Bilbo

Keep 'em coming, Jake. Its all good reading practice (instead of tedious repetitive Simandl exercises!!!)

Always found Sanborn to be a bit of a lightweight. Great production values and some good players etc but no depth.

Got a budget in mind, as this will determine your options? The more money you, have the more options.

I have actually reached the point where I won't work with some people because of these kinds of problems. If a player makes rudimentary mistakes, I will tell them. If they don't 'deal with it', I won't book them again or take a gig that they are on. There are plenty of good players around so I don't need to book those that can't deliver a musical performance. I have done too many bad gigs 'for the money' and my self esteem has been undermined by it so I decided to take affirmative action. Less gigs but better quality music. I win!

This is a tune off the Wynton Marsalis Septet 'Live at the Village Vanguard' 7 cd boxed set. Its a blues in C. The tune is on Spotify if you don't want to buy it but I urge you all to go to iTunes where you can get this 7 CD boxed set as a 63 tune download for £8.99!! (Watch it, though as there are compilations of the 63 songs for the same price. Make sure its the full set you are getting for £9). Its a great set by a great band at a phenomenal price. The line is by Ben Wolfe (Reginald Veal plays on most of the tunes) and its a straight swinging blues (which is is what I am looking at now as I need to nail straight time playing on the double bass as a stamina building exercise). Its also an easy read, which is nice!

Another guitar! I swapped an Ibanez AR300 solid body guitar in the mid 1980s and still regret it. Wish I could get it back but I have no idea where it is!!

First jazz gig I ever had was a Leeds graduate (Dick Hamer - Cardiff). Great player and even better mentor to young players.

[quote name='lowdown' post='989147' date='Oct 15 2010, 01:13 PM']I see you got hold of it then.... Garry[/quote] Yeah. Downloaded it last month. Its pretty.

I got a great sound recording with a mic (Rode NT1A) just in front/off centre to the bridge. My big issue, which is such an important part of this, is the getting of the best sound you can with your hands! I find that, when I start playing, I can be a bit inconsistent but, as I carry on, it tightens up, improving the sound greatly, before, a while later, the hand positions collapse with fatigue and the sound quality goes with it. Its all about building up the stamina. Gettign a good sound that is consistent over an evenings performance is my goal. All my (K&K) pick up is really doing is amplifying the inconsistencies in my playing!!

Something like Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden's 'Jasmine' cd.

[quote name='lojo' post='988335' date='Oct 14 2010, 07:33 PM']I guess its like me not wanting to play mustang sally, but amplified greatly in your case to cover alot more music[/quote] Exactly.

[quote name='crez5150' post='988314' date='Oct 14 2010, 07:15 PM']I write loads of original songs and instrumentals, spend hours recording.... I never perform any of it live though cause I'm too busy with my function band playing covers[/quote] That sooooo sucks. But that's what the Macdonaldsisation of music has done to us all.

You are wrong, but not for the reasons you think. When I gig with a function band and play something that involves straight root note quavers and its locked in, I get a little buzz, the same as everyone else. But I have been doing this for 30+ years and that little buzz is not enough and hasn't been for a long, long time. Its better than nothing but its like watching the same movie 1,000 times. Even if you like the story, knowing the outcome limits the pleasure gleaned. Its like those old records that you used to love. You still love them but familiarity breeds its own ambivalence and you like to listen to them less and less frequently. I find most covers, particularly the usual crowd pleasers, are in that area; uninspiring through overuse. When you find yourself doing something fresh, inventive, provocative and intense, the buzz is that much greater.

[quote name='lojo' post='988265' date='Oct 14 2010, 06:41 PM']music does not become obsolete when the original artist has stopped gigging or is to massive to see play live in the local bar[/quote] Yes, it does

Words? I write instrumental music that never gets performed. The music I play live is generally the same sh*te everyone else does! So its Lerner and Loewe, Jerome Kern, Hoagy Carmichael, George Gershwin, Sammy Cahn, Stevie Wonder.......

The 'I haven't got time' argument is an interesting one! My own take on it is similar. I haven't got time to spend learning how to play Victor Wootenesque party pieces of no intrinsic value. I am going to die one day and would rather leave a single original song/piece of music than go to my maker knowing I nailed 'Rhythm Stick'..... So I spend my limited time (I am not a pro and have a day job) exploring composition and improvistaion, not learning other people's stuff. I also think that 'learining new techniques' by playing other people's music is legitimate but there is an argument that this is what practice time is for not performance time. I have always learned bits of other people's stuff to explore new techniques/concepts, we all do, but these never appear in covers as most of that stuff was stuff I processed up to 30 years or more ago. PS In case anyone doesn't get where I am coming from, I argue these points as an ideal to aspire to and not as a model to which I am able to adhere. Please don't make the mistake of taking me too seriously. Even I don't do that!!

[quote name='Legion' post='987972' date='Oct 14 2010, 12:52 PM']What I want to know is when I click on "View [b]New[/b] Posts" why does this one keep appearing...[/quote] Because it matters more to some of us than which batteries people use in their pedals.

[quote name='lojo' post='987866' date='Oct 14 2010, 11:33 AM']..... its fun and fairly easy fun[/quote] Its not enough for me. That's why I stopped reading Janet and John books, why I stopped watching Play School or listening to Ed Stewart's Junior Choice. Easy quickly becomes boring, shallow, unstimulating, tedious. And yes, I do include folk bands, symphony orchestras, opera companies, jazz bands, blues bands and church organists in the mix. Not all music is made for dancing and entertainment is a personal as any other aspect of life. As a player, I get that people like what's familiar but I don't accept that this means that they won't like that which is not. I have said elsewhere, my most popular gig, audience reaction wise, is a Brazillian band playing all Brazillian tunes with the singing done in Portuguese. Noone knows any of the songs and yet, by the end of each night, the audiences are deeply engaged and singing along. I find polite jazz standards bore people whereas full on hardcore Coltranesque material, performed well, gets people to sit up and take notice, even if they have never heard it before. The obsession by working musicians for the value of covers is a justification that allows them to feel ok about the music they play. It works because it is seen to work and often. Writing and performing your own stuff is harder, riskier, takes more courage and is ultimately more satisfying. It fails more often because it is a high risk undertaking. 'Perfecting' a realistic performance of another band's material is, for me, a shallow victory and, whilst it is not futile, is not even half way to where I want to be as a musician. But its not all about me

I have one of these and have found it great (but I am no expert).. [url="http://www.stringemporium.com/carbon-fiber-upright-bass-bows.htm"]carbon-fiber bass-bow[/url]

Dood's video reminded me of the sound as I recall it. Yeeeeeuch..!! Red striper's video is more convincing but as it is a simple riff (didn't listen to it all), it doesn't really 'test' the instruments potential (or lack thereof). I'll stay with what I have

[quote name='redstriper' post='987042' date='Oct 13 2010, 03:30 PM']I had a Wal and hated it and I also don't want to read music - ever.[/quote] Freak!

There is a lovely story where, early in their career, Van Halen were touring in support of Ted Nugent. Eddie Van Halen's sound was the talk of the town and Nugent asked to try his gear. He picked up EVH's guitar without touching a single knob on his guitar or amp and sounded exactly like Ted Nugent. I find every bass I play (which are few, to be fair) sounds more like me than it does the label on the headstock and would not buy a bass on the basis of a website 'sample'. But, then again, I have cloth ears and can't hear the difference between basses the way some of you guys say you can. I don't know what a 'classic' Fender Precision or Jazz sound is. I can recognise players but not the basses they play.

And, ironically, I have that soundtrack album......

Hate them. Sound is interesting for a 'wow, that's clever technology' moment but I find them unplayable in any real sense. Can anyone provide a discography of the important recordings that involve Ashbory basses? No? Thought not

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='986928' date='Oct 13 2010, 01:33 PM']Just a quick question to the guys who get reading gigs: do you have any things that really get the pulse racing when you spot them on the stand? For me (on bass at least), it's any more than four flats or five sharps in the key signature, and any 8va sections. I have to concentrate extra-hard for those, but I'm getting there.[/quote] I have rarely, if ever, seen an 8va section in a chart on a gig. The things that throw me are the occasional chart in piano bass clef (written an octave lower than the bass guitar so out of range). Key signatures and key changes are also be a drag but that depends mostly on the nature of the written passages. I had one recently where we had syncopated sixteenths in F sharp - a nightmare. But, with good ears and a run through, you can pretty much get your head around it. The most important thing is to read regualry so you don't lose the ability to concentrate on the chart and start seeing what you [i]expect[/i] to be there rather than what [i]is.[/i]