Bilbo

Don't like Maple fingyboards. Prefer ebknee. Dono Y. Juss do.

I certainly agree that it is important to let kids have 'their' heroes and villains. We may be older and wiser but that is not what it is about - its about identity and having something of your own. Each generation needs its moment in the spotlight, even if the product is weak - knowledge and wisdom come later. I am expecting it any day now.

Blinkers, he says! I know more jazz and rock trivia than most of you put together I must be the only bloke that reads biographies of musicians he has not got a single recording by!

Anthony Jackson - bass guitar Naná Vasconcelos - percussion Michael Brecker - tenor saxophone Randy Brecker - trumpet These are the ones I have seen live. But, in truth, nobody cares. Its a list. What matters is the delivery of the 'I know someone who....' bit; the reflected glory. The fact that truckloads of session musicians played on such and such an LP is a given. It happened everyday in that era. Its the fact that 'someone we knoe was there' that gives the story life. We (this is not a personal attack and we can all be accused of it. I know I can) feel the need to wave stuff about as a badge of honour. Study music not musicians and trivia - it matters not and contributes nothing towards our development as players.

My post was just designed to present another idea to think about. As I said, someone else presented the idea to me and I found it interesting. Like all such theories, its not without its weaknesses.

The name is far more important than the player because the public (many musicians included) lack the critical skills to recognise a good or great player from a mediocre one. Any thread here that starts discussing the best players in a genre quickly turns into a list of every bass player in that genre, irrespective of whether they made a contribution or not. I once heard a guy explain that sport and music had taken over from duelling; Musician One - I know something about music Musicina Two - yes, but I know more. Musicians One - but did you knwo that musician X played on that 1968 LP with..... Musican Two - Yes, I knew that, but did you know the drummer on that session was XXX A chastened Musician One withdraws with the express intention of increasing his knowledge of Rock trivia ready for the next encounter..... All the stats here show that people talk about gear and their favourite bands. Very few threads discuss core musical skills. We are all mainly interested in being hipper than the next guy. Objective fact plays no part in that. As our culture is increasingly youth obsessed, old farts are deemed unhip because, to be hip, it has to be new - even if it is obviously utter sh*te.

The flaw in the Moondance line (apart from the poor sound and weak time) does not arise from the fact that there are wrong notes in there (although I suspect there are - not listened to it for a while) but in the fact that there is no logic to them. Its in a minor key so the note options for the minor chords would be similar to So What but the Moondance lines have no direction. They don't lead anywhere, there is no impetus created by the line itself. Its just a randon set off notes from a minor scale. It is clearly played by someone who doesn't understand the art of the walking bass line. I could probably explain better if I had a copy of the tune in front of me but that would require me to listen to it again and I don't want to waste another 4 minutes of my short life on that monstrosity.

Can't get into it the way MM does but my advice is to work at developing lines that are logical and melodic. THe simple fact is that playing a tune like So What will involve the D (and Eb) Dorian minor scale. However, in using that scale you can use pretty much any note as a passing note (open the line with a descending chromatic scale, for instance, D, Db, C, B, A and so on). The problem is that any note in the dorian scale is not wrong, but many are not right in context. If you randomly play notes in the D Dorian, you are not playing wrong notes, just poor choices that won't gel in any musical sense. The note choices need to follow some sort of logic; follow the scale, build the scale in thirds, use the chord tones, use strong notes (D, F and A) on beats one and three and weak notes on the other beats etc. Think not just about the next note and whether it is in the requisite key but think about the next bar, the next two bars, four bars or eight bars. Build you lines around their own internal logic, at first resolving them on the second, fourth or eighth bar but, in time, that will become boring and you will seek to broaden the options be crossing bar lines etc. But the most important thing, and by far the hardest to master, is to make sure that your lines are contributing to the whole piece and are not random acts of bass excess. If the soloist's lines are going up, you may wish to have yours going down. If his lines are syncopated, you may want to stay on the beat, if they are on the beat, you may think about breaking your lines up. If he plays frantically, you may chose to build with him or go in the opposite direction. The drummer may play straight time and you can play melodically, or he may break the time up and you become the time keeper and anchor. Whatever you do, make sure it has a musical purpose and some conscious intent and isn't just a random sequence of notes in D Dorian (for the record; listen to Moondance and you have a lesson in how NOT to construct a walking line). If in doubt, transcribe the greats. Paul Chambers is a great starting point but another I looked at early on was 'Ja-Hed' off Kenny Garrett's African Exchange Student. There are loads on tunes based on these changes (Coltrane's Impressions is another one). Write out some lines. As I have said before: modal playing; a moment to learn and a lifetime to master.

I live by Sibelius.

The secret is to learn the principles (where the notes are, key signatures, accidentals and reading rhtyms) and then just do it as much as you can. I recommend you strart with these two. Play them as slowly as you like. Notes only, no rhythms to read (apart from the odd bar). [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=106812&hl="]Play The Blues And Go[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=35493&hl=housed+from+edward"]Housed From Edward[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=35615&hl=ron+carter+hesitation"]Hesitation[/url] or there is, of course, the Major's Boot Camp series. Start today. One bar at a time and then two and so one until you can read fly sh*t on toilet paper.

Yes, Karl, it is. Sorry Tauzero. I hijacked your thread. I will go now and purge myself so I can recover that other blokes Pokemon cards. I'm not bitter; more mild really

[quote name='tauzero' post='1175822' date='Mar 25 2011, 12:42 PM']Copying stuff from one place = [b]a tribute band[/b]. Copying stuff from many places = [b]a covers band[/b]. [/quote] Fixed

A long thin stick with a piece of gaffer tape (sticky side up) or something equally sticky on the end. A hoover with the really thin attachment tool thingy. A very thin and highly trained racing ferret. A fashion model.

I have found, as I get older, that the reading allows for a more efficient use of time in rehearsals and at gigs. Less time rehearsing each tune means more work done in the available time. If you have other obligations as you say, this is a massive bonus. Learn to read music.

I am just finishing a book called 'Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction' by Ingrid Monson and it has got me thinking about improvisation. When we talk about improv. in Jazz, we are talking about a intense and on-going dialogue between all parties involved in the music making (and some beyond). What one musician does creates the impetus for the others to respond and vice versa in a 2,3,4 or 10 way dialogue. My belief is that, in most other genres, a soloist who improvises does so on a pretty fixed backdrop; straight backbeat, set chords etc. I know there are exceptions: King Crimson, some Zappa etc but, mostly, improvisation is two dimensional in popular music. As for Jazz, the more I think about, the more I realise how damned hard it is.

Just got hold of a FIshman Pro Platinum from uke. Can't wait to hear in but won't get to for days as my amp is in for repair (just and internal 'clean up' for the frying bacon).

Read this and follow the links. Just a few extra options you may not have thought of. Shipping to the UK is very cheap (£20 IIRC) and the packaging is top drawer. You have to fit the bridge yourself on receipt but its idiot proof (otherwise I couldn't have done it ). [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=93958&hl=gedo+musik"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...p;hl=gedo+musik[/url]

'Got A Match'? Woudl like to hear that. I played it in a trio years ago. No tapes but I and am 100% sure we crucified it. As for tunes... what is the purpose of the exam? I am thinking one of the more sophisticated Jamerson lines from Shadows of Motown? Anything off 'The Nightfly'? 'Scophile' off John Patitucci's 'Sketchbook' cd?

Silver Machine.

I just got a Fishman Pro Platinum preamp from uke. Goods received quickly, very well packed and good communications. Impressed and grateful of Felixstowe.

Scales, for a musician, are the basis of pretty much all music (the exceptions are not relevant here). Without them, you will always be a lightweight. Every chord is named for its relationship to a major scale. Every melody you will every hear is based on a scale or series of scales. Every solo you ever hear is based on scales. Every harmony you hear is based on the relationships between the notes of a scale or series of scales. Scales are the guts of this stuff we call music. No idiom or genre is free from scales (although some use more than others) and scales cross the divides between genres completely and without changing their relationships to the music in any way. A major scale in Metal is the same as a major scale in Indie, Funk, Jazz, Pop, Folk, R+B, Drum and Bass, Polkas, Classical, Fusion...... All modes are scales starting from different points but they won't make any sense at all until you learn the basics. Without the knowledge of which we speak, you will remain locked into a very small world of pretence and superficiality. Start learning them today. And, whilst you are doing so, learn to read music.

I have not broken a string since 1981. On that occasion, the tension in the remaing strings tipped the nut a fraction and the result was two strings were unusable and I effectively had a one string bass. So I completed the set with that (only one tune). My calculation is I have done well over two thousand gigs since then without a breakdown and, so, I fell that, in strick 'risk management' terms, there is nothing to worry about in taking one bass only. In the event of a breakdown, I either continue with three strings or we have an early break between sets. Its one gig in a lifetime of playing. Statistically, one of the band members is more likely to be taken ill and incapacitated. I am more concerned with amp breakdowns because that is a real deal breaker. But I am not spending money on a back up amp or carrying one to every gig 'just in case' (PS I have never had an amp actually breakdown on a gig ever either, even before 1981).

Try some of these threads... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showforum=76"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showforum=76[/url]