JamesBass

What experiences do people have of Polyrhythms? Polyrhythms help to explain the pocket as well as anything in my experience.

[quote name='urbanx' timestamp='1430817409' post='2764743'] Isn't it just a polite way of saying "You're playing out of time"? Like the way I sing "Just off pitch".... [/quote] Not even slightly. It's a conscious stylistic choice, that can often improve the groove depending on the where and when it is applied. If you've not looked at this before, then go and read up on the pocket. That is what pushed, pulled, and on refers to.

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1430780408' post='2764583'] Would you mind letting us hear the song or part of it, so we can hear what you mean? [/quote] I'll see if I have a copy on me, if not I'll have to wait for one of the guys to email it over

[quote name='redstriper' timestamp='1430778995' post='2764570'] Do people generally ask permission from the copyright holder before performing or recording a cover version? Is it a legal requirement? There are a lot of videos of covers on youtube - have they all been cleared by the writers? [/quote] What's the purpose of the cover? I've never asked permission, but have given credit to the writer(s) performer(s) of the original version, as well as the distributor etc.

[quote name='JoeEvans' timestamp='1430775265' post='2764529'] I did rip the audio and look at it, and it looked to me as though there was a pretty close correspondence between drum and bass on the RHCP track. Obviously on the D'Angelo track, the bass isn't playing right on the drum beats for a lot of the line; for the notes where he is, I'm pretty confident that he's hitting it, but he could well be behind it on the other notes. But that was why i was keen to hear from someone who has looked at multi-track recordings in this light. My feeling is that a lot of this is about attack and swing, rather than being literally ahead of or behind a beat. With a digital multitrack recording you could see whether that was the case or not, by lining up the drum and bass tracks and seeing where the hit is on both. [/quote] That's the thing, you've said it is pretty close. What does that mean exactly? I've done what you said there, and once we had the finished recording we shifted the bass in relation to the drums to see what would happen with the groove if we changed it up, purely out of interest. The song was written with the bass specifically deep in the pocket, I was not perfectly on the beat, but I wasn't too far behind. It was noticeable in the feel. Anyway, matching my bass perfectly to the drums, so I was absolutely on it, diminished the groove, move it ahead and the whole song fell apart! Behind the beat as we wrote it, meant the song had a real nice groove! FWIW myself and the drummer aren't your weekend warrior types(no offence is meant by this), we've both studied music with some exceptional teachers and had been working together for around 4 or 5 years so understood each other perfectly when we recorded and wrote the track together! Behind the beat can most certainly be a conscious decision, unlike how the OP represents such a technique.

[quote name='JoeEvans' timestamp='1430763567' post='2764397'] I must have cloth ears then, because I listened to both as carefully as I know how and I didn't hear either bass player playing a note ahead of or behind where it 'ought' to have fallen. Flea sounds totally locked in to the drummer; although Pino is playing a more free-range baseline, each note sounds to me as though it sits bang on the rhythm. Am I wrong? Which notes in the phrase is either bassist putting ahead of or behind where it should go? [/quote] Trust me, Pino and Flea are behind and ahead of the beat respectively. We are talking absolute minuscule deviations, so much so that it is incredibly hard to pick out. But they are behind and ahead. Another pushed line is Peaches. JJ Burnel is ever so slightly ahead of the beat. Punk is notorious for players being slightly ahead, I'm not talking a quaver, or even semi-quaver, I'm talking even smaller than a hemi-demi-semi quaver. Pino's reputation as a first call guy has come from his incredible sense of rhythm and feel, all his lines with D'Angelo are incredibly deep pocket. Find yourself a REALLY excellent drummer and discuss this phenomenon with them, if they know their stuff they'll be able to help you develop this feel. Or failing a drummer, find a great teacher who knows their rhythms and talk to them!

I feel as though I'm in some sort of position to comment on this subject seeing how it's something I've been studying for the past year. Let's clarify some terms quickly, groove means repetition. Feel is the way a person interprets the rhythm of the song. So yes, pulled, pushed, and on are types of feels. But, playing behind or in front of the beat, is NOT being out of time. Not even in the slightest can you say it is out of time. A naturally derived rhythm has a pulse. It is not absolute, which is where you can interpret rhythms differently. Having your drummer or yourself shake an egg shaker and recording said action, will show what I mean. The beat has a minuscule area that the note can be delivered in. We are talking about something that you physically cannot count, but you certainly can feel it. If you want to hear some behind the beat playing then listen to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bo8DH21BbfY Pino gets the feel of that spot on, he's behind the beat, which gives the song it's "wonk" you have to really listen in depth to the drums and the bass simultaneously, but trust me this is the epitome of behind the beat playing. Now for a pushed beat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaLBZD5Gbqk The way the bass interacts with the drums is where the beat is pushed or pulled. Pino sits right on the back end of Questloves drums, he's always behind it. Flea on Give it Away is leading Chads drums, he's ahead of the beat. Now, all of this pushed, pulled, on stuff can be referred to pocket playing. Draw out a bar showing where each beat is and play that with either an egg shaker or a drummer, you'll notice there is a little bit of lee-way with the beat placement. It is incredibly hard to master but you CAN consciously do it. I'm even in the process of writing a piece of music that allows me total freedom of beat placement to demonstrate pushed, pulled, and on during a song.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1430303546' post='2759976'] You're welcome to borrow one of our demo cabs and wander down to GAK with it (only a few hundred yards away) for tonal comparisons with the variety of heads/cabs they have in stock. And if you buy a head there you can try it REALLY LOUD with our cabs in our factory! [/quote] How's best to arrange such a thing?

[quote name='Lozz196' timestamp='1430255492' post='2759649'] Have to agree it`s awesome when matched with the - now discontinued - Super 12T. Power and tone by the trailer load. Re amps, well the Markbass will do clean but warm very well (and I really like Precisions with Markbass amps as well), the GK will do clean or warm, plus drive, lots of eq possibles on these, and the TH500 is an old-school amp, plenty of power, but not a hi-tech sound at all. [/quote] Sounds like I need to find a way of trying everything together then!

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1430236962' post='2759352'] I demo'd the TH500 and TKS S112's ...along with a few other cabs and I bought the TH/TKS set-up. The S112 cabs have that something else and they are superbly made. [/quote]That's good to hear, it's what I'm looking at most, but not sure till I can shift my CTM300! Think I'm leaning towards the H115 though

[quote name='Japhet' timestamp='1430235973' post='2759335'] Wot, no Tecamp? [/quote] That's the one I missed off! Never seen one in the metal so any opinion on them helps!

So I've decided it's time for a new rig, and as such my CTM300 is up for sale and once gone, the proceeds shall be funding a new rig. But I can't decide what I want exactly. I'm looking for an amp that sounds old school, yet still retains clarity, definition, and articulation. I'm looking for something portable and lightweight. I play in a soul/funk/jazz function band as well as a few originals bands that range from rock to acoustic singer-songwriter stuff. Ideally I need a minimum of 500 watts. Cab wise I'm pretty set on either TKS or Barefaced, with a stronger preference for TKS as it stands. I've identified the following as possibles but am unsure which is best thus far. Aguilar TH500 MarkBass LMIII & LM800(Tube) &TTE 500 GK MB800 Fusion EBS So please, someone help me out!

For an easy in, modern blues players like Gary Clark Jr. and John Mayer are a great place to start. Blues isn't a difficult genre to play, but it is difficult to truly master. Tasteful playing is the order of the day. I'd be learning as much of the John Mayer Trio as possible, Pino Palladino is one of the best players alive today and he's not limited in the styles he plays, so you're gonna find some cool approaches to his playing that a dedicated/primarily blues player might not have. Don't over think your lines and REALLY, REALLY work on your feel!

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1429780269' post='2754794'] I don't find the TH500 particularly "bassy" - but then again I leave the bass control on flat or slightly cut. It certainly has the capability to do huge amounts of bass boost, but that is not what is causing the distortion in my case. Amp-wise, I'm pretty much looking exclusively at second-hand. Ironically I started with a Hartke LH500 and the only reason I moved it on was that I couldn't get enough mids out of it! It was definitely clean and loud enough! Next amp I tried was a TC RH750. I sounded pretty good, but it was too complex for my (simple) needs, with too many features that I wouldn't need and just found distracting. [/quote] Interesting, so the clipping is with the input then? What about going for another Aguilar head? But going for the AG500 if it comes up, it's more mid favoured, I think there is one in the FS section? Yeah I completely understand the issue with the TC range, they pack loads of features in and it can get frustrating when trying to get a tone out of it as there are so many knobs to play with!

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1429771526' post='2754662'] Well, I got my TH500 back from the people who serviced and tested it yesterday, and the news is..... mixed They gave the amp a clean bill of health - which is not what I was expecting, but confirms what I feared. This amp just does not work (for me) with my Barefaced Big One! When I use the caveat "for me", what I mean is that I like a clean tone and there just doesn't seem to be any way that I can get it from this combination. One piece of advice I was given by the servicing company ([url="http://www.mac-electronics.co.uk/pro_audio/service.shtml"]MAC Electronics[/url] - who are well respected locally and actually have an Aguilar service contract) was to run my bass through the effects return socket! I've never heard of that before... I tried it again at last night's rehearsal and things were just the same (unsurprisingly, as nothing has changed). I ran both volume and drive on ZERO and all tone settings flat. Master was on FULL. I had a usable volume, and a decent tone, but there was still a slight "edge" to the sound and if I added any boost to the tone controls then the clip light was on and the old distortion problem returned So now that I know that the amp is not faulty, and was not damaged in shipping, I am left with the conclusion that it is simply no good for me as long as I use a Barefaced Big One. So the choice is this - do I keep the amp and look for another cab (or cabs) or do I stick with a cabinet that offers me everything I want and sell/trade the Aggie? At the moment I favour the latter, but which other amps will cause incompatibility problems with my cab I wonder? [/quote] Interesting to hear Conan. Last week Captain Rumble and I met up to potentially trade my CTM300 for his TH500. Both heads were played through his Barefaced 212, can't remember the exact model name, but really surprisingly the TH500 was darker in character and seemed to have more lows/or less of everything else compared to the CTM300. The CTM was obviously louder and more present, but it did seem to lack bottom, something I'd never encountered with it before. The TH500 tone certainly isn't modern or super clean by any stretch of the imagination. It's very old school, and very warm and I can see how some people might think it's clipping or just not right for them as the bass frequencies are VERY pronounced! Have you got any amps in mind Conan? I always thought the TC Electronic heads were ridiculously clean, same with Hartke, if thats any help!

[quote name='Billy Apple' timestamp='1429355700' post='2750713'] Is it gammon or bacon? [/quote] I was thinking more kippers on toast!

[quote name='acidbass' timestamp='1429107388' post='2748072'] Hi all, Simple question - does anyone use flatwound strings on their Stingray? Going to swap out my rounds for some this week. I use Thomastik, LaBella and Rotosound flats on other basses - but not sure they would be the most appropriate for a 'Ray? What ones do you use? Tone-wise, I'm going for a Bernard Edwards-style thud. All opinions heard and respected Danny [/quote] Nard used the strings that come on his Stingray I'm pretty sure! TI's would work well on a stingray imo