Bilbo

Just learn the dots. Its much more effective and it gets you work. Tab is a child's toy, a shorthand that, because of its familiarity, initially makes more sense to the uninitiated but which is ultimately inadequate for the purpose it was invented. Put the toy away and get to work. It will reward you in the long run.

Did my gig with 'Whither Then'? on Sunday. I posted about it in the 'last night's gig' thread but, in short, it was everything I hoped it would be (except it wasn't original music). It was one of those gigs where I was the weakest player but held my own enough to keep the standard up. Everyone was buzzing at the end (even the audience) and we have been asked back. Real strong blowing, great grooves.... and I am there again this Sunday with the Brazilliance, the Latin band I play in.

My God! Thinking this through, I have just realised that I haven't gigged anything but my Wal and a Status Energy 6 for over 20 years and the Staus only went out half a dozen times! I played a Roscoe 5 when I tried out a Markbass rig at the Bass Merchant about a year ago but that was only for 15 minutes (no great shakes) and I have tried a couple of Warwicks but that was over 10 years ago. I tried an Alembic Epic at the Bass Centre in Birmingham around 1991 and a Yamaha TRB6 a couple of years before that in the Bass Centre in Wapping. Early on there was an Ibanez Musician bass I tried and a mate had a Fender Jazz custom job but I didn't like that very much. Maybe I need to get out more (actually, I don't try basses unless I am buying and I am never buying so why try them out ). So, in answer to the OP, I don't dislike anything really; I just like what I have and have no need to look elsewhere.

I get how this happens (I am not a family man) and everything does get in the way as you get older but that is one of the things I always say about reading the dots. It cuts down the need for rehearsals to a minimum whcih means better gigs with less time spent preparing. Keep a bass and use the time off to develop your reading to the point where you are ready to gig again when your kids no longer need you around so much (because that day will come ).

Run through the threads here under the double bass section, ez... its full of advice of the kind you are looking for.

Did my first gig with my own band 'Whither Then'? at The Fox Inn in Eastgate St. in Bury St Edmunds last Sunday. Quartet with a singing pianist, sax, bass and drums playing a fusion of jazz and 'Blue Note' funk. Monster players all 'round and an astonishing evenings jazz. One of the best jazz gigs I have ever done and certainly one of the best in a long while. Probably the best drummer I have ever played with (having never met him before, I find out he lives less than half a mile away from me), the best pianist I ever played with (Chris Ingham) and one of the strongest saxophone players I have ever played behind (Hertfordshire's Colin Watling). I guess that's what happens when you get to call the gig: you get the best players. Monster gig, real treat - did one set on double bass and got all blistered up so reverted to electric for the remainder of the evening (two more sets). Feel invigorated by it.

Me too, other obligations permitting (that'll be gigs )

[quote name='EdwardHimself' post='936198' date='Aug 25 2010, 05:55 PM']I loved that video. Thought it was awesome. The song changes were all just seamless how he did them,[/quote] That'll be because they are all at the same tempo and in the same key.... Harris was one of the reasons I was alble to put down the pick at age 17. 'If he can do it....'

Good choices, earlyman! Eubanks is so central to the success of Holland's ensembles. Have you listened to any Steve Turre? He's another great trombonist in that area. Steve Swallow is the god of electric bass in jazz - none of that athletic technique we all see so much of in fusion jazz, just hard core musicality. Swings like a donkey. And all with a pick. Chris Wood I know less of but I love his raw energy and swing. Me? I am revisiting a lot of old Reginald Veal stuff as I continue my new travels with the double bass. Edgar Meyer's Bach Cello Suites cd is another regular visitor lately and some Christian McBride (on Jeff Watts 'Watts' cd). Scott Colley, John Patitucci, Marc Johnson; there are a lot of great players to listen to

I like her two fingers per fret technique as well (last photo where she is holding the neck of the bass). That'll cut out all those extraneous notes.

No..

[quote name='purpleblob' post='934520' date='Aug 24 2010, 10:17 AM']Okay, so I admit I have a Wal fretless on order, so I would say that wouldn't I .[/quote] Plus its true!! I first got into Wal's through the Jones/Giblin/Brand X route also. Played several and found them consistently good. They are expensive but they are undoubtedly one of the best (subjectively and objectively). I got mine in 1986 and the only fretless I have considered since is a 5-string Wal (didn't bother as I am not that big a fan of low b's). Still sounds brilliant after 24 years - I paid £740 for it - that's £30 a year. I have earned thousands with it. The price is entirely defensible. It is also now worth 3 or 4 times what I paid for it. Can't say that about Warwicks!

My Wal Custom. Not any Wal, just [b]my[/b] Wal :wub:

I would ask them to lend you an amp if you need one in the meantime. Most shops would do that. If not, let it ride for a while longer. The trouble is that most shops have a guy they use who they rely on but, as they have indicated, things happen and delays can occur (it is credible for a repair guy to have gone on holiday in August, after all ). I had an American amp in for repair once (many years ago) and the delay was caused by the repair guy having trouble accessing a circuit diagram from the manufacturer (this was pre-email). It got done in the end and the amp caused me no more trouble. Three weeks is no time, really. Try ordering a sofa!

Make sure the volume control on Ch1 is turned to zero when Ch2 is in use and vice versa. I don't understand the circuitry etc but I found with mine that, is I use Ch2 when the volume is up on Ch1, even when it is switched to Ch2, there is distortion. I'm no expert but I woudl think the compressor would aggravate but might not cause the problem. Hope it helps.

Historically, all jazz has been structured on some basis or other, even free jazz has its parameters. Dixieland jazz was always based on the idea that one of the lead instruments, say a cornet, played a melody, a clarinet played an obligato over the top of it and a third frontline instrument (trombone) played a more rooted improvised counterpoint. When it works its great but when it doesn't, it can get a bit nasty. Trouble is, a lot of people operate on the assumption that everyone is making stuff up as they go along. There is an element of that but its reactive. The stuff they 'make up' is a response to what has gone before - just as I am 'making up/improvising' this post - it only makes sense if you have read the whole thing and can interpret it in context. If said a load of randon carbunkle peculiar four track dibble dibble plonk, it wouldn't make sense, snorkers, would it, fnar fnar?

Listen in the moment. You may not understand this but, when people listen to music, they unconsciously try to predict where it is going to go. If it goes where we expect, it feels like release (resolution of a dominant chord to its rejlative major etc). If it doesn't go where we expect, it creates tension until it DOES go where we expect. If jazz is always going where you don't expect, it will confuse you because you are unconciously trying to hear the resolutions. Try listening to some jazz 'in the moment', they way you would a conversation. Try something not too demanding. Freddie Freeloader off Miles Davis' Kind Of Blue is a simple place to start. Listen to the way the piano and horns interact. Listen to the walking bass lines and the way they lead you through the harmony. Listen to the relationship between the horn player and the drummers choices. The jazz is in the interaction not in the melodies played alone. Its the sound of surprise.

Play the Blues and Go - off Wynton Marsalis' Live at the Village Vanguard. Ben Wolfe swinging his buns off.... Am sticking to straight walking lines at the moment for d/b practice (building stamina for walking three hours a night!!!)

HMP Latchmere House, 9/11, the day the twin towers fell - the prisoners called for a minutes silence before giving a concert that made some of the professionals I have known look a bit sick.

[quote name='Wolfman' post='929094' date='Aug 18 2010, 09:23 PM']Whatever happened to the 'Hate Jazz' thread to which this was once a mere response?[/quote] Positive passion won out in the end..... (and tBBC got banned )

This month's downloads: Mingus Big Band LiveAt Jazz Standard John Patitucci - Imprint Phronesis - Alive - a welcome recommendation from a fellow basschatter.... Barry Altschul Quartet - Irina - an old early 80s set from a great and underated drummer Christian McBride - Kind Of Brown - swing is the thing Chick Corea Trio Music Live in Europe - Miroslav Vitous in fine form

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='928272' date='Aug 18 2010, 01:12 AM']A professional double bassist was in the crowd and afterwards collared me for a natter about some gigs I might want to do, so I presumably wasn't astonishingly sh*t. Loved it, would do it again.[/quote] Looks like you might have to

I was moved to leave before the start

[quote name='Clarky' post='926613' date='Aug 16 2010, 04:07 PM']I assume that it has probably single-handedly got a fair number of pop fans to listen to Jazz. As for your suggestion about listening to other players, despite being best known on BC as a punk bassist, as it happens I have dozens of Jazz albums featuring not just Ray Brown ("We get requests" has been my wake-up CD on my alarm for the last two years), but also other DB greats including Paul Chambers, Scott LaFaro, Oscar Pettiford, Charlie Mingus, Jimmy Blanton etc. And I can see that they "swing" [/quote] God, I hope not. That's like suggesting that most rock fans got there because of Dollar. Your list of listening material is a great one. I just struggle to see how, having heard those guys, you can give Moondance any credibility at all Hey, Vinny. I'll let you off but the rest of the band should be done for corrupting a minor (key). Don't waste time learning the lines; they suck big time. Also, there is a half a bar dropped in there somewher because Van the Man can't count.... And that scatting? Makes me wince......

[quote name='Clarky' post='926546' date='Aug 16 2010, 03:16 PM']At the risk of turning you into a purple, vein-busting Hulk-type creature, Bilbo, what is so bad about the bassline of Moondance - sounds like (an admittedly pop-inflected) take on a standard Jazz walking bass line to me????[/quote] It doesn't swing, there is no internal logic to the lines and the sound sucks. Apart from that, its grrrrrreat.... If a player is playing a line in, say, A minor, it is not enough just to play the notes in an A minor scale. They need to start somewhere and go somewhere in a logical and musical way. The logic is defined by strong notes (1, 3, 5, 6 or 7) and weak notes (2, 4) and by the creative use of chromatics (everything else) but just playing ABDCEF or G in any order is a bit crap. When you are trying to swing, you need to get a sympathetic sound. The bass on Moondance is a kind of clunky ping ping ping ping ping that sits serparately in the mix and doesn't help the rest of the ensemble gel at all (the track has featured as a 'great' in music tecnology magazines - says a lot about the difference between music and technology). His timing is also uncontrolled and fails to groove in any way whatsoever. The only good thing about this performance is that almost anyone with a pulse can improve upon it. It is, of course, against the law to try.... If this sounds like a jazz walking bass line to you, I suggest you listen to anything with Ray Brown on it before you do anything else. You will be thrilled...