Bilbo

Interesting perspectives but I had to vote for the one I would buy.

French bows are supposed to be more flexible/versatile and German bows louder. It is easier to find a French bow teacher in the UK than a German one if that makes any difference. Paul Chambers's teacher, Gaston Brohand, had to be ordered to teach arco with a French bow because he was anti-French arco techniuque and, until this point, had refused. Fortunately, PC played German but other players like Dan Pliskow in Detroit had to fight to get lessons and then had to put up with Brohan looking like he'd stepped in s*** for their whole lesson. Really motivational.

I'm working on a double chin. Is that any good?

This kind of messing about scares me, I am afraid (). I wouldn't know where to start. Get a man in, I say

PS - Burglary is against the law but is the reason we do not burgle our neighbours fear of and adherence to the Law or simply our willingness to accept that that kind of behaviour is unacceptable/wrong? Laws are there simply to articulate the generally held views of a society and to draw a line for the minority who would offend against that society. That line moves over time because society's values change but, in general, people don't think about the Law; they just behave in a civilised way because that generally works. Take away everyone's food and watch the rules change.

'Civilised society' is not determined by its Laws and the adherence to them. The world is a lot more complicated than that and always has been. Law breaking in the last couple of hundred years has included vast swathes of the trade union movement, suffragettes, Nelson Mandela and the fall of Apartheid, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and the US Civil Rights movement, Ghandi's passive resistance and so on. Hitler's approach to society would suggest that Laws can and are used to abuse people as much as to keep them safe. That and to protect vested interests. Civilised people are not those who simply obey the Law but also question it and, when the Law is unjust, challenge it by any means necessary. See what I did there?

[quote name='4ropebottom' timestamp='1355599809' post='1900521'] Hello group. I'm new. Gotta a few questions: 1. What style of music do you play most often on double bass? Jazz, only jazz. 2. Given that, what string height do you use for each string? I have no idea. It's just easier than it used to be. 3. What brand/model of strings do you like? Evah Pirazzi Weichs (works with both arco and pizz but otherwise, my 'choice' is determined by the fact that I can't afford to experiment and, at this stage, can't tell the difference anyway!!) 4. What double bass pickup? K&K Sound Double Big Twin Upright Bass Pickup 5. What amplification? Eden Metro (it was what I had for electric before I bought the double bass - does the trick) Thanks! [/quote]

Sorry, guys. Couldn't get my self motivated for this one. Maybe next month.

This through this

Am also liking Mark Turner's 'Fly' project. A lot.

Great idea, Sarah, although, if you look at the detail, only three people are posting here Put an old favourite on my ipod recently; Kenny Wheeler's 'Flutter By, Butterfly'. Dave Holland on bass. Monster composing!!

I am finding it so easy to touch the wrong button on the screen of the Kindle. WHen links are close together as they care on BC, it is easy to find yourself going places you hadn't indended (if I open the bloody tc electronics ad again, it's going out the 'kin window)

I think it is entirely legitimate to class some players as poor. This ia a bass player's forum, not a fan site. If someone is held up as a special player because of their technique or the creativity of their lines then its a matter of taste but if someone can't hold a tune together without messing up, only ever plays root notes and is out of tune, then 'poor' is the appropriate term. Once you put yourself out there for 'consumption', you have to take the rough with the smooth. Liking everything out of politeness is just being undiscerning.

Jazz guitarist Jim Hall tunes down a 4th to get a really warm sound.

Write your own?

[quote name='lastnotleast' timestamp='1356694705' post='1912443'] It turned healthy robust young men into shriveled skeletal zombies. [/quote] Bit like becoming a Jazz musician, then...

Not a chance. Won't even wear shorts or a short sleeved t-shirt!!

Solution....

This is normal. When trying to set up a computer based recording facility at home, it is a legal requirement that you spend at least the first three months trying to find out how the different pieces of equipment involved work together so you can even get a noise out of it, let alone record, save and copy a file so it can be played on anything other than the original PC e.g. as a cd or an mp3. If you get to record any quicker than that, you have not evidenced the required tenacity and can be barred from the Recording forum here for life (or longer). |Learn to love the egg-timer)

Robert Hurst (Wynton Marsalis, Branford Marsalis, Tony Williams, Mulgrew Miller, Harry Connick Jr., Geri Allen, Russell Malone, Steve Coleman and The Tonight Show band) said that a bass player shoud 'get off on making other people sound good'. I could not do Cliff WIlliams' job in 1,000 years; I lack the discipline (although I am getting better as I get older). And shocking as it may sound, not every bass player is just a bass player; sometimes they write songs, do b. vocs, add glamour at some level or another, multi-task (Geddy Lee is not half as good a bass player as he is made out to be (same with Peart's drumming)) etc etc. Being the bass player in a lot of rock 'n'n roll/pop/metal bands is rarely about being a great musician. Often 'good enough' is good eonough.

I got a Kindle Fire HD. How is that bass related, I hear you ask... I just watched (listened to) a Miroslav Vitous solo bass gig in work (there is no-one else here) while typing a report. I also downloaded a music reading app to practice my sight reading on (I am trying to learn to read bass, treble, Bb and Eb clefs).

Addictive behaviours are, for me, defined primarily by the investment that the individual has in them. A drug addict, in the conventional sense, has a physiological and psychological addiction in that the withdrawal of the substance, say heroin, will have effects that are both physical and psychological, the latter often being the harder to break. Cannabis is supposedly non-addictive physically but, in my experience as a Probation Officer, the psychological addiction is very real in that the user has to learn to 'cope' without it. Music is not physically addictive but, psychologically, it can have a profound effect in that the listener or performer invests massively in it. This may be cultural (membership of a social group like mods or rockers etc) or may be status orientated (celebrity or perception of self as artist etc) but the question is always; can the 'user' cope without their 'durg of choice' and what are the consequences of the removal of the behaviour in which the user invests so much. Personally, there have been periods in my life when I have felt that denial of the opportunity to practice has created anxiety in me but I put this down to the belief that, if I wasn't practicing, I would be losing the skills I have developed. As I got older, I began to value the motor skills aspect of performing less and the creative aspects more which has created its own pressures but, in short, (too late!!) denial of the opportunity to work on 'my music' remains stressful for me. Like Sklar, I have never drunk or done drugs (stone cold sober for 49 years so far) so comparisons with conventional substance misuse are difficult for me to make but I do believe that I have an investment in this behaviour (musiking) that can be considered to be unhealthy by those who do not share it.

I have two basses (electric and double) and 3 guitars. I bought all but one either on-line of by mail order, including both basses, a Gibson ES175 and a Takamine CD132SC nylon acoustic. I have had no problems with any of them. I also bought my soprano saxophone on-line (Thomann) and the feedback from my sax player is 'astonishing value for money'. It is important to do your research in advance but I don't think it is as dangerous as some seem to think. The thing is, I don't subscribe to the idea that there is a perfect bass/guitar out there but work on the premise that I have to learn to play it rather than it needing to fit me. I am not convinced that you can 'buy' a good sound or great technique (i.e. a great nexk) but need to learn to play the thing you have in front of you.