JellyKnees

[quote name='chris_b' timestamp='1447059887' post='2904387'] You're not a bass player, you're a musician. Play as many musical instruments as you can. [/quote] +1

Ok, I've done mine... It's a lot less conceptual than last time... I've put some words about it up on soundcloud. [url="https://soundcloud.com/jellyknees/wood-migrations"]https://soundcloud.c...wood-migrations[/url] It would have been here much sooner tbh, but I fell victim to a malevolent flu bug and I only really started feeling better yesterday... Enjoying the entries so far, good stuff!

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1446463744' post='2899469'] [i]...caught out by lackadaisical cut'n'paste. Now fixed.[/i] [/quote] Damn, and there was me thinking I'd won a special prize... Ok, I got inspired last night and have started and possibly nearly finished something already. Tiredness and a big yawn were my literal starting points, but it seems to have morphed into a desire to escape the winter darkness and head off into the sun for regeneration and rebirth. Perhaps it was the fog and gloom last night??? Slow and bluesy, chilled and atmospheric is what I'm going for...

Ok, here it is.... [attachment=204098:IMG_0793.JPG] Have fun! Cheers, Neil

Cheers guys, I'm well chuffed! My first go too, blimey, who'd have thunk it... Love the robot hand and especially the jellyknees images btw... (some wag at our school decided that I wobbled my knees when I played bass and the nickname stuck, so I decided to embrace it!) I'm on the job peeps. Bait your collective breath (whatever that means)

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1446124258' post='2897083'] PS: in my head, I [i]still[/i] hear these read aloud by the voice of John Peel [/quote] I didn't.. but I will do now! ...which is no bad thing at all...

Well I've only just spotted this thread, but what can I say? Generous, witty, entertaining, insightful and lacking the cynicism that so often permeates and sullies music reviews. A great read and, for someone who has never entered this competion lark before, most encouraging. Thanks Douglas!

Well done man, my ex wife was an alcoholic and it basically destroyed our marriage. It made me seriously revise my own attitude to alcohol too. I hope you continue to get the support you need and stay away from the booze. It's so ingrained in our culture that it will be hard, but it can be done as other members on here have proved. Respect to you for meeting it head on and opening up about it on the forum.

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1445539688' post='2892320'] These guys MUST be on the list: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0tpI4Y4W7I[/media] [/quote] +1 So many great grooves from these guys down the years it's almost impossible to choose a favourite. How about Vinnie Colaiuta and Arthur Barrow? [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONROSWCi2Uo[/media]

No, not at all Che, no worries...

[quote name='Che' timestamp='1445356541' post='2890877'] Off topic but maybe not; I find this interesting how people look at same things with entirely different "eyes" You and I look at the city life style in totally opposing ways I see city/city life style as the very reason behind our natural biodiversity (nature) being devastated. So many people are pouring into cities running away from the sweaty country life and there are only a few left to make the food for the rest. Lets say 3% of population is feeding the 97% wanting to live that "ideal life". Those 3% have no choice but to grow huge mono-cultures using machinery and poisons to help them grow food for those of us wanting to seek some happiness on asphalt and concrete away from the natural. And to add, I'm so happy that I have found my way out of the noisy and smelly city and into the country side. For me to find happiness is to find the way back to nature from which we all stem from and to which we all return sooner or later. Nice tune though [/quote] Well it's an idealised city rather than a real one, so it would be definitely be pollution and odour free, although there would probably still be some noise Personally I prefer the countryside myself - my concept was purely for the purposes of the competition, not an actual suggestion that cities represent some kind of nirvana. Glad you like the tune though

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1445341561' post='2890662'] [font=Helvetica]Of course there’s no obligation to write something each month… but I warn you that it is hopelessly addictive [/font] [/quote] That's what I'm worried about!

Here's my effort... [url="https://soundcloud.com/jellyknees/becoming-a-city"]https://soundcloud.c...becoming-a-city[/url] The initial idea/concept I had for the composition goes roughly like this; Imagine if you were able to paint a picture of your ideal city; somewhere beautiful, safe, exciting and welcoming, a place where you would really love to live. Then imagine if that city were to become a reality and you were able to physically travel to it, to actually go there and live in it. This could perhaps be a metaphor for achieving a state of happiness, whereby the city represents an ideal way of living, or possibly some kind of ‘nirvana’ like state of existence. The painting process would represent the imagining and realisation in one’s own mind of what that ideal state/way of life would be like. The journey to the city would represent the path that one would have to take in order to get there. Arriving at and entering into the city would represent the final steps, the achievement of contentment. The piece is divided roughly into 5 sections, representing each of the stages; The Spark of an Ideal Brushwork The Journey Arrival Becoming I really enjoyed doing this – it was good to work to a specific concept, rather than the more organic way in which I usually write. I probably won’t do this every month, but I’m sure I’ll have another go from time to time.

[quote name='Number6' timestamp='1445004403' post='2888101'] 6 weeks.....really! Wow! I know it's an individual thing but that is frequent. [/quote] Entirely depends how much action they get. Back in the 80/90s when I was giging and rehearsing loads I had to change strings every 3-4 weeks or sometimes even less! These days it's probably 3-4 months on my Dingwall and whenever I feel like a change on my Tune Maniac fretless, which currently has TIs on it. I don't break strings so I just change the whole set, one ast a time. I usually give the fingerboard a bit of a wipe while I'm at it.

[quote name='leschirons' timestamp='1444921180' post='2887377'] Here's the upmarket version. [/quote] Far too sophisticated for the likes of me...

Spotted at lunchtime in TJ Hughes...

Mine is on it's way... just a few extra tweaks and twiddles required.. actually, I may have got a little bit obsessive with this..

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1444385993' post='2882747'] fair enough, but the fact you still have a dream of playing your songs with a band means you do want other people to hear your songs [/quote] Ultimately yes, but for me it's really more about the process of working with other musicians and developing those recorded ideas into performance pieces and hearing how they sound. If other people hear it (and possibly even enjoy it) then that's a bonus, but it's not essential.

[quote name='PaulWarning' timestamp='1444384898' post='2882717'] I can't believe there's much satisfaction in writing and recording songs that no one else is going to hear,[b](maybe I'm wrong on that one)[/b] [/quote] Yes you are. I love the creative process of writing and recording, I always have. I have no illusions about making it (I haven't since my mid 20s), I simply enjoy it for what it is. I am looking at getting an original band together again at some point in the future, but even if that never happens, I will continue writing and recording for my own pleasure.

[quote name='uncle psychosis' timestamp='1444376059' post='2882612'] Gigging bass guitarists who only play other people's songs have taken the easy way out compared to the home musician who is trying to compose his own music and master recording, IMO. Churning through a 12 bar blues or an AC/DC number is a piece of piss compared to the inner workings of a DAW. [/quote] +1 I did the covers/function type band thing for a couple of years while I was at Uni in the 90s as an easy way of making some extra cash. It was for me, in terms of playing, a piece of piss (we did soul/funk type stuff - the hardest thing I had to play was probably Stevie's 'I Wish'...) It was occasionally fun, but I wouldn't want to do it for the rest of my life and in fact I haven't since. I see loads of local musicians who are contemporaries of mine who used to write, record and play their own stuff, but now just do covers in pub bands. Personally, I see that as 'taking the easy option'.

Gigging is a bit like sex... when it's good it's amazing, when it's bad... well, you get the idea... I [i]love[/i] gigging under the right circumstances, but I don't [i]have[/i] to do it to remain engaged and excited by music, because I [i]love[/i] playing and recording too. I learned to play bass primarily as a creative outlet, not because I need to massage my ego onstage. Grinding through a set of covers in a grotty pub to a disinterested bunch of drunks on a Friday night is my idea of hell tbh.

I'm going to have a go at this..I have a 'concept' in my head, not sure how it will work out but it will be interesting to write like this for a change, i.e. using a picture as inspiration and also within a fixed time period.

3 but I only really play 2 of them regularly - a Dingwall ABZ5 and a Tune Maniac piezo fretless. The other is my KGB headless which was build for me in 1991 and was my only bass for about 15 years. I'll probably never sell it...

No

20, 1 to change the bulb, and 19 to discuss how Jaco would have done it...