7string

Takes a lot of guts to get up there for the first time !! Many congrats and nice to know that the guys there welcomed you in and gave you the chance to play!!

Can I just say that music theory is nowhere near as hard as people think it is. OK, you don't have to go as far as writing 4 part harmony, but all you really need is a little patience. Find a copy of this book in your local music shop. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/AB-Guide-Music-Theory-Vol/dp/1854724460/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1205450489&sr=8-1"] The AB Guide to music theory[/url] Synopsis Provides an introduction to the basic elements in harmony and musical structure. Covers the basics of rhythm and tempo, an introduction to pitch, intervals and transposition, articulation, ornaments, and reiterations. There used to be a little red book from the Associated Board (the AB in the title of the above book) which had everything in it. Years ago they decided to split it into 2 books and this pink one is the first part. You just need a little patience to start and when you do the whole world of music will open in front of you!!

There a story which Billy Sheehan told about the monster drummer Dennis Chambers. Apparently, during a clinic, Dennis Chambers said he doesn't warm up and doesn't practice. The audience gasp in amazement. Dennis Chambers says "How many of you have problems with your playing ?". Almost everyone puts a hand in the air. "How many of you practice" Same amount of arms go up "See" he says...

14 months for something that you're going to have for the rest of your days isn't too long to wait. It's definately going to be something very special...

Looking good !! Be great to see the grain pop when it comes out of the spray booth. That pickup is massive and darn heavy!! Hopefully, it won't be too long now!!

What a cool idea !! Nice to see a bit of lacewood in there. Always partial to a bit of lacewood, me...

[quote name='queenofthedepths' post='156106' date='Mar 12 2008, 03:56 PM']However, there is a point where studying theory and practising is a waste of time... for you, Rex Brown and whoever else, not much practise at all is necessary; for Janek Gwizdala and various other virtuosos, practising 10 hours a day has to take priority over watching TV or whatever else you want to do in the rest of your free time The one other thing I will confidently say is this: practising technique, learning theory and even copying Nuno's solos will not hinder your creativity; poor taste and failure to do the above WILL[/quote] I don't think that you can be genre-specific here. Can we say bassists from heavy groups, such as Rex Brown, don't put in just as much time as our beloved Janek ?? There are virtuoso bassists in every genre, not just jazz.

I thought that it was jazz guys who spend a lifetime playing covers, oops, standards.

It's just a different kind of creativity. I wouldn't say that one genre is more/less creative than another. DJ's mix records together, punk bands make 2 minute songs, it's all different kinds of creativty. I do accept the analogy about language, but even when you understand the language you still might not like the sound of what's being created. I would disagree with the classical/jazz comparison. In my experience, classical musicians take it for granted that they have the technique and theory to perform in the way that the conductor (who interprets the music) wants them to. In jazz, there seems to be an opinion that if you don't like jazz, you don't understand enough theory or don't have enough technique to play it.

[quote name='mcgraham' post='155066' date='Mar 11 2008, 07:31 AM']7string, I see your point about not writing it with Janek in mind and I agree, not particularly mature to colour things like that to appear like a suck up. But I [i]do[/i] think it's important to ensure that we phrase our posts such that if the person we are writing about did read them then they could take something from it. Not saying they have to like our opinion, but if you are honest and objective about what you like and don't like it'll help significantly. I did have more written out but it's too offtopic and would only serve to confuse my point.[/quote] Yup, totally agree and I think there was enough in the OP for Janek to know it was a question which was easy for him to answer (it was a misprint). From what I've read here and on TB, those who post on here are not frightened of voicing opinion which may not agree with another player (professional or not).. The stuff in Janek's own part of TB really is a bit too lovey-dovey. Even though it may not have been voiced in quite the right manner some of the time, there was enough material to know what the thread was getting at. Janek then decided to wade in... In my opinion, jazz is one genre that always seems to be portrayed as requiring more skill and knowledge than any other (even more than "classical") and so the nature of articles from jazz players, I find, tend either to be based on theory and/or technique rather than feel, emotion or creativity. By the way, what ever happened to the crisps with the little blue salt bag. I remember finding 2 salt bags in 1 packet when I was a kid and that was me happy for the whole day!

But we do know that the technical article brought up by the OP was written by an author who hates writing about technique. Remember, if BBC wasn't a cynic he'd believe everything in the Sun...

....... I miss Janek already. He brought a light into my bass practice, a torch which I have to follow. He brought the truth and showed me the error of my ways..... :brow: Never again shall I question the virtue of technical lessons and I accept that "modern bass improvisation" is the way to true enlightenment. PS. Just to be fair, I'll probably buy BGM and read the article....

[quote name='mcgraham' post='154967' date='Mar 10 2008, 10:59 PM']It was as if we never expected Janek to read this, which really isn't cool on a number of levels. Mark[/quote] I think that it's cool that it was typed in that way. If it was written with him in mind then maybe then opinions would have been tempered and not been as totally honest as they have been. Having Janek pop in and "type something scathing" was mildly entertaining....

Ok, that's fair enough.

How many people would find the "Modern bass improvisation" article useful to them and how many would just put it to one side ??

Very true !! The OP was commenting that he didn't believe the claims made in "Modern bass improvisations". So now we know that the author, does not practice 10 hours a day every day and that some of the notes were misprinted making them seem faster than they should have been. So it seems that the page cannot be taken at face value...

But how do you practice creativity? Surely you have to get out and play with others and learn to weave lines around other players. It's great having the technical side, but if you can't play with other players it's all meaningless. Just thought of this as well... Take an opera singer such as Jose Carreras. Great technical voice. Get him to sing West Side Story and he has a hard time with it. All the technique he had didn't help him apply that to another genre of music.

That's a good point, Cheddatom. I remember guitarist, Paul Gilbert saying that after he went to GIT he totally forgot how to play blues! My point was the practicing a technique and getting it up to speed of 400bpm (or whatever is suggested in this article) could be of little use to players who don't take solos in bands (in whatever genre). It may help self-confidence, but the actual practicing of one lick for hours and hours which is not going to be played onstage seems, to me at least, a little pointless. There are a whole range of things to learn, rhythm, time, keeping with a drummer and so on. Being able to play these techniques does not automatically make you a better bassist. It might make you sound cool in a music shop on a Saturday afternoon, but it has little to do with playing in a band and translating the feel of a song to an audience.

Personally, I think that speed is irrelevant. How many bands would you have the opportunity to play anything that speed during a gig? Or even take a solo during a gig? I don't think it would be that useful to most gigging bassists whether they be professionals or players enjoying a small gig in a club. Imagine this, you've practiced a piece from the magazine and you have it down. First thing the leader of the band calls is "OK, Mustang Sally.....1,2,3" In the classical field, practising 8-10 even 12 hours a day is not unheard of. A friend of mine from school who's a couple of years older then me, used to practice for at least 5-6 hours a day every weekday and for up to 12 hours at weekends. He's now a professional concert pianist and a teacher. I, myself, as a Grade 8 standard violinist used to practice at least 5-6 hours a day, play with an orchestra on Saturday mornings and then all afternoon and into Saturday evening. I think that because the 10 hour practice statement comes into the public domain through a magazine, many people who have not experienced a classical background are amazed by it. We'd all like to practice more but some here have families and jobs. Heck, even Janek was taking time out to go with his girlfriend to the beach!! As long as each of us enjoy playing bass that's all that matters and we shouldn't compare ourselves to anyone else, let alone those who write in magazines and play professionally.

The DVD is definately worth the £5. I've got a double disc version, just great stuff. Also worth the money is the Dr.Licks book "Standing in the shadows of Motown". Alan Slutsky (Dr. Licks) was involved in the film as well. It originally came out with 2 cassettes, but now there's a version with 2CD's. It features the lines of classic Motown songs played by a variety of great players and has full transcriptions as well.

The 10 hour a day practice headline is guaranteed to produce a reaction, either good or bad. Isn't it true that any publicity is good publicity? [b]BBC[/b], keep up the practice routine. Don't forget to go into your shed and film your playing for YouTube

I don't think he meant to cause offence at all either. I thought the "yeah, right" was just conversational and that he didn't believe what was being claimed. Many musicians practice for 8 hours a day and indeed, I have done so for long periods of time first as a classical musician and then when I was cramming for 4 hour gigs I was being asked to play and I only had 3 days to learn the songs !! Maybe this claim within a magazine was meant so that the reader would respect the author?

...and when you get lots of the little "subscribe now" postcards in between the pages

[quote name='bigd1' post='152209' date='Mar 6 2008, 10:03 AM']Just been re reading Janek's "Modern Bass Improvisations" in issue 35 of Bass Guitar Magazine. I say re read as I find what he has to say rather hard to accept. Firstly he claims to practice his exercises up to 10 hours a day ! Now we all know players who may play their given instrument all day or night, but to just be playing exercises for 10 hours, hmmmmmm yeah right. Second, he says start slowly about 50bpm, and then increase by 10bpm to improve speed. (no problem with that great advice) He then claims to go up to 400bpm playing through the first 3 Fragments. Now that means as the [b]1st & 2nd Fag[/b] is in quavers (eighth notes) at 400bpm he is saying he can play 1600 notes per minuet ! but then[b] Fag 3[/b] is semi quavers (sixteenth notes) making 3200npm. I'm would say this is not possible and even if it was, what would be the point. At that king of speed it would just sound like one long note or glissando. Some might say the point is the challenge of playing at 400bpm. I can sort of see that although, you may think I'm a bit old fashioned but, music is about just that making music, not how fast can I play it.[/quote] There was nothing wrong with this original post at all. You called it as you saw it...

[quote name='clauster' post='154126' date='Mar 9 2008, 07:41 PM']It amazes me that mostly everyone who has contributed on the subject of this thread is naive enough to believe that the magazine is written to appeal to bass players. The title alone is enough to ensure that every issue will be bought by a significant number of bassists. The contents are there to promote the advertisers' interests. At the mo this (as far as I can see) is the contemporary music schools, so the mag has to promote the idea that bassists must be able to play all the modes of every scale at mega bpm on ERB's. Alright, so I'm guilty of some fascetiousness here but seriously, the revenue generated by magazine sales is peanuts compared to advertising revenue. It ain't us it is written for, he who pays the piper calls the tune.[/quote] Guitarists have had similar kind of technical lessons (tricky licks at 200bpm) for many years now. It would be a shame if similar items in bass magazines went the same way. With regards to advertising interest, that's a very interesting viewpoint that I hadn't thought of. [quote name='jakesbass' post='154168' date='Mar 9 2008, 08:37 PM']I think we should ask ourselves what level of criticism should take place in this environment, and being relatively new to the online world I'm beginning to feel that caution is the better part of valour, or to put it another way, the thick skinned can handle anything (me included) but the thin skinned can't and perhaps we should all have consideration for the thinner skinned end of the forum, so as to maintain a friendly atmosphere. Janek seems eloquent and able and I'm sure to be doing the work he is, he must be a good musician. My view is that he would have displayed more dignity if he had not posted, however upsetting he found the criticisms, and some were quite harsh and unthinking. My reasoning is that in such debates the truth usually lies somewhere between and as the published individual in the piece I felt he was in a no win situation.[/quote] I don't think that stuff typed against Janek was anything personal as it was based on the item brought up by the OP. The really personal stuff is against BBC. I've feel his posts are typed with his tongue firmly placed in his cheek and have had a good laugh at some of his posts. Janek came out fighting fire with fire and I do agree with [b]jakesbass[/b] that it would have been better for him if he had not posted. As I've said before if i see his name in print the first thing I will think of is his posting here and not of a bassist, artist or writer.