Bilbo

[quote name='Low End Bee' post='1255552' date='Jun 3 2011, 03:22 PM']Get back to your wax cylinders and 78s daddio [/quote] Careful, sunshine. I haven't bought anything but downloads for over 10 months now.

Rock turns to pyramid selling.

Why interview a pianist about a bass player when you can interview a bass player? GS is not someone I have heard much of so its not a dig at him. Just thought someone who played the same instrument would offer insights. To be fair, JP was a composer also so that may be the rationale.

I guess another way of thinking about it relates to the key signature. The signature tells you which notes in the song's key are sharp or which notes are flat. A key signature can't tell you that a note is both. So, in the key of D, you would have two sharps, C and F. Whereas, in the key of Ab you would have 4 flats Ab, Bb, Db and Eb. If you did the key signature of D as flats, you would have both a D natural and a Db and also both a G and Gb so a key signature would be impossible.

Why is Mr S (my editor, by the way) interviewing Gwilym and not someone like Al Dankworth, Lol Cottle or even Guy Pratt? Seems a wasted opportunity to me.

Something else cool.

I was thinking earlier about why I play the bass and not other instruments. I was thinking back to when I started and concluded that I wanted to play music and, in the absence of any other advice or inout from supportive parents or teachers etc, the bass was the one that I could make sense of and afford. My point is that I wanted to be involved in music not in bass playing. If I lost the ability to play bass, I woudl still be driven to find a way to play music. FOr me, its always been the music that matters. not the instrument.

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='1252149' date='May 31 2011, 10:35 PM']This surprises me, as I've been advertising for ukulele players for my uke-based U2 tribute band (Uke2) and had no replies![/quote] People buy them. They don't play them.

I was looking at Jazz on the 'tube last night and came across a series of about 8 Jaco videos where he is being filmed in informal conversation with somebody; I'm not altogether sure who it is but the quality of the film and the interviewing is really poor. He is clearly unwell and mentally very fragile. You can really get a sense of the extent of his alleged manic depression (I am no expert). Interesting to watch for those who want to know what was happening as he approached the end of his life. He makes some lucid points amongst all the b***sh*t (from all parties). Slags off McLaughlin ('the guy will never swing') I can't post a link in work but will try later if I get the chance. Worth a look if you are interested. The link is to the first of 8 videos

I have that book already, Pete. And the accompanying cds. It is great but having the time to get into every detail is a real frustration. Can I have another life whilst I get on with the one I have?

PLay as fast as you can (not as fast as you can't) and increase the speed incrementally. There is no quick way to develop that kind of speed. Just stick with it and grow. If you have only been playing a short while, you need to be patient. It will come.

[quote name='GonzoBass' post='1251777' date='May 31 2011, 05:05 PM']Does [url="http://tamingthesaxophone.com/jazz-transposition.html"]this chart[/url] help at all, Bilbo?[/quote] Certainly does no harm, Gonzo, but the stuff I am confused by is more complicated. Like horns and clarinets that can be tuned three different ways, harps, all sorts of weird stuff.

I have a friend called Ceiri Torjussen, a trumpet player and composer who I knew when he was a kid. He went on to become an arranger/composer in Hollywood and worked extensively on films like Terminator 3, Blade, Day After Tomorrow etc. Big name stuff under the composer Alan Silvestri. Ceiri wrote his own stuff and was offered the opportunity to hear it played by the London Philharmonic Orchestra - no pressure then . During rehearsals one of the musicians commented that the stuff he had written was unplayable. 'That's funny' says Ceiri. 'The Los Angeles Philharmonic managed it easily enough'. Now THAT is a put down.

Never been drunk or stoned, let alone played in that state, so cannot contribute to this debate. Bye.

[quote name='Gunsfreddy2003' post='1251234' date='May 31 2011, 11:17 AM']I never understood why Brian and Roger tried to carry on with the name Queen what was the point?[/quote] Its their call. I have no problem with people trying to carry on. Its just whether the future direction has its own place in the scheme of things. Genesis after Gabriel left, Van Halen without Dave Lee Roth, Maiden without Dianno, Yes after Anderson moved on, - all had massive success in their own right. Mercury would be a tough act to follow but its not impossible.

Watched part of it. They all come over as pretty cool. They cleary loved Freddie and miss him terribly, especially Roger Taylor. Very moving.

Enormously. Thank you, Pete. Its good to know that I am finding something difficult because it [i]is[/i] rather than because I am thick as a house brick

I am talking about the pocket scores that have the transcription of the whole orchestration for study purposes, not the copies of the score prepared for an orchestra that is going to play. I think I am starting to get it (I have copies of Holst's Planet Suite, Scheherezade and The Firebird Suite and I am trying to glena what I can out of them. I get the strings and some of the woodwinds but some of it confuses my a bit where transposing instruments are concerned.

I have several orchestral scores that I have acquired over the years and am a little confused and was hoping someone may be able to help. Many instruments are not written in treble or bass clef (alto and tenor clef) etc and some things, clarinets, horns etc, can be transposed into various keys like Eb or F and so on. So, my query is, what is the protocol for reading commercially produced scores? Are all the instruments in the written clef or transposed. I am struggling to form the question here. Can anyone help?

Thanks, guys. I am quietly proud of it. We all want to do the next Teen Town but this kind of thing kind of seems more 'real' somehow.

Very possibly

A lovely ballad performance by Andi Hopgood with yours truly on bass. There is something about the ambience created by the double bass in a ballad situation that just can't be matched. This is, for me, the first time I have really got a ballad to sound completely satisfactory. I have come close on electric but this is the real deal. Most of you will know the tune but not in this format. Enjoy!

As a guide (not an absolute), think in terms of the series of letters ABCDEFG. If you have an A, you need a B be that a Bb or B natural and so on through the alphabet. So in the key of F, you get FGABbCDE not FGAA#CDE. In the key of D you get DEF#GABC# not DEGbGABDbD- is this making sense? In a nutshell, you don't want the same note name being used as a natural and a flat or sharp because, if you do, you have accidentals all over the written chart and it looks like a train wreck