Hector

Hi Pete. As artisan said, you can use the gain and volume controls to adjust the volume to be louder through the fishman pre than your signal direct into the amp.

Would be happy to Pete. Probably ought to wait till tomorrow though - communal building

No, if you look at the pictures it doesn't have any sharp edges. But seriously, cutting through depends more on your bass, setup and drummer - I don't find the plat pro colours my tone especially unless I use the EQ. A boost in volume vs. direct into an amp without the pre? No idea, I've not A/B'd it like that.

Sure, it seems to. The EQ allows you to adjust your tone, but I tend not to use it too much. The unit provides a hot enough signal for my uses: on doubling gigs, I use my upright through the fishman into the effects return of my amp, and then my electric into the regular input - a combination of the gain and volume controls on the preamp allows me to bring the acoustic up to a similar level with the electric, and then I can switch quickly just by pulling one cable out and popping another in. Minimum fuss! As already mentioned by Jake, the phase switch is really useful, but my personal favourite aspect is the depth knob - my bass can get a little boomy in some rooms, and having an adjustable HPF helps combat that flexibly. It doesn't have lots of bells and whistles like some other pres, but it's got everything I want and it fits in my gig bag.

Another vote for the plat. pro! I love mine and never gig without it.

[quote name='Faithless' timestamp='1335651868' post='1634352'] That's why there is such thing like super-imposition. You can simply think of Em7 when playing over I (Cmaj7), and you won't hit that C As for walking lines - in most cases, you WANT to play root notes. Of course,as with everything, rules can be broken, but the best thing you can do for a soloist you're comping for, is support him with laser-sharp harmonic clarity, which implies root notes most of the time [/quote] Yeah, I'm a big fan of superimposition. I especially dig the sound of using a #11 over a key center, like playing a section in C major and superimposing chords from G major (e.g. F#m7b5 instead of Fmaj7). Ultra-hip. If you wanted to really take this exercise further, you could repeat it with superimposed chords over the underlying harmony. You're preaching to the choir about connecting root notes though, that's 95% of my regular gigs. This exercise isn't really about that.

Yeah, this is good stuff Scott! Concisely explained and easy to follow. It gets beginners walking progressions whilst not having an impossibly steep learning curve. Just the sort of quality I've come to expect from your site!

Ok, so lots of areas of my playing are converging on the idea of breaking the hideous tyranny of the root note (always playing the root on one when walking, resolving solo lines to one when, and getting the sound of the different chord tones in my ears. Particularly important for my solo lines, but also nice to be able to walk in a more melodic style. To do this, I need all my chord tones available to me, both in my mind and under my fingers. Anyway, my thinking was that I only practise my arpeggios as 1-3-5-7, but there are actually 24 possible ways to order these tones. What I do is take a ii-V-I in a single key, and keep looping it playing one particular order (e.g. 3-1-7-5) over each chord. I work with a bar per chord, walking crotchets. Once I'm comfortable with that, I'll move onto the next order etc. until I've done all 24. Then I'll noodle for a bit, playing a chord tone solo over the progression. Then I move onto a ii-V-I in the parallel minor and repeat the process once more. I've been doing this for a little while, and I've really found that I start to "see" harmony a bit better on the fingerboard. My lines are also now making a hundred times more melodic sense without relying on root notes, as the sounds of these harmonies are really working their way into my brain. You can easily mix this exercise up by considering which direction you go between chord tones (e.g. from a 3 to a 7 upwards or downwards). For example even with tired old 1-3-5-7, you could play up/up/up/up down/down/down/down, up/down/up/down etc. for a lot of different combinations. Combining this, although not in a disciplined manner, with starting on different places on the neck has really opened up the fingerboard for me. Then there's the possibility of playing different patterns on each chord. It's also possible of course, to do this over different progressions e.g. entire standards or less common progressions like iv-bVI-I, to get their sound drilled in. I'm building up to be able to take chord tone solos on standard progressions, which is essentially just a freer form of what I'm doing at the moment, and to walking lines that don't reference the root on the one (or even at all), yet still connect chord tones in a logical manner. I'm seeing a lot of benefits in my playing and hearing from working with this relatively simple exercise, so I thought I'd share. It can be quite tough, but I think it has a real positive influence on your playing if you stick at it. H

[quote name='iiipopes' timestamp='1335366448' post='1629977'] 1) Make sure the instrument is set up properly with all repairs from road wear done, the pickup is properly installed and functioning, strings are in good order, and there is a good clean line out. 2) Make sure it has the proper impedance buffering for the type of pickup so a clean signal gets to the board. 3) Start flat and run a test pattern up and down the neck to see how the characteristics are coming through so everyone can get an idea of what kind and how much eq may be necessary. 4) Usually less eq is better, but some basses, some rooms, and sometimes the desired characteristic for the track will indicate more. 5) At least some compression is a must, but it should be used just as a salt shaker. A little really enhances the flavor of the track, too much and it, well.... [/quote] Fab post! I wonder if number 4 is related to my tendency to cut certain frequencies to find a live tone that I like? I know my bass has naturally got a lot of bottom, and that can sometimes cause a poorly-defined tone in rooms that are naturally a bit boomy.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1331553627' post='1574537'] I recently did something that I did last year as a way of opening some new doors for me listening. I buy Jazz TImes, the US jazz magazine, and every year they have a critics top 50 albums of the year article. Last year, I used it to link into the SF Jazz Collective, Christian SCott, Miguel Zenon, Avishai Cohen (trumpet) and some other stuff. This year, I got some stuff by pianist Armen Donelian, a Lee Konitz live album with Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian, a couple of Marcus Strickland recordings, a Ben Allison (bass led) thing, a Jerry Gonzalez cuban thing. I sample them via Spotify first but I find that its a great way of breaking out of your confort zone [/quote] Great idea! That Konitz recording (Live At Birdland, right?) has some awesome playing - I'd recommend the trio session with just Konitz/Mehldau/Haden which is in a similar vein. I think that sort of stuff really benefits from a bit of effort on the listener's part, which is why I love it - not as inaccessible as free stuff but more exciting than straightahead stuff. Miguel Zenon is killer on this Aaron Goldberg/Guillermo Klein collaboration (also with excellent features from Eric Harland and Matt Penman):

[quote name='bassace' timestamp='1335205463' post='1627296'] I usually DI from pre eq and ask the sound man to go easy on the bass, mainly middle and top, and nothing through the monitors please. Last time I was DI'd I said to the sound man 'please make it sound like a double bass' - and he did! [/quote] This is pure distilled good advice. Talking politely to the sound guy about what you'd like (so long as you know, I agree with the ace about rolling off on the bass and prefer to have my own onstage sound that I can fiddle with) is the best thing that, within your power, can be done. Stay friends with them, even if they get it dreadfully wrong! Basses are tough to amplify so I'm sure they tried, and it's always good to have the sound guys on your side.

Any time Dan! Happy to answer as far as my (limited) abilities allow. Plenty more cheeky little tricks to get you sounding hip over this tune with minimum fuss, but don't want to overdo it on the information.....

If this post is too long: just use Eb minor pentatonic or blues scale. Sequence sounds (to my ears) like |Ebm9 | Abm9 | Fm7 Bb7+5 | Ebm9 repeated over and over (I think......I'm a bit wack at hearing out changes , although I've been working at it! Could be an Fm7b5 in there) Talk about soloing over changes can, and does, fill many volumes as there are a lot of ways to look at it. As to whether you stay or move with the chords, the answer is both! You can choose to outline the chords, or play over them a little, and this can be done using chord tones or scales, depending on how you like to think of it. I would recommend being familiar with the arpeggios of these chords and (the really important bit) how they resolve into one another. That is, which notes in Ebm9 are next to those in Abm9 (and Abm9 into Fm7 etc,,,,,), which allows you to make a smooth transition between the chords outlining the movement from one to the other, and which notes they have in common, which allows a more blanket approach. So, an example for Ebm9 going into Abm9 would be: Eb Gb Bb Db F into Ab B Eb Gb Bb. In general, chord qualities are most clearly defined by their 3rds and 7ths. We can resolve the 7th of the Ebm9 (Db) into the 3rd of Abm9 (B ), which outlines the change between the two, or we can stay on the 3rd of Ebm9 (Gb), which becomes the 7th of Abm9. As a rule of thumb, chords with roots moving in 4ths (same fret up a string or down a string and two frets) have 7ths that resolve nicely into 3rds, and playing this resolution really strongly outlines that change (this is good voice leading). But of course there are other options for notes to keep the same across both chords (more obvious), and other options for notes that move to outline the changes - I'll leave you to explore them! Just throw the track on and have fun playing about. You take this further by seeing what notes move and stay static across the whole progression. Using just chord tones you can get a surprising amount of mileage by adding rhythmic variety - just keep it grooving and have fun! The arpeggios are the strongest way to outline the harmony, and you can use notes that move or remain static to outline it to different degrees of clarity As for scales, you can just jam Eb minor pentatonic (or blues scale for colour) over the whole thing without worrying about making the changes, I'm not sure if it's | Fm7 Bb7+5| or | Fm7b5 Bb7+5 |, but either way you can just use Eb natural minor over the whole thing and it sounds fine (as melody trumps harmony). If it is | Fm7b5 Bb7+5 |, you could play Eb harmonic minor if you felt like it, but you don't have to! I hope this post was helpful! Let me know if you want anything clarified......

[quote name='fatback' timestamp='1334853612' post='1622430'] My view entirely. Doubler + Midget + Full Circle + Spiro Weichs + Armstrong mag p/u for emergencies. All I need now is talent. [/quote] Maybe get some guts as well?

I've got a Markbass LM-II and an EA Wizzy 10, which suits me just fine. I can sling the wizzy on my back, and wheel the bass to gigs. I can get a nice "my bass but louder" tone through it, but tends to need tweaking for the room. Surprising volume, too - can even cope with big band gigs. Would love to give the doubler a go at some point though, it looks like a great little amp. With gear in general I try to have as little involvement as possible. I like to find a setup (pickup, strings, amp) that works for me and then stick with it. More time to focus on playing, and I'm chronically strapped for cash. Doesn't stop me nosing around a bit and considering alternatives though, I'm only human!

[quote name='fatback' timestamp='1334745451' post='1620503'] Ooh, slippery slope! Just a little drop... just a little one. [/quote] Urgh, I've been teetering on the precipice for ages. Just can't justify the cost of new strings (and likely set up tweaks) when my spiro mittels sound fine, and I'm familiar with them. But, then again I bet guts would sound lovely!

The idea of guts often marches around my head, but I'm loathe to stray from my spiro weichs because they're comfortable and sound fine, guts would cost a lot more than I have (especially as they're relatively higher maintenance), and guts wouldn't sound as nice under the bow. I fear change! But still. Y'know. What if I tried some velvet animas? What then?

[quote name='lobematt' timestamp='1333620241' post='1604273'] I've been working on the Matthew Garrison four finger technique recently. The exercises I've been doing at the minute are pretty basic, just running up 4 frets on each string, 4 plucks per note, 2 plucks per note, 1 pluck per not. And then two low notes and two high for octaves and fifths. I can play these pretty steady now although not at any great speed (yet!) I've started trying to apply this to scales to make it a bit more useful but I'm getting my finger order messed up. For example if I was playing Dorian would my right hand be playing T 1 2 - T 1 - T 1 2 D E F - G A - B C D or... T 1 2 - 3 T - 1 2 3 D E F - G A - B C D What I mean is are you meant to start each new line with the thumb or continue the right hand pattern regardless? Also any other exercises to develop this technique would be much appreciated! Thanks [/quote] Hey Matt. I'm far from expert at this technique but I'd say the thing to keep most in mind is that to play fast you have to practise slow. Be really honest with yourself and take things right down to a very slow tempo and be as accurate as possible before you speed up. It will come with patience but only out of very accurate technique that comes from taking it really slow. As for order of thumb/fingers, I'd say that you need to find whatever works for you. Personally, I agree with Chris 2112 - keep a strict order of thumb, index, middle, ring when a line is continuous. However, use your head a bit with where you start with the thumb, as sometimes it's useful to reset the pattern (e.g. playing 3 note patterns across 3 strings quickly it makes sense to use thumb, index, middle for speed). One thing I found really useful for this technique was to do string cross/right hand exercises with every combination of two fingers from thumb index middle and ring separately. So I would play the same exercise with strict alternation of thumb and index, then thumb and middle, then thumb and ring, then index and middle, index and ring, then middle and ring. Sadly, my 4 finger technique has long since fallen at the wayside due to my upright playing - I hardly play electric bass any more except for sessions/gigs that require it.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1333643798' post='1604748'] Ah, but what if it's a pre-1992 penny which is only 1.52 mm thick? [/quote] Just hold it next to a recent penny, and feel bad for the Queen.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1333642634' post='1604728'] It varies but E string at 12th is: Lakland Decade = 3/32" Fender Precision = 5/32" Takamine B10 = 7/32" I don't know how many pennies that is. [/quote] A 1p is 1.65mm, which is 2/32" by my reckoning, so: 1 1/2 pennies, 2 1/2 pennies and 3 1/2 pennies.

Cheers JT (and everyone else!) for the support/advice. Think it should be ok so long as I take breaks in between playing sessions - I am in a removable cast and keep my leg as well elevated as I can at other times. I desperately want to play the bass as much as possible, but there's nothing in the world I want more than to get better and I won't jeopardise that just for the sake of impatience to play. My technique will recover, and my musicality isn't suffering cause I'm working on electric bass as much as I can and using my ears. My ankle, however, is with me for life so I intend to take recovering seriously!

[url="http://www.jazzeveryone.com/"]http://www.jazzeveryone.com/[/url] Anyone a user? I've signed up for just a month to check it out, and I'll say that I'm really enjoying it! It starts simple and is really light on the theory, but builds up to a strong foundation in understanding how to solo in a classic jazz style. It's almost tempting to rush through the material, but it's worth taking the time to digest it and shed it, even if you feel it's below your level. The real strength of the site is, in my opinion, the vocabulary workout and immersion zone, both of which are graded in difficulty to help you truly get the sounds you need in your ears and under your fingers before moving to the next level. It's not a comprehensive course in jazz improvisation, but with this stuff as a foundation I think that everything else would seem much more tractable. Especially good for beginners who are just taking their first steps. Willie is a triple threat - nice guy, great player and effective educator. Has been nice to take my playing back to the basics and shed a new way of looking at this stuff. Definitely recommended from me.

Well, it's 3 weeks since my operation today (similar procedure to Happy Jack's). Am off the painkillers completely (have been for most of the last week), I've got a stool set up in my room with my bass, and I had a quick blast on it yestereday - seems fine to me, no pain or discomfort with posture (technique rusty, sigh). I only have two gigs in the forseeable future, and that's in a month's time well after my cast is off and my ankle is bearing weight again. Will make sure to take it easy, and have asked my GP for advice. So pleased to be able to play again, even if it is just for the odd 20 mins at a time in the practise room.

So, I've managed to break my left ankle pretty badly. Obviously, my major concern is how this will affect my double bass playing. What are everyone's thoughts on this? I put my weight mostly through my right leg when I sit, so maybe I use a stool? Morphine is fab. H

[url="http://www.scribd.com/doc/39616458/Shorter-Analysis"]http://www.scribd.com/doc/39616458/Shorter-Analysis[/url] Maybe obscuring the wood for the trees, and I'm just off to work so no time to read it all the way through, but looks like it could be interesting?