Bilbo

I don't get that a bridge can make that much difference..... I think its mass hysteria.

It is only when you get to work with a great drummer that you realise how bad some are (great echnique but no musicality etc). BUt sometimes it is on another level and you don't gel with a great drummer. Idid a gig with Nic France last year and, great as he is, it was only ok. Not his fault or minel just in a different space. WHen you find a drummer who hears time the way you do, its the best feeling in the world as you can relax, trust that the time will take care of itself and just play your best. As good as it gets.

I am using Evah Pirazzi Weichs (5 string set) and they work well for both arco and pizz. I don't but the strings do I particularly like the arco sound but I have nothing to compare them to.

Bill Stewart, Paul Motian, Airto Moriera, Jeff 'Tain' Watts, Jack DeJohnette, Billy Kilson, Nate Smith, Marvin 'Smitty' Smith, Joey Baron, Martin France, Jimmy Cobb, Jeff Ballard, Jeff Hamilton, Ian Thomas, Clark Tracy, Dave Weckl.... +1,000 for El Negro.

Theory - yum yum. Love it. Get some and grow. PS welcome

Most jazzers play 3/4. I am told that a full size bass feels a LOT bigger than the one you have played and are harder to get around on for some more centemporary genres. Most basses you will see at jazz gigs are 3/4 size so please don't feel that a 3/4 is in some way 'lightweight'.

That's no age for a jazzer - Stephane Grapelli was still playing at 89, Milt 'The Judge' Hinton at 90, Eubie Blake was 96!! Blake's greatest contribution was this quote! 'If I'd known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself”.

[quote name='morsefull' post='1104120' date='Jan 26 2011, 06:07 PM']Well, I must admit it. Even though i didn't think it would happen........................................................ ..................................................................... it seems........... i'm starting to............................. rather... um.... like................................................................................................ .......................... jazz Is this normal?? I've only learnt 2 songs.[/quote] Invest the time in Jazz and it will reward you ten fold and for the rest of your life.

Add diminished and augmented and you have the lot, pretty much. Its the modes of each scale that make it complicated. So Major, Natural Minor, Harmonic Minor, Melodic Minor, Blues Scale Diminished and Augmented. That's 99% of the music most of us will ever play. Oh, and don't forget the Chromatic Scale (every note)

[quote name='Earbrass' post='1103225' date='Jan 26 2011, 09:51 AM']Great stuff! From a recording pov, particularly impressed with the drum sound, given that it's someone's front room - how was the kit mic'ed up?[/quote] Two mics, as I recall. Not sure which. It was a nice sounding room, tho'. Wood panelling on the walls helped soften the sound.

I don't look at all and the more I practise the better my intonation gets. Odd that....

Interesting to see that 78 people have opened the first excerpt (Straight No Chaser) and then the number of listeners goes down as the list progresses. Are you guys trying to tell me something

On the one day a year when I do a gig big enough to need to play through a rig, I don't care

[quote name='Conan' post='1100846' date='Jan 24 2011, 02:33 PM']Either you drink less beer than I do, or your bladder is stronger!! [/quote] One diet coke lasts me all night and, yes, I have a bladder like a Blue Whale.

2 or 3 x 45 minute sets is normal around this way, depending on the venue, the style of music, time of day, fee payable etc. I always operated on the 2 x 45 minute norm but have seen a move to 3 x 45 minutes. Would prefer 1 x 2 hours myself. I find intervals pointless.

Will try as soon as I get a chance.......

A few recordings we did to produce a demo for getting function band gigs (hence the short tunes and excerpts). The band played together once and hadn't played three of these tunes together before this session (which took 3 1/2 hours). The piano player is singing. I am on double bass on all but Black Friday (the Wal). The 'studio' was someone's front room and this was all done using Cubase and with the double bass DI'd using a K&K pick up (the Wal went straight in) . Guerilla recording!! I have to say, I am really happy with the results; no two handed tapping, no double thumbing, nothing flash, just journeyman bass playing. Oh, and I have called the band Whither Then?

Hi, Mike. Its a nightmare, isn't it? I have tried this one on and off for years and have never got anywhere near anything credible on solos and even disappoint myself on the basic walking lines! Despite the mistakes, your efforts are certainly better than anything I can pull off and you have, at the very least, inspired me to try again!!

[quote name='silddx' post='1097701' date='Jan 21 2011, 03:54 PM']Frank Zappa[/quote] He isn't dead. He just smells funny.

John Scofield

ALways fingers, never pick. It's not prejudice because that is defined as an 'unfavourable opinion formed beforehand without knowledge thought or reason'. I played pick for two years when I played heavy metal and then realised (gained the knowledge) that the sound pretty much sucks (reason) and that the bass sounded better (fuller/warmer) with fingers. I get that people like a pick to play some musics but I almost invariably don't like those genres (punk, thrash metal etc) and only really play music which invariably sounds better with fingers rather then pick. I love Steve Swallow, who only uses a pick, I love Anthony Jackson, but not when he uses a pick, I love Chris Squire who only uses a pick etc.. so I am completely hypocritical. But, as the OP implies, this is about ME and I don't use one ever by choice (except when I play guitar, where, having spent time working on Al DiMeola's methods, I have a better picking technique than most guitarists )

Keep it [i]musical[/i] Sometimes that means simple. Sometimes it doesn't. 'Being a bass player means getting off on making other people sound good' - Robert Hurst III (Branford and Wynton Marsalis). It takes what it takes. If the part screams sixteenth note unison lines, then nail it. It its minims, nail it. If its triplet 5's against 4, nail it. Play the music, not the instrument. The more I study music, the more the notes matter and the less important the instruments and players are. Serve the music not the id.

[quote name='TheRev' post='1096615' date='Jan 20 2011, 05:55 PM']Moondance? [/quote] He said jazz standards not [size=7]unmitigated drivel[/size].....

[quote name='morsefull' post='1095678' date='Jan 19 2011, 09:16 PM']Who would've thought it. I've just learn't the first part of "So what" including a walking bassline. Until the chord changes threw me off![/quote] THe tune consists of 4x8 bar section, three of which are D minor/dorian and the 4th Eb minor /Eb dorian Dm/// //// Dm/// //// Ebm/// //// Dm/// //// (/=one bar of 4:4) Impressions is exactly the same changes but played faster