Bilbo

Sounds like a straight pentatonic to me.....

Freaks....

Bairnson did the harmony guitar parts for this ol' chestnut..... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iiryJwvDtc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iiryJwvDtc[/url]

Bass Clef Wizard. I find it easier to use the keyboard than the mouse as it is about the mechanics of the answer rather than the knowledge.

I know that some of the greatest musicians in the world only do 2 hours a day. The guitar magazines say everyone does 10 hours but I can't see how that is sustainable in the real world - I guess its what you define as 'practising'. I think there is a lot to be said for 30 mins a day in preference to 6 hours once a week. I did the 'lots of hours a day' route for a few years in the 1980s (before life got in the way) and got a lot of technique out of it but, since then, my hands have been faster than me ears and head can cope with so I guess the time was poorly spent. A properly directed kid could probably make major progress if less time was spent knobbing around learning party tricks like Portrait Of Tracy etc.

My Wal - its the only electric bass I have so I have no choice - 26 years gigging without it getting stolen or broken by a punter. I see noreason not to use it. You drive your car there and leave it outside and that is worth more than your bass.... mostly

The only way to learn to play faster is to play what you can play slowly, only play it faster. If you can play something at 100 bpm, the only way to learn to play it at 200 bpm is to keep trying i.e practice. I see playing with a metronome as no different to playing with a drumm machine or playing along with a record. The only advice I have is to play things as fast as you can, not as fast as you can't You also need to decide whether you want to play 'set pieces' fast or to improvise at fast tempos. Playing things you have learned fast is one thing, improvising at fast tempos is a different skill and you need not only to be able to [i]play[/i] fast but also to [i]think[/i] fast which, IMO, is much harder. Playing fast things with other people is a good way af guaging progress but that is not always possible as there aren't that many people who will want to play 'Donna Lee' with you for hours at a time Frankly, I say go with the metronome.

This one always makes me scratch my head, at least a little. I completely agree that being a slave to a metronome is potentially self-defeating but, in my experience, spending some time with one can pay dividends in terms of defining a players relationship with the pulse. For me, what you are practising when you work with a metronome is not 'playing in time' but 'playing in time alongside another sound-source'. I have come across more than a handful of players over the years who sound great on their own but who can't really play their stuff when there is a defined pulse being created around them. In short, I think there is a lot to be said for practising without a metronome to get the thing right but playing [i]with[/i] a metronome to get it right 'in time' i.e practising playing what you are doing whilst listening to another person (machine) playing as well. When that skill is developed and you are playing with real people, you can use your developed listening skill to react to the time around you, thereby turning the metronomic into the musical. When people say 'Jeff Berlin says metronomes are a waste of time', I say Gary Burton and John McLaughlin would disagree. Personally, I prefer a drum machine to a metronome but sometimes the metronome is the convenient option. And JB is in no way the 'grooviest' player out there an can be a little 'soulless' so we have to ask whether his perspective is the only legitimate one. I am not trashing his views, just saying that metronomes have their place.

Sorted - thanks, guys. Knew I could rely on Basschat!!

There are people out there that can harmonise with their instrument and sing thirds etc to their solo lines. Horn players sometimes do this (Roland Kirk is one)

Will look it up later, Dan. Great idea.

They were both Jones in trio with Joe Farrell and Jimmy Garrison. There is some rare footage on youtube and Farrell comes out sounding really strong but these two lps are really hard to locate. They were released as one of those Mosaic 'Complete' sets (on-line at £270+) but even that is hard to find. Its a same as there are some really weak products out there being reissued again and again and what I have heard of these is much stronger and deserving of wider circulation.

Got hold of Puttin' It Together so its only the Ultimate EJ cd/lp to bag.....

Essential Jaco....I posted this list on Amazon in 2002!!! http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jaco-Pastorius-must-haves/lm/CQV1MT7G3OX4/ref=cm_srch_res_rpli_alt_1

Get him to send it C.O.D.?

No, Capitol. Will try there, though. Thanks.

Any of you ol' jazzers out there got either of the deleted Elvin Jones lps/cds 'The Ultimate Elvin Jones' or 'Puttin' It Together'? I can't find either of them on itunes, Spotify or any other sites other than bits of them on youtube. The Ultimate is not available anywhere and the Puttin It Together only seems to be available used at £20 a copy or new at £4o a copy. These are two trio albums that feature Joe Farrell, Elvin Jones and Jimmy Garrison.

Never look at the double bass neck and rely on muscle memory (to inconcsistent effect) but, on electric, I guess I look when I change position significantly (i.e. over a fifth up or down the neck). When I am reading, I look at the neck as little as possible for obvious reasons i.e. you lose your place on the page.

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1341734946' post='1723193'] When you started in your first band? What are your reflections on this now? Just nosey and curious really! [/quote] I was 17 (32 years ago) - started playing as soon as I could buy a bass of my own (September 1980 - after I started earning) and got into my first band in December of the same year - a NWOBHM band called No Quarter. Friday Rockshow session in April 1981 and that was the highlight of my career. Since then, nothing (except 1m 30s on National Lottery Live). I am a believer in the adage that the reward is the music itself and I have played some great stuff over the years, amongst all the dross. I don't play because I want to but because I have to. I love a half hour practsing in my music room almost as much as I love a gig and I love composing as much as playing. I want to do so much more but that will always be the case and, unless Pat Metheny calls, is unlikely to happen. I plug away at it, leading my little trio in its 4 or 5 gigs a year and filling the bass chair for anyone who asks (the list appears to be geting smaller....). I have my littel projects and wait for them to bear fruit but, in the meantime, enjoy every little taste I can get.

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1341599023' post='1721732'] With the greatest respect Bilbo, you need to get out more... [/quote] Undoubtedly - however, I suspect I have heard a shedload of stuff he hasn't!

That is a pretty bass.

The Who - Who's Next - never heard it Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin - heard some but not all of it Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes - never heard it Genesis - Nursery Cryme - I think I have heard it but can't be absolutely sure Jethro Tull - Thick as a Brick - never heard it Cream - Disraeli Gears - never heard it Pink Floyd - Meddle - never heard it Joni Mitchell - Blue - I OWN ONE!!! Jefferson Airplane - Bless Its Pointed Little Head (Live) - never heard it Jimi Hendrix Experience - Are You Experienced? - heard 4 tracks off it (all the hits) - never really got into Hendrix Bjork - Post - never heard it Yes - The Yes Album - I used to own it and it is a great album!! Radiohead - OK Computer - never heard it What was I doing all that time? It's nice to hear these things and I think if I could get Spotify in work I would try but, when I am at home, I just look for other things. I like a lot of Rush but I think its nostalgia not aesthetics!!

PS what jazz musicians do is sing the lines they are going to play a micro second before they play them and, after doing this for a million hours, get good at it. Listen to George Benson, Richard Bona, Otiell Burbidge, Paul Chambers, Slam Stewart - loads of them do it. Some do it badly i.e. their idas are formed in the same way but their voice fails to articulate it and it comes out as mumbling, muttering and graoning; Chick Corea is terrible at it! John Miles "Stand up (And Give Me a Reason)" from his Stranger In The City LP was a great solo done in this way and there are a few blues players that do it well. It is evidence that you are playing the instrument and not just wiggling your fingers as you can't do it the wrong way around. Make sure you are playing what you are singing not singin what you are playing; you can hear the difference and it sucks!

What I did was to tie intervals in with lines/phrases I know by ear Minor second/semi-tone + the two notes from the Jaws Them Major Second - tone (easy, the first two notes of a major scale) Minor Third - the first two notes of Smoke On The Water Major Minor - the first two notes of the standard 'Stardust' Fourth - the first two notes of the bassline to 'Summer Lovin' from Grease Flat five - the doorbell from The Addams Family/the first two notes of Maria from West SIde Story Fifth - the riff from Peter Gabriel's Biko etc etc flat sixth - one of my own tunes Sixth - Inchworm flat seventh is the Star Trek Theme major seventh - major scale going down but up ! Octave - My Sharona You should find your own tunes, things you know well that use these interfvals in their melody or as part of a memorable bassline: I mean memorable to you. Try to find notes that are the first tww of a tune as they 'go in' better.