Bilbo

Woud it work like a fugue, starting the cycle an extra beat/bar later each time it loops? Without hearing it, it is difficult to comment.

Try this. Don't look at the neck. Play a C on the A string in half position with your left hand little/third finger. Without looking at the neck and focussing your mind on where the finger is positioned, shift position and play [i]the same[/i] C using the first finger of your left hand. Your first (fretting) finger is now occupying exactly the same space previously occupied by your little finger. Now reverse the process. What you will experience is a sense that you hands/mind/ears are guiding you to the correct position rather than your eyes (which are not that useful at this angle as your line of sight is all to cock). As you start moving around in neck, bear in mind this principle that the fingers should occupy the same space each time and, gradually, over a relatively short period, you will start to fill in the gaps and start to 'feel' where the notes are (you are using your sense of touch and hearing to guide you so 'feeling it' is almost literally true but it is a sensory thing as much as anything else). Over time, you will learn to trust yourself and the intonation will gradually stabilise.

[quote name='AntLockyer' timestamp='1351716427' post='1854653'] Leaves me cold. [/quote] It wasn't supposed to change you life; they only do it for a larf!

And catch this....(Bobby McFerrin is the coolest man in the world (bar me)) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jmjBXoyugM&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jmjBXoyugM&feature=related[/url]

Have you not seen this.......? (at 3.55, he is singing a third higher Monster player) [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLr3bvhu0gs[/media]

What are you people [i]thinking[/i]?

And Yamaha drums.... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPiAWfprCzI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPiAWfprCzI[/url]

I think they are a biy like Yamaha pianos; they have a sound of their own. They outstripped the competition in their day but have been superceded by more 'authentic' sounding instruments. I have an Adamus six string that sounds great and I have no trouble with its stability )I play acoustics siting down and without a strap). Horses for courses, I guess. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44fM6nQlbik&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44fM6nQlbik&feature=related[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Y7VJGFrFo"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_Y7VJGFrFo[/url]

Dave Holland Extended Play Live

Enrico is right. Sight reading is a muscle that you need to exercise regularly. If you don't read for a while, you lose the ability; not in it's entirity and you can get it back bery quickly but it would be a fool who didn't read for years and then expected to hit the mark first time out. I find that my own reading generally starts to come back to speed after a couple of rehearsals. Most bass reading is quite easy (e.g. read the first two bars and then repeat) and you only get tough lines occasionally so it's rarely a total trainwreck but, yes, you have to do it regularly to stay match fit.

It is called serial composition and, yes, it is likely to sound very avant garde! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_composition

Everyday is full of dilemmas. Do I practice electric bass or double bass? Do I practice bass or guitar? Do I practise reading or improvising? Scales or songs? Do I work on playing or composing? Or composing or recording? Do I play music or do I do some more writing/research for my next book? Am I allowed to do any of this or do I have to mow the lawn/do laundry/cook tea etc? How I ever make any progress in any of these endeavours is beyond me. But I do improve, incrementally, and do get things done eventually. And, overall, although I do so incessantly, I shouldn't complain.

Had a couple of good practice sessions over the weekend and identified some learning I need to do. Have been working on Charlie Parker's 'Passport' for 23 years and am nearly there.

I think the criterion is whether you like it more than all the others you have heard

SF Jazz Collective plays Stevie Wonder (ipod shuffle)

I found it helpful to think not of whether I liked the composition but whether or not it reflected the image in any sense. That narrowed it down for me.

The reason behind Jazz pun thing is simple: no lyrics = no obvious hook onto which to hang a title! There have been some great puns over the years. Jeff Berlin particularly likes playing this game: 'Hello Dali', 'Lumpy Jazz', 'Everybody Knows You When You're Up & In'. Steve Swallow does it well also; 'Second Handy Motion', 'Muddy In The Bank' are two that come to mind. I have a few 'in waiting': 'For All We Know, We May Never Eat Again', 'Almost Like Being In Debt' and 'Four Funerals and A Wedding'. My own existing titles include 'I Didn't Do It' (based on the changes for 'I'm Confessin'), 'Second Guest', 'Escape From The Country' etc etc. It's nothing more than wordplay to over the fact that describing music with words is not always simple.

I have a simple approach to this. If the bandleader wants me to play a song once, he either supplies the dots or he gets a 'near as damn it/flying by the seat of my pants/never heard the original anyway' approximation. I play in one covers band and have held the gig for about 3 years. We play a range of covers from 60s to now and I have never heard the originals of most of the tunes and those I have heard I heard years ago once or twice and have certainly never worked on them. We have never had anyone come up to any of us and say 'that bass part was wrong' but this is probably because they are SO wrong that it is obvious we are not trying to play them right When I do shows, every note is written down and the product is 100% accurate. To expect people to learn every nuance of a cover when they are working in several bands/situations in between gigs is pretty naive.

Foudn this too. Lovely rendering of Small Day Tomorrow by Janis Seigel (form The Manhattan Transfer featuring the lovely trumpet of Lew Soloff) [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAtJXSodaDQ"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAtJXSodaDQ[/url]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mG1OrQ3DGc&feature=relmfu"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mG1OrQ3DGc&feature=relmfu[/url]

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuK8tKMTDis&feature=relmfu"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuK8tKMTDis&feature=relmfu[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-tRy9OCzh8&feature=relmfu"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-tRy9OCzh8&feature=relmfu[/url]

Major league interactive trio playing. Anyone whon knows this trio will be thrilled to find these videos (I have loved this trio for 30 years and the material never dates). Great Jimmy Joihnson bass solo on an Alembic 5 string (one of the first) (I think - never get a good shot) but the real music is made by the three guys together. Sound is poor but the content is so good. Enjoy [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k5EQWfqVOQ&feature=related[/media] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4gdvVHEQCnc&feature=relmfu[/media]

Works for me.....

I just want to confirm that the only reason I entered mine was to show that I had tried but noted that I had given up because it wasn't happening and, as I was away last week, I was aborting it, hoping that I could do something next month. So don't vote for mine cos it sucks . Oh. Somebody did. Kindly leave the stage.....

Francis Lickerish's Secret Green album 'To Wake The King' [url="http://secretgreen.co.uk/king.html"]http://secretgreen.co.uk/king.html[/url]