Bilbo

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.

Voted. Getting stronger all the time.

Vienne Jazz Festival in around 1994. [url="http://s283.photobucket.com/user/bilbo230763/media/0b2f6b86-f760-46f1-b39c-d4b26daff162_zps4332cec4.jpg.html"][/url]

If you think about it, the whole tribute thing has to be post radio/recording. Prior to that, the only time you would hear things played would be live so, to all intents and purposes, for most people, the first time you heard anything, particularly art music, may have been the last. I think the originals thing was always one fo the defining characteristics of pop music post Beatles and became a badge of honour accordingly. Some have bought into that ethos, others haven't. It has never been an exclusive prerequisite of success in pop or rock, just an aspect of the content which some gravitate towards. No more definitive than guitar bands vs. synth bands. You either like them or you don't. For me, composing and listening to original music has been the main attraction; I don't even like Jazz standards really and regularly don't buy recordings of 'standards' albums by players I otherwise like. Horses for courses. If I hear a cover, I rarely (but not never) think 'Wow' and usually dismiss it as pointless. Not a universal truth, just my perspective on the thing..

Danny Boy, FFS!

Whilst in no real sense a fan, I have always admired Beck's expressiveness as a guitarist but, lately, everytime I see him on a video etc, he is playing some lame mainstream crap like Jerusalem or You'll Never Walk Alone. The arrangements aren't even interesting. It all sounds like James Galway play The Beatles to me, Dreadful. What is he playing at?

Everyone I know who tried the tribute band route has failed to make any money at it (too much money spent on production, booking rehearsal rooms etc). Includes 2 Floyd acts tribute who subsequenlty split. Life's too short