Bilbo

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1438853537' post='2837952'] It was released 48 years ago. It was one of the very first concept albums, the first to have no gaps between songs, the first to have lyrics printed on the cover and the first gatefold sleeve. It was one of the very first to include signal processing as a creative process, the idea of producer as an effective member of the band, and one of the first to use extensive multi-track recording. It was made as a studio album with no intention of ever having the band play it live, so could go anywhere, and did. In short, it was completely groundbreaking and started the cult of the pop/rock album. It was the benchmark to which subsequent bands compared their own output. [/quote]

I like good bass solos and don't like bad ones. The trouble is, I don't know which it is going to be until I have heard it. If I hear it and like it, I am glad I heard it. If I hear it but don't like it, I am still glad I heard the guy or girl try. Not all music performance is about perfect execution every time (although some is). Sometimes it is about just trying. Improvisation is a high risk undertaking and, sometimes, the results are sublime. At times, however, it can be painful. The art is in the attempt and not in the success. In terms of the debate, there are composed solos (Stu Hamm's 'Country', Jeff Berlin's 'Dixie' or Michael Manring's 'Red Right Returning'). There are improvised solos (Scott LaFaro's 'Gloria's Step', Jaco's 'Donna Lee'; there are millions of examples). There are 'solos' that are featured parts of songs (the melodic bass in 'A Remark You Made', the opening of 'Motherlode' by Jeff Berlin or Duff McKagan's part on 'Sweet Child Of Mine') which amount to melodic hooks played by the bass rather than solos per se. There are bass solos that are essentially substanive compositions written around the instrument ('Bottesini's Double Bass Concerto' or Squire's 'The Fish (Schindleria Praematurus)'). To paraphrase Duke Ellington, there are only two kinds of bass solos; good ones and bad ones. I like the good ones. That is, I accept, a subjective position but, I propose it is one that we all share. Like all music, there are some performances that I 'get' and some that I don't. Some bass solos are about entertainment and not art. If you are looking to be entertained, they will work better for you. If you don't like Jazz, you are probably not going to like a be-bop orientated bass solo. The boundaries we place around the music we listen to are likely to be mirrored in the bass solos we prefer to listen to (or not). If you don't like guitar solos, why would bass solos appeal? If your preference is 'song' orientated genres, solos will appeal less. If your preference is for 'melodic' material (a dumb concept if ever I heard one - all music is melodic, some is just more accessible than others. A furious Coltrane solo is chock full of melody if you know how to listen), then a rhythmically complex solo played over complex chord sequences will leave you cold. Like all art, it is all entirely subjective. As for the 'bass is made to be a supportive instrument not a solo instrument' comments. Sorry guys but who put you in charge? All instruments are made for whatever the artist chooses to use them for. No instrument inventor I know of ever put conditions on it's use. Your preference may be for solid bass lines underpinning a song but that isn't everyone's bag and composers and performers alike are entitled to use them for whatever context their vision suggests. My own preference is for improvisation in context as opposed to featured soloing (Anthony Jackson in Steve Khan's band is a great example) but, if anyone genuinely loves music, the only defensible position is 'I like good solos and don't like bad ones but it is entirely down to me to decide which is which'.

It is on my list of 'iconic LPs I have never heard'. So, in short, I have not got the foggiest.....

Here we are! A strange mix of Asian pentatonics, string quartet and a reel played with a plectrum on a seven string bass. Kudos to Dad for letting me have his title!! https://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/thy-fearful-symmetry

I have finished mine. Will upload tomorrow. It's fearfully symmetric. Oops; no I won't. I uploaded an audio mixdown last night and, when uploading it to Soundcloud this morning, have noticed that it has got a couple of serious glitches in it relating to effects. Also, the opening notes have been clipped off so it doesn't make sense until the second time around. Will have to revisit the mixdown. Bear with, bear with.

The wisdom of Solomon. 😃

You bastard!!! You stole my title!! Completely stole it!!!!

Should have no effect.

Got another hour in last night and it's coming together nicely. Another session or two and I will be home and dry. Grrrrrrrrrrreat!

I cannot access the video (in work) but from reading the post, it sounds like the mistake you are making is to consider the role of the chord to be necessarily defined by the bass note you are hearing. Whilst that is normally true, there are occasions when the bass note is changed to re-orientate the voicing. Most slash chords are actually a major, minor or dominant with the third or fifth in the bass. The chords that are used are defined not by the root notes but by the way in which they are used. The same three notes that make a voicing can be any number of chords depending on how they are used as opposed to what chord they 'spell'. For example; CEG is a major triad in a C chord. They are, however, also the 3rd, 5th and 7th of a Am7 chord, or the 5th, 7th and 9th of an F# half diminished and so on. The chord will be defined not by the notes alone but by the chord before it and the one after. I suspect, but cannot be sure, that your bass notes in the Air tunes are not root movement and so your chords are skewed. Often, the actual movement is simpler than you think and probably amounts to a diatonic sequence redefined by some unusual note choices in the bass.

Made a good start last night. Written a skeleton piece that needs fleshing out. Layers; I need layers.

I can imagine the scene as the Police dispatch worker gets the call. Send an ARU, Nobby Fishcake has compromised Beyoncé's earnings by 0.00001p. Ripping has always been illegal. As a criminal justice worker, I cannot recall many prosecutions.

Not an intro but I learned a long time ago not to play a rhythm changes tune right after a 12-bar Jazz blues.

Agree with bassace. Jazz IS the drummer.

I have a Roland 60W guitar cube I can use but I practice a lot on bass and guitar without an amp or on double bass which has the massive advantage of not needing amplification when not on a gig.

I have played both for as long as I have played and, although I consider myself to be a bass player who plays a bit of guitar, I do use it a lot for wrinting/recording etc. I just got a seven string bass that I have tuned BEADGBE so it is literally a bass and guitar and I play that with a pick. It is a really interesting experiment. In the meantime. my advice is to learn music not bass/guitar. The notes are the same, a major triad is the same on both instrument. A minor scale is the same, as are all the intervals and so on for every piece of musical theory. It all apllies equally to both intruments. Learning 'guitar' licks won't help you bass playing and learning bass parts won't help you guitar. Learning 'music' will help you on both instruments. I also recommend you learn to read music on both bass and treble clef as it will take you places musically that you would never otherwise go. I know this is a big ask but it is so worth it in the long run.

Ginger Baker was a poor man's Elvin Jones. Like a lot of Rock God's, he believes his own press and forgets where he came from. Baker was great Rock drummer but a poor Jazz drummer. Like a lot of young men who use drugs heavily during their early years, their emotional development is often compromised and they don't learn how to cope with the emotional demands of ordinary human relationships. Add the artificiality of the world he operated in and the people who induleged him and you get a perfect storm to arseholedom. Arseholes is arseholes, whoever they are. And, to finish with a[b] mahoosive[/b] name drop, I played with Simon Kirke once (I had forgotten that!!).

I never got this one band thing. I was in nine once and never had a double booking!!

Most common is BEADGC.

New player to me, Yuri Goloubev appears on Maciek Pysz's recordings. I have booked Maciek's trio for my little Jazz thing in Felxistowe later this year and will be excited to see them perform. In the meantime, check out his website. [url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD0lrQPpwHo"]http://www.youtube....h?v=pD0lrQPpwHo[/url] [url="http://www.yurigoloubev.com/"]http://www.yurigoloubev.com/[/url]

I have just got hold of one of those Harley Benton seven strings which I play with a pick. I actually find it easier to play than a guitar. Guess I am used to the wider spacing and bigger strings.

We could all pick several; no-one said it would be easy.

People just aren't getting the three vote thing, are they?

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 .