risingson

It was an amazing program. I have never been really huge Queen fan but have always enjoyed reading about their commitment to their music because production wise it really was unparalleled by anyone at the time, and Freddie was just so charismatic that it would be impossible not to love him. No one had done vocals like they did since the Beach Boys really, it was a great watch.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1250277' date='May 30 2011, 01:49 PM']You will have a ball. Make sure all your gear is in top condition, spares available, [b]don't get pissed[/b] and you'll really enjoy it.[/quote] That part is solid advice. When I played in front of 10,000 people last I substituted alcohol with caffeine (lots of it), also not advisable!

I have heard very few players be able to play 16ths at 160bpm convincingly for any length of time so I wouldn't set your bar too high. The best thing you can do is try playing as fast as you can, and then drop down to 80bpm and climb 5 or 10 at a time when you're grooving comfortably. This will a.) warm your hands up which is essential for performing at speed and b.) make you work at getting your timing up to scratch because there's no point playing that fast if you're not getting the feel right! Play across the strings as well, as there isn't much point playing for too long on one string because it's not teaching you to think about how your left and right hands work together playing at this speed. There is no point in being able to play ultra fast unless your playing is musical and makes sense! Just my 2p.

A quick upload I did before, my first playalong video, seems everyone's doing them so I thought I might chip in! "Any Major Dude" by Steely Dan. Let me know what the sound is like for the rest of you, might be too quiet through laptop speakers perhaps.

Query: "You're going to have to pay for soft drinks" Answer: "No, you're going to have to find another band for the evening" Query: "Can I have a go on your (inset instrument here, usually drums)" Answer: "Only if I can come round to your house and recklessly endanger some of your prize possessions" Query: "Do you play Sex On Fire?" "No... just no." etc

I used to drink at gigs until I realised that your concentration levels drop and you don't play well at all under the influence. I have played sober for a long time now and only ever drink water on stage to keep hydrated, occasionally a red bull if I'm lagging.

If I could choose to be anyone from music history it would most likely be Herb Alpert or possibly Quincy Jones. What an amazing man and an amazing life he had.

If it is other people's music you are to be playing (and if I were you) I would put together a good set of tunes that James Jamerson performed on and make sure to include a good coverage of songs from the simple but effective ('My Girl', 'Higher and Higher' etc.) to the rhythmically and harmonically complex ('For Once In My Life', 'What's Goin On'), and then go on to showcase a few other tunes where the bass lines and bass players have been very obviously affected by Jamerson's bass lines. You can choose a whole world of music by doing this.

*Puts his boring hat on* There is a theory that I was told by one of my old lecturers that from birth; we choose to utilise our ears in different ways depending on the kind of person you are, i.e. if we react well to music from a young age then generally you develop a musically discerning ear, which can lead to sufficient interest in music and perhaps later for some. an interest in playing an instrument. There will be other people that choose to use their ears for much more medial and naturally human tasks, e.g. engaging in everyday discourse, spacial awareness and balance etc, all things that our ears are naturally meant to help us with. I find this fascinating because if it's true, then the path that we take to becoming musicians is largely a subconscious decision as opposed to a sudden choice to take up an instrument.

Slap was 'of its time', it was a great means of bridging the gap of rhythm and harmony when funk was big and it got done to death by some really superb players. Unfortunately nowadays a lot of the use of slap (not all) is so conceited, and it's taken on this role of being the only way bass guitars can be demo'ed in music stores around the world. It's part of the reason why I'd be reluctant to go to somewhere like NAMM or where ever. Maybe this is all just because I'm more interested in hearing bass as part of an ensemble of other instruments being played together and in the current climate slap is totally unpopular. I'm not averse to it either; my favourite slap players are Nathan Watts, Freddie Washington and some Louis Johnson because they made it fit into their music so well and it works for the tunes they played on. But hearing the same old slap riffs in E is just totally uninteresting to me. I understand they'll be plenty of people that will disagree with this of course.

Just personal preference here but from what I've played personally I have enjoyed Nordstrand's pickups, they're of a very high quality, and I also like Dimarzio Ultrajazz's as well although depending on whether you wanted to stick to a more 60's sounding Jazz you might be better off with some Lindy Fralins or maybe some Seymour Duncan Antiquitys... all of which are worth checking out anyway. I like Badass bridges and Hipshot hardware as well. If I were to drop a preamp in my Jazz it would most likely Sadowsky's own preamp, but it's not for everyone. Again, Nordstrand do good preamps and there seems to be a lot of buzz round J-Retro, although of the one bass I played with one in I found it a little sterile. Again, just opinion.

Slap is like MacDonald's for bass players. Satisfying to a point, but afterwards you always end up feeling robbed and violated.

More 80's funk/electrofunk really. Excellent though.

If I was going for great musicianship: Stevie Wonder - Vocals/Keys Hiram Bullock (RIP) and Paul Jackson Jr - Guitars Greg Phillinganes - Keys Pino Palladino/Anthony Jackson - Bass Steve Ferrone/Steve Jordan - Kit

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1245074' date='May 26 2011, 01:07 AM']wicked.. thats always good to hear bro.. great compliment.. you must be good dude.. [/quote] I'm definitely good in my head if that counts mate!!! God knows what everyone else thinks

Yeh, great playing and a great guy as well! His guitarist he brought with him to jam with came to see me the next week at my performance task and said I played like him... that was possibly one of the best compliments I'd ever had in my life!

Amazing looking bass! I got talking to Paul Turner from Jamiroquai a while back at a masterclass at Uni, he brought along his '66 Jazz, same colour scheme as the one pictured but without the block inlays. I wanted to ask him if I could have a quick play but I didn't have the bottle Nice guy, also mentioned to me he was selling his '77 Jazz (ash/maple), another lovely bass.

[quote name='davebass66' post='1244951' date='May 25 2011, 11:04 PM']It's not like it's branded as a re-issue or anything....I think they're just taking some of the best bits of the P bass over the years and making something 'new'.....well as new as a P bass could be I guess!.... Each to their own and all that... [/quote] Absolutely, I'm not mad on the look of the split P as opposed to the usual single coil, but different strokes.