Bilbo

I play a 5 string double bass and find that there are significant differences between the same notes played on a high C rather than above the fifth fret of the G. My inotnation is better on the 5 and I rarely need to go above thrid position in a routine standards set (which is why the intonation is better). There is a strained quality that is characteristic of the double bass as you go up the neck (like singer going out of their range) and it brings a huma quality to the sound that electric basses lack. On the five, this effect occurs at a different place. I guess my point is that the difference between a 5 and a 4 string bass (electric or double) is not just defined by the lower/higher 5 notes. I don't like low Bs; never found them sufficiently warm enough for me, but have to admit to never having tried a 5 string electric with a high C. Have had 5s and 6s but never found the extra range particularly useful.

I guess you should ask yourself what need it is you are trying to meet. For me, the bass is increasingly peripheral to the music and is simply a tool for filling 'that' space in the overall sonic picture. Whether it sounds like a '57 Jazz or a birdseye maple Ken Smith Alembic Custom Fodera MkIII with ebony LEDs is not important to me. So I don't really get bass GAS. Amps have been the same although I am getting to the point where lifting the Eden Metro in and out of cars is getting harder on me physically so I am thinking of a smaller (but not lightweight) option like a Markbass set up etc. When I see these BC signatures where people have 8 or more basses, aside from wondering how they can afford them, I wonder what its is about, especially when they are all pretty much identical. Is the ability to produce all these minimally different sounds that important or are there other drivers? If you know what the actual purpose of owning each bass is, you will know whether you need it or not. I only need one credible professional quality instrument.

I always advocate for the Mark Levine book Doddy mentioned but have also recently discovered some useful stuff in David Baker's books (although they are jazz specific, the theory is transferrable); Jazz Improvisation: A Comprehensive Method for All Musicians How To Play Bebop (3 volumes) Arranging and Composing for the Small Ensemble: Jazz, R & B, Jazz Rock: For the Small Ensemble, Jazz, R & B, Jazz-Rock I would also add: Arranging for Large Jazz Ensemble by Ken Pullig Modern Jazz Voicings by Ted Pease Jazzology: The Encyclopedia of Jazz Theory for All Musicians by Robert Rawlins Composing for the Jazz Orchestra by William Russo (slim or full version depending on your level of interest) I would also argue (although I am prepared to be challenged on this) that 'bass spcific' theory books are not the way to go as the theory is universal and its application will be much more use to you if it is not entirely bass focussed.

Use a second bass tuned down a half step.

[quote name='EssentialTension' post='1137262' date='Feb 22 2011, 04:20 PM']In that example I would play: --------------------------- -------2--2--------------- ---3----------------------- ---------------/5----------- Using middle finger for the C, first finger for the E, and then slide from G# to A using little finger.[/quote] Yup. WHen something is written with a slide, it will usually fall under the fingers quite naturally, especially if its TAB as that tends to come after the performance. Occasionally, it may require a moment's thought and a change in your choice of fingering for the whole passage, not just the slurred note. This can be particularly important on complex passages as the wrong fingering may render it unplayable whereas the right fingering will make soimething that looks hard relatively easy to execute.

I got a double bass sent over from Germany (not Thomans, Gedo Musik) and it took 3 days door to door.

First Bass Owned: Hondo II Precision copy 'Go To' Bass: Wal Custom Fretless 4 (only bass I have) 'Your' Bass: Wal Custom Fretless 4

Typo alert! G mixolydian doesn't work with a G maj7 chord. It works with a C maj7

Its complicated. Knowing where one scale starts is sometimes as simple case of looking at a chord that lasts, say, a bar, then looking at the next chord which lasts another bar and so on and changing the scale each bar. At other times, however, you can use one scale for several bars or even a whole tune. The first five chords of 'All The Things You Are' are all diatonic (in one key) so you can play one scale across all of them. Other songs have a change of scale every half a bar (Giant Steps is the most famously complicated example). You need to understand the relationship between a scale and a chord (say a C major scale against a C major chord) but you also need to build on that to understand the relationships between chords (e.g a C major scale will work over Cmaj7, Dm7, Em7, Fmaj7, G7, Am7 and Bm7b5). Add the Cycle of Fifths and you have the building blocks for massive amounts of contemporary music. Its really not as complicated as it sounds. Start by looking at simple songs made out of simple chords - a 12-bar blues is as good a place to start as any.

Welcome, Si. You didn't tell us what basses you played. Gear is the main topic of conversation here I (despite my efforts) and people will be interested!

I think it is part of thei Big Society thing. We should all stop being paid and do it for free for the welfare and well being of our communties.

Yes, I would play if there was no money in it but only if there was no money for anyone, not just me/my band. I won't be exploited and, if I am going to do it for nothing, it would be entirely on my terms.

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='1135573' date='Feb 21 2011, 03:06 PM']Once you find a sim that works for you, try the following: * Record your bass part clean * Copy the part to an adjacent track making sure they're perfectly aligned * Put the amp sim on the second track * Mute the clean track and fiddle with the amp sim till you get close to a sound you like * Unmute the clean track * Fiddle with the volume balance between the two, applying appropriate EQ, compression etc to each track until it sounds nice. The clean track supplies definition, the sim track adds warmth, etc. After all this fun, you can always send the two tracks to a bus, track folder, whatever, for kick drum ducking, etc.[/quote] Marvellous. Why didn't I think of that....

[quote name='Lozz196' post='1135300' date='Feb 21 2011, 11:51 AM']Pump It Up - Elvis Costello Nice & Sleazy - The Stranglers Down in the Tube Station - The Jam Its Too Bad - The Jam Substitute - The Sex Pistols version, that is London Calling - The Clash Babylons Burning - The Ruts[/quote] Nice set!

Incompatibilidade De Genios by Joao Bosco O Cantador/Like A Lover by Dori Caymmi

Haslip is hard to copy because he plays his bass left handed but upside down (high G on the top, low B on the bottom) That first Yellowjackets album was great. They had a few good ones, then some that were a bit 'lightweight' and then they picked up again. Not heard anything new from them in a while (not listening to fusion at the mo..). There is a track on his ARC solo cd called Ninos that is beautiful (no bass solo, just a beautiful piece of music with the bass playing the melody in unison with a soprano sax). I have tried to transcribe it but I can't get the chords at all. If anyone has them, I would love to see a copy?

Annually, whether we need to or not.

Reading this thread gives me the willies. I might as well stick with the day job as go out there raking over these old cadavers. 'We play stuff WE like, not what they want' - easy to say when what you like is coincidentally what they want you to play. Its like the Yes men in a company - the boss never tells them what to do because s/he never [i]needs[/i] to tell them what to do. There are people here who will play anything for money and those who will play anything whether there is money on offer or not. What I can't see is anything remotely interesting to listen to/watch. Venues will book you if you list a few 'popular' acts? Discerning or what? Its all feels a little tired to me.

If by drop tuning you mean the four strings have the same relationships to each other as the normal tuning (i.e. fourths), but down a minor third, then everything will be the same except where the notes are on the neck. i.e. a major scale will be the same shape as it was on a conventional bass but will start on a different fret. If you are tuning to an open tuning, then you're on your own

I have an M-Audio Prokeys 88 which has the usual piano, organ, clavinet, rhodes, strings etc sounds. Affordable, 88 note weighted keys, headphones etc. I use it as a learning thing (voicings etc) and midi controller but can't really play it but I would suspect it is exactly the kind of thing you want for a price that is in your range. [url="http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?q=m+audio+prokeys&hl=en&cid=3664383651184041090&ei=21BeTdfTMNGx-Qb9qtGWCQ&sa=title&ved=0CAwQ8wIwATgA#p"]M Audio Prokeys 88 stage piano[/url]

Living Sound, a Christian band who played at our school when I was about 11. The band did a set and the whole religious thing went right over my head but the sound of a live band was something else. I took a lot of inspiration from that and started 'noticing' musicians much more from then on until I got a guitar for noodling on at 14 and started playing bass seriously at 17.

[quote name='slobluesine' post='1131349' date='Feb 17 2011, 06:07 PM']lots of related tips here folks... [url="http://www.doublebasschat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9859"]http://www.doublebasschat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=9859[/url][/quote] Some helpful stuff in there (some less so !!). Many thanks.

If you have no reading skills, get some. Reading walking lines is easy as there are no complex rhythms, just straight quarter notes. Doddy is right, you need chord and scale theory to do it properly. Get loads of jazz cds and listen to the walking bass lines. Then, in about 20 years, you should be ready Seriously, walking bass is one of those things that takes a short while to learn and a lifetime to master. If you are playing standards, get the lead sheets and listen to the versions your singer wants to mirror, just to get a feel for where the harmony goes. Hum the root notes as the charts pass and try to internalise the root movement. Then fill in the gaps. Remember, the lead sheets may not be in teh same key as the singer wants to play the tunes so, if s/he has charts, use them.

[quote name='Doddy' post='1131083' date='Feb 17 2011, 02:42 PM']I find that I tire quicker if I've either not been playing it enough,or more often than not because I'm having trouble hearing myself. If I'm struggling to hear what I'm doing,I naturally start to play harder,and I tire out a lot quicker. I'm the same with electric bass,but it's not as obvious.[/quote] Is the problem about monitoring or other players being too loud? I did a gig in December in which my bass sounded great and the drummer, Alex Best from Ipswich, was sensitive to the situation and played Jimmy Cobb not Elvin Jones. The consequence was a solid swinging performance of two hours worth of jazz standards. Other gigs I have done with louder room noise have resulted in me struggling and losing momentun much earlier on. But I am not sure if I just need to turn up (risking feedback) or add some form of additional monitoring.

In the era when these guys were at the height of their powers, most jazz clubs in the US used to book acts for anythin up to 6 weeks at a time. I have no doubt that 4 sets a night 7 nights a week is going to give you stamina (or kill you )