ambient

How do you play to a song that you've never heard before ? How do you know what note to play first etc ? I'm just curious.

I've never played one. They look beautiful though. I saw one in the flesh for the first time last year, a 6 string too !

A twenty one year old original model John Patitucci bass. [attachment=230483:14718877_580332012175064_6802446200429928455_n.jpg] I'm a huge John Patitucci fan, I've wanted one of these for ages. Physically it quite a large bass, but it is so comfortable to play. I picked it up on Tuesday evening after uni, and used it for a gig the following afternoon. Being one of the original models, it's a 34" scale, as opposed to the current JP2 basses which are 35". It sounds absolutely fantastic, deep, but at the same time very bright. Which is what they were aiming for I believe when they were designing it. It's incredibly beautiful looking, almost like a tiger . I just love the design of it, from the recessed flush mount strap buttons, to the easy open battery cover, it's just so well thought out and built. I believe it would have cost over £3k new, so quite an investment back in 1995. I used to own a TRB6P, that was an amazing bass, and one that I've always regretted selling. This I hope will be a keeper.

They do two models of the Gerald Veasley bass too, an extremely expensive model, and a much cheaper one.

Steve Lawson and Michael Manring. I've always loved the 'sound' of bass, but never really it's role. So discovering them after playing for ten years or so, was amazing.

For 'normal' playing it'd be Anthony Jackson. His playing on everything is amazing, but there's one Hiromi album that's particularly good, and his sound is brilliant on it, need to look up the name of it though.

The pinnacle ? Probably something my Michael Manring, Adhan maybe.

Start with the chords. Ask the guitarists/keyboard player what chords they're playing, and take it from there. Start simple with root notes, and add the relevant 3rd/5th etc.

[quote name='SICbass' timestamp='1476729363' post='3156763'] Ooo-err! Well......,,,somebody had to. [/quote] I was waiting for it 😄.

I used to see a guy most nights at Marylebone. I'm guessing he was a student at the Royal college of music which is just down the road. Anyway, he was only about 5 foot 2 or something, carrying this huge orchestral double bass on his back. Having to lean forward to counteract the backward pull of the bass. I used to feel so sorry for him struggling through the crowded station concourse, and through the barrier. Then consider how lucky I was with my relatively light bass in it's bag on back.

Stand in front of a mirror and play, or betterer still video yourself playing, and look for oddness in how you're standing.

It's definitely the marmite of body shapes 😊.

I wouldn't have thought an inch would make much difference. I tend to do 99% of my playing from the 5th fret upwards. Low F I'd play at the 6th fret B string, F# 7th fret etc. I find that way more comfortable than playing the same notes on a 4 string.

I've got Funkifise too if you want it.

[quote name='AdamWoodBass' timestamp='1476660595' post='3156152'] This is all super useful and I'm definitely going to check out Notion. I've been battling with Sibelius and getting pretty frustrated with it but that's probably more a user interface thing than anything. I guess the general consensus then is that transcribing stuff is a big help in learning to read? [/quote] I've been battling with Sibelius for four years, it's not the most user friendly software.

[quote name='paul_c2' timestamp='1476643908' post='3155940'] Also worth mentioning, I believe (sight) reading music to play on bass guitar is a bit of a separate topic. I can never remember the acronym for the lines but the spaces are "All Cows Eat Grass". I started a thread about it because I wanted to improve too, I put a more complex example but the general guidelines and hints are universal, so would apply to simpler stuff. [/quote] Green buses drive fast always .

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1476642711' post='3155925'] Although I have to use Sibelius for work, I much prefer Notion since they introduced handwriting recognition. It works an absolute treat. You can use fingers or stylus for input of notes and articulations. I think it might have been you, Ambient, who was enquiring about this type of software last year sometime. If I remember right, it was Staffpad and Surface pro though? I take it you didn't go down that route? Notion is good for integrating between iPad iOS and the desktop version. Mac or PC. [/quote] Yeah, it was me. Someone posted something on Facebook, but it wasn't available on Mac, can't remember what the software was now. I want a new iPad, so this will definitely be something I'll look at getting. Thanks !

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1476642711' post='3155925'] Although I have to use Sibelius for work, I much prefer Notion since they introduced handwriting recognition. It works an absolute treat. You can use fingers or stylus for input of notes and articulations. I think it might have been you, Ambient, who was enquiring about this type of software last year sometime. If I remember right, it was Staffpad and Surface pro though? I take it you didn't go down that route? Notion is good for integrating between iPad iOS and the desktop version. Mac or PC. [/quote] A friend of mine was saying just the other day how good notion is. I use Sibelius because I got it free, and had to use it for my degree.

Sibelius, and sometimes pencil and paper.

I ditched all of my pedals about 6 months ago, and I'm now using a MacBook, soon to be replaced by an iPad .

I think he's a great bass player. Quite jazzy when he started. I was looking at his line to message in a bottle with a student a few weeks ago. Explaining how he used to double track his bass lines using electric and EUB or double bass. The Police were a great band, but he's done some amazing music solo, though his albums are sometimes a bit patchy. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWl45J8XI-E"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWl45J8XI-E[/url]

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1476601542' post='3155454'] The Police, one of the best live bands I have ever seen. Saw them at the old Mayfair in Newcastle, not long after the first album came out, they were pretty much un known. Blew me away. No modern technology, no in ear monitors, no backing tracks. Just three good musicians with great songs playing off one another. Great harmonies, lots of jamming.and light and shade. Rekindled my love of music and inspired me to take up the bass. [/quote] One of my tutors at uni saw them while he was studying at Newcastle uni.

Hope you can see these ok. [attachment=229994:Screen Shot 2016-10-16 at 00.37.43.png][attachment=229995:Screen Shot 2016-10-16 at 00.38.13.png][attachment=229996:Screen Shot 2016-10-16 at 00.38.31.png][attachment=229997:Screen Shot 2016-10-16 at 00.38.57.png]

I'm not too keen on the track off his new album that I keep hearing on Facebook.