Bilbo

I have to say that, my own experiences with buying a new bass were summed up quite easily. If you have less that £3K, everyone will tell you what you are buying is likely to be a piece of crap. The difference between a £300 piece of crap and a £1500 piece of crap is subjective but they are both crap. So I figured, well, if they are all crap, what can possibly go wrong? So I bought one from Gedo Musik (£1400ish) and it was fine, got me playing an gigging and recording as a double bass player. I am not even remotely gassing for a new/better one (not my style; have had the same electric for 26 years). I play it through the same Eden Metro I use for the Wal and it sounds perfectly fit for purpose. I use a Fishman Platinum Pro pre-amp (secondhand on here) and K&K pick up from Golihur. It all works and I sound like a double bass player - from here on, anything else is a bonus. My only advice is get a lesson - you can do harm to your arms and hands with bad technique so caution is advised but, otherwise, just get in there and paddle like ****!

Bill Cosby on his gig with Sonny Stitt. Funny jazz anecdote. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zn-P0ZH3_M"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zn-P0ZH3_M[/url]

That Oliver Nelson sits up there wth Kind of Blue for me. One of the best.

I used to play the bass with my Dad's teeth but, unfortunately, they were cremated with him so I had to go back to using my fingers. I started using a pick when I was playing HM but,as my technique improved, I jsut found I got a sound that I liked more using my fingers. I never use a pick on bass (do on guitar) but, when you hear guys like Steve Swallow and Bobby Vega, how can anyone look don their noses at those who go down that route. Anthony Jackson used a pick on a lot of the Al Dimeola stuff he did. As did Tim Landers when they played that stuff live. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XrO29hsWgto[/media] Here is AJ in action - sound is iffy but worth a look, especially AJ's fills at 7.10ish. Really original stuff. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=keAuhMKCCKE[/media]

Nice one, Mike. Really enjoyed that. BMQ is one of my favourite bands and I have everything they have ever done since he started recording.The new drummer is great. Something nice to look forward to.

When you stop buying musical instruments on the High Street.

Seriously though, learning other people's lines gives you VERY useful insights early on in your learning but, when you are playing with other people, regurgitating these lines never works, simply because the other people you are playing with aren't playing the same as the people on the recording you copped the lines off. You won't notice at first and will think you are doing ok ripping off those Ron Carter/Paul Chambers/Ray Brown lines but it will only be a mtter of time before you begin to recognise the fact that what you are doing is 'pretending to play' rather than playing. When I was studying Paul Chambers playing, it was interesting to note the differences in the bass playing and the overall approach of the rhythm section when playing behind different front-line players. If you listen carefully to Kind Of Blue and focus on the rhythm section, you will hear noticeable differences between the accompaniment to the solos of Davis, Coltrane, Adderley and Evans. The aspiration is to find your own ways to make the music great but, firstly and foremostly, to play with the people you are playing with. THAT is where the Jazz is. You won't get it be learning the lines of others by rote. Probably better to absord them than learn them.

But don't let him know because he us 6' 4" and will 'ave you.

So What is based around D dorian so it the key signature on the chart would be C. When it goes to Eb dorian, the key signature could change to Db major. Or not.

I used to have the Deep Purple/Rainbow one on my bedroom wall when I was a kid. Was it out of 'Sounds'? I never bought MM or NME.

Probably!

No individual - I had a busted up old guitar and just naturally gravated towards bass parts without even knowing that was what they were at that stage.

[quote name='lobematt' timestamp='1339359670' post='1687479'] I just wanna try to learn a bit more about how it all works really. I'm reading 'To Be Or Not Too Bop' at the min, which is where I of heard Inside BeBop from. TBONTB is a good book but it's a biography and I'd like to read something going a bit more into the technical side of it too [/quote] You need Davis Baker's three books on Bebop (How To Play Bebop 1, 2 & 3). That'll do it (they aren't expensive). All the pther books are narrative and not likely to give you what you want. The Baker books are great (you can also get them on Kindle if you want but the musical examples are not good/too small on the Kindle and should only be used if you are reading them on a PC).

My point is simply that, if you play a Bb blues, you would not play a Bb major scale i.e. it is not in Bb

[quote name='Romberg Bevel' timestamp='1339357416' post='1687416'] I think he's trying to say that you might be mistaken in thinking that a Bb blues is in Eb because it can use the same notes as an Eb major scale (though that clearly becomes problematic when you get to the F chord) and to beware of accidentals that colour the music and don't necessarily influence the basic harmonic structure. [/quote] I was saying that you may be fooled intpo thinking a Bb blues is in Bb because its called a Bb blues but it isn't and that, when the mode changes from Bb mix to Eb mix, it is a key change, but the chart will remain in the same key that it started in and not change key. My point is that, if you know what key the tune is in, don't be fooled into thinking that the whole thing remains in that key for the whole tune..

[quote name='lobematt' timestamp='1339341666' post='1687080'] [url="http://www.amazon.com/Inside-Be-Bop-Leonard-Feather/dp/1451530528"]http://www.amazon.co...r/dp/1451530528[/url] Has anyone read this inside bebop?? [/quote] No but i have read a lot of books of this kind. What is it you are looking for from reading? I rate these The Birth Of Bebop: a scoali and musical history by Scott Deveaux [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Birth-Bebop-Musical-Foundation/dp/0520216652/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339355762&sr=1-1-sp"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Birth-Bebop-Musical-Foundation/dp/0520216652/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339355762&sr=1-1-sp[/url] Giant Steps: Bebop and the creators on modern jazz 1945-65 by Kenny Mathieson [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Giant-Steps-Creators-Modern-1945-65/dp/0862418593/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339355922&sr=1-4"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Giant-Steps-Creators-Modern-1945-65/dp/086[/url] [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Giant-Steps-Creators-Modern-1945-65/dp/0862418593/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339355922&sr=1-4"]2418593/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339355922&sr=1-4[/url]

Gibson ES335

I just dial in a sound i like and that seems to work for everything. I guess if I was playing lots of different basses in lots of different genres and using lots of different techniques, that may not work but I plat fretless bass fingerstyle (no slap, pop, tapping, plectrum etc) so get what I get. I play jazz, funk,.rock/pop and Latin music and, in short, a good sound is a good sound and, in my epxerience, transfers easily.

PS checked my fake book and it is in Ab in there!

I always love his 'Self Portrait In Three Colours' from the same 'Mingus Ah Um' album. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkJfL6KQ058"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkJfL6KQ058[/url]

Just saw this on Amazon - 8 Paul Chambers related cds for less than £7. Amazing value for money. http://www.amazon.co.uk/8-Classic-Albums-Paul-Chambers/dp/B006UFCFPW/ref=pd_ys_qtk_general_recs_2

I always send people to Mark Levine's 'Jazz Theory' book but there are plenty of others that will do the trick. In truth, there isn't that much to actually learn. Its the application of what you learn that takes the time to absorb. That and remembering it all.

You can, of course, change the key signature throughout the chart. It works best when there are disctinctive key changes in a tune and can get really confusing in transcribing Jazz solos but it is an option.

I did a piano trio gig once where the band was in the middle of diners. The drummer was so close to the punters that his cymbales were nearer them than they were to him. I was watching him at one point and he was hitting his snare drum so quietly that the snare (which was on) wasn't actually ratlling! Its all about control. No instrument is inately loud; it is up to the player to control volume.

I'll try to explain. When players call a 12-bar blues in Bb, it is not actually in Bb, it's key centre starts in Eb major the key which the Bb7 is the dominant chord in. When it goes to the fifth bar, the chord of Eb7 is the dominant chord of the key of Ab major, so, whilst the tune is 'in' Eb, it isn't. THe head of the chart, however, will have a key signature that tells you which notes to play sharp or flat, it does not tell you that the key changes at the fifth bar etc.