Bilbo

Its a piece of wood. Never been one for anthropomorphising

Teaching using Jamerson. Bit of a narrow field in my view. It doesn't begin or end with Jamerson....

News is coming in of the death of bassist Charles Famborough at the age of 61. Fambrough was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers during the early 1980s. He also played with Grover Washington, Jr., Freddie Hubbard, Airto Moreira, and Shirley Scott to name only a few. Great player with a huge sound. There are a few solo cds out there by him which are all strong. [url="http://jazztruth.blogspot.com/2011/01/upright-citizen-rip-charles-fambrough.html"]Charles Fambrough tribute[/url] Something nice to listen to here. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSVJXNe7eA4"]Charles Fambrough - Don Quixote[/url]

Jumbo frets is a condition peculiar to elephants borne in captivity. They know something is amiss but can't remember what.... this mental state causes anxiety and excessive sweating.

[quote name='daz' post='1074278' date='Jan 1 2011, 12:10 PM']1) The Jazz scale.[/quote] Which one is that then?

Its unconventional as a stand alone technique but many use it as part of their repertoire of getting sounds out of the bass. The nearer the bridge the tighter and brighter the sound, the nearer the neck the warmer and more rounded the tone. If you want that warmth and less definition, then go for it.

The quality of George Michael's vocal talent became known to me when he appeared on that Freddie Mercury tribute Queen did in 1992 singing Somebody to Love, 39 and These Are The Days Of Our Lives. He was head and shoulders above the rest of the singers (even Annie Lennox) and I remember there was talk of him joining Queen. Great singer. As for Deon Estus, I have no idea....... And Wham? They sucked I don't care if Dave Holland and Charles Mingus shared the bass duties, they still sucked :lol:

Wot a t*t. I have gigged solely with a fretless since 1986. Maybe I'm delusional.....

Two for me. One was from a Cardiff sax/flute/guitar/drums player called Lee Goodall (and, yes, he excelled at all of them - I think flute was his first instrument and he is priimarily known as a sax player) who, when drumming in a Quartet I was playing with, explained to me the concept of playing ahead of, on, and behind the beat. Lee used to live in New York and has played with Will Lee and Anthony Jackson (playing with me must have been such a come down!!). Second was a trumpet player called Paul Tungay (Paul was Tom Jones' first trumpter and had also played in Ronnie Scott's big band in the 1960s) who drew attention to a timing defecit in my playing (I played in Paul's band for a couple of years - I couldn't do a gig once so he called Roy Babbington in to dep ). Whenever I played a fill, I would focus on the fill and miss the downbeat. He suggested I change my focus and ensure that I made the downbeat as that was an essential part of the groove whereas the fills, whilst adding colour, were peripheral to the core performance. Its a simple change of perspective but it made me a better player from that day on. I have actually found that focussing on the downbeat actually tightens up the fills as it forces you to play the subdivisions more accurately. Particularly useful in Latin music where the 'downbeat' is not the first beat of the bar.

I get a Double Bass, Wal (softcase) and Eden Metro combo (along with music stand, guitar stand, extension cable and two bags of fake books/charts/leads etc) into the back of my Suzuki Jimny.

[quote name='flyfisher' post='1071573' date='Dec 29 2010, 11:29 AM']That's a good example of the confusion surrounding this whole issue. On the one hand music is legally free and on the other it has to be paid for. Basically the public has the choice of either buying music or listening to it for free. Given that both options are seemingly perfectly legal, it's a wonder that anyone buys music at all these days.[/quote] I for one find listening to music on a PC uncomfortable. Sitting there for hours looking at Spotify or Youtube does not appeal to me one bit (and the sound on the Tube is not great.

[quote name='Vibrating G String' post='1070680' date='Dec 28 2010, 12:20 AM']Both of the above examples are examples of cognitive dissonance. You want to steal but don't want to be a thief so a construct is created that makes your stealing noble.[/quote] All offenders do this, whether it is stealing, domestic violence, child abuse, rape or murder. Its the way they (and we) feel ok about ourselves and the choices we make. Illegal downloading is just that; illegal. It is theft. I don't do it routinely anymore (did the usual as a kid) although I will admit to having accessed a few 1950s deleted jazz recordings without paying for them simply because there is, to my knowledge, no way of getting hold of the recordings commerically. If I need to learn a track, I buy it as a cd or downlaod or access it on Spotify or Youtube. I have mixed feelings about the PRS thing. I understand the need for artists and companies to maximise revenue but I am equally aware of the complex relationship between products and customers. How many of us see a film or tv programme on tv for nothing and then go out and buy the dvd? The transmission was paid for by the BBC (Inc PRS) etc, we received it initially for free but then, as we liked it, chose to part with our hard earned in order to secure a copy. What is the difference between that and hearing a cd/download at a friends place/in a shop etc and then buying a copy? Do we need a PRS licience if we have a private party and play cds for people to dance to/to create atmosphere? My comparison is with shoplifting in supermarkets. In the old days, goods were put behind a counter and you had to be served to get whatever it was you were looking for. Friendly but labour intensive. Now goods are lined up in massive open plan warehouses so the customer selects what he wants and takes it to the checkout. Fewer staff required but shoplifting becomes a problem. The business decision is that it is more cost effective to tolerate the shoplifting and put prices up to counter the losses than it is to employ more staff to ensure goods don't go walkabout. Is downloading the same? Are the profit margins on selling a product that only exists in a virtual sense (i.e. reduced production/distribution costs) so great that it is worth losing a few hundred thousand downloads as a 'loss leader'? The technology exists to 'lock' the data and prevent copying but they don't employ it because customers don't like it (because the WANT to copy it from cd to ipod to pc to iphone etc). It is still theft but the industry wears it as its profit margins are better that if they simply reverted to the production of a product like a cd. Either way, copying things you don't pay for and distributing them, whatever the motive, is theft. PS I have had a PRS lady turn up at a gig I did and write down every tune we played. I spoke to her at length afterwards (she was very pleasant) and she told me how it worked. Good job as I had to tell her the names of all of the tunes we had played because they were all Brazillian and had titles in Portugese .

Len Skeat has been a stalwart on the British Jazz scene since the 1950s, initially with the Ted Heath Band. He has played with big names such as (off Wikipedia) Mel Tormé, Ben Webster, Billy Eckstine, Lionel Hampton, Scott Hamilton, Helen Merrill, Lou Rawls, Harry Edison, Denny Wright, Digby Fairweather, Spike Robinson, Eddie Lockjaw Davis, Stephane Grappelli, Dick Morrissey, Charly Antolini, Bill Watrous and Randy Sandke. He was also a member of the Eddie Thompson Trio and Charly Antolini's Jazz Power. Len is a monster player and has been forever.

I have just rediscovered Slonimskys' Thesaurus of scales and patterns. Hours of fun!! And with a bow!!!

Very credible and creditable. AM hearing Dave Greenslade's Pentateuch of the Cosmogony mixed up with Eddie Jobson's Zinc and a tad of Genesis.

I can play something I wouldn't ordinarily like for a very short period but can't do it often. One tune I don't like is one thing, one evening playing music I don't like is possible but, much more and I get frustrated and end up in a space that is not condusive to good music making. The caveat to that is that I like a wide range of music and, if it is done well, can enjoy most stuff. I regret to say, however, that a lot of music performed in the region I work in is not performed particularly well and playing music I don't like badly is not a good place for me to be and it is that which I seek to avoid where I can.

I have to admit that I have heard some very interesting snippets of Louis Armstrong over the years and firmly acknowledge his contribution to the world of jazz and to the role of the soloist. Nevertheless, I don't own a single Armstrong recording and won't be buying one anytime soon. Like I say about many of the 'great' bass players, they may be great players but I just don't really like the music they play. Like Sinatra, I acknowledge the artistry but don't really like the product.

First year music lesson at Croesyceiliog Comprehensive School, aged 11. The music teacher played us two films; Peter & The Wolf and Ravel's Bolero. I was hooked from that day on and wanted to play. The school were s*** and didn't let me learn anything and I didn't get a bass until I bought one for myself aged 17 (my family would not have been able to afford one earlier). I still think music is a middle class luxury denied a lot of working class kids but that's my chip......

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='1066339' date='Dec 22 2010, 12:23 AM']love the other instruments around you more than you love the bass. (ie how can your playing help the other instruments sound good)[/quote] I like that, Luke. A lot.

First rig: Hondo II Precision copy through 90W Carlsboro Combo First gig rig: Aria SB700 bass (my brother still has it - don't get nostalgic - its crap) and a Sound City 120 W head and a cusom built 2x18 cab Last gig: German/Czech 5 string double bass and Eden Metro Combo. Also using my Wal Custom fretless 4 string through the same amp.

Teachers are sometimes known to 'big up' their students as it encourages them to keep going and, in turn, their parents to keep paying for lessons. I know that is a slightly cynical view but it is important to acknowledge that compliments about your playing are not always offered critically but can from a misplaced sense of loyalty or the desire the be positive. When you enter a professional world, this stops and you are judged on your abilities alone. This can come as a shock to anyone who has no real sense of their core skills. It is also important to note that some people who compliment you on your skills (and this applies no less to other musicians/teachers than it does to lay people) wouldn't know a good player from a bad one if their lives depended on it.

[quote name='mgibson' post='1065018' date='Dec 20 2010, 08:01 PM']Um, hello, this is hard for me to really get across well. I'm 15 and reliseing that playing bass is really what I want to do in life. I've been playing for less than three years but I'm like above grade 6 standard, I read sheet music (three days locked in my room), I'm playing in a band (how many 15 year old boys don't?), I'm playing in a jazz band (accredited by local big boys as the best ever school band they have heard), I'm playing scores for big bands and in a school production of Bugsy Malone and taking as many chance as I possibly can (which ain't many in rural Norfolk ). Oh I'm also taking theory lessons and DB lessons. (Blowing my own trumpet, described as 'highly gifted' and the 'best bass student I've taught') So anyway, it's really frustraiting 'cause I see all this insane bas players, more than a few of them preside on this here sight, and I go to myself how do they get there, I woodshed day in day out I listen to whatever the hell I can lay my hands on... So yeh, what I'm trying to say is that I want your help. I want to know where you learnt stuff like how to play over chord changes, how to construct walking bass lines, what to listen to and how to survive in the music industry. (Also if you live/have knoledge of the Norwich/South Norfolk music scene where I could get gigs or go see decent jazz stuff etc.) I know I'm over stepping the line putting all this stuff up here and expecting you to reply, but I'm coming through in the generation of tab and eighth notes, not transcribing and quavers, so please help, cause I want to be part of the future of bass and I don't want that future to be bland, dire infact, because so many other elements of music nowadays are. Thanks.[/quote] Some questions for you, m. You say you read sheet music and then allude to the fact that you spent three days locked in a room to learn how? Is that correct? If that is so, I think you need to get some sort of independent assessment of your reading skills as I suspect you have not got it nailed to the standards required by professional musical directors - can you read sixteenth notes in F sharp when the time signatures are changing from 4/4 to 5/4/to 5/8 to 7/4? Grade six reading is not yet to a professional standard. You are asking questions like 'how did you learn to play over changes' whilst also saying you are playing big band scores and are in a jazz band accredited by local big boys as the best ever school band they have heard? You also mention having theory and double bass lessons. If you are having lessons, why are you not learning this stuff already? To be fair, what I am sensing here is a lack of patience and an understandable desire to want to get it all together NOW!!! But a lot of this stuff is stuff that it takes time to absorb and to internalise. If you want to learn about walking bass lines, get a load of walking bass line charts (I have posted several here under the Theory and Technique section, as have others) and play them again and again. Get a book on walking basslines (there are loads) and [i]spend time [/i] with them. Soloing over changes is exactly the same; start with playing over one chord then add another and so on. All of this is stuff your teacher should get to eventually but, if s/he doesn't think you are ready for it yet, s/he will be giving you more basic stuff to deal with. Don't rush it and make the mistakes we all make of missing massive chunks out and having to go back again and again as we get older to plug the gaps we have left in our knowledge. There is only one way to get good; hours and hours and hours of tedious repetition. As for playing opportunities, you are 15 so some are closed to you (there is a jazz jam session at The Blueberry in Norwich on Monday nights but, as it is a pub, you might not be allowed in). Talk to your teachers, your friends and look in the local 'what's On' magazines etc. There are plenty of venues around Norwich to see jazz at but some of them are pubs where you won't be allowed in. Keep a look out for stuff in the theatres around there (there are several) and look out for jazz workshops (there are some in Bury St Edmunds soon but that may be a bit far). Its all out there for you but you can't absorb it all instantly. Some of it takes time to develop and rushing it is not in your best interests. You have the luxury of youth and time. Use it to your advantage and soak this stuff up at a sensible pace.

Never liked the physical feel of Jaydees - I find the few I have played uncomfortable. Status are better in my mind but I am a Wal man through and through and do think that they are worth the £3.5K asking price. Would order one tomorrow (5 string fretless) if the money was there.

Try one of the Bach Cello Suites but NOT the one in G Major because they will have heard THAT a hundred times before also!