Oscar South

3 and some singers

[quote name='simwells' post='281821' date='Sep 11 2008, 01:26 PM']Yeah gotta agree with that assessment of the Chester store, haven't really been into many to find out. Though Guitar Experience are much friendlier again! Though very little in the way of basses stocked again.[/quote] Cool, I never really liked that shop too much but theres some cool stuff to be found occasionally in the pawn shops on that row. Back Alley Music has really cool staff too and a great selection of guitars and moderate selection of basses.

Dawsons may not be the best line of music shops in the country but the chester branch is an excellent store imo, the staff are very helpful and eager to let you try out whatever you want, I've jammed with staff members before now and they're pretty good at playing and know what they're talking about. The range of basses is sub par but they're not really a dedicated 'guitar shop' and they do carry a lot of stuff that most other music shops don't. Admittedly they're overpriced too so I don't buy all my stuff there, I get various midi accessories and an occasional bit of bass gear there though just so that I'm not that guy who always tries out all the stuff then goes and buys it on the internet.

Molly Bond by Oysterband would be a good one if you're into Folk Rock.

I've done short solo bass performances before, they go down really well most of the time. Solo bass is one of those things that everyone loves (if done well) if they happen to see it, but nobody (other than bassists) will actually put effort and money into going to see it.

Thanks for the replies everyone, after reading them I think I do need to focus on other stuff for a while until I feel like playing bass again, plus I'll be back having to play in different settings every day soon, getting so much time to show off what you can do is quite a nice incentive to put more time into doing it better . I also think I need to adjust my approach to practising, I've gotten into a bit of a comfort zone. [quote name='bilbo230763' post='274276' date='Sep 1 2008, 10:00 AM']How is your reading? That is a skill that is particularly rare and VERY marketable. Needs hours a day to get it up to professional speed. If you can get to the point of sight reading stuff, you can access 1,000s of pieces of music that will stretch you and help you find that spark. Try transcribing some solos by other instruments: baritone sax and trombone are generally easy to start with but sax/trumpet can be demanding. Look closely at the phrasing; I was transcribing a Steve Swallow solo last night ('Wrong Together' off his 'Real Book' cd). Simple little solo until you try to write it down. His phrasing is sublime. Look beyond the notes and examine the music. Get a book on orchestration and learn some stuff. Get some orchestral scores (libraries often have them) and read them along with a performance. Buy some world music compilations; nuevo flamenco, Astor Piazolla, Cuban, African, - broaden you horizons. There is a lovely quote from Death in Terry Pratchetts 'Hogfather'; 'HUman beings are remarkable creatures. All the fascinating things in the world and they still manage to invent boredom'. You have just reached a plateau and need to look beyond it.[/quote] You've hit two aspects that I've had on my 'to do' list for a long time and should start on asap, I can pick through stuff by ear and I can pick through sheet music but I'd really like to be more fluent on both, I'll definitely shift focus to working on these more and technique/academic theory less over the next year. [quote name='chris_b' post='274350' date='Sep 1 2008, 11:51 AM']There's your problem. What a dismal, gloomy, joyless, depressing bore. No wonder your not feeling good. Start listening to some "fun" music and, if you can play everything with an hour of starting, you've obviously got bass playing down, learn the piano.[/quote] Get lost. [quote name='bilbo230763' post='274456' date='Sep 1 2008, 01:15 PM']As awful as it sounds, I actually don't practice on the bass at all. With 97 gigs so far this year, I don't really have to worry about my 'chops'. My 'thing' is composing (badly as it happens but I am learning) and, in order to progress in this I study other stuff; transcriptions, scores, chord sequences, orchestration etc. There are a million things out there to get your juices flowing. I can NEVER find the time I wish I had to study all of this stuff properly. Get out there and LEARN!!!! This music stuff is just BRILLIANT!![/quote] Yeah, I got into composition a LOT over the last few years and wrote quite a bit of stuff, this year since I've gotten more into songwriting since becoming more fluent on guitar, I'm getting more into analysing pieces of music I really love so I think I'll do that more over the next year too. [quote name='ruztiwarren' post='274468' date='Sep 1 2008, 01:27 PM']I've been playing off and on for sometime now. If you want a challenge try slapping and popping, different technique and you might end up enjoying it.[/quote] Thanks for the suggestion, I was into a lot of more funky stuff when I was younger though and am quite adept at slap/pop technique, I'm going to revisit it at some point from a stylistic viewpoint but I'm happy with it for now. [quote name='hatori' post='274728' date='Sep 1 2008, 04:49 PM']Check out Trip Wamsley's 'Rut Buster' exercise. Works fer me. I find his playing truly inspiring.[/quote] This sounds interesting, I'll look it up. [quote name='teen t-shirt' post='274986' date='Sep 1 2008, 09:47 PM']by your self a ridiculasly large like 14 string bass and see what happens... [/quote] I applied for a bank loan to have one built, they said "solo bass isn't commercially viable". f***ers.

That one sounds a lot better but I'm still not a fan of this bands style really, the piano solo was really good though. She is a great artist, I just don't really like jazz-funk as an genre, and I think she fits a lot better into an acoustic or more traditional jazz setting.

[quote name='woodster' post='280122' date='Sep 9 2008, 06:01 AM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLPyGNIK4X8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLPyGNIK4X8[/url] I never get tired of watching this awesome track......[/quote] Just sounds like hanon shred to me, and I don't like the bass tone at all.

I really like her synth stuff and piano work inside a structured setting, but what I've heard of her more self indulgent piano playing just seems to drift off a bit too far a bit too soon. Really good piano player though.

Looks like a prop from a Tom and Jerry episode

its just a minor arpeggio then a chromatic (or harmonic minor, whichever way you look at it) note one semitone below the root at the end of the phrase. Shift key up one semitone N amount of times and you're done, easiest song ever. I think it starts in Bm but it might be Am or Cm or something, I know we play it in a diff key to the original but its not too hard to work out which is right.

I've completely lost any passion for playing bass, I've gotten to the stage where I can easily play everything I frequently come into contact with technically and theoretically, have all the gear I want/need and whenever I get called to play something out of my comfort zone I can get by with an hours work on it. I'm far from being 'professional level' and I want to get there but nothing seems to be challenging me enough to work hard towards it, I can't see where I'm going or what I'm working towards. I still play bass regularly at band practices and will be playing it more in a few weeks when I go back to uni (music course), but that's the only time I do play it, I can't bring myself to practice and I can't form a vision of what I want to get out from practising, I really want to progress further but I have no idea how or where to. I got a new nylon electro-acoustic recently too and to make matters worse I've been into Nick Drake a lot, all I really do is play acoustic guitar and sometimes piano, I'm enjoying playing those but I'm doing bass as a career so I really want to get the drive to play that again, I used to practice and play for 5-8 hours a day. I don't listen to any music at the moment with the bass as a central role, Soliloquy is the only solo repertoire I occasionally listen to. What I really want is for some suggestions of new avenues I can expand down that will give me some hard goals to work towards, I started a jazz band at uni last year to push me but after the initial learning curve I can get through most of our repertoire with not too much difficulty. I'm learning bass parts at the moment for a lot of pretty technically difficult songs in a metal type band I'm gigging with next year so I don't really just want *more* songs to learn, plus when I get back to uni I'll be bombarded by multiple new songs to learn every week. This is all well and good and keeping me in good practice but I want something to make me really *want* to play. On the plus side though, I'm saving a fortune on string budget. Thanks, Oscar.

85% of people who say they don't like basses with more than 4 strings are just distasted because they either can't play a 5+ stringer well, or can't afford one. 10% are just saying it to be contrary or because they think it'll earn them 'bass cred'.

bass is over rated

Take a short melodic phrase, modify it over the chords, add variations and a few little slides and fills, pentatonic run to finish. You can also play a more linier melodic solo, just noodle in the key basically. Once you get a feel for it bass soloing is one of the easiest things, and a well placed bass solo can be easily as effective as a guitar solo.

I like those grey dunlop nylon .88s for guitar and most bass, or 1.00s for more heavy duty bass work. Nice feel and grip.

One of the bassists on my course has a highway jazz, it sounds pretty sweet and the finish isn't too worn for him playing it all the time. The main bass lecturer spoke pretty well of them as well, I think they're a pretty damn good fender just with a cheaper finish (or no finish).

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='264037' date='Aug 17 2008, 05:52 PM']If you don't like it f*ck off.[/quote] I tried to come up with a reply to the first post that does a better job than this one, but couldn't. Direct, right to the point, clearly articulated. Well said.

Never been a massive fan of listening to gospel personally, just seems a bit heavy on aesthetics and a bit cliched at the expense of the music to me, its one of those genres that I really enjoy when exposed to it in the first person, but recorded it just doesn't do it for me. Then again, I've never really been exposed to that much of it and next year I'm playing bass for a gospel choir, so we'll see eh?

Big Muff.

Personally if I can't find a good role for an instrument I can't justify keeping it for long. As of right now: traditional 4 stringer steinberger 4 5 string 4 string fretless double bass electric guitar acoustic guitar Also have a stage piano and a ton of amps/effects some of which i'm trying to get rid of.

Got a set of La Bella Slappers and a set of Hard Rockin' steels yestday, both black silk.

[url="http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/shop/flypage/product_id/3724"]http://www.dolphinmusic.co.uk/shop/flypage/product_id/3724[/url] Much better value for synth sounds.

I can't make this so I'm looking for a sub. Minimal rehearsal, a couple of sessions if you like. Standard ceilidh type gig, few hours long. You just have to be follow the guitarists chords, there aren't really any sheets as he just puts them to the melody by ear, they're pretty easy to follow though and are only ever in G, D or Em, 98% of the time being the I, IV and V chords of those keys with a rare ii or vi. The tunes are very repetitive so its easy to pick the harmony up fast. PM if interrested.