zbd1960

I'm primarily a classical player - I play cello in various orchestras. I also play sax and played tenor in a big symphonic wind band of 90 players, although at the moment only playing in an octet. I'm also very experienced as a choral singer singing baritone (1st bass) line. I'm relatively new to bass. Currently I only play bass in a weekly session with the local Rock School. I find it a very alien world as we get given lyric sheets with chords on. It confuses the hell out of me as there just isn't enough information on there for me! I didn't start cello until I was in my early 50s - just under 11 years ago now. For cello you have to be able to read bass, tenor, and treble clefs as your music can jump around all three. The bass teacher I have is a young guy, but he's a conservatoire graduate (Leeds I think). He teaches bass, guitar, keys, and drums. He finds me 'unusual' because he doesn't have many students that are fluent readers and who understand theory to a decent level. He's on a paternity break for a couple of months and the guitar teacher has been running his sessions. They're a similar age. He regards reading notation as some sort of black magic reserved for the illuminati... I don't find memorising or playing by ear easy, but I am decent at sight-reading - you have to be playing in orchestras and ensembles. The important thing with sight-reading is less about playing the right notes (which helps) but being in the right place and playing the correct rhythm, whic is much more important. Genre is obviously a big differentiator. Playing cello in symphonic work I need to be on the right notes playing what's written, ditto playing baritone sax in a big band, or singing a choral work by Bach. That's different to playing in a rock or covers band.

I have just about zero experience of the types of bands and playing being talked about here. I have a lot of experience of performing in concerts, either as a singer in a choir, or as a instrumentalist on cello or sax in various sizes of orchestra/band/ensemble. The advantage of that is that such groups have a music director whose job it is to sort out and plan repertoire and to run the rehearsals and ultimately conduct the concert. The downside of that unless you're part of the administration and involved in the decision making is that you get no say in what is to be performed. It's a very different world, since you typically have 8 or 10 rehearsals on a programme and then one concert, and then you start all over again. You could go ten years and not encounter the work again.

Agreed. Beethoven made his reputation first as a pianist, composition starting with piano followed after.

Didn't the 'precision' bit arise from the fact that it was fretted, unlike a double bass, notwithstanding other design elements?

It's the same issue with hi-fi. If you're an aficionado, you know what you're listening for. If you're not a specialist, you don't know what to listen for. I have some serious hi-fi kit. The kind of things which distinguish it from a less able sound system are often quite subtle, but it is things like properly resolving the bass so that it has pitch. When a sound engineer friend first heard my hi-fi system his response was 'wow, that's neutral - you've got good ears'. I've more experience of hi-fi than basses, but I can tell they vary a lot. What I have trouble with is people posting comparisons on Youtube etc. First of all, the sound is compressed. Second if you're listening on a phone/tablet/PC the sound is seriously compromised. And even if you push it through a decent sound system, you've got he limitations of Bluetooth etc to deal with (and YT is still compressed). In theory, higher price should mean a better spec, better components, better build quality etc. In general, that's true but we can though all quote examples where a less expensive supplier hits the right mix and produced a really good piece of kit that is not premium priced. We can also think of big 'name' makers of stuff who trade on their name and don't deliver the goods.

Hi, welcome. I'd recommend finding a teacher to get you started to help avoid acquiring bad habits.... 🙂 (I play cello and you can cause yourself some longterm issues if you're not careful).

Zombie thread I know... The sax equivalent of here is Cafesaxophone.com

I agree. I bought a weekend ticket, obviously not going today. I ended up on a very crowded train from Crewe to Liverpool (it was a London train with a lot of people on it for football). I wore a mask and very few others did. I will be very cross if I've picked up you-know-what as a result as I'm going away tomorrow.

... we just need your bank account details....

There's another thread appeared... But I'll comment here as well. My guess is that exhibitors, especially smaller ones like makers, are going to be very wary of splashing too much cash on high fees to rent a space on a speculative couple of days. The organisers have some questions to answer since it looks likely that they have over-priced it to exhibitors who are recovering from two years of very difficult trading circumstances. The general level of communication, including social media updates, has been very poor. They're going to have to give this a big re-think if they want to succeed.

A lot of people, including me, have reported in the original 2020 thread. I went - I had a weekend ticket. When I arrived and had to queue to get in, I thought it would be busy. Turned out that the drum show WAS busy... Bass show was in a separate building, but the number of exhibitors was very disappointing. I've not been to one before, so I have nothing to compare it to other than our own bass bashes... But speaking to an exhibitor he said it was very small. I was expecting makers to be there and more bits and pieces / accessories types, but very little. I suspect if they are unsure about turnout they're going to be reluctant to pay the hire costs for a stall, which are probably £££. I'd booked for Jeff Berlin as well - I didn't even get the tee shirt offer... which I would have refused anyway. Shame as a good venue. Don't know what went wrong, but something did. I suspect they overpriced it to vendors who've been through very difficult times.

OK got home about an hour ago. Nice view out of the windows in the Arena... Just not a lot going on from a bass perspective. I don't have a previous show to compare it to, but exhibitors indicated it was much smaller than usual.

First time I’ve been to Liverpool Arena. It’s a nice venue with plenty of space and nice location by the river. Five minute walk from Liverpool One.

Very small . One trader I spoke to says it’s half the size it should be. The good news is drums are a long way away

I was a barman in late 70s early 80s. At the start of that, bitter was 23p a pint, lager and Guinness were 25p. Your baby/split drinks (Britvics, tonics etc) were 13p...

The only thing I can comment on is my experience with choirs/orchestras using school halls / civic centres and local authorities tend to insist that you carry PLI

Hmm I've just noticed that Jeff Berlin isn't there and I have a ticket for that... I booked the tickets last October.

I booked it about 6 months ago and although it's not a big drive for me, an overnight stop would give me a rare chance for a night out and be able to have a drink. Unfortunately, hotel prices for the weekend are quite high (possibly due to an LFC home game meaning a lot of Irish supporters about).

I will be going at the weekend - it's an hour's drive, or a PITA train journey via Crewe. Large venue event hire costs etc will be horrendous... I suspect they're worried about gettign enough support to be viable with it likely that many people will be reluctant to attend busy places. I went to a non-bass event a couple of weeks ago, which was crowded and it has to be said, I felt very uncomfortable about it. I'm goign away for a few days soon and the last thing I want is you-know-what... Unfortunately, I think these issues will impact on all sorts of events for a while yet.

Yes, 32" scale, 24 fret, 20" radius

Took a lot of digging... I think this is one of the pieces for the top... I seem to have thoroughly buried the e-mail with the images, so I've had to dig through the photos app on the Mac....

OK This is the Wenge for the fretboard... I seem to have buried the walnut pics, so bear with whilst I try to find them....

Time for a confession.... a few months after I commissioned the ACG Krell... I commissioned Robin at Manton Customs to build a six string... (yeah, I'm nuts). There are various aspects of it which appeal. I'm an early music aficionado (Renaissance and Medieval) and I play the viola da gamba(tenor and bass). The "Titan" model has attributes of the viol about it. I have gone for mostly English woods this time. The top will be walnut and the accent layer will be yew, and the body English sycamore. The fretboard will be Wenge... I need to dig through e-mails and pull out more details on it... but it should be ready in a few months.

I'm very pleased with the ACG Krell. I don't have particularly long arms. I've always found the Fender Jazz a bit of a handful - it's a bit of a stretch and uncomfortable for me near the nut. The Krell is 32" scale rather than 34" and I think with the way the bridge is positioned as well, it just makes everything much more comfortable. I no longer feel like I'm stretching to reach the low end. As soon as I've got some time, I will post up some better photos.

- I wouldn't recommend that. Whilst bass rosin may be a little different from cello rosin, they're not that different. New blocks of rosin are a pain as you need to get rid of the shine so that it grips the bow hair. The rosin I use for cello is relatively soft - Melos.