Bilbo

I am doing a show next month; Jesus Christ Superstar, and got the charts through on the weekend. Spent some time with them yesterday and, 'kin 'ell, they're hard to read cold. I got there in the end but, flamin' Nora. I didn't know he had it in him!!

Poor - 120 in 2008, 50 in 2009, 40 in 2010 Better quality gigs, though so not all bad news!!

Try soloing on one string (and, no, I am not joking). Try soloing with just three notes (any octave but only three notes).You need to break some habits and free yourself. In order to do that you need boundaries.

That and the fact that paint/laquer etc usually covers second rate lumps of wood I think a little of it is that wood doesn't date quite the same as some coloured finsihes. And many people just have an aesthetic preference for wood - wooden tables, wooden beds, wooden doors, windows etc.

[quote name='lowdown' post='1019899' date='Nov 11 2010, 12:07 PM']No it's when the someone gets lost in 'So What'...[/quote] Someone [b]ALWAYS[/b] gets lost in 'So What'.....

Learning to read music does not require a 400 page tome but a short 'these are what the dots mean' explanation. THe difficulty (which is less so now) is finding source material to [i]practice[/i] reading. In my day, the books were full of Campdown Races, Franki and Johnny and excerpts from The Trout and had no value for me as a player then or now. Nowadasy there are more options (many transcriptions are on here). FOr instance, learning what each note means is easy. Take a blank sheet of music paper and write a series of notes in straight crotchets, four beats to the bar (i.e. no rhythms to read). Write out 8 bars of two notes, say A and B in a randon sequence (ABBAABAABABBAABABABBABABAABAB, for instance) - concentrate on reading those two notes alone until you get the 8 bars right (if you find you have learned the sequence, write out another one - you are learning to read, not to play this sequence of notes). Then Write out eight bars using only A, B and C. THen try 16 bars of A, B, C & D. and so on. I recommend you don't learn those mnemonics (All Cows Eat Grass etc) because they tie you into a process that slows you down. Just learn two notes, then add a third then a fourth and so on. You will be reading sraight crotchets in no time. Then you can start looking at reading rhythms after you know what the notes are.

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='1018953' date='Nov 10 2010, 04:30 PM']It's a harmonic minor with a sharp fourth, is it not?[/quote] A kind of bastardized Harmonic Minor/Blues Scale hybrid.....

Don't know it. But I think it is, in any event, unhelpful at the stage the OP is at to start throwing in obscure variations that are not common currency. Just looked it up. This scale is obtainable from the Arabic scale by starting from the fourth of that scale. Said another way, the C Hungarian minor scale is equivalent to the G Arabic scale. That's clear, then There's the Neopolitan Minor The Welsh Minor (deep and dirty)

That is a good cd but look for a Wynton Kelly cd called Blues On Purpose. It was recorded around the same time as the Smokin' lp and is really strong. PC does a 10 chorus solo (12-bar blues) that just lifts and lifts and has the audience really whippedu up and he takes it further that any other solo I have heard him play (and I have heard hundreds and hundreds)

Welcome. I had a Bath once.....

Sometimes but not often. I like hearing some of what's about in the genre but seldom buy any. For me, the tension arises from the fact that jazz is about the sound of surprise and funk is about repetition. As the repetition in jazz funk is primarily on the part of the rhythm section, I usually get frustrated quite quickly and look elsewhere. But there are exceptions.

[quote name='urb' post='1018688' date='Nov 10 2010, 12:43 PM']Looking forward to the London Jazz Fest Bilbo...? See you on Friday Cheers Mike[/quote] Absolutely - all set for the experience and really looking forward to it.

Dave Holland, Steve Rodby and Jeff Berlin

Just rediscovered a CD called [b]Unison[/b] by French double bass player [b]Jean Francois Jenny Clark [/b]- what a player and what a tone! Some pretty demanding free jazz but his playing is so strong it is impossible not to get involved! I will be looking for more recordings with him on. Also downloaded a great cd by [b]Chris Cheek [/b]called [b]A Girl Named Joe [/b]- it features Marc Johnson on double bass. Some great writing on there. And a Joe Lovano CD called [b]Sound of Joy [/b]with [b]Anthony Cox [/b]on bass - another massive sound and a really strong player. Where are these guys and why aren't they more renowned?

Its what got me into jazz Series of teenage rock bands w bad singers (no real prospect of 'making it') so Got into listening to instrumental rock bands then Got into fusion etc then Got into Jazz Now know loads of singers....

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1018244' date='Nov 9 2010, 11:07 PM']And hands up how many of you tried two-handed tapping before you tried reading music? I know I did![/quote] Me too. Jeff Berlin's 'Motherlode', tunes off Stu Hamm's 'Radio Free Albemuth', some Dave Lee Roth era Billy Sheehan. And I never used any of it again. I have since recognised it for the shallow circus trick it generally is and have focussed my energies on more meaningful (and less time consuming) musical study. I think bass tapping is almost universally the worst sound you can get out of a bass without driving over it....

Re: Reading Reggae. All notated music requires the musician to have idiomatic knowledge. Classical musicians often can't read jazz charts and jazz musicians often can't read classical etc. I did a show recently which included Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now'. When that tune was played, it was clear that some people could 'rock' and others couldn't. My early experiences were in Heavy Metal and, accordingly, I could make the chart live. When I was trying to play some Sweeny Todd stuff, it didn't gel because it was written for arco bass which I don't play so, even though it was an easy read (tied minims FFS), it didn't 'sing'. Nothing to do with reading but to do with understanding the idiom. A reggae bassline written down will work perfectly well but only if you understand reggae and its idiomatic characteristics. For the record, my 'fixed view' on reading is for Basschat eyes only and serves as a foil for the 'you don't need to read' school of thought that many espouse all too readily here. I like where reading (and writing) has taken me over the years and value it highly. I advocate for that reason alone. If noone here ever reads a note again, I think it would be a shame but, at the same time, it doesn't matter a jot. I just wish I had met someone like me when I was 17, who could have given me this stuff ten years before I found it myself. Its a truckload more useful than two handed tapping.

[quote name='paul h' post='1017642' date='Nov 9 2010, 03:04 PM']I have read posts where a reader states categorically, and completely seriously, that jazz fans are more intelligent that everyone else. A reader has also said (and I paraphrase) that playing cover versions, something a lot of us do, is infantile and beneath him.[/quote] That was me!!! I am a troll and I didn't know it!!

All good stuff but only if it is not used to justify NOT seeking to improve your knowledge and skill base ('I'll never learn it all so there is no point in learning any of it'). Just be yourself or try to be the best self you can possibly be? Your call.

[quote name='silddx' post='1017439' date='Nov 9 2010, 12:58 PM']Just be yourself.[/quote]

At the moment, because I am working on building stamina for double bass playing, I put the metronome on a chosen tempo and play walking bass lines against the off beat. Its working as I can feel my stamina improving. I then spend some time with the bow working on intonation (and Sevcik and Bach) and then reward myself with some practise on improvisation. I then put the bass down (after about an hour - it is hard work if I play too long) and get to my composing/arranging practice which I actually prefer doing at the moment because it is less uncomfortable to do!! PS this happens only two or three times a week as I have other things calling on my time.

[quote name='silddx' post='1017412' date='Nov 9 2010, 12:41 PM']Anyway, whatever, it doesn't matter how much theory you have or how good you can sight read, only certain people can play reggae, and there is absolutely no way to put down on paper how to play reggae that has the desired effect on the other band members and the audience. Funk is similar, it's a way of life.[/quote] You are probably right.

[quote name='LukeFRC' post='1017338' date='Nov 9 2010, 11:34 AM']Can I just ask why so many threads recently decend into this weekend rockstars who play bass versus pro musicians who play bass? If you go and play some great music you like with your mates and are happy with it then be happy. Listen to more types of music if you want but thats fine, but why knock guys who do it as a living? Yes you probably sound great but why the inferiority complex with guys who make their living from this so need to know their theory, notation etc.? Equally for a lot of types of music you don't need to study massivly. If you can play bass apropiate for the music you're playing then great.[/quote] Its because we care, mate. There are a lot of assumptions in there, Luke. I care passionately about the music I play (to my own detriment) and love where studying music properly has taken and continues to take me. I am not a pro and, at the moment, make next to nothing financially from it (one £50 gig this month). I turn down gigs that would bore me or when I know the music will be bad, the same as everyone else who doesn't do it for a living. I do know, from feedback that I have had, that I could compete with many out there that are professional but I can't deal with the hussling element and, unlike many out there (who I respect enormously), I don't enjoy playing every sort of music and get bored easily. So, as most of the music that is performed in this country is not stuff I actually like very much, most of the pro gigs that are available are not for me. I care about music and hate to see it done badly the same way many people here hate watching the X Factor debacle (sorry, Mrs T). I advocate for proper study and believe that those who argue against it are sending out a bad message for young players who may have ambition and need a bit of direction that they can't get from 'proper' teachers who cost an arm and a leg. Internet forums are a great way of sharing enthusiasm but they are also a great way of encouraging bad habits and the illusion of the quick fix. Being a musician is hard work and takes hundreds and thousands of hours of dedicated practice. But hard work can be as much fun as a night out with the lads.... Fun doesn't have to mean wasted time. My personal position is, if you aren't going to do this seriously (and 'seriously' doesn't mean 'professionally'), then get out of the way.......

[quote name='silddx' post='1017311' date='Nov 9 2010, 10:58 AM']And so are most jazz tunes.[/quote] A crap tune is a crap tune, whatever the genre. The thing that tends to turn me off a lot of stuff is repetition (that's one of the main reasons I don't like slap bass and tapping; both are generally based upon repeated figures). IME, a lot of groove orientated stuff is the same two bars repeated again and again or the same riff played in different places all over the neck (often a fourth above etc). Jazz tunes tend to require a little more from the performers and repetition is (and I generalise) seen as a cop out. When I refer to a thumper, I am refering to tunes that require the players to just keep whacking away at the core riffs, be that a shuffle, straight roots on the beat or just a repeated ostinato. The Fez is based on a repeated riff. Black Friday is a root note shuffle etc. Cousin Dupree, Haitian Divorce, Rikki Don't Lose That Number, Reelin' In The Years' its cool but its all pretty basic. Aja is a different kettle of fish, yes, but a lot of it is exceptionally well executed mediocrity.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1017296' date='Nov 9 2010, 10:45 AM']Once you've got all the changes in your head, the hardest part of the Dan tunes is getting the right feel. But when you consider the bassists they use live, they go more for groove-orientated players, such as Freddie Washington.[/quote] FW is renowned as one of the best readers in the business, Go figure.....