Bilbo

I used Parcel Monkey to send a bass from Felixstowe to Cardiff. It got there in one piece and cost about £12. I can't say any more than that, really. They also took an amp to France for me without any difficulty but that cost £44..

Go see Jakesbass in Aldershot - just down the A3/A31 over the Hog's Back and you are there. He'll sort you out anyway you want to do it.

Since picking up the DB, I have found myself watching old videos and focussing on the r/h plucking techniques. There are a lot of players that only really use one finger on their r/h (Mingus, for instance) but many that use 2 (Dave Holland, Paul Chambers, Scott LaFaro) but some of the one finger players are playing quite rapid passages with ease. In my own experience (such as it is) I am finding that it becomes easier with practice. I started with a very 'electric bass' like technique but, as I have practiced more systematically, I have been able to focus on a more conventional r/h technique with increasing success (still not ripping it up but there is time yet). I do think that, maybe, one of the issues here is in recognising the need for patience and to allow your skills to develop. I also find that I use about three or four r/h techniques (some good, some bad) when I am gigging, if only to compensate for a lack of stamina. But it is getting better slowly.

[quote name='Rich' post='859123' date='Jun 6 2010, 06:28 PM'] How so? I hear no Jaco in Cottle's playing.[/quote] I agree with Faithless. I have seen Cottle several times (and have a couple of cds somewhere) and have found his playing to be derivative. Not just Jaco but lots of Jeff Berlin and several others also. Great player but not a unique voice. A journeyman craftsman but not a great artist. As for LM, I bought Faces and Places to hear him and, whilst there are always 'wow' moments in relation to Zawinul's grooves, ultimately, the music is frantic to the point of unsettling and I find it represents musical excess of the worst possible kind. Clever, spectacular but ultimately emotionally sterile.

I don't practice the electric bass at all at the moment but feel completely natural playing it. I don't find I am inadvertently transferring fingering spacing from the DB to the Wal. What I have noticed is that I am more focussed on my intonation on electric than I was before and I was pretty much nailing it then so that's a good thing.

Did a lot of DB practice yesterday and then a gig on electric bass. Feeling a bit sore today, handswise, like when you have been shifting bricks all day!!

I am listening as we speak to Edgar Meyer's Unaccompanied Cello Suites performed on the Double Bass and am loving it. Has anyone any recommendations for other arco recordings by top drawer players. Classical preferrably, solo would be good. Not a lot of great arco jazz out there (Stewart and Chambers excepted).

Just been through a major transaction with Nicolas and he has shown himself to be a man of honour. You can deal with him in confidence.

[quote name='iamthewalrus' post='857470' date='Jun 4 2010, 05:15 PM']I won't be playing in a pit band any time soon but it would be nice to play all the stuff in my bass books [/quote] I think that is one of the most important aspects of this. It is a great way of maximising your practice time and getting you into the learning material andout the other side.

[quote name='BenTunnicliffe' post='856787' date='Jun 4 2010, 02:23 AM']Bit of a rant but for me going through the Jaco stuff I got a nice basis for technique, insight into improvisation, rhythm, harmony and individualism but breaking out of that was equally beneficial in different ways with both these processes being hugely important to me.[/quote] You've hit the nail on the head, Ben. Study improvisation, rhythm and harmony and not Jaco and the student will get to where s/he needs to be a lot quicker.

Some nice ideas floating around there, Ben. And your bass sounds great. Di or mic?

Actually, I interviewed Ron Carter for my Paul Chambers biography and he played with Mingus on "The Shoes of the Fisherman's Wife Are Some Jive Ass Slippers" My God. I did it in 2!!

I was listening to a Mingus download this morning and got to thinking how many degrees of separation woudl take us from me to the great man himself. The quickest route I could find was: Me Stan Sultzman (did a gig with him in Jagz in Ascot once) Dave Holland (played on Kenny Wheeler's 'Flutterby Butterfly' with Stan Sultzman John Scofield (played with Holland in the jazz 'supergroup' ScoLoHoFo) Charles Mingus (Scofield played on the bass players LP 'Three or Four Shades of Blue' Or Me Nigel Cyril (a drummer from Newport in Monmouthsire) Courtney Pine (Nigel played with the saxophonist once) Branford Marsalis (Pine played on Branford's 'The Beautyful Ones Are Not Yet Born' Herbie Hancock (played on Marsalis' Renaissance LP) Miles Davis (featured Hancock in his second great Quintet) Charles Mingus (played with Davis on several recordings in the late 1940s/early 1950s How quick can you get there...?

All sounds a bit bizarre to me but, hell, I like string to be at least a decade old before they settle in.... Maybe I should get Etienne to play my bass for three songs wheneever I need a restring.

A carbon fibre bow from Yita Music (on ebay). And a heavy duty music stand.

Just for reference, I have used Parcel Monkey on the last two occasions I have sent something (bass to Cardiff and amp to France). BOth got there in one piece without any problems. £12 (I think) to Cardiff - £45 to France. Did it all on line and they collected from a place of my choice (in my case, work). Delivery two days later.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='855024' date='Jun 2 2010, 04:07 PM']+1. I'm trying to learn how to bow at the moment, I've found it's a great test of the patience of my neighbours.[/quote] :lol::lol:

Its an old tried and tested methd guitarists use to breath new life int old strings. Personally, as someone who changes strings aboput once a decade, I hate the sound of new strings so I would never do it. It apparently makes them bright for a little while but they get dull again very quickly. Never heard it done with bass strings but why not?

I have spent time looking at Jaco, Percy Jones and Jeff Berlin but eventually figured out its the music that counts not the player. Study music not musicians. It is wonderfully useful to recognise the techniques people use; finger style using alternate, three or even four fingers, slapping, double thumbing, tapping etc but, for me, the important thing is to learn the TECHNIQUE only and not to spend too long with the player a, because you will inevitably fail to sound like them so it is a fools errand and, b, because that is not a way to make great music. Learn the music. Learn what makes bebop work. Learn to play funk grooves. Learn to shred. Learn what chords sound like. I posted something here ages ago about not wasting time learning party tricks like Donna Lee/Dixie/Amazing Grace etc. If you want to play bebop leanr anything by Parker EXCEPT Donna Lee. This is the stuff that will take you places. Learning a load of other players party pieces, however great the original;, will bring you very little return in the long run. THe problem with finding your true path is in recognising that you are already on it.

Did my fourth double bass gig yesterday. Slim Hopgood's Swingin' Hamptons at Isaacs in Ipswich - a tradish jazz band that I do once or twice a year because they are friends - I don't accept trad gigs ordinarily. It was also a chance to give the double bass a workout, Good news? Did the whole gig on double bass and didn't have to resort to the Wal at all. No arm, hand or shoulder pain. No blisters at all (only minimal soreness at the tips of my r/h fore/middle fingers when submerged in hot water) Noone laughed. Bad news Not a great sound through my (flat) Eden amp Loud drummer resulted in a complete lack of finesse on my part and the complete loss of any technique worth speaking of The realisation that, now the honeymoon period is over, I have a mountain to climb to get to the level I want to achieve. Not that I am shying away from that climb; its nothing more that a moment of pathos...

[quote name='Caddy' post='847427' date='May 25 2010, 12:52 PM']Collection prefered, but delivery can be negotiated.[/quote] Where are you based, Paul?

[quote name='Hector' post='849999' date='May 28 2010, 01:51 AM']Learning to read music totally changed my life. I'm not exaggerating. One day, about 4 or 5 years ago, a friend asked if I wanted to play bass in a production of Les Miserables. I lied and said I could read music in order to get the gig. I sweated over that score to learn to read, but when it was time for the show I nailed it. I jumped in the deep end, and it was scary at first. I never thought I'd be able to do it! 5 years later and I am a totally different musician. Learning to read started me playing upright, which is the love of my life. I joined an orchestra and started getting/taking much more gigs, partly because I doubled on electric and upright but mostly because I could read competently. Since then, I've not looked back. 75% of my gigs I play on a regular basis involve reading, and more often than not sight reading (and those that aren't are jazz charts). There are still things that catch me out occasionally, but for the most part I'm fluent. I play with countless different orchestras, big bands, musicals, ensembles etc. I've met so many great people and made so many friends, and become a more rounded, competent and employable bass player. It sounds like I'm blowing my own trumpet a bit, which I don't mean to do. The point I'm trying to make is that the one little decision I made all those years ago to get off my arse and learn to read properly has opened up a whole world of opportunities for me. Music is such a huge part of my life, and I love it, but I'd never have met so many people and played so many wonderful pieces if I hadn't learnt to read. It's allowed me to appreciate and enjoy what it is I do on a deeper level than I did before reading. It's made me so happy, and I'm grateful every single day that I get to play bass with and for so many people. I'm busy as feck mind, with my degree on top of gigging, but if you really love something it barely even feels like a sacrifice. I hope learning to read makes you as happy as it has me! EDIT: p.s. I feel the same about having a good ear, sight transposition (ever backed a singer who can't do original keys?) and being able to bash out a bit of piano.[/quote] Says it all. I've got something in my eye....

I can't help with any of teh detail, mate, but woudl recommend strongly that you deal with the reading issue. Not all sessions are studio based; many are live and require on site reading skills (shows, deps etc). If you have paino reading skills, this should not be too difficult a piece of work for you. Get your head down and nail those dots and you will open up a world of work for yourself.

Started on some bastard child of a guitar (4 nylon strings and two steel) but the first 'proper instrument' I owned was a bass. I now have one bass (double bass on its way) and four guitars.

Tone every time. When it comes down to it, getting around the neck is overated. Great in practice rooms and at bass clinics but, on the bandstand, I could probably still do 90% of my gigs if I lost two fingers of each hand