Bilbo

From Mike Stern's 1996 album, 'Between The Lines', this is Jeff Andrews' bass part to the tune 'The Vine'. A nive tight little read and not too taking in the playing sense but a couple of add bars where a little extra concentration is required! https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/the-vine-mike-stern/

Two minutes of my life I will never get back.... 😊

I have struggled, playing wise, through this lock down thing. Doesn't seem much point to practicing. I had a noodle today for the first time in quite a few weeks. https://youtu.be/l5tbXVhm3_0

Just came across this from 1988. Carles Benavent with Paco De Lucia featuring a 4 minute bass solo. Stunning. No one else plays like him.

Jimmy Woode's bass part to the tune 'Such Sweet Thunder' from the 1957 Duke Ellington album of the same name. Such Sweet Thunder – Duke Ellington – Bilbo's Bass Bites

Rutherford never really featured bass, just used it as a texture in their orchestrations. Very musical. Some of it is stunning but rarely in your face.

Yes, I thought the bass came in with Willow Farm, about 11 or 12 minutes in and the drops out again. Probably not worth it

I have been listening to this today and I have to say I can only hear about 4 minutes of bass guitar on the whole track. The rest is bass pedals and left hand keyboard. Is it just me?

Mmmm....

You knew it was comning, didn't you? Tubular Bells Part Two – Mike Oldfield – Bilbo's Bass Bites

I sometimes find myself thinking 'I don't know what to transcribe next'? and then something rings a bell or sets me thinking and this was one such occasion. I was sitting there wondering what to do next and came across a copy of Tubular Bell that came free with a newspaper some years ago. I thought 'why not'? and here we are. It only took about two and a half hours as there is a lot of repetition in the chart but there are some really interesting reading challenges in there. Tubular Bells Part One – Mike Oldfield – Bilbo's Bass Bites/

Form the 2013 Steven Wilson album, 'The Raven That Refused To Sing (and Other Stories)', this is the Nick Beggs bass part for the tune 'Luminol'. A 12-minute Prog epic, it is not that hard to read as there is a lot of repetition and there are only about 4 or five different riffs to 'read' before you can relax. Luminol – Steven Wilson – Bilbo's Bass Bites

A Talkbass request. The riff between 6:48 and 7:12 from 'Duel Of The Jester And The Tyrant' from the Return to Forever album, 'Romantic Warrior'. Duel Of The Jester And The Tyrant (excerpt) – Bilbo's Bass Bites

Some production challenges on this chart as I learned to split the system so I could present the whole of the performance but also divide it into the individual sections. This is an 11-page chart of the Geddy Lee bass part for the side-long title track of the 1976 album, '2112'. some challenging moments reading-wise but a lot of fun for the Rush fans out there. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/2112-rush/

I remember seeing the St Petersburg Philharmonic playing the Ballet 'Romeo and Juliet' by Prokofiev. 112 musicians all sat there staring at music stands. Bored rigid, I was. No eye contact; nothing. Walked out after two and a half hours.

I have just finished transcribing all of '2112'. I have learned how to split the score so I can put the whole 'suite' on one chart - 12 pages. I need to proof read it today to look for any clinkers (I have already noticed a couple) but, hopefully, the pdf can go up tomorrow. The site is nearing 39,000 hits so I reckon this will push it over 40k.

I am a Jazz musician. I never play on a stage big enough to move around on. And nobody notices the bass player unless s/she catches fire. Well known fact. Also, eye contact doesn't matter when the whole audience is wearing varifocals.

I don't think it happened suddenly. I think it took 20 years before the fretted bass came into its own.

Chicken and the egg, I guess. I know that saxophones were not expected to be the flexible instruments they ended up being and it is entirely arguable that the musicians made the instruments make the music they heard rather than the musicians potential being defined by the potential of the instruments original design. How could anyone predict what Michael Manring could do with a bass and at the same time argue that the Zon Hyperbass was probably an idea that came out of the concepts Manring was working on? I know that Anthony Jackson was asking for a 6-string Contrabass long before any luthier came up with the idea (although a C-extension on a double bass was already a thing, if not a five string double bass with a low B).

I remember working for Probation in Epsom and there was this lovely admin lady nearing retirement; very sweet, very quiet and innocuous. We were chatting one day and someone mentioned Marshall amps. Turned out the admin person was asked out on a date by Jim Marshall when she was a teenager and used to hang around with The Who. 😮

It is an interesting discussion. Before they invented the microphone, singers could not cope with musicians and a lot more music was instrumental. Once microphones and amps became available, the bands became peripheral and instrumental music became the exception rather than the norm.

With absolute respect to Steve Bailey, I would ignore the comments about them being 'incorrect'. Useful as that feedback may be, I would argue that finding transcriptions of anything is something of a lottery and the more obscure the music (or the more it is performed by non-readers), the less likely it is that there will be a 'correct' version out there. If I am trying to get my head around a bass part, I would much rather an imperfect transcription to work with than none at all. Unless Steve is willing to proof read everyone's transcriptions, the bass community is going to have to live with the inadequacies of those of us who are trying to get some of the stuff down on paper without the support of professional proof readers, publishing houses and extensive training in musical engraving. My main reason for not monetising my transcriptions website is specifically related to those imperfections of which Mr Bailey speaks. I don't beleive it is morally defensible for me to try to earn money from transcriptions that I know are probably technically imperfect. I share them because I am enthused by the idea of written notes and transcriptions of stuff that is not readily available otherwise, not because I think there is a buck to be made. If that offends anyone, then that is their problem. I have said it before; transcriptions are an attempt to record what one thinks is happening and there are no guarantees that we get it right every time.

Another non bass solo transcription, this is the Miles Davis trumpet solo from the 1957 Sextet version of Richard Carpenter's 'Walkin'' from the album of the same name. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/walkin-miles-davis/

A great band making great music. They are doing a 'kin great job.

Dave Holland on electric bass! Who would have thought it. 'Theives In The Temple' from the 1996 Herbie Hancock CD, 'The New Standards'. A nice repetitive part that demands very little of the reader. Thieves In The Temple – Herbie Hancock – Bilbo's Bass Bites