Bilbo

Just my fourpenn'th on the 'Is Kind Of Blue really modal'? debate. My feeling is that the label of 'modal' wasn't put there by Davis or any of the musicians (unless Evans suggests it in his sleevenotes). The fact remains that jazz musicians use diatonic harmony as a starting point but use notes outside of the conventional harmony to create tensions, interest etc. It would follow, therefore, that they would use modal playing as skeleton to bounce off and throw all sorts of extra-curricular activity in there. So, if you are improvising in a Prygian mode in C, you would not just be playing the notes EFGABCD but using that as a 'point of reference' and immediately compromising it with implied substitutions etc. Is that fair? I guess that labelling a piece of art 'after the fact' is always going to present difficulties and inconcsistencies. I guess the label doesn't really matter. Its the noises they are making that count!

Start flat and turn the bass eq all the way down, listen, then turn it all the way up, listen again. Then put it back to the centre. Do this for mids and highs and you will have already learned something. There is no magic here. Just use you ears and figure it out by trial and error.

In general, and, theoretically at every gig, start with everything straight up and work from there, adding or removing frequencies to taste. Takes a while at first but gets quicker as you practice. Never forget the realtionshipo between eq and volume, however. A great sound played quietly is not necessarily a great sound when you turn the volume up.

Your avatar just reminded me of a gig story. I was booked to do a funtion at an Army barracks in Colchester. It was a fancy dress do and there were all sorts there: Saddam, Spiderman, the usual nurses and policemen, cowboys and vicars but one guy caught my attention. Dressed in an orange jumpsuit and a hockey mask, he had obviously come as Hannibal Lecter. After the usual introductions and a few congratulartory compliments regarding his originality and flair, the aforementioned Hannibal went to the bar and ordered. He picked up two drinks and handed one to his friend and then paused, looking at his beer for a long moment. He then turned to the barman and asked 'have you got a straw, mate'?

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='669844' date='Nov 30 2009, 10:57 AM']Got it now - thanks Bilbo. One small point: Bar 26 last 4 quavers and Bar 27 first crotchet triplet should be 8va. The Major[/quote] I should send these to you for proof reading. I sometimes find that some of these details are a result of a slip of the mouse when fiddling with Sibelius things. I will have a look at it when I can (not at home right now).

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='667096' date='Nov 27 2009, 09:33 AM']Bilbo - thanks for this. I don't know this album (I'm ashamed to say) and I can't seem to find it on Spotify or iTunes. Can you tell me the tempo its played at ? The Major[/quote] It is on there listed as My Romance (take 1) - The Best Of Bill Evans

[quote name='MacDaddy' post='668341' date='Nov 28 2009, 03:06 PM']Monsters of Rock 1988 Helloween Megadeth Guns n Roses David Lee Roth Kiss Iron Maiden still have the tee shirt.[/quote] I was there. I didn't see you? Mine was Gillan in Cardiff Top Rank - must have been 1980? Support were Quartz and White Spirit, Janick Gers band years before he joined Iron Maiden.

I did this transcription to highlight an aspect of Dave Holland's playing that I have found to be remarkable and useful in helping to recognise some if his playing concepts. The tune is 'Dream of the Elders' from the CD of the same name. If you listen to the opening three bars, they form a motif that repeats throughout the piece. If you follow the transcription as it develops, you will quickly see that Holland uses this motif as a skeleton idea but places subtle variations on the motif throughout. It shows how relatively easy it is to build a creative line using this idea of theme and variation. The transcription is of the bass part for the whole tune (there is no bass solo). I hope you find it useful. For those who don't have the cd, the tune is on Spotify.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='669705' date='Nov 30 2009, 02:22 AM']Its not so esay tehn...[/quote] Pinot teakn I have some knowledge of the complexities of the issues and wanted to mention Erlin's syndrome, which I understand from knowledgable colleagues, is more common than one would expect. I understand that it can be helped by a simple coloured overlay which makes it easier to read. Different people are helped by different coloured overlays but it can help the words stop moving. As a result of this, my employers changed their default printing paper from white to cream as this is the most common 'helpful' colour for sufferers. I know many people with dyslexia and most of them have degrees - as you say, it was harder for them. But there are tools that can help. But, as you say, assumptions of stupidity in the absence of accurate spelling are, well, stupid!

[quote name='spike' post='668064' date='Nov 28 2009, 10:28 AM']Bilbo, I really appreciate all these transcriptions, they're helping to improve my reading skills.[/quote] That's why I post them! I always remember being hacked off at the lack of interesting material when I was learning to read (still am if I am honest) - it was all fairly tedious classical stuff with very predictable lines that I could predict so I was not really reading them. So I thought I would put together some reading material for people who are interested in learning the dots but wanted something they could really get their teeth into.

Medium up I think (he says, humming it in his mind having only listened to it on Wednesday!). It gets hard at the when you hit the long strings of triplets later on but it is perfectly playable. Its an interesting point but I find that some of the new 'wonder' players like Wooten and Manring require a radical new approach to the instrument and a total revision of the technical variables for anyone interested in exploring their techniques and compositions. LaFaro, on the other hand, took what were quite conventional ideas and moved them on in a way that was generally quite accessible to students wishing to work that hard - it iwas the IDEA that was new, not the executions. Jaco was the same - conventional techniques taken to a new level of expression.

I know old acoustic instruments become better over time from being played intune for decades etc but am not sure how much of that translates into solidbody electric instruments. Personally, I woudl expect a bass to be delivering right off the production line and any 'improvements' over time to be subtle.

Bought a Gibson ES175 off them a few years ago. Great service. No problems.

It is as simple as that, although I can lecture you some more The problem you have is attitudinal. Your self talk is distracting you all of the time and denying you the right to make conscious decisions about what you want in preference to short term, low input, high return activity (posh talk for 'noodling'). You need to control your self talk and keep focussed on what it is you are trying to do. To be fair, not all books work on a 'start at page one and move on' principle and may require you to jump about but, either way, the focus shoudl be on the required learninig not the bass in your hands. So, if you want to learn the material in the books you have, tell youself regualry to stay focussed and don't let that frivolous side of yourself win every argument. There is a temptation in learning to race forward to the cutting edge of your technique at all times rather than to concentrate on the fundamentals. Playing clever licks faster and faster is a fools errand (I know, I've been there). You need to learn to play the bass as God, Bach and Leo Fender intended at first then start moving into more sophisticated concepts when you are ready. Victor Wooten licks etc are pretty much useless in most musical settings - this is the glamourous side of bass playing in the original sense of the word glamour: a magical-occult spell cast on somebody to make them believe that something or somebody was attractive`. Learn basic theory, good time and genre specifics and you will work forever. So, choose a book, go to page one and stick with it until you see the inside of the back cover. And, as MM says, there is no such thing as 'jazz theory'; its all just theory. If you don't deal with it, you will never reach your fullest potential and remain a lightweight forever.

More of the same. Purchase without a hitch - good communication. Stress free shopping

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='666025' date='Nov 26 2009, 11:08 AM']How good is the bass part on Gaslighting Abbie.[/quote] Yum Yum, Pig's Bum.....

Just got a copy of Two Against Nature. Its marvellous. Some top toons on there and lovely 'pockets'. mmmmmmm nice!

17 years old in a HM band in a club in Barry Island. Half way through the first tune, the roadie sidled up to me and said, 'you're out of tune' - I tried to deal with it whilst playing but, in my inexperience, was probably making things worse. At this point, the club manager comes across and tells the band to turn down. The guitarist (an old hand of 32) say 'f*** this' and stops the band, tells us all to pack up and we went home. I was gutted, not even a whole song!! The only silver lining to the story was that the club had done no publicity and there were only 2 people in the audience (really). I went home close to tears. Had a second gig a week later. We nailed the sucker and went down a storm to 120 people in The Mason's Arms in Pantygasseg (near Pontypool). THat was in December 1980. Early in 1981, we did a Friday Rock Show session for Radio One and appeared on Heavy Metal Heroes Volume 2 (HM Records). Been gigging ever since and had my best year (120 gigs) in 2008/09. Its all about Tenacity!!!

I'm with Jake. Bad technique is different to unconventional technique. There are all sorts of ways of getting your strings to make noises and some of them are well documented: two finger technique, pop, slap etc. There are other odd idiosyncracies that we all have they evolve over time. I have all sorts of weird and wonderfull ways of making moises: on ballads and Latin tunes, for instance, I often mute strings with my palm and use the thumb like a classical guitar player would, playing the notes 'dead' - I heard Anthony Jackson making this sound and, in the absence on any other information on how he did it, developed a personal way of achieving it. I also get false harmonics the way a guitar player does rather than using Jaco's method of using the thumb. I also sometimes use the volume pot on my Wal to create the effect achieved by a guitar player with a volume pedal. I can even get a wah sound using the tone pots and the pot that balances the pick ups. All of these are little tricks and textures I have developed over the years. The secret is to make sure that the 'bad' techniques are not causing you harm (CTS, tendonitis etc) or prevevnting you from gaining the most potential out of your instrument. Jamerson's one finger technique is no different to the double bass players of the time: Ray Brown, Paul Chambers (mostly) etc all used primarily on finger to make the noise. Geddy Lee is the same. Its not 'wrong' in any way at all just less popular amongst bass players today.

This one I started years ago, before I got Transcribe software. I was never able to finish it at the time but I got hold off another transcription in Double Bassist and was able to fill in the gaps!! Yes, I cheated but you all get the benefits for free so don't sue me Need to apologise for some of the beams; my Sibelius is defaulting to an unhelpful pattern of linking triplets across whole bars. Makes it hard to read but, if you print it off and use tippex, it should be of use

Not sure what happened here but I had this down as Chambers' solo on Seeing Red from the Curtis Fuller LP with Red Garland. But I just listened to it an it isn't so God knows what it is! If anyone recognises it, let me know

This section features Chambers in unison with Bill Barber's tuba on The Buzzard Song off Gile Evans' Porgy and Bess. Beautiful textures and feel.

Solo off title track of CD of the same name. Sorry about the triplet thing: I was trying something out

This performance is on several Coltrane/Chambers packages inc High Step (vinyl), John Coltrane's Tranesition etc

Solo of the opening track on his Chambers' Music LP