Bilbo

The secret is to learn the principles (where the notes are, key signatures, accidentals and reading rhtyms) and then just do it as much as you can. I recommend you strart with these two. Play them as slowly as you like. Notes only, no rhythms to read (apart from the odd bar). [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=106812&hl="]Play The Blues And Go[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=35493&hl=housed+from+edward"]Housed From Edward[/url] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=35615&hl=ron+carter+hesitation"]Hesitation[/url] or there is, of course, the Major's Boot Camp series. Start today. One bar at a time and then two and so one until you can read fly sh*t on toilet paper.

Yes, Karl, it is. Sorry Tauzero. I hijacked your thread. I will go now and purge myself so I can recover that other blokes Pokemon cards. I'm not bitter; more mild really

[quote name='tauzero' post='1175822' date='Mar 25 2011, 12:42 PM']Copying stuff from one place = [b]a tribute band[/b]. Copying stuff from many places = [b]a covers band[/b]. [/quote] Fixed

A long thin stick with a piece of gaffer tape (sticky side up) or something equally sticky on the end. A hoover with the really thin attachment tool thingy. A very thin and highly trained racing ferret. A fashion model.

I have found, as I get older, that the reading allows for a more efficient use of time in rehearsals and at gigs. Less time rehearsing each tune means more work done in the available time. If you have other obligations as you say, this is a massive bonus. Learn to read music.

I am just finishing a book called 'Saying Something: Jazz Improvisation and Interaction' by Ingrid Monson and it has got me thinking about improvisation. When we talk about improv. in Jazz, we are talking about a intense and on-going dialogue between all parties involved in the music making (and some beyond). What one musician does creates the impetus for the others to respond and vice versa in a 2,3,4 or 10 way dialogue. My belief is that, in most other genres, a soloist who improvises does so on a pretty fixed backdrop; straight backbeat, set chords etc. I know there are exceptions: King Crimson, some Zappa etc but, mostly, improvisation is two dimensional in popular music. As for Jazz, the more I think about, the more I realise how damned hard it is.

Just got hold of a FIshman Pro Platinum from uke. Can't wait to hear in but won't get to for days as my amp is in for repair (just and internal 'clean up' for the frying bacon).

Read this and follow the links. Just a few extra options you may not have thought of. Shipping to the UK is very cheap (£20 IIRC) and the packaging is top drawer. You have to fit the bridge yourself on receipt but its idiot proof (otherwise I couldn't have done it ). [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=93958&hl=gedo+musik"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...p;hl=gedo+musik[/url]

'Got A Match'? Woudl like to hear that. I played it in a trio years ago. No tapes but I and am 100% sure we crucified it. As for tunes... what is the purpose of the exam? I am thinking one of the more sophisticated Jamerson lines from Shadows of Motown? Anything off 'The Nightfly'? 'Scophile' off John Patitucci's 'Sketchbook' cd?

Silver Machine.

I just got a Fishman Pro Platinum preamp from uke. Goods received quickly, very well packed and good communications. Impressed and grateful of Felixstowe.

Scales, for a musician, are the basis of pretty much all music (the exceptions are not relevant here). Without them, you will always be a lightweight. Every chord is named for its relationship to a major scale. Every melody you will every hear is based on a scale or series of scales. Every solo you ever hear is based on scales. Every harmony you hear is based on the relationships between the notes of a scale or series of scales. Scales are the guts of this stuff we call music. No idiom or genre is free from scales (although some use more than others) and scales cross the divides between genres completely and without changing their relationships to the music in any way. A major scale in Metal is the same as a major scale in Indie, Funk, Jazz, Pop, Folk, R+B, Drum and Bass, Polkas, Classical, Fusion...... All modes are scales starting from different points but they won't make any sense at all until you learn the basics. Without the knowledge of which we speak, you will remain locked into a very small world of pretence and superficiality. Start learning them today. And, whilst you are doing so, learn to read music.

I have not broken a string since 1981. On that occasion, the tension in the remaing strings tipped the nut a fraction and the result was two strings were unusable and I effectively had a one string bass. So I completed the set with that (only one tune). My calculation is I have done well over two thousand gigs since then without a breakdown and, so, I fell that, in strick 'risk management' terms, there is nothing to worry about in taking one bass only. In the event of a breakdown, I either continue with three strings or we have an early break between sets. Its one gig in a lifetime of playing. Statistically, one of the band members is more likely to be taken ill and incapacitated. I am more concerned with amp breakdowns because that is a real deal breaker. But I am not spending money on a back up amp or carrying one to every gig 'just in case' (PS I have never had an amp actually breakdown on a gig ever either, even before 1981).

Try some of these threads... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showforum=76"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showforum=76[/url]

[quote name='BIG.J' post='1171551' date='Mar 21 2011, 11:36 PM']I play in a Tribute and things are not easy these days for Tribute Acts.[/quote] All them damn originals bands taking all your gigs, eh?

Musician's Union Casual Gig minimum rate is currently set at: For engagements of up to 2 hours = £65.00 Over 2 hours and up to 3 hours = £78.00 These rates are, of course, unenforceable but they are a useful guide as a starting point. Don't forget to take into account how far you have to travel, late night gigs etc, all of which can up the price.

You're getting older and the number of age appropriate musos is decreasing annually. What you need is some blokes in the middle of a mid-life crisis!!

[quote name='Stuart Clayton' post='1167007' date='Mar 18 2011, 12:53 PM']That's an excellent article, and bizarrely, is similar to something I've been working on recently. My new year's resolution was to improve my jazz soloing, and so I took an inspiring lesson with Joe Hubbard, and began transcribing and analysing one of my favourite solos - Chick Corea's solo on 'Spain'. So far I have transcribed the first chorus of Chick's solo and learnt it. In doing so, I found some melodic ideas that were confusing. Some research was needed in order for me to understand what he was doing, but once I had uncovered the [i]concept[/i] behind the lick (rather than just the notes), I had a new piece of vocabulary to incorporate into my own playing. I studied every idea in that one chorus of the solo and uncovered so many ideas it was unreal. Using these ideas, I began to improvise my own lines on the form, taking it a few chords at a time - I looped a backing track in Transcribe for this. The result is that I have written a few pages of new licks and have begun combining them into some etudes. I'm really enjoying playing these now, and feel that having taken the time to analyse just a few bars of Chick's playing, I have learnt an incredible amount. Once my etudes and accompanying explanations are finished I will upload them for you all to check out. Great article! Stu[/quote] Great post, Stuart. It really crystlises the benefits of properly [i]studying[/i] the music we learn rather than just reproducing it.

My condolences, Darth Telebass

[quote name='molan' post='1170894' date='Mar 21 2011, 04:52 PM']Brilliant, thanks Bilbo - I did think of contacting you first but thought this was a bit of a distance off your 'patch'. Should have known you'd be 'connected' all over the country when it came to all things jazz [/quote] Used to live in Farnham and played in Dorian Kelly's band, with Pete Billington, Dave Horniblow and Simon Allen, all of whom played with Pendullum at the time. Also played a lot with trumpeter Paul Tungay (ex Ronnie Scott, Tom Jones and Bill McGriffe) who is also now with them and actually got to do a couple of rehearsal with them a few times (but no gigs. Pat prefers double bass and I only played electric at the time) There also used to be a jazz jam at the South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell. Jamie Cullem used to go there. It may no longer run..

Learn to read music. I am not necessarily suggesting that you write out every note you ever play but, if you can read short passages of a couple of bars and read rhythms in particular, you can write out a single sheet that contains all of the cues you ned to nail a tune everytime. I did a rehearsal and gig with a blues trio over a year ago and was asked to dep again a few weeks ago. Because I had made some notes on their charts, I was able to recall all of the significant kicks, stops and starts, the main impeteus of each groove and all the changes without much difficulty.

I figure we just have to build up the callouses? Its definately getting eaiser as time passes.

Contact these guys. Pat knows everyone and everyone knows Pat. His son, Dorian Kelly, is also over that way. All great players. [url="http://www.pendulum-byjo.co.uk/education.htm"]http://www.pendulum-byjo.co.uk/education.htm[/url]

Did a two and a half hour rehearsal yesterdaay with a sax/trumpet Jazz Quintet playing standards and bebop and came away without any aches or pains other than a slight tingling in the tip of the middle finger of my right hand. Blister avoided and its ok this morning. Am getting a Fisman Pro Platinum any day now so that will help to manage my sound and help me pace myself better. Ironically, because the next gig is on a boat and space is limited, I have been asked to bring the electric not the double bass. Still loving it.

I get that they are to stop scratches appearing on your bass but I just find myself asking, who plays that chaotically that they hit the bass hard enough to scratch it there as opposed to anywhere else? Even if I played with a pick, I would still struggle to scratch a bass there. Now, if I played with a Black and Decker a la Paul Gilbert, then maybe there would be a chance of a nick or two but, in 25 years, my scratchplateless Wal has managed to avoid being scratched where the scratch plate would have been had mine been a Fender or a Musicman. Who are these scratchy bass players out there causing choas and the need for flat bits of plastic protection? We should be told.