knirirr

Last night's gig was at "The Shed" in Charlbury; two sets, with a reading from a local author's book in between. Not bad at all, though due to an unfortunate accident I was using an EUB. I've not tried this particular instrument for gigs before and in the end it produced a reasonable tone, even with the bow.

Never for anything music-related, sadly. But, on a few occasions I've been asked to sign copies of a book I wrote.

My house is small. So: 1x double bass. 1x EUB. 2x fretless bass guitars (one is listed for sale here) 1x fretted BG, 5 string. I don’t play the last of these as it is a micro scale and too fiddly, but my other half is using it.

If Carnival of the Animals is of any interest then "The Elephant" is fun to play with the aid of a pianist or backing track.

Always a good idea to have that on hand. I also have a stash of these in the car as well in case of surprise migraine. During the gig mentioned here I was somewhat off-balance but at least the initial effects of the illness earlier in the week (collapsing on the floor and vomiting) didn't manifest themselves.

I got a big fat book of jazz licks, all in bass clef. Nice!

Probably this bow. When I picked it up in the shop I intitially thought it too tip-heavy, but then I tried it out and even on the beginner bass in the shop it felt great. It has taken over from one of these, which I have kept for "last note of the ballad" jazz jam duties.

A good question. If I decide that I need the money or could do without a particular bass and list it for sale, it is highly unlikely that anyone will be interested.

I have indeed! The sound was nice but I found the neck small and fiddly and it was hard to tune. A shame as it would be good for this jam.

Last night there was an extra jazz jam in the usual pub, but tucked away in an area with a low ceiling to free up more space for dining. Therefore, I took a fretless bass guitar rather than a double bass so that I could much more easily fit into the space. I overheard a guitarist complaining to the drummer that "there's nothing quite like the sound of a double bass, though." As I said to him at the time, there's nothing quite like the sound of a bass guitar either; it's a great instrument that is not necessarily inferior to the upright, merely different. As it happens it was rather pleasant session; I got to sit in a comfy chair and play for two hours without having sore fingers at the end, as well as taking various solos in what would be thumb position without having to worry too much about dodgy intonation or fumbling the strings. The next one is in the same place so I look forward to another relaxing evening.

Last night's gig was a local fundraiser. Inoffensive background straight-ahead jazz required, so we prepared a set list full of ballads &c. and invited a vocalist to join us for them, thinking our clarinetist could play the heads of any instrumentals, take various solos etc. The usual pianist was unavailable so we had a dep. guitarist. He sounded like a proper jazz guitarist but was inexperienced (2nd time playing in public) so was only willing to take solos on two tunes. A mere 15 minutes before starting we got a message from the clarinetist that he hadn't felt well during the day and thought that he wasn't up to it. But, by padding things out with bass solos and the vocalist playing a baritone horn (almost left behind as she thought it wouldn't be needed) for heads/solos we managed to get away with it. The audience were pleased, so it must have been a success.

This is a good one, I think:

West Oxfordshire (around Chipping Norton) and I'd rather not post this, I'm afraid, as it would be rather uneconomical. Sorry about that.

Approx. height is 65 cm at full extension. The legs are supposed to fold but are rather stiff. As someone asked when I posted this elsewhere, pen not included - sorry.

Probably not something that many will want to do, but I have had some success with an Orange Terror (with 1x12 cab) for DB. It appears to work well with the Realist Lifeline pickup; the last time I played at a jam someone else with that pickup plugged their bass into my amp and they were pleased with the sound.

A while ago I got hold of Monk Montgomery's bass guitar book. The first part of this involves practicing every mode in every key around the cycle of fourths in every position on the bass, in thirds, fourths, fifths, sixths, sevenths and octaves. This takes rather a long time to get through but I found it extremely helpful for getting the notes under one's fingers. After doing a lot of those exercises it was much easier to pick up the bass and start playing something I'd just heard or could hear in my head.

Thanks for the comments - not something I'd thought of. Whether it would be of the slightest use I don't know, but I do have a Headway EDM-1 H.E. and could put the mic through that.

Thanks - I'll order one of those and will give it a go before the gig to see how it works out.

Later in the year I'll have to do a background jazz gig, most likely with acoustic instruments only (guitar and bass), no saxophones and a reduced drum kit, where the singer might benefit from a small amount of amplification. No PA will be provided and so I wondered if a cheap microphone might be plugged in to my Roland bass micro cube. This does appear to have a microphone EQ setting on it. Does this sound reasonable? If so, then the microphone mentioned has an XLR connector (I have no idea what that is) and the amp has a standard instrument plug. Are there any particular adapters that might work for this?

For some time I've fancied playing at a beer festival and got a chance yesterday at the Charlbury Oktoberfest. It went quite well despite having a dep guitarist (ours has Covid) who was only able to do a quick rehearsal the day before, which I couldn't attend due to work. No real mistakes, but the intros seemed a lot less tight. Sound was strange, though; the horn players kept complaining they couldn't hear me, yet I am told that my Orange Terror was distinctly audible in the bogs 200 yards away, and certainly clear where the audience were sitting. The guitar was barely audible to me most of the time but just about OK for the audience.