The Funk

Oh, I forgot to say that my guitarist writes as well and for some of his tunes he'll write out a bass part. They sound good and fit the song well so I've got no problem just playing the parts.

A rumble.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='600456' date='Sep 16 2009, 04:52 PM']There is no note between Fsharp and G because, if you are using the language of Western music, which you are[/quote] If he was using the language of Western Classical music, I'd agree with you. But he's probably using the language of the blues, with its blue notes and quarter note bends.

A Deep.

I write my own. For some tunes I write all of the parts. I also now enjoy writing new arrangements of other people's work as well.

Gallien Krueger 700RB 2x10 combo for £325. Could serve you well. [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=60735"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=60735[/url]

[quote name='Lew-Bass' post='597672' date='Sep 13 2009, 08:43 PM']I want a really defined, warm, smooth, fat tone.[/quote] I'm going to stick with my Hartke cab recommendation because they're seriously unfashionable now and therefore great value for money. I love the sound of them. I'm going to suggest one of the discontinued valve Warwick heads, such as the Quad IV or Quad VI. Have a look around to see if there are any for sale secondhand.

[quote name='Linus27' post='598238' date='Sep 14 2009, 02:46 PM']You guys look really really cool. Loving that look, very jazzy but the question is, do you guys play Jazz??[/quote] Thanks. We're a funk-rock-soul jam band with tunes. Different people have said different things: "gangsters", "jazz"... "The Commitments". That last one confused and saddened me! After that photo, I thought about each member of the band wearing a different style of suit/hat/shoes to help support the idea behind each member's stage persona. A bit [i]Spice Girls[/i] but [i]Guns n' Roses[/i] did it too (Duff = Sex Pistols, Izzy = Rolling Stones, Slash = Aerosmith, Steven = '80s LA rock/hair metal). I thought left to right we should go for: guitarist -> New Orleans gangster/musician, me -> old bluesman/sharp funk musician/shady businessman, singer/frontman -> supercool guy with quirky design student geek tendencies, keyboard player -> consummate showman/ladies' man/church man, ie. Al Green, drummer -> precocious jazzer, ie. Sinatra.

[quote name='TheBlueFalcon' post='599712' date='Sep 15 2009, 10:52 PM']I would like to ask how people started out and why, what they wanted to achieve, where they are now and if they are happy with how things have turned out or not.[/quote] Started out at school with my friends. A lot of them were guitarists and we were all into some classic music of the '60s and '70s. On a family holiday to America I was all set to pick up my first guitar. I passed on a Gibson Les Paul Black Beauty for $400 (seriously) and went for a Fender Jazz instead because I figured there were enough guitarists. At first I just wanted to play. It was only as I quickly started playing with better and better musicians that I started dreaming about world domination. It took a long time to get the right line-up together, so long that I don't have time to take it seriously anymore. I've had a lot of fun along the way. I'll still play the odd show every now and then when asked, but I've had to turn down a fair amount of sessions and my main band is on hold at the moment. Happy? Yes. I've played with some fantastic musicians and made some music which I love - and picking up the bass for 20 minutes is a great way to unwind. [quote name='TheBlueFalcon' post='599712' date='Sep 15 2009, 10:52 PM']How long do you feel it took for you to become a "decent" bassist and roughly how much time/practice did you have to put in to get there?[/quote] It took a while to become a "decent" bassist. There are still a few massively underdeveloped parts of my game so I'm not sure I'd call myself a good bassist. I'm pretty good at the things I do well though. I think it took about 3 years of a lot of band work, a few lessons, some theory and a lot of jamming to get decent. But it also only took a year to get good enough to play with some great musicians. Because you're a bassist, it's likely you'll get opportunities beyond your level of experience. Take them all.

[quote name='Lew-Bass' post='597799' date='Sep 13 2009, 10:34 PM']I'm only really looking for stuff in mint condition[/quote] If you're going to be gigging all this stuff, the finish will get damaged. So long as any damage is purely cosmetic and doesn't affect function, there isn't a problem. Can't go wrong with a 250W-300W head and a decent cab. With a budget of £350, you could just about get a GK head and a Hartke cab. I think GK heads and Hartke cabs go very well together.

[quote name='Muriel' post='596849' date='Sep 12 2009, 09:42 PM']Is there any alternatives or is having a proper teacher the only way?[/quote] The alternative is getting a few good books and a much more experienced bass mentor to discuss things with every now and then. I had six lessons ten years ago and my playing has never progressed as quickly as it did during that period. I think having a teacher can just speed up the whole process - so long as it's the right teacher for you!

I'll let a couple of my guitarist friends know. This thread will probably be moved to the Bassists Wanted/Available sub-forum. Good luck with the search. Always a pain in the arse.

I'll see what I can do to make it down to The Peel (although sadly it's looking unlikely right now).

[quote name='bubinga5' post='595942' date='Sep 11 2009, 06:51 PM']do you think they may be a little unknown..i guess it depends on the crowd..we have advertised as Jazzfunk groove soul..but people like to hear recognised tunes..[/quote] Some might be a little unknown and it does depend on the crowd but for jazz/funk/soul, it's more about how hard it grooves and gets people moving. Noone wants to hear covers bands that all play the same tired material! (By noone I mean me).

[quote name='neepheid' post='596222' date='Sep 12 2009, 12:58 AM']I make a point of making an effort to look smart - shirt, tie, often a waistcoat, smart trousers. My only concession to rebellion is that I wear one of my wacky pair of Vans on my feet.[/quote] Copycat!

[quote name='TimR' post='595057' date='Sep 10 2009, 07:51 PM']So how many people actually listen to the originals of songs they play.[/quote] All of the ones I've picked for F E. Not a lot of the ones the others have picked in the Doom band - but the stuff I already used to listen to still gets rinsed.

I prefer to figure out what the chords are. Sometimes it's a real bitch trying to figure out what the key is - and it's not always necessary.

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='593190' date='Sep 8 2009, 07:26 PM']There's one of those in our rehearsal space. The guitarist sometimes uses it to prop his Marshall against. [/quote] It's the [url="http://www.cornfordamps.com/harlequin.htm"]Cornford Harlequin[/url]. Juicy little amp which gives him all the clean/crunch/cranked tones he wants, with not so much output for his talkbox as to cause him to get dizzy. It keeps up well with the DW Mini Kit our drummer gigs with. He tried gigging with a 120W Matamp head and two Marshall 2x12s but it was just too loud. The height of the Matamp/Marshall stack also meant that his cabs bled into his vocal/talkbox mic on small stages, and then his monitor would also sometimes reflect into his cab mic and vocal mic, creating a swirling mush with additional highly directional, piercing icepick sounds coming from his cabs if you happened to be standing in the wrong part of the crowd. For Foolish Earthlings, the 6W Cornford works brilliantly. For our doom metal side project, the Matamp is the ideal head - but different, less directional cabs would be great. I find the Marshall cabs to be piercing straight on (although it's probably not a uniquely Marshall phenomenon). I know SRV had diffusors fitted to the front of his guitar speakers so as to make the sound less directional. They are available pretty cheaply online but I'm not sure how effective they are. If they really work and mean that guitarists can hear themselves while not standing directly in front of their cabs, I think everyone should use them to avoid volume wars. Not sure what you can do with a basher of a drummer except for to stick him on a smaller kit. They mic up so much better than the big ones!

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='589505' date='Sep 4 2009, 11:27 AM']So what do you guys do? Do you not play these gigs? Do you play them but have such big followings that selling tickets is not an issue? Are we looking in the wrong places?[/quote] Foolish Earthlings haven't gigged at all in 2009 for this very reason. It's not that we can't sell tickets but the two session guys have to turn down gigs paying upwards of 200 quid everytime we gig, the sets we get are far too short for the number of people who come to see us, sound out front is always sh*t (we don't have our own engineer), and all five of us feel like we're exploiting our friends by getting them to come to see us for extortionate prices. I told them I'd come up with an alternative but the year's already two-thirds down.

I've asked them to stop contacting us. We've gigged there twice. Once to see how it was, and the second time to see if the first was a one-off bad experience.

[quote name='JTUK' post='593095' date='Sep 8 2009, 05:33 PM']Most of the guitarists we use turn up with 18 to 30 watt amps...but will often use an extn cab..[/quote] I've taken to lending my guitarist a 6W 1x12" valve combo. It looks and sounds great and is big enough for any gig to less than 500 people. We were once - only once - criticised for being too quiet. The second set was much louder but not harsh or mushy.

Agreed! She performed at the Stevie Wonder White House thing. As much of a Stevie fan as I am, her performance was the best part!

[quote name='pete.young' post='591750' date='Sep 6 2009, 10:28 PM']Perfectly valid piece of technique on upright bass. I've heard it called 're-inforcing'.[/quote] I play 3&4 together a lot - but side by side, not on top of each other.

[quote name='charic' post='591500' date='Sep 6 2009, 04:48 PM']Theres absolutely nothing wrong with the line6 believe me [/quote] I don't have one but I heard the bassist for a friend of mine gig the small 10" combo at the Notting Hill Arts Club a few years ago and thought it sounded fantastic!

I love how Will Ferrell dropped the tune into [i]Semi Pro[/i]. As for the effect, sounds just like a Mutron to me.