endorka

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1043503' date='Dec 1 2010, 10:55 AM']Nice to see you getting stable work, hope you stay on the cart.[/quote] Excellent! :-) Alas, I've had a couple of gigs cancelled already this week due to the snow. Neigh luck! Jennifer

Thanks Derren... I'm glad someone agrees with my earlier post :-) Jennifer

Thanks for all the comments folks :-) We played the last night of the tour in Glasgow on Saturday, a great gig I am happy to report! The gig was filmed so there may be a live DVD released of it. Cheers! Jennifer

The Rotosound strings you have should be no barrier to getting the tone you describe. [quote name='funky_numba' post='1043244' date='Dec 1 2010, 02:18 AM']Re the funk is in the fingers. I've watched the youtube vids and they are not doing anything different from me re plucking. Yes, I get a slightly better sound by plucking nearer the bridge but that just a workaround. Shouldn't I be able to get the sound by plucking between the bridge and the neck pickups?[/quote] Hmm... I'm not sure I would describe the plucking approach that was a major component of the sound of such luminaries as Jaco Pastorious to be "just a workaround". Where you pluck on the string has a major effect on the tone produced; closer to the bridge gives a brighter tone, closer to the neck gives a fatter tone. There are many other factors to consider in addition to this that will affect tone, however. While you may appear to be copying what these musicians are doing on Youtube, there could be other things that are not immediately apparent. For example, even the amount of callous on the fingertips can change tone. It can be an interesting thought experiment to consider: what would one of these musicians sound like playing your bass? You have a strong sense of the sound you would like to produce, this is good. Over the next few months I would advise spending a lot of time making small adjustment to your technique to attempt to find this sound. It will be obvious when you are getting nearer to the ideal. There is another thing: Have you tried playing with the neck pickup completely off, the bridge pickup completely on, and the tone as trebly as you can get? Jennifer

You will find much talk of the pros and cons of instruments/amps/strings/pickups all over the Internet, but always remember - "the funk is in the fingers". In other words, if your basic technique is not producing the sound you are after, then it will be difficult to compensate for this with gadgets and technology. How does the bass sound unamplified? Many people advocate plucking near the bridge of the instrument, rather than closer to the neck, to achieve the bright funky sound you desire. Have you tried this? Jennifer

Maybe take a bit of sandpaper to smooth off the rough edges? Jennifer

When I'm buying a bass, colour is insignificant compared with tone and playability. With recorded material, nobody sees the colour, and when playing live, it is likely that the audience perception and opinion of colour will not align with yours in any case. In the past I've bought two basses where I found the colour/finish not to my taste, but the tone and playability were too good to pass up. These become some of my most played instruments. Eventually I got used to the colour, and in the case of my yellow P-bass clone, grew to really like it. Jennifer

Good decision Mike; I made a similar choice about four years ago and am happy to report that it is all positive - the musical and work opportunities offered by playing the double bass are marvellous. I endorse playing with the correct approach, as short cuts will only sting you later. One of these is remembering to play with your fingertips on the left hand as much as possible, as opposed to the side/flat bits common on bass guitar. It allows for more precise intonation. Do you sit to play arco and stand for other gigs? Something else I found useful was to choose one position for everything and stick to it, this also helps with intonation. It's difficult enough to play correctly one way, never mind having to learn two different ways! Jennifer

What about Overwater? I've used their strings on a 35" scale instrument, they fitted well. They make instruments with 36" scale lengths, so I'm sure if you asked them they would be able to deliver something that would work for that too. Good strings at a good price. Jennifer

[quote name='earlyman' post='1032918' date='Nov 22 2010, 05:18 PM']Once you've learned to play piece of music from a recording, remembered it, understood it's harmonies, rythms and other nuances, is there added value in actually writing it down? why is this valuable?[/quote] If you work as a standin bass player it can be useful, as it will often be months, or even years, between gigs with the same band - certainly enough time to forget the songs you learned for the previous occassion, particularly if you do other music work inbetween. In this case having the music transcribed saves you having to go through the whole learning process again. Jennifer

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1026131' date='Nov 16 2010, 05:55 PM']What a voice.[/quote] Yeah, good isn't she? It's great to work with someone who can really sing. Jennifer

There is now a direct link to the band playing on "The Hour": [url="http://programmes.stv.tv/the-hour/news-gossip/202611-acoustic-band-horse-perform-hit-single-careful/"]http://programmes.stv.tv/the-hour/news-gos...single-careful/[/url] We're touring just now and it's been a great buzz - Brighton, Inverness, Livingston this week, and Glasgow City Hall the next. Tour dates in my sig :-) Jennifer

[quote name='steverickwood' post='1014586' date='Nov 6 2010, 06:15 PM']Was that book of use? Wasn't it YYZ you were to perform?[/quote] I did indeed play YYZ, with drummer, guitarist and keys player for the middle section. A real buzz for all concerned :-) Jennifer

With Horse in the Queens Hall, Edinburgh last night, playing to 500 people - most excellent! I love playing in this venue, great acoustics, and the audience were great. Brighton, Inverness, Livingston and Glasgow still to go over the next few weeks. Jennifer

[quote name='silddx' post='1017418' date='Nov 9 2010, 12:45 PM']Sounds like a barrel of laughs![/quote] I do a lot of this stuff, and it can indeed be difficult and stressful, but when it all comes together it is most satisfactory and rewarding. Taking a wider perspective on the music can be very illuminating - you get to see the big picture, and the way all the individual parts contribute to the whole. In many ways this has improved my bass playing more than playing bass alone has. Jennifer

[quote name='0175westwood29' post='1008853' date='Nov 1 2010, 06:49 PM']anyone got a fender p 5 string? and whats peoples view of the mm bongo?[/quote] I have a "Squier Precision Standard Special V". I've no idea how this compares to Fender 5 strings, but I like it a lot. The string spacing at the bridge is standard Precision, I think 19mm. I like this; I have a couple of 6 string basses with narrower string spacing at the bridge, and they are very different to play - they feel more delicate/finnicky, and slapping is very tricky. From my point of view, if you really want to rock out, you need the decent string spacing at the bridge. This instrument also has Precision spacing at the nut, i.e. 10mm. As pointed out by an earlier poster, this makes for a very wide neck, but I became accustomed to it pretty quickly and soon forgot about it. I had Seymour Duncan 1/4 pound pickups fitted to replace the stock pickups, which I found distinctly average. A fellow Basschatter has a good 5 string from Lakland that has 19mm string spacing at the bridge, but Jazz type narrower spacing at the nut, which makes left hand stuff a lot simpler initially without making right hand techniques awkward. Jennifer

A lot of chord movement in Western music tends to follow the circle of fifths (or fourths depending on how you look at it). For example, the ii V I progression is very common in jazz; an example would be Dm7 G7 C. A chord moving to the next one in the circle of fourths has a very strong resolution; if you learn to recognize the sound of chords going round the circle, it makes busking/learning/memorizing tunes far easier. In this respect, it is a musical shortcut. Jennifer

[quote name='steverickwood' post='1014241' date='Nov 6 2010, 01:28 PM']Haha - Jennifer please dedicate it to me;) Are you the Jennifer who bought a Rush anthology from me?[/quote] I am indeed :-) [quote]And your comment about this track is accurate - once I transcribed it I had to learn to play the damn thing and it has its quirks, notably the kind of harmonised clarinet line after the second B section. In fact, I think I have forgotten how to play it since![/quote] The B section always raises eyebrows amongst clarinet or flute players... I think I have a recording where it sounds like a bass clarient playing it, you can actually hear the valves flailing about and the player really making an effort to keep the melody up to speed! Great stuff. I have found that this song really divides musicians - they either think it is amazing, or completely daft. The truth is, of course, that it is both of these things. Jennifer

Brilliant work! That tune is not as easy to play as many think! I'll be playing with a jazz trio at a 20's themed event this evening, I think I'll see if we can get away with playing Cantina Band :-) Jennifer

It's been twenty years since the release of Horse's debut album "The Same Sky". To celebrate this anniversary, we will be performing the entire album, along with selected B-sides from that era and a "best of the rest" set. Tickets can be booked by calling the box office numbers below, or online via the official Horse website: [url="http://www.randan.org/"]http://www.randan.org/[/url] [list] [*]Sheffield Boardwalk 10th November, 7.30pm 0114 279 9090 [*]London Bush Hall 11th November, 7.30pm 020 8222 6955 [*]Aberdeen Lemon Tree 12th November, 7.00pm 01224 641 122 [*]Edinburgh Queens Hall 13th November, 8.00pm 0131 668 2019 [*]Brighton Latest 17th November, 8.00pm 01273 687 171 [*]Inverness Spectrum 19th November, 7.00pm 01463 221 842 [*]Livingston Howden Park 20th November, 8.00pm 01506 777 666 [*]Glasgow City Halls 27th November, 7.30pm 0141 353 8000 [/list] Hope to see some Basschatters there! Jennifer

[quote name='KERMITNT' post='1013543' date='Nov 5 2010, 05:47 PM']Hey guys I have a question maybe is silly but please let me unsolved this mystery. C minor is consisted from C D Eb F G Gb B C so the minor6th triad should be C Eb Gb isn’t it ? Why I see the A to the minor 6th triad so is C Eb A ? I don’t get it!!! Is it because of the intervals? Thnx the frog [/quote] Your spelling of the scale is incorrect: C melodic minor is: C D Eb F G A B C Which would be consistent with the chord you describe. You could also include the 5th, i.e. C Eb G A Jennifer

Another user of Transcribe here - wonderful software. One of my favourite features of it is pitch shifting the track up an octave without changing the speed, it's great for working out what is going on with mushily mixed basslines. Jennifer

[quote name='Bassassin' post='1013107' date='Nov 5 2010, 11:29 AM']So would you say more often than not there is a formally trained musician behind a successful pop/rock artist or band? And can I ask how you are defining "good" in the above context?[/quote] Not necessarily formally trained (although it often seems to be the case), but someone who really knows about music. "Good" is difficult to define, but in a nutshell I would generally define it as strong & memorable songwriting with an arrangement and production that emphasises the virtues of this. [quote]To bung yet another bone of contention on this bonfire of appallingly mixed metaphors, I remember reading that McCartney claimed he made a specific decision not to learn to read & write notation, because he felt knowing the rules would adversely affect the way he wrote.[/quote] Sure... but the Beatles had George Martin: [indent] George Henry Martin is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"—a title that he owes to his work as producer of all but one ("Let It Be") of The Beatles' original records, as well as playing piano on some of The Beatles tracks—and is considered one of the greatest record producers of all time.[/indent] Despite being initially more or less self taught, Martin later acquired a formal musical education; [indent]Martin used his veteran's grant to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama from 1947 to 1950, where he studied piano and oboe, and was interested in the music of Rachmaninov and Ravel, as well as Cole Porter and Johnny Dankworth. [/indent] [quote]FWIW I have no leanings one way or the other, but the varying perspectives of this debate intrigue me. I don't have formal training & can't sight-read but have often wondered what difference it would have made to my playing & composing if I did.[/quote] Who can say? One avenue could be to pursue some of these more formal aspects of music and see where it takes you. Jennifer

[quote name='silddx' post='1012385' date='Nov 4 2010, 06:18 PM']Chris Squire, one of the most revered bassists in rock music history. He has very little knowledge of music theory and as far as I know doesn't read music notation.[/quote] For the record, I do not believe one has to be able to read music or have a formal knowledge of music theory to create good basslines. On the other hand, if one looks deeply at good pop & rock songs, it is frequently the case that there is at least one member of the band who has a formal knowledge of music and/or who is really clued up. Not so pretty/more mature keyboard player syndrome anyone? :-) Failing this, there is often a collaborator such as the producer, musical director or arranger who really knows what they are doing. Because of the peculiary British reverse snobbery attitude to "book learning", and consequent protestations of ignorance by many musicians, you sometimes have to dig pretty deep to find this, but it is often there. Jennifer

Just listening to some Red Mitchell; Clark Terry / Red Mitchell - It Don't Mean A Thing : [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOWaUR6ta0c&NR=1"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOWaUR6ta0c&NR=1[/url] Red Mitchell & Bill Mays play "Well, You Needn't" [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA_8CV_h2hg&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RA_8CV_h2hg...feature=related[/url] I can't believe how good these guys are! Jennifer