scalpy

Haven't heard about a few of these, so will keep my eyes peeled. A few weeks ago I asked to dep for copa so glad I turned that down! Forewarned about Hairspray now, that's bound to be on the horizon sometime soon. The thing about WSS is that the material is so good and well written. It's intimidating but arranged really well and does drop pretty well considering. Sunset, dare I say it, is not of the same calibre and feels fidgety and superfluous in its complexity, there's no real need for a lot of the time changes etc. And it's certainly not necessary to do it at the tempos our MD wants either!

A lot of my playing is for local am dram companies, and the pads can vary enormously in terms of challenge. West Side Story is always held as bit of a badge of honour but there's a new kid on the block, at least in terms of amateur companies. Sunset Boulevard! I was wondering if anybody else has played this on here, 'cos I did band call today and my head has melted. Massive sections in 5 at rocket speed, what is practically a bass solo for 8 minutes that changes key every line and time signature every bar for several pages, every fret just about covered and hardly any break or dialogue to catch breath. So top trickiest shows so far 3. Chess. 2. West Side 1. Sunset. Anybody else got any other monster roasts for charts out there?

The walking part of everybody needs to love at the end. Not rocket science, not ground breaking but it just feels line you've got the band by the balls!

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1444752928' post='2885630'] 'twas Abe Laboriel, apparently. [/quote] Thank you, that is really cool.

[quote name='Beedster' timestamp='1444593117' post='2884403'] Bass on that track is actually very nice [/quote] I couldn't find out who the bass player was but the drummer I believe was Matt chamberlain. Disney have a long history of using top quality musicians and studios (Mary poppins and bedknobs and broomsticks were done at Sunset Sound- like parts of led zep 2!) they also are pretty flexible during production and will prescribe approximately 80% of the parts for musicians like drummers then allow them to humanise it themselves. Sounds like a great gig to have!

[quote name='JoeEvans' timestamp='1444668060' post='2884941'] I wouldn't want to make a judgement on Ringo's relative abilities, but I do think that John Lennon's oft-quoted remark on the subject was a pretty unforgivable thing to say of a band-mate. [/quote] Lennon never said it. Jasper carrot did in a sketch.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cqeBt5ZO4mU 'Nuff said.

Great choice of drummers on the list, musos will know them (or should!) but nice to see them getting a Beeb name check. Don't know why there's a Purdie video on there though! I know it's received wisdom that 'you're only as good as your drummer' but it's a philosophy I definitely subscribe to.

Never picked up a duff G&L, tribute or American in 20 years of sampling them.

[quote name='GrammeFriday' timestamp='1443270908' post='2873526'] As another back pain sufferer I do certainly understand why lightweight basses are a must for many folks on here. But weight is only part of the picture - balance is at least as important, in my view. I suspect that having to prop up a neck-diving bass with your fretting hand for a whole evening is likely to be just as much of an ergonomic catastrophe as wearing a boat anchor around your neck all evening. And yet there seem to be far fewer people asking 'any neck dive?' than there are people asking 'how much does it weigh?' on the 'Basses for Sale' page. If I had to choose between a lightweight bass with neck dive and a heavier bass with perfect balance I'd take the latter every time. I think that may be why I am with Lozz on this one - I tend to gravitate towards 9lb/4kg basses as they seem to be most reliably in the sweet spot for both weight and balance. Yes, I know boutique manufacturers like Mike Lull make fantastically well balanced basses that still weigh less than a bag of crisps, but not everyone can afford their prices, in which case balance should be an equally important consideration. A lightweight bass may still f**k your back up good and proper if it is not balanced properly. [/quote] I've been playing my neck diving Bertha of a bass for 15 years. This summer my left shoulder has developed the habit of giving me gyp. All of a sudden I'm looking at her in a very different light, no matter how much I've enjoyed the experience so far. (Spending an evening playing a custom shop fender hasn't helped either...)

Sounds like an incredibly expensive GCSE composition. That won't pass.

Hendrix- all along the watchtower

[quote name='tauzero' timestamp='1443027376' post='2871639'] You do mean the awful acoustic version rather than the masterful electric version, don't you? David Bowie, there's another one. [/quote] I'd wager the original. Passable up until the piano outro. Then the banshee slide duet that is quite simply hideous.

Really fancy one of these for pit gigs.

Nicely done, thank you. Good to see where I've been going wrong!

Johnny Cash, ring of fire. A case of guess when to change chord. No verse is quite the same!

We played a fashion festival where the compere was a middle aged, slightly overweight leather tanned bloke dressed in speedos, straw hat and shades. As we were struggling to get through the backstage area full of wannabe models and fussy mums the drummer couldn't get passed this guy, who backed his thinly clad arse right into him. The guy turns round surprised and it turns out to be Keith Allen! He was great, and promptly persuaded everybody to move out of our way.

[quote name='Big_Stu' timestamp='1439589348' post='2844291'] My son's band were given a pair of the Marshall ones about 15 years ago. Each one contained a pair of Celestion 25w 12" Greenbacks and a pair of 10"s. Sadly the speakers were worth more than the full cabinets. [/quote] That's really surprising! I know a guy with a set of all original Marshall vertical 412s and he calls them his pension!

Got guitars with blood spots on them from years ago. Mine, of course!

The guitarist in our function band is a vintage valve amp collector and his argument for paying a premium is that there's something special about the fact the gear is often hand made to a large degree, done in smaller numbers and gives you therefore a more tangible link to the music that he enjoys and fired his passion for those artists. There is an argument that they sound better and as ever that is subjective and the law of diminishing returns applies, but the fact the object was there at the cutting edge of that time is rather special.

Just note it's an Em chord in the notated version. Makes this tune mixolydian, which can cause a meltdown if trying to work stuff early in your transcribing career! not sure where you are with theory but if you don't know that's a major scale with the 7th flattened by a semitone.

Easy- G&L. L or M series.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1438372936' post='2834126'] No, that's my exact point! I have never miced my cabs for gigs or recording. Since 1999 I have used the most accurate cabs available. That doesn't mean I've always gone for 'pristine' clean tones. I'm a huge fan of dirty sounds, pushing preamps to break-up, using piles of FX pedals, doing extreme EQing. Even when I'm running a completely clean sound I'll attack the bass in a multitude of ways to get a huge variety of sounds. The more accurate the cab, the more you can hear how my hands are shaping my tone. To continue the seasoning analogy, you could say that using an accurate cab is like cooking a dish and putting the salt and pepper in before serving as opposed once its on the plate. [/quote] I was thinking about my post and was going to add a caveat agreeing with you!! Whoops, I'd actually stopped reading basschat to do some practice.... If you need a transparent cab to get what you need then fair enough. I like the cabs I use contribution and they get miced when I'm in the studio, but I work with a producer that is willing to do that and who also appreciates this business is about character.

[quote name='alexclaber' timestamp='1438363997' post='2834013'] I understand that plenty of bassists want their amp and/or cabs to add colouration to get their tone. But there are a LOT of great bassists who usually recorded via DI. Every single Motown bassline was DI'd (let me know if you know of one that wasn't!) If the late great James Jamerson wanted to get the same tone on a gig that he had on those recordings and he was alive now he could run through that same preamp into a power amp and through something like a Big Twin 2 and absolutely nail that awesome Motown sound. Sadly the few times he toured he had to struggle with getting heard through some of the mediocre rigs of that era. There is no way you can say Jamerson's tone is like "pasta with salt"! [/quote] Can't believe I'm challenging Alex Claber here but.... Jamerson's studio sound is a long way from the modern concept of a DI. He and the other guitarists ran into a headphone amp that doubled as a DI and the signal broke up as they cranked their volumes up. Definitely salted that pasta! As for onstage cab sounds, personally I think as long as I'm playing at a volume that doesn't effect what front of house are doing then I want cabs that I enjoy listening to, that are fun to play through and make me feel good about what I'm playing. Leave the clinical stuff to the sound guy!

You're only as good as your drummer- the Beatles are the greatest band ergo Ringo is the greatest drummer. •Runs for cover•