Bilbo

I have no doubt that the funding arangements and performance requirements of successive Governments (i.e. of all hues) etc are compromising the raison d'etre of educational establishment. It is all about 'maintaining the illusion', not about equipping the student with the knowledge and skills associated with their chosen field.

Look guys. I have decided that I am going to win this month so I recommend you don't waste your time concoting some great opus (No Opus and Bob Opus). Something shallow and uninteresting will do.

I have not said this to any tutors, that is my point. The tutors have said it to me.

I am not altogether sure what I am posting about here but I know a lot of lecturers in colleges where Music is studied and awards granted at Diploma and Degree level. What I am told, and this is mirrored in other non-musical academic courses, is that it is pretty much impossible to fail these qualifications as there is enormous pressure on the lecturers to pass everyone so that the college/university performance statistics look good. I have performed with loads of musicians who have attended colleges and universities and, being blunt, I am not overwhelmed by the standards achieved. The great musicians I play with nowadays are as likely to be self taught as they are schooled and it is difficult to see what difference it makes. Certainly not £50K's worth. Just wondered what others thought.

What about Sepultura? They started around 1984 but I guess that means Venom top them (1979) Personally, as an original hard rock fan, heavy metal was a change of emphasis that was further comnpromised by speed metal and death metal before the extreme metal and doom metal thing diluted the idea further. I have to acknowledge that I haven't got the faintest idea what I am talking about but, then again, when did that ever stop anyone posting?

Great image - we can take this in so many directions.

You are a dangerous man.

My bass sounds at it's best when I play it in my 10 x 12 conservatory. It makes for very intimate gigs.

I got my endpin from Ben about a week ago and fitted it earlier this week. I played it at home and was perfectly happy with the product. I have to say, my reason for buying it was not sound related but I had a problem with my existing endpin slipping as I gigged and wanted an endpin arrangement that prevented this. I debuted the endpin last night in a Quartet setting with guitarist Jim Mullen and have to say that the increased stability and security I got from the new pin was very welcome, particularly as I leaned across the bass in thumb position. More to the point, the pianist, whose opinion I value, said that the sound was better, that it had more attack and more 'wood' in it (something I aspire to). The bass sounded particularly good on the Latin numbers we did (the attack would have helped that) and some of the grooves were exquisite. I have always believed that a significant element of the groove is in the [b]sound[/b] of the bass not just in note placement and this seems to have been borne out last night. In short, another satisfied customer.

Not interested. I do not buy the idea that you can buy yourself better and do not consider myself to be even remotely capable of indicating what elements of a bass shoudl be included to improve it. Any imput I had would be entirely cosmetic and, this, serve no purpose. My advice to anyone who wants to sound like me is 'sorry, mate, you can't, even on my bass'.

Joint second with a sausage!!

How do I check what the default inputs are?

Great player, great sound. Markbass must be thrilled.

Have you got a device that can download the ireal book? Or the Fake Book app? They are very inexpensive and can allow you to acces chord charts for thousands of tunes (not so good for the notes, though).

Go me!! Thanks for the support, EZ!!

The trouble with finding your sound is in the recognising that you already have it. I have always operated with the idea that one's sound is achieved very quickly and then tweaked as things develop. Being blunt, in my experience, too much tweaking is a fool's errand and, yes, a waste of time. All the noodling in the world will do nothing to counter a hollow wooden stage, a high ceiling or a thrashy ride cymbal. If you cannot get a sound in a few seconds, you are probably fighting the room, not your gear.

I would add the G as, to my mind, it is where the sus sound comes from 1 4 5 7 b9 D - G - A - C - Eb

11.11% of the vote!! I am doing better than the Lib Dems!!

Eeew!

The BBC thing was great, what I saw of it. Nice to see the Jazz getting an increased profile in these establishment circles.

I got a vote, I got a vote

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1401197966' post='2461014'] Bilbo, did you do Caravan with a drum solo? [/quote] No.

Did a piano trio gig with Jason Rebello who has toured with Jeff Beck and replaced Kenny Kirkland in Sting's band. I have played with some great pianists in my time but .... OMFG!!!

When I was a kid, I remember my Mum used to have a few LPs that were pretty tragic and they were all what I call mismatched artist/repertoire things. James Galways plays the Beatles, London Philharmoinic plays John Denver - you get the idea. We still see them on Britain's Got Talent - guitar player performing 'Wind Beneath My WIngs' kind of thing. When I think of Beck, I think of some great LPs from the Wired/Blow By Blow era etc but these 'Beck plays 101 well-loved Methodist Hymns' things strike me as a bit 'odd'! NB It is important to acknowledge that I don't really give a s*** what Jeff Beck plays; I was just thinking out loud. PS - I did a gig with his old Keyboard player Jason Rebello last Sunday. We did Danny Boy.

Fashion is now so fickle that, in the end, NOTHING is fashionable. It is all a matter of perception. A guitarist bloke in Cardiff once warned me fretless was dead. In 1988. On electric gigs, I play fretless exclusively and have done pretty much since 1986. No-one ever said it was a problem. Then again, I wasn't fashionable in 1988 either.