zbd1960

Someone at work has recommended a teacher in Cheadle - ping me if you need details.

Guitar/bass tablature notation seems to be a cut-down version of lute tablature, of which there are at least three versions: French/English, Italian, and German. Lute tablature is also used for some types of viola da gamba playing (which is a bowed isntrument).[attachment=222927:LV03.jpg] The photo is from a book I have: a facsimile edition from 1682 for playing the viol 'lyra way' by Playford. You'll note that lute tablature uses flags above the staff to indicate rhythm. I'll be honest, I don't see the point in tab for guitars/basses without the rhythm. Notation is not hard to learn, takes practice to get fluent, but so does playing.

[quote name='blue' timestamp='1467759537' post='3086078'] Unfortunately your probably only going to find that sort of management in a professional band. Blue [/quote] It's how other amateur groups I perform with work, but they're not bands - chamber orchestras, symphony orchestras, wind bands and choirs. So we're looking at groups that are from about 16 upto over 100 in size.

I struggle with this too, but in my case it's because I already read music and my sight-reading is pretty decent (not on bass ). I agree it's an acquired skill, but not one I've yet spent much time on. It helps to learn to understand intervals and what they sound like. Start with the basics - octave, fifth and fourth (ascending and descending). Some basic music theory will help as you will understand, for example, why chords !, IV and V (tonic, sub-dominant, and dominant) are important and how they will feature a lot in your bass playing and why.

[quote name='EliasMooseblaster' timestamp='1467753910' post='3086007'] *facepalm* [/quote]Oh dear... It should look a little more like this (1st violin part)

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1467751065' post='3085975'] Are you talking about the Shark Cage Fugue? If so, yes a right handful. The concerts sound like fun. All Williams material? Or mixed film? If you like John Williams material, there is a great web site with a ton of info on his scores. (You more than likely know the place, but if not). [url="http://www.jwfan.com/forums/index.php?/forum/17-john-williams/"]http://www.jwfan.com...-john-williams/[/url] [/quote] I've depped a few times with The Film Orchestra, they try to play full original versions of film, TV and video game music. There are quite a few groups now: several orchestras, symphonic wind band, couple of smaller wind bands (I play in one of them), a jazz group, a choir... Groups are scattered around the midlands. [url="http://www.thefilmorchestra.com/"]http://www.thefilmorchestra.com/[/url] I've played things like The Dark Knight Rises, the chase scene from ET (that's hard...), the Star Wars suite (that's tough too), Jurassic Park etc. My favourite though is Erich Korngold - he wrote the music for the classic Errol Flynn films (e.g. The Sea Hawk (1940), Robin Hood etc). There maybe some relationship between Korngold's music and that of ... [url="https://youtu.be/V47enEvsafQ"]https://youtu.be/V47enEvsafQ[/url] (this is one example, there are others). Here's The Sea Hawk (played this last month) see what you think [url="https://youtu.be/C-RPzAbW7No"]https://youtu.be/C-RPzAbW7No[/url]

Gosh, all this to look forward if I ever get to the stage of wanting to be in a group of some sort on bass. There seem to be several common themes. One is around what the actual objectives/aims of the band are: is it for fun, fame, or fortune? That dictates the general direction needed. Repertoire planning is another big one. There are two basic routes: one person is [s]benign dictator[/s] music director and manages it all and everyone signs up to it, or consensus. If the latter, then expect to spend some time on that as you work out genres/styles, original/covers, manageable or not. I've done this kind of thing for different musical styles/groups and you quickly realise you cannot please everyone in a group, so there has to be some reality check. Basically, a more professional approach, key to which is understanding people's capabilities/limitations.

Good luck with that - agree that a specialist would be better, but my experience here in north Shropshire is they are few and far between. I had one who looked good who didn't return calls, another decided he couldn't teach me (I think he was being very honest as he realised he didn't have that skill-set). I'm currently with one over the border in Wales and 15 miles away. It's a stop gap as I feel like an after-thought to some extent. Have you tried musicteachers.co.uk? I'm pretty sure there are some around Knutsford/Altrincham, can't comment on Wilmslow as I wasn't looking that far from the office (I work mid-Cheshire, so I did look for teachers nearer the office than home).

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1467747334' post='3085925'] I think Pete is talking about the very recognisable first bar of 'E' before the motif/theme starts. Full score here. [url="https://musescore.com/user/7789886/scores/2076011"]https://musescore.co.../scores/2076011[/url] Condensed Piano score. [url="https://musescore.com/user/282671/scores/1030571"]https://musescore.co.../scores/1030571[/url] Although not my arrangements above, I did study the score at college years ago, so I am, as my wife puts it 'A complete anal a*se*ole' when it comes to the score. And of course this. (it does change key when it pops up during the film - F/F# if I remember correctly) [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV8i-pSVMaQ&index=44&list=PLTgVuOBoqUH6pgLqV_N7UrCgz_jUVEYBm[/media] [/quote] I've played the original full orchestral suite a couple of times in recent months in concert - the fugue is fiendish. The two excerpts I've pinned are from the full orchestral edition - cello part

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1467730863' post='3085708'] Most people could recognise jaws from the note and note length of the first note, I'll name it in one! [/quote] Having played this, it's 2 notes... with the odd third one...

[quote name='modelreject' timestamp='1467043157' post='3080721'] "[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]That's surprising! I'm currently playing my Mark Bass Big Bang through one single 300W cab (meaning my head is running with a max of 250W), and I don't even need to push the gain or master past halfway, and our drummer is the loudest guy on the planet."[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]There may be other frequencies interfering as it is quite synth lead and no guitars.[/font][/color] [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Hmmmm. Maybe my ear drums are already shot :-) I will have to run through a few more settings at the next re[/font][/color]hearsal. [/quote] HAve you got any sort of sound level meter? I have one in an app on my phone - it's a good way of getting a feel for how 'loud' something is. Bear in mind that the legal limit for employees (e.g. bar staff) is 85 dB continuous exposure.

As I understand it, you can sign-up to the web site, which has some videos etc for free. The 14 day trail refers to the academy.

Oh that Hiscox cello cases where as inexpensive as bass ones

(Hopeless generalisation) A bigger room tends to have too much bass... Rooms are often around 4 to 6 metres length or width. This is about the same as the wavelength of notes at the bottom end of the bass (and the harmonics will sit comfortably in the mid-range of the bass). Bottom 'A' is around 55Hz, which has a wavelength of around 6m (so octave is 3m, 12th is 2m, 15th is 1.5m etc.). Plenty of harmonics are going to be around typical room dimensions (don't forget height) of around 4 or 5 metres in one dimension will have have the samUnless you can set-up acoustic treatments of some sort, usually cutting the bass a little helps. Clean articulate bass is hard to reproduce.

OK, I can see I might be the odd one out here... I am new to bass so it is my minority activity at the moment.... I play cello in several orchestras and I did a concert in Birmingham last weekend and Chester and Tenbury Wells the weekend before. I play tenor sax in a couple of wind bands and I played at the Bridgewater Hall with one a few weeks ago and I'm in the midst of the usual summer fetes/concerts with them at the moment (one on Sunday afternoon at Maghull). I'm an experienced choral singer and I've sung with chamber choirs and choral societies in everywhere from a village hall, stately home or two, about 2 dozen cathedrals and the Albert Hall. Apart from that, I don't do much. Pic from last week's concert https://www.dropbox.com/s/gqs1km7c3gj0jy4/Concert-01.jpg?dl=0

I live in a market town. I have experienced the ninja delivery tactics too. The problem I get is that you then have to go to the depot to pick up. One company's is near Telford which is 28 miles away, and another is the south side of Shrewsbury, about 25 miles away... Which amounts to 50+miles trip and about 1.5 hours

For your musical sanity, you need to be playing with a group that gives you a sense of satisfaction/achievement, otherwise it becomes and chore and will lead to resentment. When I started (on a different instrument) about 5 years ago, I joined a community band. It was good training and experinece, but after 4 years, I decided it was time to move on. You can say you want to move on and explore new avenues and remain sociable with the old team.

[quote name='BottomE' timestamp='1465842656' post='3071516'] To make things worse, you can bet your insurance has a clause meaning they don't payout if the theft is from an unattended vehicle. I looked into it and its difficult to get cover. [/quote] I have specialist instrument insurance with Allianz and I am covered for all my instruments for unattended vehicle. I don't yet gig on bass, but I do a lot of stuff with both cello and tenor sax. Ideally, I would keep them with me, but the cello in particular is a bulky object (cello case is about the same length as a bass hard case, but wider and much deeper) and if you're going for a meal or something after a concert, it can be a bigger risk trying to keep it with you and avoiding it getting knocked etc (they are significantly more fragile than basses) than putting it in the car and trying to keep it covered.

I see a pattern of some small businesses for whom this is all too true. Over the last few years I have dealt with several luthiers (not for guitars) who don't reply to e-mails (or only sporadically) despite their web sites saying 'please e-mail'. There is also a Yorkshire based instrument supplier (again not basses/guitars) who also tends not to respond to e-mails. I have in fact challenged them over this and they have admitted that they're 'not good' at e-mails... I do think social media as a communication mechanism is tricky - especially for small businesses - we know that FB throttles communications, and I have recently had experience of texts going for a wander and appearing hours later and out of sequence. But, if you're a small business you really need to be on top of replying to e-mails, even it it's only a holding reply initially.

Agree with comments about looking after gear and not being precious about it - or you'd never play them. I gaven't gig'd the bass yet as I'm not fit to be let loose in public, but I do gigs/concerts with both sax and cello - both of which you do have to take care with. Give a sax a stern look and it goes out of adjustment and obviously wooden instruments like cellos don't enjoy being bashed.

[quote name='Joebass' timestamp='1465470195' post='3068493'] That's essentially what we do as bassists anyway. The little 8 is optional when writing for bass. [/quote]Thanks for that - I don't think I've seen one in the wild other than the treble one. With regard ot the OP question, it makes sense I think to learn treble. Try making up some 'flash' cards with notes on - it should help you devleop quick recognition skills.

[quote name='Higgie' timestamp='1465423395' post='3068184'] Why would marking something to be played an octave higher than written be confusing? [/quote] The bass sounds an octave lower than written. So, writing 8va (which is not standard notation practice in the bass clef as you are 'meant' to switch clefs to either tenor or treble) in the bass clef, creates an immediate ambiguity about pitch (sounding/written). Obviously, if it's only something for yourself then fair enough, but it could cause confusion. Occasionally I have had to play what is referred to as an 'octave treble' - this is what a tenor singer uses. The treble clef has a little '8' subscript on it. What this means is that the sounding pitch is an octave lower than written. So you read treble clef but pitch it down an octave.

Very good sound on that - I pushed the output from the PC through an external DAC connected to hi-fi, very good bass.

[quote name='Joebass' timestamp='1465386178' post='3067706'] FWIW, 8va indications should only be used with the treble clef. If there is a higher pitched clef available, it should be used in favour of an 8va sign. I'd wholly recommend becoming fluent with the treble clef and at least familiar with the tenor clef. [/quote]I'd agree, use of 8va within the bass clef to indicate an octave higher is very 'non standard' in terms of notation and could cause a lot of confusion. I play cello in various amateur orchestras and I just have to get on with the fact that I get a change of clef to either tenor or treble and back to bass again all the time. Given that the cello is in effect fretless, navigating the notes is more of a deal than reading notes.