Bilbo

[quote name='xgsjx' post='1304411' date='Jul 15 2011, 09:44 AM']So where does that leave us Scots? Best shinty players? Good with things that involve rain? [/quote] World's leading caber tossers? A lot world class comedy in Scotland? And a couple of great saxophonists in Tommy Smith and Bobby Wellins. Great whisky distilliries?

Wider stands are a good idea but, if you have several pages, you will still have to turn occasionally. My main nugget of advice is to turn the bottom corner of the r/h page up so you can grab it quickly and reduce the time it takes to turn. If you work ot ok, you can usually keep fretting notes with your l/h if necessary and, to be fair, most (not all) arrangers try to produce charts where the turns aren't smack in the middle of you sixteenth note solo section so you will probably have plenty of time.

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1304370' date='Jul 15 2011, 09:21 AM']....shaving the neck.[/quote] Should have got them to do his lip whilst they had the gear out...

There is no in-bred relationship between ones country of origin and ones ability to play in a certain way. What there is is an increased probability, a bigger pool to draw from. More people per capita play football in Brazil than in, say, Wales = more Brazillian footbaal players = higher probability that there are going to be more 'great' Brazillian football players. More West Indians play cricket = more West Indian cricketers = better standard of cricketer in the West Indies. More US jazz musicians = Americans are going to be better jazz musicians. More Indian sitar players = the best sitar players are likely to be Indian. Bigger samba scene in Brazil = best samba players are from there. Same with Cuban congueros, Indian tabla players, Aborinial didgeridoo players and Argentinain accordian players. There is a reason why there is always an overrepresemtation of medals from the US, Russia and China iin the Olympics. There are always more kids to choose from who play the Sports in question. Its why the best skiers tend to be from countries where it snows etc.

When Steve Morse worked as an airline pilot, he used to drive 100 miles to work along a straight desert road. He told Guitar Player that he took his guitar on the journey to work with him and practised whilst he was driving, controliing the vehcile with his knees. THAT is practising!!

I think a lot of it depends on a lot of things. There is the nature/nurture debate; how much of what we become is innate and how much is the result of the developmental processes we are subjected to. There are many great, great players who grew up as the children of musicians and willo have benefitted from 'on-tap' advice and guidance from day one. How can they NOT be better quicker than those of us who took up an instrument as an adult. Kids can play all day, practicing, jamming, listening to music, watching dvds, looking at t'internet, whereas adults who have to pay rent, do their own laudry and cooking etc have less time to commit i.e. the earlier you start, the more of the 10,000 hours is wuality practice time) There are those whose parents support their kids development by providing good instruments, consistent tuition, supportive environments (good practice space and encouragement as opposed to 'shut the f*** up, I;m watching tv'). Some can't afford to provide that kind of support. People who grow up near a 'scene' are going to have a better chance than those who grow up in the sticks - more people to say it can happen that it can't. Some kids will become great musicians because they want to AND their parents want them to. Some will not because their parents want them to but they don't. The individual factors are moot but the point is that there are lots of factors that can impact on the development of an individual. And all of this is before you add in the ability of an individual to absorb information e'g' dyslexia, dyscalculia, dyspraxia, ADHD, IQ, sense of humour, ability to listen, work ethic - the 1m and 1 things that come together to make us, well, us. I accept that there may be such a thing as talent but, in the overall scheme of things, I reckon there is more we can do to give someone a better crack at it than we may think. I can't help but look at the number of great musicians who are the children of great musicians. The concept of talent carries with it an implication that there is some spooky 'mojo' force that some folk have and others don't. I think there is more truth in the impact of the environmental than the supernatural.

For the record, JB has done some stunning stuff in the past. His LPs 'Champions' and 'Pump It' were great records and his stuff with Bruford was pretty cool. I also loved the LP he did with Allan Holdsworth (Road Games). He started losing me when he started self-producing. It was at that point that he started to 'feature' the bass in ways that were, IMO, unmusical. Bottom line is that, for me, JB is a great sideman but, without a strong producer, he is overly self indulgent and lacks any critcal sense in terms of what works and what doesn't. His bass used to sound great when he has that old Fender hybrid but his Peavey and Dean basses both sounded thin as a rake and lacking in ovetones. His chordal playing is, as has been said here, just poor guitar playing and 'clever' rather than 'musical'. He had some critical acclaim for his version of Dixie (which was very good) and he has been chasing the same rainbow ever since but to no avail. I think the guy should take some lessons in arranging AWAY FROM THE BASS and try writing for an ensemble in which he doesn't play i.e. take his bass playing (and his 'lead bass' player's perspective) OUT of the music and concentrate on the notes.

[quote name='silddx' post='1303043' date='Jul 13 2011, 11:46 PM']I think we have to ask, what makes a player choose a fretless bass over a fretted bass?[/quote] Fretless bass is just like fretted bass but without the stabilisers.

Others? Mo Foster Dill Katz Alphonso Johnson Richard Bona and a couple of others that have been missed in the list above Alain Caron Michael Manring Me Steve Bailey

I hate effects pedals generally. I have never foudn one that actually [i]enhances[/i] the bass, only detracts from the core sound I like. Trouble with Copycats is they tie you into a two bar loop and there is nothing I find more tedious than a two bar loop

I got my Wal in 1986 and its still my only bass so, in a word, no. My taste in music has changed several times but the bass changes with me. Odd that

Every instrument has them. There is electric guitar before Clapton and Hendrix and electric guitar after. There is tenor saxophone before Lester Young and after, before Coleman Hawkins and after, before Coltrane and after. There is violin before Paganini and after, trumpet before Louis Armstrong, alto sax before and after Parker, classical guitar before and afer Sergovia..... the lists are endless. Jaco was massively influential, no doubt, but that influence is legitimate when it forms part of the future generation of bass players but the does not mean that they are plaguirists. None of the guys listed here are any more like Jaco than Berlin is like Jack Bruce. Many whoi listen to the superficialities of players draw parallels - we have all heard 'you sound like....' comments when we know we don't (I got 'you/re better than that Richard Bona bloke once; am I f***). Anyone who can't tell teh difference between Jaco and Alain Caron or Michael Manring has cloth ears. And I have never used a chorus pedal, WEM copycat or octave divider!

[quote name='skej21' post='1300664' date='Jul 12 2011, 09:30 AM']Then once the letter is posted back to you, file it away and leave it unopened until you need it. Which you never will. [/quote] True - I have 4,000 of these bloody things in my shed and noone has ever asked me to prove I wrote anything.

JB can be such a pillock. So Percy Jones sounds like Jaco, does he? I think not. So Mick Karn sounds like Jaco, does he? I think not. So I sound like Jaco do I? I think not. To suggest all fretless players sound like Jaco shows a complete inability to hear the distinct differences between individual players. THe differences between 30 fretless electrci players is as marked as those between 30 different double bass players or 30 fretted bass players. They all sound liek a fretless/fretted/doouble bass but they all sound different. Wayne Shorter, Joe Lovano, Joe Henderson, John Coltrane, Chris Potter, Michael Brecker - they all sound like tenor players but all sound completely different. If JB can't tell the difference between Jaco, Michale Manring, Percy Jones, Mick Karn and a cast of thousands, then he ain't trying very hard. JB, for all his skills, comes across as a concrete thinker. His opinions are now decades old and show no evidence of reconsideration in the face of compelling evidence to the contrary.

I saw Sarzo with Ozzy and Randy Rhodes at Port Vale in 1981, if I recall the date correctly. Was there for Mahogany Rush, tho, so wasn't really watching.

Jakes right - tHat is the most unreadable way of presenting the part. That aside, I don't think there is a right or a wrong way, just a preference for the individual player. I can't offer my own preference because I don't know the track but, looking at it out of context, there are several ways of doing that that are all legitimate, depending on tempo. My own simple rule (which is not an absolute by any means) is downstrokes on the beat, upstriokes on the off beat. But, then again, I never play bass with a pick, only guitar

[quote name='Marvin' post='1295883' date='Jul 7 2011, 12:52 PM']Bilbo's only got tab for Jazz numbers.[/quote]

I liked some of it for a while but some of those 80s/90s synth sounds have dated badly!! And the EWI. Interesting in its day but it hasn't travelled well.

Bit lightweight for me. Some high points but a lot of chaff. There is a great track on Haslip's Arc cd called 'Niños'. Tried transcribing it but can't find the chords at all

Its a good question! I have a few of his cds/downlaods and there are elements of his playing that I like but some of his composing is quite immature and his soloing can get a bit repetitive. There is an immediacy about his playing; a WoW factor, but, like a lot of the players that have this, once the veneer wears off, there is not much underneath. Maybe as he matures he will make better choices.

The pinky rools up there!! God Bless the pinky!!!

He must know? He must.

Can I have your intonation, please. Mine appears to be broken.