risingson

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1120509' date='Feb 8 2011, 07:57 PM']This song by Katie Perry is incredibly catchy, features a ridiculously auto-tuned vocal, and a crap rap in the middle by Snoop Dogg. It epitomises the state of pop music in this day and age. But it also features a slap bass part. Could this be the return of slap? [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jTdXPenx_8&feature=fvst"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jTdXPenx_8&feature=fvst[/url][/quote] I doubt it will hail too much of a return. The heavy sampled/chopped up slap bass part is 'nout new, Justice were doing this a few years back and their sound has heavily influenced current styles of popular music production (fast forward to 3:20 to see what I mean):

I really like music from Warp records, Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, The Boards of Canada, etc. I really love Squarepusher, but not really for his bass playing as much as his music that he produces. That said he's clearly a good player!

I'll help as best I can on this one!

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1119087' date='Feb 7 2011, 04:50 PM']This is what I mean about the Jeff Berlin thread. Bona makes this happen in most players, JB rarely achieves that level of inspiration, even though his notes per second ratio is probably greater.[/quote] Also Jeff Berlin tucks his t-shirt into his jeans and has a beer gut, Richard Bona conversely does not.

Where's the piano/keys in all of this?? Anyway. They all rely on each other, I could probably hash together an argument for why the bass is the most important but it would only be as valid as someone else's argument that the guitar is more important. Realistically I'd require most of the choices to place together a good band (including the triangle), and what's more, good players behind the instruments (including the triangle).

[quote name='Faithless' post='1115869' date='Feb 4 2011, 08:33 PM']Musicians? Well, I'd like to think so too, but... they don't have to practice everything in 12 keys, do they? [/quote] Depends if you're playing pitched percussion I suppose

I've played with some great drummers in the past, our drummer right now is solid, great player.

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1115369' date='Feb 4 2011, 02:43 PM']Maybe a little harsh, less directed at Jeff himself than the sycophants that frequent that site.[/quote] I think your right as a musician to be absolved from any criticism on an online forum is effectively rescinded as soon as you've joined up and started posting. I'm not saying it's right to go about criticising someone without considerable forethought (if at all really), in fact for the most part whilst I thought your post was funny, it probably was badly worded for those that don't know you well enough to know that at times you can be tongue in cheek. However, if you join a site and assume you're safe from being called out by forumites that are unable to conduct themselves with any decorum then you've made a mistake. It's the internet, people have a habit of saying what they want because more often than not they won't suffer the repercussions in regular life. Everyone's an armchair critic when they want to be.

[quote name='4-string-thing' post='1115077' date='Feb 4 2011, 11:17 AM']Not terrible musicians, just small minded and lazy, apart from the drummer who was very good. One guitard couldn't improvise a solo, so spent months learning every song note for note (12 songs in as many months) The other guitard didn't learn anything alone, just waited til the first one knew it and could then teach him. The singer was a good frontman, but only an average singer and had an ego the size of Wales and was a patronising t**t.[/quote] The things you just described to me unfortunately spells out bad musicianship! You may as well invest the time into playing with a group of musicians that aren't so close minded and are happy to keep their minds open to all kinds of possibilities IMO. Hope you find something soon anyway.

Anyone that unprofessional are probably terrible musicians as well (small minded people make for the worst musicians) so I'm guessing you did the right thing.

[quote name='bubinga5' post='1114527' date='Feb 3 2011, 09:09 PM']another thread... im starting to see a picture of Jeff Berlin [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=737610"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=737610[/url][/quote] I loved Wayne's comment buried halfway down page 3 in this thread, completely hilarious

[quote name='phil.i.stein' post='1114455' date='Feb 3 2011, 08:27 PM']is jeff berlin famous ? and why the f*** is 'famous' intersting. x-factor dicks are famous. doesn't mean they are worthy of discussion.[/quote] + to the 1

I don't blame big players staying off forums, at all. It's just going to leave a nasty taste in their mouths for the best part. I'm not suggesting for one second that a site like this is full of idiots, in fact 99.99% of people I've spoken to on this site have been incredibly great people to chat with (and to meet), but every so often I've seen one or two people spout off about something that they don't understand about or slag something or someone down just because they don't like the music and without giving any forethought to what they're saying. Talkbass I must admit is a completely different kettle of fish to this site, I've done a bit of posting up there but there seem to be one too many members who are keen to assert that your gear is crap or why a certain type of music/player isn't any good and all the while displaying a serious lack of understanding as to what they're talking about... so far I'm yet to encounter the same degree of hostility over on this site. Sorry if that offends any TB users (again, I've met some delightful members as well so I'm not keen to tar you all with the same brush), but the atmosphere is very different. So who can blame professional bass players from staying off of these kinds of forums really.

I'll never forget the day I saw one particular bass player from a band using an incredibly expensive Spector live, and it sounded terrible. Really terrible. The next band that came on after them had a bass player with this crappy Tanglewood that looked like it had seen better days. They were a reggae band and had the same soundguy as the band beforehand, and they sounded just incredible, the bass sounded massive, well defined but really huge, miles better than a bass that I'd wager cost 10 times more. I don't put too much stock into buying the best gear. I like pricey basses: Sadowskys, Laklands, Pensas and F-Basses have all really appealed to me in the past but I'd be happy playing my beaten up U.S Jazz for the rest of my life if I was never allowed to own another bass again.

[quote name='leroybasslines' post='1114136' date='Feb 3 2011, 05:00 PM']Add new stuff in if you can think of any. I play along to this playlist as a practise session![/quote] I'll have a think, but to be honest the playlist you put together really does showcase his stuff really well. I also had no idea he'd played for Phoenix?? Absolutely mental!

[quote name='leroybasslines' post='1114088' date='Feb 3 2011, 04:25 PM']OK...this is where I admit to the true extent of my geekery on Pino. If you're a spotify user, get involved with my Pino playlist: [url="http://open.spotify.com/user/owen_liam/playlist/4J0KMwu3HUz9u2joumbZ2Z"]http://open.spotify.com/user/owen_liam/pla...3HUz9u2joumbZ2Z[/url] Feel free to add or contest as you see fit! As far as I'm aware, Pino played on everyone of these tracks, from Sugababes to Manu Katche, Gary Numan to Daniel Bedingfield! My fave at the moment though are his contributions to Roy Hargrove's Hard Groove. Awesome playing![/quote] Downloaded!

[quote name='leroybasslines' post='1114020' date='Feb 3 2011, 03:49 PM']It does seem to be an economical style - he barely moves when playing what is a pretty busy line on the A sections. Interesting that he switches to an orthodox two finger style on the B and middle sections. I guess he's using the clawfinger thing (for want of a better name!) when he needs to make lots of jumps across strings, but when he needs to dig in he still goes for the normal finger style. His versatility is staggering but subtle if you know what I mean. He doesn't do tricks (I don't think I've ever seen him slap or tap) and you rarely see him step into the limelight, but he can adapt his playing to a mind boggling range of situations with just a few tweaks to sound and style. I think he's my favourite player at the moment. Although, being a fellow Welshman, I'm biased! It's not music that I'd normally go for, but I love it that Pino is really enjoying it! I've heard some of the PSP studio recordings and they don't make as much sense somehow - it seems like a live thing to me, watching musicians at the top of their game enjoying themselves. The recordings are too clinical and lack the character of this performance.[/quote] Yep, agree with all of this. I struggle with the sterility of music like PSP (it is PSP right?), but to be honest you could plug Pino into almost any formula and I'd enjoy the sum of the music that came out of it all because he injects every tune he plays with an incredible amount of energy. I read Anthony Jackson singing Pino's praises recently in an interview, which is incredible considering how hypercritical Anthony Jackson is of music in general (and also another one of my favourite bass players, his stuff with Chaka Khan is epic!). Worth checking out if you haven't already Pino's stuff with D'Angelo and Erykah Badu. Their music was brilliant anyway but again, Pino just fitted in with their music so well, like he'd been there all along.

I saw this clip a while ago. I usually can't stomach this kind of music for too long but I heard Pino's bass playing and it just reasserted why he's probably my favourite bass player right now. The guy is a complete machine, love his OC-2 octave pedal sound as well. The technique Pino is employing evolved from his palm muting technique: he said that he found that when palm muting and just playing with his thumb, he couldn't hit certain notes as quickly as he wanted so he started to use his index and middle fingers in conjunction and later his ring finger. I've started doing something similar, I found that because I've been playing a lot of travis picking on acoustic guitar that it works for me when I'm palm muting on bass as well. EDIT Check out Richard Bona at the back, he can barely believe the groove Pino's got!

[quote name='blackmn90' post='1113325' date='Feb 3 2011, 12:38 AM']From what iv learnt, writing 5000 words on crap isn't going to get me a gig as a performing musician[/quote] Not directly it isn't. What's the paper on? EDIT just seen it was on transcribing. We used to get arranging assignments at my place. The lecturer who was teaching this part of the course was nothing short of a genius with an encyclopedic knowledge of music, I really do think he is one of the most brilliant people I've ever met. Anyway, I remember one lesson we got talking about James Jamerson and my whole class (50-60 of us at the time) had to sit for an hour's worth of lecture whilst we discussed Motown and also Carol Kaye's involvement in the re-creation of the electric bass in not just modern pop music but also in film scores as well during that time. It was people like him that made me get out of bed every day just to go to his lectures, I left feeling enriched by his vast knowledge and confident I'd learned a lot by the end of the day. He wasn't a good lecturer... more often than not he'd have a break during two hour lectures, go down to the bar, have a few pints of guinness and then drive home straight after we'd finished, but he was a friendly and brilliant tutor, and I'll remember a lot of what he had to tell me for the rest of my life. Sometimes it's not really worth getting too angry about work that you might not see the benefits or end results of. All I know is that if ACM is a good place to be for you then you'll probably find that you'll be learning valuable lessons a lot of the time, and it's the little stuff you'll end up taking away from all of this.

The facts are that you don't just go to music college to learn how to play your instrument better, and if you have then I think you've done it for the wrong reasons. You go to college to give you a good footing in later life and to learn about the industry because at the end of the day, it doesn't matter how well you can play your instrument, if you have no idea about the industry and how it works then you've basically fallen at the first hurdle. If people just hired musicians on the premise that they can play their instruments and not at all on their work ethic or business acumen then there would be a lot more musicians in work right now, I guarantee it. The degree means much less than you'd think as well, a musician with a degree isn't going to get picked over someone without. You go to music college to network and learn valuable lessons for later life. You need to know what lessons to take away from these kinds of institutions. I went to a reputable place near me and I ended up dropping out early because I considered many of my lecturers to be unqualified to offer their opinions on certain matters, but for all the crap I had to listen to from some of them, every so often a valuable and important lesson could be learned from the good lecturers. I don't regret dropping out, but I would recommend keeping at it and just remembering what you should and shouldn't be taking away from all of this work you're currently doing. It's all about networking and making sure you're the best man for every job that gets thrown out there, as well as learning about the environment you wish to hammer out a vocation in the future.

[quote name='matski' post='1112281' date='Feb 2 2011, 12:58 PM']*ahem* Keanu Reeves....[/quote] I think the quality of his bass playing capabilities might be questionable.

I'd prefer to make my own music first and foremost but I don't have any qualms with playing with anyone for money, unless I have some clear objection to their music (Gary Glitter got mentioned, I'd never play with a convicted paedophile). I love playing bass, it's what I anticipate will make me money the rest of my life and I'm confident about this, but if the opportunity to make money came up then I would most likely take it.

[quote name='chris_b' post='1111330' date='Feb 1 2011, 05:37 PM']You mean he wouldn't want to be playing good songs, in a successful band with great players, in big venues which are full of enthusiastic fans and being noticed as a guy who can “cut it” at that level by many other artists, bands and musicians who will ask him to join their projects? Nah, you're right. Who in their right mind would want to do that?[/quote] Paul's a great player, I admire him for his playing skills and the fact he's made a good living for himself doing what he's done. As far as I was aware though he hasn't been the Take That tour bass player for a while, Lee Pomeroy was the last time I saw any live footage, and I can't say I rated him too much, he didn't seem too right for the gig. I'm sure all the big session guys do gigs like the one you described for the reasons that you mentioned, but there really is no denying the financial rewards of playing with such a massive and well funded tour like Take That... I'd do it in a heartbeat.

I use my Korg PX4D for practice, it's an awesome bit of kit and dirt cheap as well. Usually take it to gigs and warm up in the van before we start! Other than that: Multiple jack leads and patch cables Spare strings Pliers [b]GUITAR STAND[/b] Emergency smokes, as someone mentioned before Red bull more often... and then a lot of water etc.

Really nice bass Nigel, wouldn't mind getting my hands on a good Jap Fender. If you think it's worth it then why not!