ambient

Having lessons from a good teacher is an investment. You may not realise it at the time, but as you progress you will. I've been fortunate to study with some amazing musicians, who have been truly inspiring. Not just bass tutors but others who have taught me so much about composition and arranging, and put me on course for where I am now. Bass wise, the best tutor I've had was Steve Lawson who I studied with for a couple of years or so. There were some amazing bassists at uni who I studied with too, but for various reasons didn't get much from, mainly because I wasn't interested in developing my traditional bass playing skills, it wasn't stimulating creatively for me.

Having never heard uptown funk, or any real desire to hear it really, I think you just have to try and capture the essence of the song, and rearrange it according to whatever instrumentation is available. Floyd albums for example are incredibly well produced and littered with musiqe concrete and other effects, yet that doesn't stop bands from doing great covers of their songs.

Not exactly a pedalboard, it's actually a music stand covered in Velcro, but it puts the effects at the right height. It's an Eventide Space which is amazing, a Korg Kaoss Pad KP3+. The bright glow is from my ebow, and on the floor is a Pigtronix Infinity looper.

I wonder if the pa company are supplying the pa free ? Or the sound engineers, or lighting, or riggers etc ? If you want to do it, I'd maybe ask for expenses, or arrange with someone from the band to give you a lift. I sceptical of these sort of things, someone somewhere is making money out of it, as has been pointed out, it's the profit that's going to charity.

It's just a question of doing it, practicing at volume, and improving your muting technique. I do most of my muting with my left hand, the fingers that I'm not using to fret a note, are lying across the strings stopping them from ringing. Lessons are a great idea. A noise gate cuts out noise from your gear, hiss that's caused by high frequencies, it stops anything coming through above a preset level.

I think for most normal bass parts then B E A D is a good idea. What would possibly cause problems is the fact it's a 4 string. You may have to keep telling yourself that it's a low B, not an E.

[quote name='seashell' timestamp='1440829950' post='2854132'] I'm not familiar with Jonas's work, but I'm about to get educated! :-) I'll be along to the Birmingham gig at Tower of Song. [/quote] I'm going to the Birmingham show. Jonas's playing is very eclectic, from amazing slap virtuosity to beautiful acoustic playing like in the video I posted above, to stunning solo work, I remember seeing a video of him doing a solo bass arrangement of Hendrix's Little wing. So combine that with Steve's amazing soundscaping and it promises to be a pretty fantastic night. The Tower of song is a really nice venue too. There's also a ticket discount if you're a subscriber to Steve's music on Bandcamp.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1440881124' post='2854577'] [color=#000000][font=sans-serif][size=3]Erroneous[/size][/font][/color] used to break them frequently. I'd guess it depends on playing style, but when I read of Erroneous's record, I was gobsmacked. [/quote] I was wondering if maybe there was a problem on the OP's bass or something, causing stress on the string ?

How often do you break a string ? I've never broken one in 20 years.

Just sold my volume pedal to Nick. An extremely quick and easy transaction, and a really nice and friendly guy. Highly recommended.

[quote name='HengistPod' timestamp='1440773518' post='2853768'] ... which is grand, but I tend to only break one string at a time, requiring replacement at the end of a song. If I had a set of new strings and used, say, the A, to replace a broken one, then I have now got E, D and G left as spares. What am I gonna do - replace them all at the end of the gig? And if I only put on the "old" ones a week ago, what happens to them - throw them out? I have not the cash for such profligacy. So when I put a new set of string on, uness the old ones are totally shot they get saved in the packets the new ones came out of. Hence a whole bunch of spare single strings in the pocket of my gigging bag. (They also come in useful for holding bits of my car together on occasion.) [/quote] Buy separate strings ? I'm pretty sure you can buy separate Rotosounds from Strings direct.

I recently graduated from music college with a BMus honours degree. I have excellent sight-reading skills, and a very good knowledge of advanced musical theory and harmony. I have been playing 6 string bass for about 8 years. Throughout this time, I have developed my playing technique to a highly proficient level. I have also written an as yet unpublished book on 6 string bass, that covers general playing, and also advanced 6 string bass playing, including chordal playing and chord melody techniques. Most people buy a looping pedal, and after the initial novelty of being able to record a bass line, and then maybe solo over it, they quickly lose interest in it. Hence the rather large number of used but in excellent condition looper pedals that you see listed for sale on here, and on eBay. I have tried to take looping a few steps further, and use it to create quite dramatic and sometimes ethereal melodic soundscapes, and ambient compositions. I can teach you to use your looper pedal in a far more creative manner, thus improving your general musical ability along the way. I am extremely proficient in the use of most of the music software currently available, including Logic Pro 9 and X, Garageband, Sibelius, Ableton live, Cubase etc. Tuition available throughout the Birmingham and West Midlands area, and also via Skype. Please contact me for details.

Bach, as already suggested one of the cello pieces, or one of his inventions ?

Fingerless gloves. I think the coldest I've ever been was busking in the Birmingham Jewellery quarter at a Christmas market about 4 years ago. There was a mad rush of all the band into the nearest coffee shop at interval time. I played at a garden party 2 weeks ago and was cold, that's the British summer for you I guess .

I think he just wants to praise god by playing. I'd say let him play, see what comes from it. I'm playing in a band with another bassist tomorrow, should be a fun night. I'm sure I'll learn something from the experience, as I'm sure the 2 of you will.

Too short a notice, but I'd have loved this.

Try the Alexander technique. [url="http://www.stat.org.uk"]http://www.stat.org.uk[/url]

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1440662403' post='2852702'] Yes, and these are the ones you target to play ... I wouldn't bother about the rest tbh... if we are some sort of afterthought.. or rather the music is. One of my fave music pubs, the guy/LL is [b]always[/b] travelling to see bands..we have endless chats about music and he always says he doesn't see music the way I do, with regards what is good in a band etc....but he gets out there, he sees loads and altho I wouldn't book some of the acts he does, I respect he knows what he likes and sees and will book that band/act even though he knows they wont make much money...because he is a fan. I think that says it all... or rather, it gets no argument from me. (actually it does and I don't get his penchant for 3 piece blues rock bands with endless gtr widdle all night, but we laugh about it) I'll support the pub as much as poss, his pay rate is lowish, but you need guys like him... [/quote] I did some dep gigs for a Free tribute band a few years ago. The gigs were all over the place, and like you say, there are landlords around who are passionate about music, and who value live music, and will pay the bands a realistic sum.

Singing stuff is a great thing to be able to do. If you look on Youtube for videos of Janek Gwizdala, you can see him singing an improvised line, then playing the line as he's soloing. There's a great site that I found useful for ear training called tear - [url="http://teoria.com/exercises"]http://teoria.com/exercises[/url]

[quote name='CH161' timestamp='1440629543' post='2852603'] I'm not sure about this point. The disciplines are very different. Playing from music demands a certain set of skills and playing by ear, without the reliance on written music is another. I also hold degrees in music, and my experience suggests there is a wide margin between the two skill sets. Both of these are very demanding disciplines. [/quote] I do think that they would still gain enough knowledge to know what to do. It may not automatically come to them, improvising is a skill that takes practice, but they would have the necessary knowledge of what to do, i.e. they certainly know their instruments, they have the harmonic knowhow. They certainly wouldn't have to play every note trying to find the right one.

Even though I really don't like his music, I have to say he is an amazing musician. I had to learn a few of his things for uni, it's all about his touch. He was something like 19 when he was playing for and producing Miles Davis. That says a lot about his talent.

I got mine from Bass direct.

What Dunlop strings did you want ?