Bilbo

Good point, bremen. Why do fretless basses generally cost more?

Or so people think... If I had a £ for every person who told me 'its not addictive' and 'they could give it up tomorrow if they wanted to', I would have that Fodera 6-string fretless. Addiction is a complex series of behaviours which are not always linked to chemistry. Cannabis is known to trigger a range of mental health problems in certain people. It may relax you, it may make you worry less about other things, it may help you sleep better.... but it won't, on any level whatsoever, make you a better bass player.

Cut your nails shorter.

Sorry, Kneal6, but I think you, and a lot of other people, are mistaken in the belief that 'It's pretty clear that drugs do enhance musical abilities'. Their use may create all sorts of perspective that may be used to inform the act of creativity (to use the Beatles example already mentioned, they may not have been able to write 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' lyrically without some experience of LSD) but to suggest that their use 'enhances musical ability', is, to my mind, a grave mistake and a potentially very dangerous one. There are, as we all know, 1,000s of musicians who have had their lives ravaged by drugs and equally as many who has attributed the abilities of their idols to their drug use (Charlie Parker's influence in this area is a matter of record). Anyone who has sought to address their musical shortcomings by using drugs (or alcohol) will tell you that it is a fool's errand. Read Art Pepper's biography 'Straight Life' - he was a competent sax player [i]in spite of [/i]his drug use not because of it. He could have been so much more as a musician had he focussed his energies more contstructively. Parker was the same. He learned to play like that by woodshedding his little ass off and not by getting high. Same with Coltrane, same with Hampton Hawes, same with Paul Chambers and Jaco. The examples are myriad. Charlie Parker was a gunslinger as a sax player but he was no composer, despite his reported desire to be one. Had he focussed his energy on proper study and not getting mashed, he would probably have got there. He was a deeply disturbed and unhappy man. Drugs (whether they grow naturally all over the planet or not) are poisons. They work by harming you. The effects of drugs are not 'enlightening', they are the early signs of the body reacting to chemicals it does not like or want (that's why people hallucinate when they are very ill). People who are ill when they have drunk too much are experiencing their body's panic and rejection of the ingested poison. You learn nothing whatsoever from the use of these substances (other than what effect they have) but you risk a whole lot (mental health problems are the very least - try gigging when you are clinically depressed - sweep picking will be the least of your worries). The only 'learning' you get from drugs is your own self talk deluding you into transferring 'cosmic relevance' to the harmful effects of the poisons you have ingested. Its a justification. You would learn far, far more by reading a book (on anything) or watching a movie. You could probably learn more just by sitting in a room full of people and listening to them. The reasons American musicians are generally technically better than UK ones is the fact that the practice ethic is routinely much greater over there. It's not because the drugs are cheaper. The only effect that some drugs (heroin, for instance) will have on you, with extreme use, is, by eliminating all sense of guilt, shame and conscience, to make you so self-centred and psychopathic that you will completely lack the ability to recognise the effect that your behaviour has on others. You can, therefore, dedicate yourself wholeheartedly to your music without realising how much you are neglecting your relationships with your family/partner/children/friends/musician colleagues/landlord/employer etc. You would then. like Parker and Pepper, become a great musician but a lousy human being. Your call.

It might be annoying, Captain, but it is as close to real life as you are likely to get in college. Playing a tune you don't know with a support structure that is not as you would like it to be. Story of my life!

I don't drink or smoke. Never have. Its not a moral stance, just a taste thing. I have never played with anyone that plays better after having a drink or getting stoned. They usually play a lot worse but either don't know or don't care. Sometimes the deterioration is not enough to get arsy about but I will mention it. If you do it again on my watch, you're a dick and I am highly unlikely to book you again. Simple as. You'll lose work, even if you don't know it.

<<<<< My American Walnut Wal Custom Fretless. Have had this one since 1986 and have never moved on. Gigging with it tonight in Bury St. Edmunds (jazz piano trio). Sounds better now than it did 20 years ago (or is that just me?).... The other Status 6-string is a plank with wires in comparison (sorry, OTPJ, I just can't get it to work in a jazz setting). My Wal makes me sound like me... what more can you ask of a bass?

So buy a battery just in case. You should always have a spare anyway.

I'm with the Old Git - Space is the place. Let the line BREEEEATH! Also, with the slapping stuff, the funk is in the thumb and not the popping. Too much popping (Mark King) reduces the funk quotiant dramatically. Less is more. Also, and am getting onto my own personal soapbox here, TONE!! A thin tone will be less funky than a full, rich bass sound with a zillion overtones. You don't need to PLAY the one all of the time but you do need to know where it is and to make sure the listener knows.

Dill Katz - best name in jazz. Nice player; I have Thompson's double live LP somewhere (vinyl again!!) - great sound, nice feel. I saw his quartet at the 606 Club on Lots Road, Chelsea about 6 years ago. It was OK but not a life changing experience.

Just thought of another one! Paul Westwood - Barbara Thompson and a host of others as well as author of a great tutorial book (not sure of the title). I had a lesson with him once and, whilst he is no gunslinger, he is a great teacher as well as a good player. May be fit for purpose.

Laurence Cottle has to be in there - has played with everyone from Jim Mullen to Mike Oldfield.

Don't know these guys but a great electric jazz trio - Great 6-string bass solo & the drummer is beautiful. [url="http://youtube.com/watch?v=3-yRFpzfodY"] Click here! [/url] Enjoy

Active every time. More control over tone.

It's all about head room, frequency responses and all sorts of technical s**t. If you have a 120 watt amp, it will no doubt sound loud enough but the sounds may be a bit narrow - like the low B won't really project etc. Not much use for an ERB, eh Dood? Whilst you can easily get away with a 50W guitar amp, a 50W bass amp won't really work. 250W is pretty useful in most situations not requiring a full rig but I have personally settled on 350W. Its not about volume but about quality and depth of tone. All notes have overtones as well as fundamental tones. a small amp won't deliver on the lower/higher range overtones and the sound will be (relatively) thin. Having tweeters in amps like SWR Redheads or Eden Meteros is motivated by the same desire to project certain frequencies. Its the same reason you have eight double basses and only one piccolo in an orchestra - the hign frequences of the piccolo travel better/farther/faster than the bass frequences so you need to have more to be heard.

1 - Personality 2 - Networking/connections 3 - Whether you can actually play or not! I would add a fourth - a definitive issue! Geography Where you are has as much to do with your potential playing opportunities as anything else. A great player in London may not gig because there are greater players but, if he is in Reading, he may do better. I used to play a lot of original jazz in Cardiff but there has been no jazz composers anywhere else that I have lived. I also think that this is more of an issue if you are looking to play with people better than you. Like, how much choice have you got if you want a new trombone player? What if you decide you like Argentine music and want to play with a bandoneon - not much chance if you live in Hereford! I guess you can make your own luck by being ready for a chance to play but you can't always make the chances happen I know that sometimes you could move area but often it is not that simple.

There is a large small group version of this by the Mingus Dynasty on an LP called 'Chair In The Sky' - it might help with your arrangement if you can find it. I don't know which Mingus LP has the original on. Can anyone help?

Got my first bass (Hondo II Precision copy) in September 1980, gigging by December, in recording studio March '81, recording session for Radio One in April '82 (Tommy Vance's Friday Rock Show). It's been downhill ever since. The music is better but the profile has never improved on the Radio One thing.

I'm really into Stern at the moment as I am getting into my guitar playing and I am looking at a book of his transcriptions - He is an astonishingly sophisticated player despite his reputation as a closet rocker. Nice to hear he is so approachable. Kudos to him.

Play some jazz, no-one would notice....

[quote name='cardinaljay' post='99540' date='Dec 5 2007, 01:18 PM']Excellent! I used to play Bass for these guys around 3 years ago or so - Is Michel on Vox and George still on the skins? I would defo be down for the show, but am in Sheffield that night! Darn it![/quote] Yep - Michel and George are still on board - you can find us on MySpace including 3 tracks of our cd. You playing up there?

Great for reading practice too!

Its not fun teaching people who want to learn stuff that is of little or no pertinence in terms of their development as a player - 'teach me to shred' would not indicate an inch of genuine commitment to anything remotely musical and I would run a mile. I could work with 'I want ot play the guitar/bass', 'Teach me the scales Malmsteen uses' or 'Teach me the chords to 'Sweet Child Of Mine'. But 'teach me to shred'? Give me a break!

Absolutely. I think when people said Parker didn't repeat himself they were referring to his not using the same lick in the same place on consecutive choruses. I guess most of these people only heard him live due to the recording ban that was in place at the time and the legend stuck. He certainly used his stock phrases as much as the rest of us (an hour with a copy of the Parker Omnibook and a highlighter pen will prove that!!).

I'm having a bad day cos the BigBeefChief hates jazz!