OutToPlayJazz

The term 'jazz' does cover a lot of areas these days, but I'd say that it's become a niche in it's own right - Yes, 'Swing' comes and goes in and out of fashion, but the more technical stuff is now really music for musicians. I love instrumental jazz & I could listen to a lot of this stuff all day long, as it makes my brain analyise it as it goes along, but my partner thinks my music is "lift music." Obviously she has no taste, but you can see that the more technical stuff I'd be listening to is only really interesting to me as a musician.

Yes, it's usually plugged straight into the amp. Only gives that special boost to passive basses, though. Active basses just sound too overboosted through the Sadowsky.

I've never bothered with even looking into the ac adaptor as mine works perfectly well on battery power and the 9v seems to last forever.

The passive 'proper' Warwick Corvette fretless is really nice as well and not much more money if I remember rightly.

The OutToPlayJazz band usually takes 15 mins. 30 if I'm providing the PA. Otherwise, with most of the other outfits I play with it's usually about 30 mins. Blondie UK with the massive PA & all the keys stuff was about an hour on average.

I've had the 12" 180 & it was fine for most jobs, but get in there with a loud guitarist armed with a twin 150 combo & you're struggling. The 15" is a better bet, but you're better off with the MAG 15" combo with the 300 watt amp, or the 210 version of the same. They're much stronger all in all. For a really nice budget rig, try the MAG combo (either version) with an added 210 deep cabinet. Great sound.

Verynice & individual looking instrument - Congrats!

Mmmm, here's a couple more of the figured walnut one. As usual, I'm a sucker for a nice piece of walnut. WANT!

Yeah, I'm used to playing 5-strings with 18mm string spacing, so it was like trying to play bass on a Stratocaster!

String spacing is pretty narrow on the Lakland 5's, especially the DJ5 & JO basses.

I'm totally influenced by not only basslines, but also the continuing development of the bass as a solo instrument. My role as a professional bass player/session bass player is defined by my ability to play all styles, sight read music & play both upright & electric bass. My cello playing helps as well, in that I cover all the bases, as it were. As an instrumental string specialist, my pupils also benefit, as I have such wide musical experience, from orchestral/chamber music, through rock bands, funk bands, jazz bands, operas & theatre pit work, etc, etc. It's always the bassline I pick up first when hearing anything new. Just how my brain is musically wired, I suppose. That & also the fact that the bass is the foundation upon which all music is built.

Super low actions are really easy on my Status basses, as the graphite necks are so stable & flat, but I've found over the years that if you use super thin strings (30-90 or 30-115 in my case) you do need the action a little higher to compensate for the inevitable 'clank' that occurs when you dig in. On my jazz I use a good compromise, DR FatBeams 40-100, which being a comparitively softer string, allows me to get the action lower. I recently set up a Crafter Cruiser JB-450 (jazz copy for a student) with a set of Fender 45-105's & true to form, with thicker strings you really can get the action super low with barely any 'clank' at all.

Good move, mate. Is this a Japanese '75 with the lovely gloss finish everywhere, or the new Mexican 70's Jazz bass with the blocks?

Nice enough bass. I think I know the one you mean. It's the natural one at "AM", isn't it? It's been sitting gathering dust at the shop for a while now. Only thing I didn't like about it was the incredibly narrow string spacing. Something silly like 15mm.

[quote]Hmm... this would seem to suggest that's not the case.[/quote] Interesting to see Thomas Ades mentioned in that article. I worked with him in the Britten-Pears contemporary courses in the early 90's. Amazing pianist & a very gifted composer. So, yes your mention of 12/7 time is entirely possible, but utterly ludicrous to count or play. Possibly the most interesting piece I ever played was a new commission by Colin Touchin. The last movement consisted of a bar of 15/8 followed by a bar of 5/8 over and over again. Try counting that one! A more approachable example is "America" by Bernstein from West Side Story. The time signature is marked at the start as 6/8:3/4 Same idea here. One bar of each consecutively.

Blimey, there's 14 pages of this! I just skimmed the first 5 & was losing the will to live, so here's the SP... Yes, both reading and playing by ear are important. Reading is great from the educational sense, as it gives the player not only a skill for life, but also makes learning new material much faster. I mean, try sight-reading tablature! In another way, the two are intertwined - Often you do end up playing by ear in many situtations, either because there isn't any sheet music, or you're creating it in the first place! Once you're experienced in both areas, the two skills combined mean you can take down the bass line of a song & write it down in notation form in about 5 minutes. Don't think of reading music being an alien or high-brow thing that's for someone else. It's a very special tool which makes not only playing, but working with other musicians so much easier and pleasurable. Music is a language, rather like English. The English language has an alphabet consisting of 26 letters in infinite combinations & I'll bet that everyone who can make a post for this server can read that complex beast. The musical alphabet has only 7 letters to contend with. Don't be daunted! Rich.

[quote]My understanding is that it is possible to write a part in 12/7, where the whole note is broken into 7 equal parts - whether it's useful to write the piece out that way is a different matter.[/quote] Hmmm... The traditional meaning of the time signature is that the upper number is the quantity of beats per bar & the lower denotes the type of beat (as a fraction of a semibreve,) Therefore, a bar of 12/7 would consist of 12 double-dotted quavers! Try counting that one! 7/4 & 7/8 are quite widely used in more contemporary music. There's a lovely Flecktones tune called "Vix 7" or something like that.

I fail to see how my post was confusing, Steve. It's very simple.

Here you go... As has already been mentioned, the Americans use the following names for note lengths - I've provided the English translations as well. Whole Note - Semibreve - 4 beats Dotted Half Note - Dotted Minim - 3 beats Half Note - Minim - 2 beats Quarter Note - Crotchet - 1 beat Eighth Note - Quaver - 1/2 beat Sixteenth Note - Semiquaver - 1/4 beat

Further to my 'AnyOldJazz' & Sadowsky suggestion Steve, I was totally bowled over by one of the white Squier Classic Vibe Jazzes the other week & speaking of which, my brother Nick (Doctor_of_the_Bass) has just bought one.

I use a MarkBass 1x15 combo with a 2x10 on top. I did use the 2x10 on it's own with another amp a couple of times, but the sound was never as satisfying as it is with the 15 as well.

Jennifer (endorka) is Glasgow based as well.