bassace

Just got home, a bit knackered. But thanks to all who organised the gig, it was a great day. Jakes workshop was great and did you notice the cunning way I got him involved in mine to save me getting totally upstaged. After Alex's my head hurt a bit but I'm sure I understood most of it, I'll just have to re-read the graphs you see on the pic. If I name names I'm bound to miss someone out so just thanks to Sarah for providing great eats at Life on Mars prices. That means they were very good value, for the hard of hearing. Hope Colin can get the venue for next year because it was just great for our purposes. Just leave my photos out - please! Albert Steptoe lives.

I've managed to stuff two double basses in my motor. I'll take my Upton Professor, which is a largish three quarter and sounds quite bright and steely. Also my new Thomas Martin which is a bit of an opposite - a smallish three quarter and sounds a bit gutty, although both of them have identical strings; Spiro Mittels. I won't have much room for much else so I'm taking an AI Clarus amp and a 10" Wizzy speaker. I see I'm down for a Workshop. This is in order to get a bit of quiet time and to demo the basses. It is not my intention to give a lesson as such but to give as many as want to an introduction to the double bass and have a good go on it. No weedwackers though, I'm afraid.

Headway (Deddington, Oxon) are making interesting pickups but a luthier's precise fit in the bridge is required.

Well done Jennifer.

[quote name='BigBeatNut' post='616313' date='Oct 4 2009, 10:41 AM']... anyone here planning on going ? I'm thinking about taking my BSX Allegro (EUB) if there's any interest. Do you think there's there any chance I could get to play an upright strung with gut or fake-gut (e.g. weedwacker) strings while I'm there ? Andy (Ah, just checked, and I noticed two double basses on the gear list )[/quote] I'm taking one of mine so anyone can have a go but it'll have Spiro Mittels on it.

Kingfisher Music at Fleet?

[quote name='Dr Phibes' post='608978' date='Sep 26 2009, 02:32 AM']You might want tocheck this guy out too - [url="http://www.bass-ace.co.uk/bass_lesssons.html"]http://www.bass-ace.co.uk/bass_lesssons.html[/url][/quote] It's not me, honest!

The Count Basie Orchestra from late 50s/early60s, no question. Touring with Mark Knoffler would be fun too.

A very balanced view from jds. He aknowledges that there is not always a perfect solution and he is speaking from experience. [quote name='jdstrings' post='606768' date='Sep 23 2009, 04:00 PM']It is always noticable whether an engineer actually spends any time listening to your sound in the room (many don't seem to at all) so they know what it is they should be hearing back in the control room. I find that the better engineers will actually take time (by listening a foot or so away from the front of the bass) to find where the best spot to place the mic actually is.[/quote] That is a very valid point. I've very seldom come across an engineer who takes time to listen to the instrument acoustically. He is usually in a hurry to get all his mics in position and connected.

But do you think you need Auralex foam? I would have thought that any foam would do; nothing special about Auralex, I think. I'm using offcuts from rubber stable matting one and a half inch thick strips. Works very well.

I did a jazz gig in Birmingham not many years ago with Gerry Freeman (Applejack's drummer and married to Megan) and Mike Burney (ex Wizzard) amongst others. Good gig it was too - great players both.

Also (shock horror!) don't discount a pickup feed to to give a small amount of blend with the mic. If the separation in the studio is not perfect or you are recording 'as-live' tracks with a larger band the pickup, if used sparingly, will tighten up the bass sound very well.

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='600730' date='Sep 16 2009, 09:06 PM']To be honest I've rarely heard any of my pro colleagues referring to the size of their basses in terms of 3/4 or full-size or anything else for that matter. Its either "that's a bloody big bass youv'e got there" or " what a big sound you get from such a small instrument". The Major[/quote] Because it's probably a given that if it's orchestral it's a full size and if it's jazz it's a 3/4 - or am I oversimplifying, Major? But there again, do many musos talk too much about their instrument unless they've just bought it?

A Forum? or, a Frustration of Double Bass players.

[quote name='TheRev' post='600233' date='Sep 16 2009, 02:15 PM']There's still a fair difference between a 36" scale electric bass and a 41" scale 3/4 double bass - it's hardly going to to be a straight transition.[/quote] And the whole technique is different anyway. So I'll be very surprised if you ever plump for a full size. I have four basses; two are what I would call three quarters, the Upton is a large three quarter and my latest, the Martin is a slightly small three quarter. It doesn't seem to affect the tone, it's nice and light and it's great for gigs (weight, size and tone-wise)

Red Mitchell tuned his bass in fifths. He recorded an album with just himself and Clark Terry. Here is a clip [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOWaUR6ta0c"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOWaUR6ta0c[/url]

[quote name='TheRev' post='598442' date='Sep 14 2009, 05:39 PM']Must.... resist..... That's a really lovely looking bass.[/quote] No, go for it! But nothing to do with me, honest. It's nice, isn't it?

Nothing to do with me at all but I've just seen a DB for sale on the site below. It's the one for £1400 and it looks a great prospect. I'd have it if I didn't already have too many. I still look [url="http://www.musicalinstrumentsales.co.uk/dbassales.html"]http://www.musicalinstrumentsales.co.uk/dbassales.html[/url]

Jakes really knows what he's talking about doesn't he. I liked your stuff very much but didn't quite have the balls to say what Jakes said re being on top of the changes. You seemed to be a smidge behind the beat on My One and Only Love, for example. That will change with the confidence that comes from experience. Your lines are very good. Have you heard Ray Brown playing the song with Oscar Peterson on 'We get Requests? It's a great version and you'll see what I mean about playing on the beat for a slow number and other tracks will demonstrate playing slightly ahead of the beat to give a good driving pulse on up-tempo stuff. Could I also commend Leroy Vinnegar (who he?). One of my earliest influences and a great walker. Hear him on the Shelley Manne/Andre Previn My Fair Lady CD. Not as naff as the title suggests. Good luck with your bass playing. If you're ever north of Oxford get in touch if you want a chat and a go on my basses.

Major, yes I'm sure you can 'gig' a bass. I use the verb quite regularly. Interested to hear you views on the respective strings. I swore when I started on bass many moons ago that I was not going to get caught up on the strings issue and just go ahead and enjoy playing the thing. I've still managed to keep going on the trusty Spiro Mittels. I've just come back from the Bude Jazz Festival and it's amazing how many bass players are quite conservative in their choice of Spiros and Underwood pickups - like me - although the old GK150MBS is less ubiquitous than before. I have two interesting 'neighbours'. In the next village they make Headway amps and pickups. The guys in the States seem to be raving about the new Headway preamp as a great improvement on the Fishman Pro Plat, so I'm going to see if I can get one to try. More interestingly 18 miles away lives Thomas Martin, ace bass player and luthier. I visited him a few weeks ago and he is a charming man. He gave me a tour of his workshop and showed me all the wood he has is store for twenty years of basses. So I just had to have one and have been playing it for three weeks now. It is slightly smaller than my others and lighter. But what a sound! I am now 'gigging' it a lot and enjoying it very much. In addition to the Thomas Martin label inside, there is another one that reads ' comissioned by Roger Davis, July 2009' - isn't that nice! I hope to get some pics up on the forum very soon. Enjoy your trip to Italy.

It's £150 if you earn less than £16,000 gross from music; £275 if you earn more. The only other concession is £75 if you're a full time student.

A double bass mic/amp combination that's completely feedback proof. Dream on!

Surely the ideal is eyes and ears. What the relative percentages are depends:- eyes/ears 40/60 perhaps but it won't be the same for all. Due to my short attention span I've always had a bit of difficulty with the dots but have persvered. It helps if you're in a reading band, such as a rehearsal big band, where the reading will come on leaps and bounds. Looking back over my career I suppose my ear compensates for the shortcomings in my reading, also there are not many arrangers IMO who can write good walking lines so my preference is for chords and dots only when importrant phrases are needed. My ears and eyes have taken me through, at the last count, more than sixty bands as a permanent member or freelance. In so doing I have discovered lots of great tunes that I could not do justice to if I couldn't read a bit. Writing this, I'm reminded of a big band I played with in the sixties. We were blowing through a Buddy Rich chart for the first time. The time sig was 'Orgasmo Furioso'. When I enquired I was told it meant 'Go Like F**k'.

Mid fifties and a school mate came rushing out of his house as I walked by and pulled me in to hear........................My Blue Heaven by Fats Domino. Fantastic, such energy and drive, and that sax solo. Always been a Fats fan.