Bilbo

[quote name='jakesbass' post='258044' date='Aug 8 2008, 01:18 PM']I think it's possible you aspire to something other than simply to complain. I'm guessing that what you would actually like is an educated public that enjoyed encouraged and supported more artisitic endeavours. These societies are out there in some measure, eg. I have friends who have moved to Norway where all things Norwegian and Jazz are supported and championed by the public in much greater measure than here. It's arguable that there are other elements of those societies that you would find less favourable to live with.[/quote] Not a million miles off, Jake. What I would like to see is a music fraternity that, like the punks in 1976, recognises that it has begun to eat itself and is no longer representing an arm of the arts but merely the lowest common denominator, be that financial or social. Its the dumbing down of the already dumb. One tribute band woudl be more than enough but FIVE at the same event! I live less than two miles from this event and won't waste my time attending (I've got two gigs that day anyway). Its free but, even if I wasn't working, my time is more valuable and I would spend it wisely rather than go out to watching/listening to last years nostalgia. For the record, my non-musician wife feels the same way.

Its interesting but I find Caron to be emotionally flat. Like the notes are there but their absolute perfection in pitch, timing etc render them soulless. I have 4 or 5 UZEB cds and can't criticise his technique but the music is just lifeless. Get some funk in there, Caron!!

There isn't one - 'it's what the public wants' Oh, what's this, a CUSTOMER telling musicians NOT to play Mustang Sally? But that can't be right, 'it's what the public wants'. She is clearly delusional. We must send here for reconditioning to the 'Commitments' school of musical appreciation. AAAAGA Do Do DO......!!

And, is it me or is Michael Fitch a Councillor? And what is a 'top rock covers band'?

Listings for a local carnival in Felixstowe. Saturday 9th August 2008 4:30-5:30pm Louisa Gaylard 5:30-6:00pm Michael J Fitch 6:00-7:00pm Mohawk 7:00-7:15pm Bin There Drummed That [b]7:30-8:30pm Bad Boys - Wham Tribute 9:00-10:30pm A Saucerful of Floyd (ASOF)[/b] Sunday 10th August 2008 1:00-2:00pm Stagecoach theatre group 2:00-2:30pm Michael J Fitch [b]2:30-3:30pm Jade Adams - Elvis tribute[/b] 3:30-4:00pm Michael J Fitch 4:00-5:00pm Storm - Top rock covers band. [b]5:30-6:30pm Counterfeit Quo - Status Quo tribute band[/b] 7:00-8:00pm The Talent 8:00-8:15pm Bin There Drummed That - is this all junk music! [b]8:30-9:30pm The Spice-ish Girls - a Spice Girls tribute[/b] Thats FIVE tribute bands is two days. And that doesn't include the covers bands. These events are funded out of public money. We are all told to support local businesses but, when music is concerned, this is clearly not necessary. All the PRS royalties will be going to the poor little urchins behind Floyd, Wham, Quo and the Spice Girls and Elvis - I guess their need is greater. Personally, I still think its a national disgrace.

[i]‘In music…pure tone, true pitch, exact intonation, perfect harmony, rigid rhythm, even touch and precise time play a relatively small role. They are mainly points of orientation for art… The unlimited resources for vocal and instrumental expression lie in artistic deviation from the pure, the true, the exact, the perfect, the rigid, the even and the precise. This deviation from the exact is, on the whole, the medium for the creation of the beautiful – for the conveying of emotion’[/i] – Carl E. Seashore. It’s a good point: is that why players like Alain Caron, Jeff Berlin etc aren’t as successful as their astonishing techniques would lead you expect? Their playing is too perfect, too clinical. Or is this an argument against excessive attention to technique at the expense of musicality? For those who are interested, Carl Emil Seashore (1866-1949) was a prominent American psychologist who was particularly interested in audiology, the psychology of music, the psychology of speech and stuttering, the psychology of the graphic arts and measuring motivation and scholastic aptitude. He devised the Seashore Tests of Musical Ability in 1919, a version of which is still used in schools in the United States. Any thoughts anyone?

I usually get in a couple of hours every year, whether we need it or not

Two basses and four guitars on a plasterboard wall with all hangers held by cavity wall rawplugs. Been up there four years without incident. And one of the basses is a weighty Wal!

Unmitigated drivel....

I can boil an egg in under 5......

You should just semi-over-emphasise it. Welcome!

[quote name='Phil Mann' post='256708' date='Aug 6 2008, 08:51 PM']I'm a full time electric and double bassist, London based. Graduate from Jeff Berlins Players School of Music in Florida 2006, and then five years study at Basstech @ The Guitar Institute in London (One year Diploma, Bachelors Degree and Masters Degree courses). Currently studying under Laurence Cottle before starting work on my PhD later this year. At the moment, I'm freelancing again, but otherwise I've just come off of Little Shop Of Horrors, toured with the shows Anything Goes, Jesus Christ Super Star, Jack The Ripper, Fame, One Step Closer, Return To The Forbidden Planet, and depped in the West End on Dancing In The Streets, I have a number of pads for other shows, but still am waiting the call. I did the uk tour of the National Lottery, when it was on the road, and was Alison Limericks bassist for a bit before moving on to tour around Finland with a John Lennon Tribute show. I've been fortunate enough to see most of the hot spots around the world with various shows and functions, Egypt, Dubai, Austria, Switzerland, Thailand, Italy, China, NZ etc...oh! And good old London! I have a residency in town, with a previously Universal signed band, The Tide, and do two days additional electric/double teaching, to help support the playing quite spots.[/quote] Yeah, but can you [i]PLAY?[/i]

Steve Swallow/Ohad Talmor Sextet: L'HIstoire Du Clochard - Athe Bum's Tale & Don Byron: You Are No. 6

Nope - just a set of spare strings and leads that I have never used.....

How high to tune before breaking a string? About 35 feet....

[quote name='jakesbass' post='256968' date='Aug 7 2008, 09:54 AM']Never done an audition in my life.[/quote] Did one in 1980, my first at age 17. I got the gig and was on Radio One 4 months later (Tommy Vance Friday Rock Show). Never done one since. Jazzers just [i]know![/i]

Its a language like any other. You need to immerse yourself in it. Learn all the scales, in thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths and sevenths, in all keys. Learn chordal harmony. Actively listen to as much music as you can. Transcribe everything you can; horns particularly. Listen closely to the the other instruments and DON'T just listen to the bass. Over a period of time, you will start to recognise things, get bored of things, learn to love things, embrace things, dismiss things, improve things, neglect things - all of this will come together in your own personal voice as an improviser. Eventually, as someone just said, you just forget the technical details and just make beautiful music but that's kind of not true. It's like language - you go to school to learn the techniques but you don't really think about them when you speak or write. But, if some prat want to split hairs about your spelling , you need to be ready to blow them out of the water with some epistemological hyperbole. Knowledge is power, but so is electricity.

[url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=21583&hl=wal+custom+fretless"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...custom+fretless[/url] Follow the link to my earlier thread. I have played some duo gigs with Paul Herman, some years back. He is a fine guitar player as well as a top notch luthier. He did the last set-up on the Wal you see above (I need to see him again - my knobs are dropping off)

[quote name='Monz' post='252741' date='Aug 1 2008, 01:51 PM']LOL Actually the playing went ok apart from me playing 2 or 3 bars of "how sweet it is" a semitone down[/quote] Sounds like a fretless.....

Did one of my best jazz sets ever last night at Benson Blakes in Bury St Edmonds. Chris Ingham on piano, probably the best pianist I have ever played with. Shearing's 'Lullaby of Birdland' in 5:4 was a highlight - we all nailed it without a single slip - but the whole set was bl***y marvelous! Second set less so but it was a tough act to follow.

No - response was to Cheddatom's accusation of erroneousness on my part! To think....

My point was simply that any discussion of the relative merits of a player or his work should be based on a reasoned argument and not just a casual 'he's sh*te'. If anyone here says that 'the importance of Tal thingumybob is, for instance, due to her gender not her playing which, while competent, is unremarkable', then I will listen to that argument and decide its validity as you did on my point. If someone just says she is crap or superb, I have nothing to thing about and will almost always dismiss the contribution as blunt and of no value. Don't just tell me, tell me why.

[quote name='6stringbassist' post='251964' date='Jul 31 2008, 12:04 PM']The people making the comments obviously think in their own minds that their own playing is better, when in reality it isn't.[/quote] No they don't. They know that they are not as capable as the people they criticise but, in order to increase their self esteem, they negate the value of the things they can't do in an effort to subconsciously justify the fact that they can't or won't do the work necessary to attain those skills. The tragedy is that they actually have to work astonishingly hard on their train of self-talk in order to maintain a belief in what they are saying.

I understand what you are saying, wombatboter, but I think you need to understand that all people are doing is poorly expressing their belief that the work of the artists under consideration is subjectively of little value to them. My personal take on these things is to draw on my own experience as a player and listener and to draw people's attention to the difference between valuing a piece of music and recognising the technical skills required to execute it. For a developing musician, it is easy to get into the space where 'hard' pieces of music are 'good' pieces of music, a fact that is palpably wrong. It is equally dangerous, however, for the uninformed to assume that a 'complex' piece of music is bad because it 'lacks emotion', 'fails to communicate' etc. The secret is to develop the critical sense required to recognise the value of a piece in its own right. It is equally not enough to say 'all music is good and I like it all'. The assessment of the intrinsic value of a piece of music is subjective but that doesn't mean that it serves no purpose to discuss it. Its just not helpful to use aggressive and unspecific terms like 's***e', 'b******s and cr*p. They contribute nothing to the debate other than stating a position.