Steve Woodcock

The good news is that there is [i]plenty [/i]of free reading material on the internet - I've amassed a library of many hundreds over the years. As for starting points, these are things you should have a confident grip of first:[list] [*][b]Fingerboard knowledge [/b]- know the name and location of all the notes on your neck. [*][b]Written pitches[/b] - know the names of the notes on the staves, and the ledger lines above and below; don't limit yourself just to bass clef, learn the treble clef too as melodies and solos are often written in this clef to avoid the need ledger lines. Know the length value of all note and rest types. Learn to recognise the intervals - muscle memory will help you play a major 3rd much quicker than thinking 'E to G#' for example. [*][b]Rhythm[/b] - learn to recognise the sound of common rhythms so that you can instantly recall them rather than having to count the subdivisions in your head. [*][b]Key signatures [/b]- know all the key signatures including their relative minors. [/list] In the real world you would rarely, if ever, be given a piece of music to play without having a few moments to look through it first. Use this time to check the key of the piece and the lowest and highest notes so that you can place your hand in a convenient place in the neck to avoid having to make unnecessary leaps and jumps whilst playing, make mental notes of where any tricky rhythms (particularly any unison parts or stabs/hits) occur and where you will need to change position. Doing your own transcriptions will also help your sight reading a lot as, by writing down what you hear, you are reinforcing the connection between what is played and how it looks on the page.

Hi zbd, I am based in London but can offer Skype lessons if that is of interest to you? Best, Steve

I've got a VHS PAL version of the Chapman Stick 'Stick Night '99' concert, cover the postage - or come and collect - and it's yours. [url="http://www.stick.com/videoscds/videos/sticknight99.html"]http://www.stick.com/videoscds/videos/sticknight99.html[/url]

Now offering remote lessons via Skype or Facetime.

[quote name='keefbaker' timestamp='1461321112' post='3033620'] For some reason I've always avoided that position and it turns out [b]after a while[/b] I end up with pain in the "blade" muscle on my hand (ie: hunder the little finger). My thumb is level with my middle finger, I'm trying not to put too much pressure on but always [b]after a while.... ouch.[/b] [/quote] Hi Keef, You should be careful with any overly repetitious finger-per-fret exercise down on the lower frets as they can be quite a stretch. You say you are experiencing pain 'after a while' so my advice would be to limit these exercises to shorter bursts and rest your hand whenever you feel any pain or cramping - technique builders like this are best performed little and often to prevent injury.

Hi ahpook, I teach in west London (Chiswick) and correcting playing posture is one of the first things I cover with my students. Feel free to PM me to see if there is any help I can give you. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/180288-bass-tuition-available-in-west-london/"]http://basschat.co.u...in-west-london/[/url]

[quote name='visog' timestamp='1459406883' post='3016151'] Nice! Love JJ. On top of the recommendations so far, I'd add Chad Wackerman's first to solo albums. For me, along with Stanley, he's Alembic's premier sound ambassador... His basses always sound huge! (Listen to the samples for 3 and 5: [url="http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/chadwackerman"]http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/chadwackerman[/url]) Great fretless Alembic on #5 there. [/quote] Thanks Visog. Good shout on the Wackerman albums, they are great - Allan has been playing 'The Fifth' (from Dreams, Nightmares & Improvisations) in his sets for a while. [quote name='visog' timestamp='1459406883' post='3016151'] P.S. Fretted GWB35? [/quote] Nope, but close - it's a GWB2, that and the fretless GWB1 were the first Gary Willis signature basses from about 16 years ago. [quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1459452735' post='3016840'] There's some great Flim on the Flim and the BBs cds too. [/quote] Of course! I admit I don't have all of the BB releases yet though - I find it a bit 'light' compared to the Holdsworth, Wayne Johnson stuff etc. - however there's still THAT tone

Resurrecting this thread as I have just uploaded a play through video of Jimmy's Panic Station solo (album version): [media]http://youtu.be/znzKcDZEPJQ[/media]

We (Xerath) will be supporting Italian symphonic death metallers on their UK tour starting this Thursday in Wolverhampton and finishing up in London on the 17th:

I don't normally weigh in on these discussions but I had to address the notion of this video being 'sped up'. These two players are not bedroom shredders - Gergo is Gary Willis's current drummer and has played with the likes of DiMeola, Mintzer, Bullock etc. whilst Mohini is the bass player for AR Rahman's band (a very prolific composer and producer, holder of numerous music awards), she has also performed with John Mclaughlin's former bandmates Zakir Hussain and Naveen Kumar (the latter of whom I have also had the honour of playing live with) - neither of them have the need to impress through any fakery. Both artists have been playing since the tender age of 3 and have put serious hours in to their craft.

In true prog fashion, my old band Linear Sphere released a concept album (called 'Manvantara') - there's even a synopsis of the story on our website: [url="http://linearsphere.com/discography/manvantara/"]http://linearsphere.com/discography/manvantara/[/url]

I'm aware of Chuck Rainey and Bryan Bellor using this technique, but to my ears it just doesn't sound as controlled or consistent as using two fingers: [url="http://bcove.me/uz4xme9o"]http://www.bassplayer.com/video/lesson/180367672001[/url]

Yep, I've used this too.

It's a new year and I am taking on new students again, so drop me a message if you are interested in lessons.

[quote name='Jonny Walker' timestamp='1427715411' post='2733289'] CAMBION linked new video [url="https://youtu.be/0fTdd14gU9Y"]https://youtu.be/0fTdd14gU9Y[/url] [/quote] Hey Jonny, this is Steve from Xerath, I think we are playing with you guys again on the 30th?

We are headlining the 'Annihilation Festival' at the Firehouse in Southampton on May 30th:

We are headlining the 'Ram It Down' festival at the Garage in Aberdeen on Saturday night:

I will be playing with Xerath on their upcoming UK tour, starting in Reading next Tuesday! [url="https://www.facebook.com/xerathuk"]https://www.facebook.com/xerathuk[/url]

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1426091977' post='2714290'] My friends Christina (vocals) & Steve (drums) are playing there with their band (Magenta). [/quote] Isn't their live bass player a BassChatter too - is it still Dan?

I will be playing at the HRH Prog fest in north Wales next Friday (March 20th) with violinist Anna Phoebe. [url="http://www.hrhprog.com"]http://www.hrhprog.com[/url] [url="http://www.annaphoebe.com"]http://www.annaphoebe.com[/url]

[quote name='Chrismanbass' timestamp='1425731604' post='2710136'] [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/FiiO-Replacement-Ultimate-Earphones-RC-UE1-Black/dp/B006DIFXTG"]http://www.amazon.co...k/dp/B006DIFXTG[/url] they even do one day delivery google is your friend edit: not sure if these are for pre 2010 ones but this one should do [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/CrownTrade%C2%AE-Replacement-Earphone-Triple-fi-earphones/dp/B00134051Q"]http://www.amazon.co...s/dp/B00134051Q[/url] [/quote] Hey Chrissman, yeah I'd seen both of those but thanks - the CrownTrade ones are post 2010 fitting, and the FiiO have terrible reviews :-/

Hey all, Anyone know where I can get a replacement cable for some pre-2010 Ultimate Ears TF10s within the next two weeks?