Bilbo

It came to mind when I was contributing to another thread here. Apologies if it has been done before but I was thinking.... A lot of folk here are fairly obsessive about their gear and getting their sound. There is talk of this type of bass vs. that type, these strings vs. those, that amp, vs. the other sort etc etc. By implication, the right formula of bass, strings, amp, lead, pedal, compressor etc etc will give you the greatest sound in the world - your own. The implication is that, if you can buy this great sound, so can someone else (an over simplification I know but work with me). Now some will know I am not particularly attracted to these kinds of arguments and believe that there is a lot to be gained by working with the sound you have rather than mincing about trying to find another one (the problem with finding your true path is in realising that you are already on it...). So, my question is, how many of us admire and aspire to having a sound like a player whose playing we don't like? Most of us like the sound of players whose music we like listening to so, by my reckoning, it is the sound of the bass in the context of the music being played that attracts us NOT the sound itself. So, whilst we can buy the gear and get THAT sound we seek, we can't really recreate the context in which it exists so are inevitable frustrated because our perfect sound does not exist in isolation. So, who do you think has got a great sound but you nevertheless don't like listening to them. For my part, I can't think of a single player.

A welcome addition to my downloaded charts file!! Great perfromance and some classic Flim fills (bar 37 and those last few bars you mentioned). I have always loved the way he uses the whole range of his bass in some of his fills. And never forget the power of the straight crotchet!!!! Now I wanna go listen to more Flim Johnson!!! Curses!

[quote name='yorick' post='692289' date='Dec 23 2009, 01:03 PM']Am I Evil by Diamondhead.[/quote] I have that LP in a white cover. Is it worth anything yet?

I have always found them quick. I guess it depends what you order (2 x SM58s last time, if I recall correctly)

[quote name='danny-79' post='692572' date='Dec 23 2009, 08:51 PM']....ove it or hate it pretty much everybody has owned a copy of it at some point.[/quote] Its a small world you live in, Danny - I can pretty much say, unequivocally, that the percetnage of the musicians I regularly play with that will have owned or heard BSSM is tiny.

Having done some considerable research into the lives of Black American musicians, I have absolutely no doubt that they were hugely disadvantaged up until the Civil Rights movement but am equally convinced that the racism that resulted in their active oppression didn't just go away because Rosa Parks didn't give up her bus seat. It just got more subtle. There is so much evidence of the marginalisation of Black Americans in all walks fo life, even today, that it would be incredible if this didn't work its way into the music business. Whilst my own value base would agree with Bloodaxe in terms of 'if it sounds good, it is good', the OP was referring to the commercial success or otherwise of a string of Black artists not at his opinion of their individual merits and asking whether this was a consequence of Race. I suspect it played a part - maybe in the distribution of their product, their mainstream media presence, the inches of newsprint they were given, the support of the record companies, the frequency with which they appeared on the radio, the support gigs they were offered etc etc. It is hard to point at this and screm 'racism' as other white bands get the same treatment but, comparing like for like, were they disadvantaged by their Race? Maybe? Maybe not - whatever happened, they made their mark and should be congratulted. RHCP came too late for me so its not fair for me to compare their appeal (I have never heard BSSM but have heard Vivid, Stain and the otehr Vernon Reid stuff mentioned earlier). But I would be surprised if the Black acts listed and RHCP were competing on a level playing field. PS - the concept of music as the ultimate Meritocracy is a personal one. I used to share it but, after years of looking at the issue, have had to come to the conclusion that it is not the case and nevet was. Read Val Wilmer, Frank Kofsky, Albert Murray, Stanley Crouch, Amira Baraka....

There is a long tradition of White artists benefitting from the success of pirated/plagiarised 'Black music'. Benny Goodman, the so called 'King of Swing' was said to ride on the abilities of Freddie Keppard etc, the first jazz band recorded 'the Original Dixieland Jazz Band' were White, Chet Baker had commercial successes where Miles Davis didn't (Baker did sing tho' which made him more marketable), Bill Haley, Elvis Presley et al were all said to be clones of black artists - it is often said that Presley's success was based on his being a White man (more marketable) simply doing what Black acts had been doing for years in the more marginal 'Race' market. In the 1980s, Herbie Hancock made a video for his 'Rockit' single that did not feature him as his presence on-screen, as a Black artist, was thought to have made the product less marketable to the new video channels like MTV. Perhaps all of this is demographically inevitable - people of one culture taking something from another and making it accessible to a new market. Perhaps its subtle or not so subtle racism - the White market preferring to spend money on one of its own. Its always difficult to be absolutely sure. It may simply be that the work of Black artists at that time didn't resonate with the marketplace the way it does now. But that doesn't explain Michael Jackson, Motown, Stevie Wonder etc. Maybe the Rock/Metal market wasn't ready for Black guys playing music that was traditionally White. In truth, Vernon Reid, of Living Color, already had a pedigree as a free jazz musician (Ronald Shannon Jackson's Decoding Society, Hal Wilner's 'Weird Nightmare', Bill Frissel's In Line' etc) and may have been less satisfied with the commercial market. Maybe a lot of the underground Black metal bands were just ahead of their time. In short, I'm damned if I know!

Good work, Matt! Time well spent!! Didn't know the tune (have some Yellowjackets but it all got a bit predictable for me). This is nice, tho'. I will get the track off itunes and give it a go!

1) How long have you been playing Bass Guitar/String Bass for or both? Electric - 29 years - Double bass - three weeks 2) If you don’t play string bass/bass guitar have you thought of doubling up on either to get more recognition as a bass player? Not to get more recognition but to get more work! 3) Who are your favourite exponents of both string bass/bass guitar? Dave Holland and Marc Johnson on double. Steve Swallow and Jimmy Johnson on electric 4) Do you think that both the bass guitar and string bass are important as bass instruments? DIfferent instruments that work better in different settings but, yes, they are both important 5) What genres do you think are important for bass players to listen to? All 6) Do you think electric guitarists can learn to play bass guitar more than string bass? Yes, the change is easier 7) Do you think bass can be used to solo as well as accompany other instruments? Of course but with care 8) Do you think it is important to learn to sight read? Very - not because its is essential but because it is particularly useful 9) What do you think of bass guitars such as 5 string/6 string e.g. as being an add-on to the bass players role? 5 string yes but the 6 is probably not worth the extra upper range as it is thin and icky. After that, I think the ERB thing is a bit 'for the sake of it. 10) What are your opinions on electric upright basses as a substitute for the string bass? If the instrument works, fine, if it doesn't.... 11) What is the best amp to use for bass guitar or string bass? Too simplistic - I use Eden but others would do the job just as well. 12) What pickups for string bass are the best for capturing the natural tone of the instrument? Not got that far yet.

After a great year in 2008 (120), 2009 was a bit of a let down with only 52. The people I work with lost three residencies to the recession (two venues stopped having bands and one went bust). One of them has restarted albeit fortnightly instead of weekly but the other two are dead in the water. Its given me a reason the revisit the double bass (to try and get more jazz work) and a little more practice time but here's hoping 2010 picks up.

Band in a Box may be useful. Its not great but as a sketch pad, it can be quite effective in allowing you to put in chord sequences and hearing them with different feels. The samples are weak and the rock stuff particularly poor but, as I said, as a sketch pad, it has merit.

That'll be a Chapman Stick, won't it?

Most Western jazz harmony comes from six scales: major, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor, diminished and augmented. In VERY simplistic terms, chords are genrally built around alternate notes on each of those scales e.g. 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 C Major scale = CDEFGABC so 1357 is CEGB = a major seventh c Natural Minor = CDEbFGAbBbC so 1357 is CEbGBb = minor seventh c Harmonic minor = CDEbFGAbBC so 1357 is CEbGB = minor/major seventh and so on. Its a massive subject (especially when you get into voicings and inversions) but the principles are quite simple. I woudl recommend you get in touch with someone who knows this stuff and get some 1:1 time.

You can also get a C-melody saxophone, whatever that is!

[quote name='silddx' post='680207' date='Dec 10 2009, 01:19 PM']Damped pick tone is almost impossible with fingers though.[/quote] Damp the strings with the side of your palm and pick with the side of your thumb. Works for me

[quote name='Rich' post='680244' date='Dec 10 2009, 01:49 PM']Do we as bassists have a reputation of generally hating picks or something?[/quote] Probably. But I think the important thing to remember is the music. The sounds we make and their relationship with the other notes/sounds being played at a given moment in the music is what should define the ways we execute our ideas. One of the main problems with bass, guitars and drums is that we can all be distracted by the ACT of playing rather than its PURPOSE. We are impressed by the PROCESS rather than the OUTCOME. I haven't used a pick since I developed the facility to do without but my favourite electric player, Steve Swallow, uses on all of the time. The producer who asked Rich to play with a pick was doing his job; producing i.e. what will make the music better rather than what makes the bass player feel more comfortable.

I am trying to look this up (saddo that I am) and can't find a definitive answer but it appears that it evolved rather than happened. Early instruments appear to have been variable in pitch but a common phenomenon appears to have been pentatonics (a Chinese discovery originally). Early keyboards would have had all white notes but, as musicians 'discovered' other notes, they added them one at a time calling them sharps or flats etc. Tempered scales came later but I guess noone woke up one day and said 'lets call this easy one C' but it evolved over centuries and across continents to what we call the tempered scale today. All of this is a Western phenomenon and other culltures have different notes/scales etc. In short, it was unintentional.

47 - old? From where I am standing it looks, errrr, next.....

To be blunt - a lesson is a lesson not a gig - you should not have to 'impress' your teacher with astonishing displays of technique (if you can, he probably isn't the right teacher - arguable) and any teacher who requires you to start a lesson with Donna Lee etc is clearly a prat. You should be able to warm up perfectly adequately by a few hand stretches as you go in through the front door of your teachers house/shop/studio or by a few moments of simple, comfortable playing. I know its a temptation to try and impress your teacher but if s/he is worth their salt, you will a, almost certainly fail, b, make yourself look immature and c, waste half your lesson showimg off what you know and learning nothing (which was, after all, the point of you going to the teacher in the first place).

Its arbitrary. The note is 'first' because the key is routinely taught first because it has no sharps or flats i.e. the major scale is made up of the white notes on a piano. Its the easiest to read if you are learning to read music as it has no key signature (as does its relative minor, A). Otherwise its cyclical; there is no 'first'. I suspect that, historically, it all 'starts' with A minor rather than C? Lefty may know - its all Greek to him....

Its getting easier slowly. That low F is still a toughie but even that is coming along as I get more evenly balanced in the left hand fingering. The buzz is not in the results you hear per se but in the fact that I can do all that without any tears! So far, so good!

I had my first double bass lesson with Jakesbass last Saturday, the same day I got the bass. I got the instrument home and left it alone for a day due to other pressures. On Monday night, 7th Dec, I spent an hour working on the material Jake provided me with and made some immediate progress. For me, as I have said before on here, one of the barriers to my playing the upright related to difficulties I was having with pain in my hands which prevented me playing for more than a few minutes at a time. With Jake's help, even after one day, I was able to do things that I couldn't do before and was able to see improvements from when I last tried 8 years ago (ish). After three days practicinf, (in reality, three hours in total) I was able to play a rudimentary solo bass piece (mostly on the D and G strings, to be fair but not entirely) for over 4 minutes without any difficulties and with no residual pain in my left hand (or my right). I recorded some short improvisations on day one and day three which, despite their obvious shortcomings (weak intonation, clumsy phrasing, lots of extraneous noise etc), are startling, when compared to where I was last time I tried. And all with no pain or strain. I have a long, long way to go and have to remain focussed on the little details for some time yet but I wanted to share my new found enthusiasm and excitement at starting this journey. The message? Never underestimate the benefits of a good teacher! Hoever good you think you are, some small direction from an experienced colleague can make a massive difference.

Use the whole neck as and when it is required - otherwise its like saying 'only use A to H when you write' or 'only words of one syllable' when you speak. Stay at the deep end if your instincts tell you its the musical thing to do but not because the other end is scary or complicated - that's just advocating ignorance.

I think it all depends on the circumstances. As a jazzer, I am not actually 'in' most of the bands I play with so, if I am booked alongside a musician who I don't 'like' personally, I only have to behave for one evening. In truth, there are very few people who I can't get along with on a civilised level but, then again, in these circles you are generally playing with intelligent people who are interested in the music and are sufficiently humble to know that we all have a lot to learn and a long way to go before we can start badmouthing/looking down on other players. I know I am generalising but, in jazz, you don't get the arrogance that you sometimes see in some popular music genres. We could all use a little humility (I have more than most....)

Its less complicated than that, Jake. You listened to what I had to say and responded to the issues of concern that I raised. Instead of coming at it from a sterile 'this is what you have to learn' angle, you came at it from a 'this is what Bilbo needs to do to solve his problems' perspective. Communication is always a two way street but you listen as much as, if not more than, you speak - unlike me A lesson with Jake is bespoke, folks, not off the peg/one size fits all. I certainly heard no rambling from your side of the room and, trust me, I know rambling when I hear it !