Stuart Clayton

I've got a Bogart 5-string. I picked it up from Mansons at the London Bass Show 2012. It was a horrible black and blue paint splatter effect when I got it, but I had it refinished in a midnight blue metallic colour. You can see it in this video, which is my rendition of Alain Caron's 'D-Code'. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDcc2zD62Ag Gorgeous bass to play! Stu

Thanks Marvin for plugging my group Up4Grabs - we're highly experienced with weddings and cover everything from 50's rock and roll to modern day stuff like Taio Cruz and Jessie J (neither of which are my faves...). You'll get us through: http://www.theliveweddingband.co.uk Cheers Stu

Renaissance is the best Marcus Miller album in some time in my opinion. That said, Silver Rain, The Sun Don't Lie and Tales all have excellent moments as well.

[quote name='iconic' timestamp='1374821467' post='2153536'] Well sort of....but its more of a tease to me...why not write in C major at the start of that stave type thing....wouldnt take much ink. [/quote] You can generally see what the key is if the music has chords written. What you are suggesting here is actually used sometimes though, particularly where modes are concerned. For example, a piece might have a key signature for E major (or C# minor) but state 'key signature denotes B Mixolydian'. This would be done if the piece revolves around a B7 tonality. Stuart

One of the multicoloured ones is in Hirst's shop in Ilfracombe. I saw it a couple of weeks back. It didn't have a price tag on it so I had no idea it was as expensive as it is. In retrospect I probably shouldn't have picked it up and had a quick slap on it...!

As an update to my last post, the attached screen shot is the Amazon listing for one of my books. They state 'order now, only one left in stock' - they have NO stock, nor will they ever have any. Amazon automatically lists anything with a barcode/ISBN. Stuart

Thanks 2Wheeler, although you won't be able to get it from Amazon as I choose not to supply them. Amazon expects a HUGE discount from independent publishers (far more than any shop or wholesaler) and expects us to ship the books to them at our expense as well. This makes selling through Amazon commercially unviable, and is the reason why you'll only ever get these books through Bassline Publishing. Stuart

I get about five requests a day for the TAB for my solo bass version of 'Nothing Else Matters'. I don't mind, except that if they bothered to read the text under the video it says where to go to download the free score! 'tabz plz.' is the usual request, which seems rude. 'Hey, any chance you could share the score?' would be far more polite...! I delete them all.

[quote name='Mr Lizard' timestamp='1363088474' post='2008120'] Are there any plans to release these as a digital edition (ibooks etc)? I am going through the Scales and Modes book you have done on my ipad, and I love the convenience over traditional book and cd. Great job on the books by the way! (The Jamiroquai book has provided me with hours of fun!) [/quote] If you mean the iPad books, absolutely. I'm working on these as we speak. I had been hoping to release them at the same time as the physical versions, but a severe chest infection back in December scuppered those plans! I'm aiming to have them released in late April, pending Apple's sometimes lengthy approval process of course. Kindle/generic ebook format books will follow later in the year. Cheers Stuart

Hi guys, First of all, thanks for the nice comments about the new books - believe me, it's much appreciated! Secondly, it was great to meet and talk to a few of you at the London Bass Show. I really enjoyed the show this year, and as a teacher I was really pleased at how many people (young kids especially) were keen to learn to read music. Over the last seven years I've been teaching at least two days a week at BIMM in Bristol, where I am head of the bass department. Teaching has really inspired me to turn my attention more towards theory/training books rather than transcription books, and it's a genuine pleasure to see these titles being well-received. The Reading Music books were written to follow a very logical path to learning to read, one that will be simple to follow for anybody. I've had excellent results with these exercises through my teaching at BIMM, and I'm hoping those results can continue within the wider bass community. If anyone has any questions about the books, I can be reached here on the forum, or via email at [email protected]. Thanks again, Stuart

Hi all, Just posting to let you all know that I will be releasing my new series of Reading Music books at the London Bass Show this year. What originally started as a single book eventually grew into three separate books, aimed at specific levels: beginner, intermediate and advanced. These books are built around a solid path of study that I have been developing over the last seven years as a sight reading teacher at BIMM. They contain no TAB, and cover everything from the absolute basics right up to reading fast show tunes in cut common time. There are audio files (for reference) that are free to download from the Bassline Publishing website as well - I've found that these are crucial for students when they are studying at home, with no teacher present to correct them when they go wrong. The books will be available at the show at a special price of £10 each (normal price £11.99). We're on stand D6, so please come along and say hello if you're around. We'll also have all the other books I've written on sale at show prices. If you want to find out more about the books, visit www.basslinepublishing.com. Looking forward to seeing you all at the show! Best wishes Stuart

Oops, sorry Joe, didn't mean to hijack your thread like that! Joe is a great teacher (I've had the pleasure of a lesson in the past), and I've no doubt his book is excellent. Best, Stuart

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1358842619' post='1945781'] Wow! It's great to hear the author's viewpoint. Someone told me the answer is "masking tape". But defacing a book isn't something I'm comfortable with. I should add; I wrote the last post on a "bad day" It's a great book and I WILL stick with it. I would actually recommend it. [/quote] Hi Grangur, Masking tape is one way of doing it for sure! I used to do that with all my old Bassist magazines. Don't worry, I didn't take your comments as a personal insult, I just wanted to clarify why TAB was included in that book. I generally disapprove of 'crash course' books, and 'learn X in 24 hours', which was one of the reasons I stopped writing for other publishers. I dislike the implication that there is a shortcut to learning something that takes years of patient study to master, which is why I prefer to publish independently now .If you're interested in learning to read properly, let me have your address and I'll send you a complimentary copy of my new book 'The Bass Guitarist's Guide to Reading Music - Beginner Level'. It's being released (along with the other two in the series) at the beginning of March at the London Bass Show. No TAB in sight! Best wishes Stuart

[quote name='Grangur' timestamp='1358707422' post='1943762'] HOORAYYY!!!! [b]Thank you SOOO much!![/b] You've just sold this book to me by this one fact. I've been using a few books and keep finding the same problem... I can't ignore the tabs. Most recently I've been using Stuart Clayton's Crash Bass course. Yesterday I was playing: 0 0, change string, 3 2, change string, 0 0..... I then got to feel like floging the F***g bass. What's the point of playing by numbers. I don't even know what notes I'm playing! OK the staves are there, but my eyes go straight to the tabs and I've stopped learning the fretboard! IMHO if you don't know the notes you're playing then you can't rally play the instrument, and you're no musician. [/quote] I'd like to point out here that I completely agree with Joe on the subject of TAB. It is unnecessary, and exists only to sell books. I don't use it in my own theory books (those published through Bassline Publishing), but I was TOLD to use it for the book that you mention. When I wrote that book I was under contract with Sanctuary Publishing, and despite my protestations, they insisted on TAB being included. Stuart

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1353054577' post='1870918'] Wembley was 1987 Although during the 1986 leg of the tour in the USA, the ITC medley was Cage/Quiet Earth/Apocalypse in 9/8, which was pretty cool. [/quote] Ah yeah, 87, you're right. Great Cage medley, just a shame they left it off of the DVD!

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1353010759' post='1870567'] I've got sunshine in my stomach....... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M58wE8GTGp4[/media] [/quote] I've got sunshine in my stomach... is from 'In the Cage'. Which incidentally, is my favourite song of all time. Thought Phil did a killer job with it on the Wembley 86 concert as well.

Nice one Phil, really enjoy your videos. Great soloing chops. Stu

Thanks everyone, glad you all enjoyed it. It's a fun tune to play and I spent ages working on the solo part, which is a transcription of what Alain played on the record. Almost finished writing up a transcription, which I've done purely for my own amusement, but if anyone wants a copy, let me know. Stu

Hey Jam, Looks like you've had plenty of help from some of the other theory bods on the forum, but feel free to drop me a PM here, or email me at [email protected] if you want to ask more questions. It sounds to me as though you've probably gone a couple of chapters too far into the book and maybe need to refresh on a couple of the earlier ones. One of the main ideas in the book is to try to avoid patterns when learning scales. This is how I was taught, and I honestly believe it's the best way to do things if you want to be able to freely play all over the instrument in any key. A lot of work is involved, and it can take a while for some of the theory to go in, but it's worth it in the end believe me! Like I say, feel free to email me if you need help. Cheers Stu [quote name='Jam' timestamp='1345581041' post='1779170'] Working through Stuart Clayton's Scales and Modes book, but I'm really struggling with it today. I sat down after having a bit of a play around with major/minor scales over jam tracks on youtube, and thought I'd do some more practice, try and unravel some more theory. I've been through all [i]7 chapters[/i] on major/minor scales (though I was tempted to skip some of the exercises...) and stumbled through the section on the circle of fifths but the deeper I get into the book the less I understand. I just spent 10 minutes trying to understand a couple of sentences, and I feel like I'm reading a different language. I'm sure I'll get it eventually but I feel so stupid at the moment! :/ For example, in the C Major scale, the chord progression is: C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim, C I ii iii IV V vi vii I So, in any keymajor scale, will ii, iii, and vi always be minor? Will I, IV and V be major? Is vii always diminished? For example, A major scale: A, Bm, Cm, D, E, Fm, Gdim, A Is that correct? How on earth am I going to remember that when I'm playing?! [/quote]

[quote name='marvellous' timestamp='1345332997' post='1776463'] A beautiful transcription for a 5 strings ! Great great job stu ! [/quote] Thanks! Glad you liked it. Stu

Hi guys, Here's a new video that I recorded a couple of days ago. It's Alain Caron's slap classic 'D-Code' which I've been working on for a few months. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LDcc2zD62Ag&feature=g-upl[/media] Hope you like it! Stuart