Bilbo

What is it? The links don't work in work!

I kinda of know where you are coming from but, being brutally frank, I have never been that emotionally effected by an instrument! I am trying to think of one that has got me that excited but I can't find one (even owned by others I know). I have a lovely 1986 Wal bass and a Gibson ES175 that I love the sound of but art? Can't say I feel it, sorry. They are just tools - very effective tools but just tools.

Andy Hague, trumpet, drums, composer, jazz musician Bristol. www.andyhague.co.uk Tell him Rob Palmer recommended him - he'll say 'who the f*** is Rob Palmer' (I played the Brecon Jazz Festival with him in 1994 or 1995)!

'Sir Duke' is not that hard - its basically a simple pentatonic scale. Learn it by ear and the fingers bit is easy. Personally, I am learning some Cuban stuff (Cachaito - the notes are easy, the feel IMPOSSIBLE)! Its kind of the antithesis of jazz but emotionally very satisfying.

I agree with everyone! I think, for me, the usefulness of magazine articles as learning tools is limited for practical reasons - i.e. a half page limit once a month. The overtly technical columns are often there to give some perverse sense of credibility to the magazines we buy (we write about the best professionals so we are, by association, the best industry publication) but I know from my own learning that these columns will seldom change your life! Does anyone remember Jeff Berlin's monthly fingerbusters? 'T Lavitz, Jacob Javitz, I Hate Wabbitz' is one title I can remember - I shedded them and nailed a few but they were, with hindsight, completely useless! As I have said before - a good book of theory (Mark Levine's The Jazz Theory Book springs to mind ), a cd player and the skills and abilities required to transcribe (by ear or by written notes) are all you really need - the rest comes with time and effort and, get this, choices. Transcriptions of great solos are also useful in developing a vocabularly of your own and learning/exploring your chosen genres. What I like about Gwizdala is that he admits to practising 10 hours a day - Jaco and Pat Metheny have both said the NEVER practice - yeah right!! I think there may be some poetic licence here about what 'practice' actually is! That level of technique is either about the ability to express oneself (Sonny Rollins) or to impress (Yngwie Malmsteen). Plenty of people can express themselves without technique; most people quoted are songwriters, but ot express yourself as an instrumentalist is a different kettle of fish because you haven't the benefits of language. Jeff Berlin's solo bass version of Lennon's 'Imagine' is a great example. He has put together a finger bustin' solo bass version that is actually pretty pathetic because, without the lyrics, that song is harmonically and melodically nothing! But we have to understand that the creativity that is brought to bear on great lyric writing is borne of a lifetime of talking, debating, arguing, reading and thinking - not just three minutes sat with a guitar strumming away. The 'techniques' required to put together a good lyric are learned over DECADES because the people doing it have used language every day of their lives for at least 16 hours (my God, we even talk to ourselves when we are asleep!)! So, for an intrumentalist to even begin to compete, s/he will have to spend a considerable amount of time interfacing with his/her intrument and learning to squeeze every ounce of emotion s/he can from the wood and metal in front of him/her. Great pulsing rock bass lines are undenyably fit for purpose in context (my favourite Billy Sheehan line by a mile is 'Ladies Night in Buffalo' of Roth's 'Eat 'Em And Smile') but, if that was all I got to play, I'd give up tomorrow! I like playing jazz because I have to THINK not because I look technically proficient! It makes demands on me that are stimulating and presents problems I get satifaction from solving creatively - is 'Giant Steps' the best Rubik's cube ever built!? I have to accept, however, that watching people solve puzzles is not THAT entertaining to most people and that, consequently, much of the music that I play will always be a minority interest! But this applies to most instrumental music. It's so much harder to communicate with! 'Peaches' is good but I loved 'Down In The Sewers' more!

+1 for Hercules - I only buy them now as a matter of preference - they put up and break down easily, stay up without collapsing and don't break your fingers when you adjust them.

I pretty much stopped buying bass mags a long time ago. If you read about 30 articles, you have got all you are going to get out of them. So what if Johnny Thunder uses a .40 G string or Pete Wally uses a Zon SonicHyperTensionBassomatic 12 string bass? It really means nothing in terms of your own development. Changing your strings/bass/amp will make about 1% difference to the overall effect (Ok - its probably 3%). I am kind of with the BigBeefChief on this one (Never thought I would say that!). People need to study music not musicians. Know your scales, chords etc to the level you require for the music you are playing, know your genre/idiom, know what you need to make your mark in the industry of your choice (if you are dead set on a career in Coutry music, two handed tapping versions on 'Flight Of The Bumble Bee' in all keys are probably a waste of effort). The fact is that we all play with different agendas in mind and our differing 'ambitions' will determine the extent to which we feel we need to invest time in our playing. A hardcore Punk bass player who gigs three times a year will inevitably have a different perspective on his or her playing than a wannabe professional fusion freak. When I started playing bass (1980), there was a sense that the bass player could pretty much play all types of music without too many difficulties in transferring techniques and ideas from genre to genre. Nowadays, if you want to do Heavy Metal and need to do the Sheehan thing, you are going to have to spend more time on it than I did when HM was Steve Harris or Geezer Butler. Likewise, Jamerson's playing, whilst sophisticated, is nowhere need as heavy as Gary Willis', Michael Manring's or Victor Wooten's. The bass heroes of my day (Jaco/Stanley Clarke etc) were not like the atheletes we see today: Feraud, Wooten, Manring etc. Most of what Jaco did is perfectly achieveable for the average bassist nowadays; same with Stanley Clarke's slap playing - it's pathetic compared to what some of the 9-year olds on YouTube are doing. If you want to compete with these guys (Gwizdala etc) then 10 hours a day will go some way to doing it. It's up to the individual to decide where they want to take it. Remember, writing about music is like dancing about architecture. Reading about music is like WATCHING someone dance about architecture. Fundamentally useless. Its all in the playing. Take what you can from these articles but be warned: speed decieves. Its ideas that matter and technique without ideas is the ultimate folly. PS - If you get to play like Jaco, you will need an Erskine, Zawinul or a Shorter to work with. They are a lot harder to come by than new gear!

'Techno' by John Scofield (Darryl 'The Munch' Jones on bass) Bb Bb Ab Ab F F Ab Ab Db Db Db Db (sixteenths at around 140 bpm). I can play 'Donna Lee' but I can't play that single repeating bar evenly! (its the opening line so you could probably hear it on Amazon for free!)

Steve Swallow, Jaco, Anthony Jackson, Jeff Berlin, Percy Jones, Jimmy Johnson, Ron Carter, Dave Holland, Charlie Haden, Steve Swallow, Paul Chambers, Niels Henning Orsted Pederson, Ron Carter, Marc Johnson, John Patitucci, Chris Squire and Steve Swallow.

I hate the fact that ours sometimes comes after I have had to go to work.

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='150995' date='Mar 4 2008, 12:21 PM']...and I still f*cking hate it![/quote]

Do you know the legal difference between cake and buscuits? Cakes go hard when they are stale whilst buscuits go soft. See McVities Jaffa Cakes vs HM Custom and Excise (you don't pay VAT on cakes apparently so Jaffa Cakes are exempt) Or is this an urban myth? PS nice to see you back BBC. You into jazz yet?

[quote name='coasterbass' post='148824' date='Feb 29 2008, 09:57 AM'], I drew up a contract a couple of years ago which we post/fax to each venue before we play. The first clause is that regardless of whether they sign/reply etc to the contract, this counts as their terms and conditions. (I have no idea on the legal status of this statement though).[/quote] Had a dispute with a venue of this basis and got the MU involved - they baiscally said that a clause like this in a contract that is unsigned is meaningless. I may as well say I have a contract in front of me that says 'Dood will give me his Shuker 7-string if it rains on a Tuesday in March' even if he doesn't sign the contract. T'ain't worth the paper its written on. Sorry peeps. As a past regular at the Railway (under previous management), (as a jazzer and with Swagger) I am appalled at their reported treatment of musicians. Your only option is a boycott.

Played with jazz pianist Chris Ingham last night - what a musician! It was one of those nights that we jazzers occasionally get when it all gels and the overall effect is greater than the sum of its parts. Chris' playing made me sound great and the drummer, who can get a bit casual about it all if he's bored, was on top of it. Great grooves, lots of listening - what more can you ask for. Niiiice!

Am I talking to myself, here?

There are people out here who will sell their own children for sex. Why would they have a problem scamming people for money? Be careful out there.

I think the Double Bass is a wonderful instrument and my one regret in life will always be that I never got a chance to nail it (I had one for a couple of years in the late nineties but it coincided with a bad case of CTS and I had to put it down for good). My beef is not with people who legitmiately choose the double bass as their instrument of choice in a given ensemble. I just get narked when good players lose out on good gigs to people who can't play very well but own a double bass! I am also disappointed that more electric bass players (myself included) dont' get to do more 'serious' music because the electric players tend to only get called for pop/funk/jazz hybrids rather than creative contemporary improvised music. I slightly resent the fact that, as an electric player, I seem to have to spend my career continually playing repetitive lines and not the more creative, organic alternatives that are often allowed the double bass (RSI on top of CTS - ouch!)?

Just listening to Michael Brecker's 'Pilgimage' - massively great stuff! Metheny, Patitucci, DeJohnette, Hancock and Mehldau. Magic in real time!

I love Pat Travers - THAT is great rock 'n' roll!

That's the way to break new ground, mate. Keep it real. Find your own new arrangements. Learning someone else's won't get you anywhere like as far as preparing your own. Make it happen.

I think this area of practice is pretty innovative, thedarxide. I suspect you will have to get piano transcriptions and prepare them for six/seven strings. Remember, if you do it properly, you may be writing your first (?) book!

Why anyone would part with £1200 to a stranger without the bass in their hand is beyond me! Is anyone actually that gullible?

Did a great trio gig in Bury St Edmunds last night with Phil Brook, a Norfolk jazz guitar player - the man can do no wrong! Nice sounding room, attentive audience. I took a guitar player friend who sat through the gig with his jaw open. Keep your eyes peeled for him.

Bilbo's Wal Custom Fretless - oh, I've already got that. :wub: Anyone got a Fodera Anthony Jackson Signature 6 I can drool over?