Bilbo

A renowned guitarist once said to me, there are three reasons to gig. 1. The qualities of the music. 2. The quality of the 'hang', or 3. Good money. One of the above is enough, two is great, three is heaven. I think we get out of it what we put in and it will vary for all of us.

Something less well known from Jeff Berlin. This is the first and final heads and two choruses of walking bass lines from a session Jeff Berlin did with Italian pianist Massimo Columbo with Billy Cobham on drums in 2005. The album is called 'Caravaggio'. The reason it is not complete is because JB's part is impossible to translate into dots, even with Moises and Transcribe! software. It is just too dense (not fast, just all over the place with octaves and pedal notes and sliding etc). The tune is called 'Blues For 3'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/blues-for-3-massimo-columbo-trio/

I heard this much later than I should have, thinking Billy Joel was a boring balladeer but I have since come to appreciate how strong a songwriter he is. This was the song that woke me up to his talent. From the 1976 album, 'Turnstiles' this is the complete Doug Stegmeyer bass part to the tune(s) 'Prelude/Anger Young Man'. It's almost Prog. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/prelude-angry-young-man-billy-joel/

A 'complete album' version of 'Caress Of Steel' is up there now.

Just to tidy things up, Geddy's part to 'I Think I'm Going Bald' from the same 'Caress Of Steel album. A bit of fun lyrically but, reading-wise, a bloody roast! https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/i-think-im-going-bald-rush/

Another lovely tune, this is the complete Geddy Lee bass part for 'Lakeside Park' from the 17975 Rush album, 'Caress Of Steel'. Not too difficult to play but some of the reading gets lairy due to the tempo. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/lakeside-park-rush/

Dirty Looks

A beautiful tune, this is the Nick Beggs bass part to the tune 'The Raven That Refused To Sing' from the 2013 Steven Wilson album 'The Raven That Refused To Sing (And Other Stories)'. It is not hard to play but there are some challenges with shifting bar lengths and a couple of fills. Otherwise, a stunning tune. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/the-raven-that-refused-to-sing-steve-wilson/

PS a '10 finger' piano reader friend of mine said he took 15 years to get that good at it. Bass is relatively easy as it is mostly monophonic. Couple of years would see you better than most of your peers. The important thing is to keep going and don't neglect it. 30 minutes a day is enough.

Note recognition first, then rhythm. First reading, then sight reading. Reading is not just about gigs and performances, it is also about learning and communicating ideas etc. I am working on my guitar reading at the moment (as well as bass). I recently bought four books of classical studies and read through them all in about 4 weeks. That's in excess of 600 pages of dots. I couldn't read them well enough to perform them, no way, but to be able to find my way through that much material in such a short space of time? I am kicking myself and asking why I didn't do the decades ago. Sight reading is the ultimate goal but it's so much more than that.

Actually, we can all read. It's just a case of how FAST we can read. If you are reading at 10bpm today, head for 20bpm this time next week. Then 30 the week after. Before you know it, you will be reading at 330bpm and holding down the Zappa gig.

There is some decent practice material here... https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/ https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/transcriptions/ 20/30 minutes a day is enough. You'll be reading in no time. Don't read things twice - you will be playing by rote/ear and not reading. Don't just read tunes you like. You are practicing reading dots, not practicing tunes.

He may not be on here, Ped. We have a mutual acquaintance in 'civvy street' (i.e. not a musician) and I was interested to see if he was anyone I knew on here as I don't know many people's real names.

Preferably not... 'Mr. Crowley' - I feel a song coming on!

Bands called Point Taken and Footloose! Plays a Status through a Glockenlang, I believe.

I had several books but they were almost all written for piano and the bass parts rarely bore any relationship to what we heard on the records. Those box guitar chords were also useless and were all first position chords so the voicings were useless.

Someone asked for some Tony Levin so I looked up his discography and came up with this. I didn't know he did this. the whole transcription took 10 minutes. Levin's complete bass part from '50 Ways To Leave Your Lover' from the 1975 Paul Simon album, 'Still Crazy After All These Years'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/50-ways-to-leave-your-lover-paul-simon/

Remember, these tunes are just so you can access a transcription of the single tune you are learning. They are here as source material for developing your reading chops. I remember when I was a kid trying to learn to read music (1970s), there was nothing to practice on other than books that had 'Campdown Races' and 'Oh My Darling Clementine' as practice material. Even the books like Simandl had nothing that us Rockers could get excited about and all the good stuff you just had to find your way as best as you could. If you live in a rural Welsh town like some of us, there was no mentoring - you were pretty much on your own. Now you have BilbosBassBites!

A lovely light Bossa that is a very easy read a, because there aren't many notes but also, b. because the tempo is very slow. This is the complete Ruben Rodriguez bass part for the tune 'Never Let Me Go' from the 2014 Steve Khan album, 'Subtext'. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/never-let-me-go-steve-khan/

Another one of those laid back Steve Morse tunes, this is 'Cool Wind, Green Hills' from Morse's 2004 album, 'Major Impacts 2'. Easy one to read and to play. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/cool-wind-green-hills-steve-morse-band/

Another album that slipped me by was John Patitucci's 2019 solo bass album, 'Soul Of The Bass'. This is my thoughts on the title track. It is played very loosely and out of time so you can take real liberties with the phrasing all of the way through. It's not at all difficult to play but, to make it sound musical, that's the art of it. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/soul-of-the-bass-john-patitucci/

I know. I can't help myself. This chart is Anthony Jackson playing a unison head with Steve Khan on the Ornette Coleman tune 'Blues Connotation' from the 2011 Khan album, 'Parting Shot'. It's a little bit of a roast, if I am honest. The chart is the head only. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/blues-connotation-steve-kahn/

A special request from a member on Talkbass, this is the complete Ray Brown performance of 'Have You Met Miss Jones' from the 1964 Oscar Peterson Trio record 'We Get Requests'. So do we, Oscar. So do we. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/have-you-met-miss-jones-oscar-peterson-trio/

So, all the Jacob Collier videos, then.....

I have done 90 transcriptions in 73 days. Bloody lunatic.