethos that added impetus to the Jazz scene that existed immediately followed that era, it has never really gone away. Having said that, there is the simple fact that the doulbe bass and electric bass sit in radically different places in the sonic mix and, for most Jazz fans (and Jazz musicians are all Jazz fans), the double bass sounds better in terms of it sitting at the bottom of the ensemble sound and holdin it together. The electric sits higher up and further forward and creates what is essentially a completely different effect and which also leaves a gap at the bottom.

I only saw the Acoustic and Jazz editions and have to say that the musicians on show all deserved to be there. I had my preferences but they were all tasty musicians and great adverts for their instruments.

It's all got a bit surreal.

Even Ron Carter played electric for about a fortnight in the 1960s.

Miles Davis - 'Nobody knows what the bass does but they miss it if it isn't there'.

[quote name='pjb13.bass' timestamp='1437493396' post='2826518'] 1. I notice that there is no denial that I was thrown off the thread. 2. I never said that my account was deleted. 3. The old ' I can't remember' is not the same as this definitely did or did not happen. [/quote] I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

[quote name='pjb13.bass' timestamp='1437491152' post='2826481'] 2. I was on this site before and on a thread started by this same individual entitled something like 'Isn't Jazz wonderful' I raised some points, these points were countered and I re-countered and so on as is the point of these boards. However, despite not using any bad language or being in anyway abusive, I was not only thrown off the thread but, as other contributors told me, also all of my comments were deleted from the thread. That is not just censorship that is abuse of power by a moderator. So[i] that[/i] is why I expect his attitude. That and the fact that since I've come back he doesn't appear to have changed at all. [/quote] I have put on more weight. Seriously, though, I have no idea what you are talking about in terms of deleting posts in my 'God, I Love Jazz' thread. I have never been aware of any shenanighans on there that required any deletions and I certainly can't remember doing it (also, I cannot delete accounts; that's well above my pay grade). I am really not that easily offended (pompous and condescending I can take, but TWADDLE?!!!). And, tauzero, re: dancing to 7:4; there are more ways to enjoy a gig than dancing and I suspect (although I have no evidence for this) that, overall, more people DON'T dance at gigs than do. There are also other varables. Having done many wedding/party gigs with the same band, I am often amazed at the way in which the same songs/set can get everyone dancing at one gig and hardly anyone dancing at the next.

[quote name='pjb13.bass' timestamp='1437488656' post='2826450'] The usual pompous, condescending twaddle we've come to expect from this...individual. [/quote] You know you like it really.

They don't miss the point at all. Electric bass playing Jazz is perfectly acceptable, especially if the player is Steve Swallow. Jazz is a very broad church and can accommodate anything if it is used with integrity. In the real world, double bass playing Jazz is the normal default for a 'standards' gig, to the point where MDs will book a bad double bass player before they book a decent electric player! It is not a question of whether the bass player believes it to be authentic or acceptable, it is whether the MD believes it. My argument is simply that mostly that is exactly what they think. PS I have a Jazz gig on Saturday and I am going to do it on electric

Cool.