Bilbo

[quote name='Ray' post='783321' date='Mar 23 2010, 12:44 PM']The truth is that I can only play these tunes because my technique is pretty good and I can remember where the Tab told me to put my fingers. I don't necessarily understand why I'm playing the notes I'm playing, I.E. the relationship between the notes and the chords they're being played over. Tab has made me rely on shapes and muscle memory which I find limits my playing. Unfortunately, it's a rut I'm finding difficult to get out of...[/quote] I think you hit the nail on the head, Ray. TAB is a tool, agreed, but it is like taking the wheel nuts off you car with a spoon. Its often the wrong tool for the job. The fact is that reading music is the Swiss Army knife of the music world. It is not just about sight reading charts in studios and at show gigs. It is one of the most tried and tested means of communication between composers and players, teachers and students, arrangers and performers etc. It is a fantastic aid to learning and can save you vast amounts of time if you can do it to a functional level. I can't read fly s*** because I don't read enough but I can get by on most gigs most of the time. What I can do is write things down for rehearsals so less time is wasted - or read things that others have written down. It is a tool that provides me with an infallable memory, unlike the 'learn by ear' players I often play with who struggle to remember the arrangements they thought they had learned last week. I may write out a whole chart or just jot down a core groove, unison line or scale for soloing. It makes you play things you would never have thought of by yourself and gets you out of ruts in a minute. It is not a perfect tool: it doesn't communicate many of the idiosyncracies of genre or groove, for instance, but it does give you a massively useful tool that can be used in all sorts of ways to make you a better musician. It is NOT just about sight reading on gigs. The man who persuaded my of the usefulness of reading and started my passion for the skill was saxophonist Iain Ballamy, one of the UK's leading [i]improvising musicians[/i]. Go figure. Don't listen to people who tell you its not useful. I agree its not 'necessary' in an absolute sense but don't let that con you into thinking its ok to be lazy because you can get away without it. Of course you can but you limit your options unnecessarily. Reading the dots well is a flippin' marvellous buzz (I still remember the feeling I had when I read 'Sir Duke' for the first time cold on a gig - you can't buy that feeling) and is a lot more useful that tab. People like tab because it makes sense on day one. Written music may take a week to get to understand. Big deal. It is time well spent. The irony is that, once you 'get' it, its no harder than tab anyway.

Its a Sibelius thing, Jake. Sometimes it just defaults in ways I can't fathom (or resolve easily). My version is old (version 2 or so, its now on 5) so I guess some of these bugs have been dealt with but, yes, I agree, its not the most readable way of presenting things. I also had to put a bar of 8:4 in there to get a 3 against 4 feel across a bar line. Technology, huh? Can't live with it, can't live without.

Go to his website and have a listen to his stuff. I have seem Scott play twice (Jim Hall and Joe Lovano) and he impressed me both times. Great sound, great feel. His two trio CDs with Chris Potter and Bill Stewart are excellent but anything he does is worth a listen. There are some music files you can hear on his site or you can find his stuff on itunes. His discography is extensive. [url="http://scottcolley.com/default.aspx"]http://scottcolley.com/default.aspx[/url]

Agreed - tha main discipline is the reading of things in real time. Practising reading anything once is like doing the gig with no rehearsal. That's the point. It doesn't matter if it is the sort of thing you play regularly because you are training your mind to DO the reading. As you get better, you find that you read in bigger chunks, eventually a whole bar is read as a certain rhythm instead of each note. Then it is two bars, them four and you are off. Most reading gets to be familiar as most complex bass parts are repetitive funk or latin lines that are two bars long and then repeated. An average big band gig has about 16 bars of difficult reading a night. Reading the rhythms is the hardest part at first but the easiest later on when the accidentals throw you off balance. The classical stuff you are talking about is good because, whilst a lot of it IS straight sixteenths, some of it isn't so you have to remain on your guard and play the lines that are written NOT the lines you think are written. Its the discipline of looking at the paper and playing the instrument at the same time that is the art of sight reading to professional standards (I can't do it. I am a nearly but not quite reader, I can do it but not if it gets too heavy. When you have regular reading gigs, it gets better quitre quickly so the do a bit every day idea is spot on.

[quote name='Mike' post='779960' date='Mar 19 2010, 04:22 PM']Hey Bilbo - have you thought about shooting Jeff a message either through Talkbass or via his website? He's very interactive with fans. I think when he sees what an immense job you've done, he'll be delighted to help out, maybe throw you the changes or something....just a thought! Kudos, as always! Mike[/quote] I sent him a message on MySpace (he sends me enough ) but no response (I know he read it). Guess he's too busy.

I heard the challange. I thought, why not? Have a go! says I. It'll be a good exercise. Ouch.

In light of cetera's Ambrosia post, I thought I would post an old favourite of mine. Its an old jazz rock outfit called Vimana. It featured Corrado Rusticci on guitar and vocals, Elio D'Anna (Sax,Flute), Renato Rosset(Key) our very own Percy Jones on bass, Narada Michael Walden(dr) and, Phil Collins on percussion. Let these ride: a kind of progressive rock/Mahavishnu/Brand X vibe but very melodic and great dynamics. Vimana is a great composition, The Princess and the Frog is great fun with a solid groove in 6:4 and Driftwood is more subtle. Rustici is a great voice on guitar and D'Anna avoids any bebop cliches. Never heard any of their other stuff - its impossible to find!! [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVonc6gSg7Q&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVonc6gSg7Q...feature=related[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEIY6mv5SKc&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEIY6mv5SKc...feature=related[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I4Q9b7WTjw&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I4Q9b7WTjw...feature=related[/url]

That'a my take on Berlin most of the time. I am impressed by his facility but hate his sound and don't like the music he writes or plays. Simple as that. No soul!!

Lovely. Classic Miles use of space. Good work, time well spent.

Someone asked for this one after I posted my transcription of Jeff Berlin's 'Bach'. It is the whole of his '20,000 Prayers', solos and everything, but, after getting the dots down, I was unable to fathom the chords. I made a start and guess I could keep trying but, to be blunt, I don't really want to spend that much time on it. So I figured I would post it anyway so that, if anyone is of a mind to complete it, they can. Its a [i]really[/i] heavy one!! Hope its of use to someone.

[quote name='Faithless' post='769675' date='Mar 9 2010, 08:27 PM']Here it goes..[/quote] Got to it at last. Your transcription is fine. The phrases you circled are correct to my ears/eyes. It sounds strange because normally the triplet feel played against straight time creates tension. As the groove is a 12:8 feel, the four sixteenths played against the triplet have a similar effect. So, in this case, you choice of note values in the transcribed version is correct. Good work.

Depends what the bass plkayer plays. If he hits a Csharp, its Emin9 wihtout the root. If the bass player hits a Bb, its a Bb sharp 11 b9

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='777346' date='Mar 17 2010, 01:25 PM']I've been told I'm "too old" too. Great.[/quote] NOW you know why we play jazz!!

[quote name='Faithless' post='776721' date='Mar 16 2010, 09:26 PM']Nice one, Rob. Sorry for the OT, but, judging from your avatar, you've yet been gigging with double bass? [/quote] Not gigging but I have played it with a trio for a photo session. Its coming. I am close to gig ready but need to sort out stuff like pick-ups etc. Got a call this weekend for a quintet with guitar, drums, sax/clarinet, violin and double bass (original jazz/tango/flamenco stuff) so word is out that I am looking for work.

[quote name='frank' post='776885' date='Mar 17 2010, 02:35 AM']Thanks Bilbo ill have a go at that By any chance would you have a transcription for Terminal Baggage Claim on the Chick Corea Akoustic Band Album which im learning at the minute.[/quote] Not a transcription, frank, but I do have a chart. Have you got it?

Great swinging bassline and a little four bar break. Easy to read, great to play. Its also nice to hear such a logical and simple line played across what many think is a very complex chord sequence. If you get this one under your fingers, Joy Spring will never feel nearly as difficult and you will see the logic much more readily.

Don't let violinists rib you abot intonation, ngh. They have no right to point that particular finger. Definition of a minor ninth? A violin and fretless bass playing unison lines!!!

Thanks for the tip-off, Pablo. And all those DH charts available as downloads!!! Superb resource for dedicated Holland fans like myself!! I'm so excited, I almost bought a round!

Tony Reeves from Greenslade was someone whose work I used to like. Someone once told me he had died but I don't think he has. Anyone know anything?

[quote name='The Admiral' post='771855' date='Mar 11 2010, 05:24 PM']Neil Murray - what a fantastic and inventive player, who really drove the band along. Anyone else got a contender?[/quote] Murray had a lot more to offer than we saw with Whitesnake and Vow Wow. He was, at one time, the bass player in National Health, a UK jazz-rock band that also contained, at one time, Dave Stewart and Bill Bruford before they formed Bruford, the band that introduced Jeff Berlin to the world. Murray also played on Colloseum II's marvellous 'Strange New Flesh'. Obviously and understandably attracted to the bright lights and relatively financial security (?) of the rock market, he has a rep that is based on a very limted perspective on his abilities. A highly rated player who was, neverthelss, underated!

[quote name='essexbasscat' post='771444' date='Mar 11 2010, 11:54 AM']And as Bilbo says:[/quote] When did I say that? Seriously, I do it another way. I now do all of my transcriptions on Sibelius and start with the notes in bar one and work on from there to the end bar. When I have finished writing out the notes the bass plays, I look for the chords. Sometimes I find them by playing along with a guitar, sometimes I have real book charts already but occasionally I go to the net. Sometimes I get a riff and stick with that, other times I look for every fill. It it does depend on why you are transcribing. Sometimes I only want to study a short passage, a few bars. Sometimes, I just want to work out a head, or a solo, or a riff etc. The ones I publish here are generally (but not all) 'complete' end to end transcriptions in a effort to be helpful to people who want to study them but, at home, I transcribe as much or as little as I need to get what I want out of the exercise.