Bilbo

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.

I use my computers 5.1 surround sound speakers. I use Transcribe software so I can isolate, loop and slow down parts that need closer attention. Works for me.

Not read the whole thread so sorry if its a repeat but I don't like 99% of Alembic basses. There! I said it! I liked the series 2 shape that Flim Johnson uses (and love his playing) but, having trawled the net recently looking for examples of Alembics, I found that most of them were plug ugly and, more to the point, most of them I heard sounded really icky to my cloth ears. Wouldn't say no to trying some out but, from what I have seen/heard to date, there are very few Alembics that I would cross the street for. I am willing to be proven wrong, though.

Did a paino/sax/bs trio gig with a first year music student. Ok player but short on a few of the basic conventions of playing jazz live and so starts and endings were a bit ropey (read: train wreck) and his pacing of the sets was poor (too many tunes at teh same tempo etc). Did 2 sets on double bass and one on electric. Mostly the usual suspects but some new tunes I had not heard before . Noone died.