Bilbo

Request from Talkbass - this is the complete Anthony Jackson performance of the tune 'Rien Ne Va Plus' from the 1975 Michael Urbaniak Funk Factory ablum. Apparently, it is famous for being stolen sampled for something by someone who didn't have any ideas of their own. 🙃 https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/rien-ne-va-plus-michael-urbaniak-funk-factory/

Here you go, Dave - it's a great line and that delicious Giblin fretless sound. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/state-of-mind-fish/

Special request - the John Lodge bass part for The Moody Blues' 'Nights In White Satin' (released in 1967). A nicer line that I had expected. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/nights-in-white-satin-moody-blues/

This is Ron Carter's bass part for the tune 'Sister Cheryl' from the first Wynton Marsalis album (1982). I was never able to get the details on this due to the mix and RC's slides and slurs getting lost in the mix. The Moises software allowed me to bring the bass up in the mix so I could find those details. Two things came out of my doing this transcription. The realisation that RC was born on the same date as my father (4th May) and the fact that they are both, therefore, Jedis. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/sister-cheryl-wynton-marsalis/

Right. Here we have a tune called 'Jokoh Jokoh' from the Richard Bona/Mandekan Cubano album 'Heritage' from 2016. I would never have attempted this but this Moises software has allowed me to bring the bass way up in the mix (I could actually isolate it but that is actually harder to deal with because you have no frame of reference in terms of bar lengths and note placement etc). This means I can pick up a lot of detail that would otherwise be unfathomable. As it is, you are left with a chart that is pretty much unreadable unless you are Vinnie Colauita but, if you want to get inside Bona's groove, spend some time with the first 17 bars and you will have everything you need to groove like a king. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/jokoh-jokoh-richard-bona/

I would have left them to it.

Bit more Piazolla called 'Introduccion del Angel' - this one is live. Not too testing a read but it is in Eb and there are some interesting tempo changes. The closing section is a case of listening - I assume that Piazolla was conducting. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/introduccion-del-angel-astor-piazolla/

Someone just clued me into Moises. Well, that's going to make a massive difference. 😎 Oh my God. Not only can I isolate the bass, I can bring it up on the mix. It's all my dreams come true!!

I have a punt if I fancy the instrument on offer but this amounts to a quid a month or something. It's nice to ponder the what ifs. I guess it's Communism. We all put in and one of us gets the goodies. Like National Insurance and the NHS.

'I will not be beaten by a machine'.

It was only a matter of time. I just transcribed The Royal Scam by Steely Dan only to realise that I had already done it in 2020. Ironically (or not), they are different as I counted one at half the speed of the other.

Bilbo slept like a log. I found a mistake in a Geddy Lee performance the other day. It's in the transcription - I can't just change notes willy nilly. That way lies chaos! AJ's boo boo was live, though, so no possibility of fixing it in the mix!

The other tune from that album that I love. 'Slow Down'. Great guitar solo using that talk-box device that was all the rage in them days. So uncool, it's really cool. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/slow-down-john-miles/

I think you are right about the mid scoop. That is what I always went for with every amp I ever had so that may explain why I like the sound.

This one is pure nostalgia for me. It is the complete Bob Marshall bass part for the tune 'Stand Up (And Give Me A Reason)' from the 1977 John Miles album, 'Stranger In The City'. I got this album in a sale bin when I was still exploring music as a new and exciting thing - I just wanted to hear everything. The album wasn't really heavy enough for me but there were two tracks that I did like because they have great guitar solos in. This was one of them (the solo at the end of the track). I learned to play it on guitar and can still scat the solo today, 45 years later (at least). It is a little dated but I still love it. Great bass part. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/stand-up-and-give-me-a-reason-john-miles/

Playing nearer the neck than the bridge will increase the mwah. Check out Jaco's right hand placement on the opening bars of this and you can hear the effect of the hand placement on the tone https://youtu.be/TgntkGc5iBo?si=QH3KGkrEPKDjOgvC

Let me have this one, Rev......

Another double bass transcription, something simple. This is the complete Ben Wolfe bass part for the tune 'Wright Brother's Rag' from the 1995 Wynton/Ellis Marsalis album 'Joe's Cool Blues'. A lovely little album of Vince Guaraldi tunes and Peanuts inspired music. https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/wright-brothers-rag-wynton-marsalis/

I have transcribed loads of Anthony Jackson but today, after listening to him for 40 years or more, I have finally noticed a mistake. At 5:09 on this big band video from 1994, in the tune 'Why Not', AJ hits a wrong note. I couldn't believe it. 'kin lightweight! There is hope for me yet!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88-Xz5fUFKg

Yes, it was the Reidy's offer, Terry. I saw it for under a grand previously but it went up and some places are asking £1449 but I got it for £799 so all good. The 'sterile' comment is an interesting one because I find that fact that the sound is 'tamer' than a lot of active basses can be is that selling point for me.

Had a listen to SoC. It's one of those mixes where the bass is kind of lost in a drone - he does sound like his dad (same hair as well, poor sod). Not feeling the Lucassen yet. Might give it another go.

I have to say that, in my 44 years of playing, I have always found that, whatever instrument I play, I unfortunately end up sounding remarkably like me.

I got a Cort Rithmic a couple of months ago and loved it. It plays well and sounds great and I particularly love the passive electronics. On the weekend, I was browsing online and randomly came across a half price Rithmic V, it cost less than the four string which I also got for a good price. I couldn't resist. Here is the new bass alone and with the 4-string and my Harley Benton 7-string.

Won't open on my phone... Oops, it just did. Sounds lovely. Is it yours?

Or get a five string.... You can just detune the E to Eb (or D) only and remember the other notes on the E string are now different (classical guitarists do this a lot) or you can detune to Eb Ab Db Gb and just play like everything is in E.