Bilbo

I often use mine for reading practice (i.e. I don't learn them very often...)

Don't waste your time with books dedicated to fretless bass. The information that you will need to make yourself a great player is the same as you would get for fretted bass. Scales, chords, harmony, melody, rhythm. The 'fretlessness' of your bass is only relevant in that you have to make sure you play in tune. Its not magic, its hundreds of hours of practice and the discipline of listening to your self and playing with your ears and not your eyes. Save your money or buy Mark Levines 'The Jazz Theory Book'. Books dedicated to fretless are pretty nonsensical. Millions of double bass players can't be wrong PS I have played fretless pretty much exclusively for 24 years.

I post mine here......

[quote name='CHRISDABASS' post='838693' date='May 16 2010, 10:54 AM']probably the cleanest looking control cavity ive ever seen![/quote] Paul Herman employs these tiny little Hobbits with tiny little hoovers to keep them that way... ickle people.... really ickle.

Good to see these are still in production. Mine is 24 years old now and has never let me down.

Depends on what I am transcribing for. I use seventhstrings Transcribe software and go through it step by step until I have a complete chart. If its for a chart I am going to play, I will then learn it. If the chart is for someone else, I probably won't.

Mirror - like Phil Lynot.

Who were the players, dp?

Just keep doing it and you will find, realtively quickly, that the stamina will develop. Never underestimate the value of tedious repetition!!

[quote name='Prime_BASS' post='836450' date='May 13 2010, 06:29 PM']Ok I'm stupd what's a triplet?[/quote] A baby trip..... A triplet is three notes played evenly against one beat Say these evenly while tapping your foot, each word starting on the beat plum plum plum plum (crotchet/quarter note) apple apple apple apple (quavers/ eighth notes) banana banana banana banana (triplets) Hurrah!!

[quote name='Faithless' post='835886' date='May 13 2010, 08:49 AM']Is it just me, or Laurence's big band stuff sounds too much like Jaco's big band stuff?[/quote] It has always been an issue for me that Laurence sounds like a composite of a couple of other players (Jaco and Jeff Berlin, primarily) rather than having a unique voice of his own. I always think that players like, say, Steve Swallow and Kermit Drsicoll, have none of the chops of people like Cottle but, because they have 'their' thing, they are more interesting to listen to. Cottle's writing is the same. Intelligent, cerebral etc but not really meaningful. He is one of those guys with a huge basket of skills that still never moves on. I think he just needs to find himself amongst all of the 'stuff' he has learned. He's still a great player, though.

I have seen these and they look visually interesting but it seems we are all caught up in this mythology around new and 'cheap' basses (i.e. anything under £2K - when did that sum start meaning cheap? ). 'Buy an old bass and get a luthier to work on it', says everyone. Oh and that'll be another £600. But then someone else tells us that they bought their bass for £350, changed the strings and now its got a massive sound Add all the 'ebay horror stories' to the list and we are all left incapable of making a decision!! Can anyone she any light on these Gedo basses and put us 'newbies' out of our misery?

[quote name='Moos3h' post='835148' date='May 12 2010, 11:03 AM']Can't say I'm much of a fan (or don't know) a lot on your list, but I think Acoustic Ladyland and Polar Bear are both from the UK and they make music I adore![/quote] A bit funky/groove orientated for my tastes but cool...

There has always been a general consensus that all of the best jazz comes from the US. I think that this has been challanged over the last couple of decades and that, in addition to jazz from Europe and the Far East, there has been a great deal of quality music coming out of the UK for the last 20 years or more. Following on from the talented but exceptional Tubby Hayes/Ronnie Scott/Jazz Couriers group (‘57 – ’59), we have seen major progress in the form of bands like Loose Tubes and the Delightful Precipice Orchestra and players like Courtney Pine, Iain Ballamy, John Taylor and Tommy Smith in the 80s and 90s. More recently, small groups like Neil Cowley’s Trio, Empirical, the FIRE Collective, etc have started to appear. So the question is, what British led jazz LPs have turned your head now or in the past? Ex-pats are welcome if they are long term residents of the UK. Defectors are excluded – Dave Holland, George Shearing etc – the choices must have been conceived and recorded within these shores. My favourites? For starters….. Kenny Wheeler – Flutter By, Butterfly (Canadian but here since 1950s) Kenny Wheeler – Music for Large and Small Ensembles Iain Ballamy – Balloon Man Loose Tubes – Delightful Precipice Django Bates – Winter Truce (and Homes Blaze) Bill Bruford’s Earthworks – 1st (1990) John Taylor Trio – Whirlpool Andy Sheppard’s Co-Motion – Rhythm Method Courtney Pine – Journey Ot The Urge WIthin Steve Berry Trio – 1st What British Jazz has done it for you.

Rub it all over with gravy granules*. It might harm the varnish but the dog will LOVE it *NB this post was added for comedic effect. Rubbing your bass with gravy granules is NOT a method of ageing that is recommended by the International Society of Bassists.

THat's a fair price, Pkomor. MAy get one myself (I have two already )

I have these two for sale. One is all Duke Ellington tunes (with piano/bass/drums) and the other is a handful of other jazz standards (Guitar/Bass Drums). You can isolate the piano/drums from the bass by turning the balance on your stereo to one side. The Aebersold series are a tried and tested learning tool. Most of us jazzers have used them. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=73964&hl=aebersold"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...mp;hl=aebersold[/url]

I seem to have a much more casual relationship with gear than most. I operate on the basis that, if you have a good professional quality instrument and a good professional quality amp/speaker/combo, if you have nay sort of ability, it will sound fine. You can tweak and fiddle and tweak some more but, IME, the room you are in is the biggest factor in determining the effectiveness of your sound, followed by the number of bodies. Good bass, good amp, good room, good crowd - nirvana. Good bass, good amp, bad room, no people - you will struggle. I have a good bass (Wal) and a good amp (Eden) but, if they were replaced by another good bass and another good amp, I envisage no reall problems in making it work for me. I think there is too much fussing about things that matter very little and too little attention paid to the things that matter a lot. Bit like life really......