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"Fretless-bass-is-a-cliche-instrument-and-it-should-be-outlawed"


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Posted

[quote name='urb' post='1302537' date='Jul 13 2011, 04:07 PM']shame he has to be so belligerent and aggressive in asserting his views - as if there's simply no room for disagreement... if the resulting shitstorms are his desired result of expressing them then again - he's an even bigger ass....[/quote]

You can see plenty of that on here from time to time.

Good for him for not caring what anyone else thinks.
It's just his opinion. None of the other renowned fretless players named here probably give a toss what Mr. B thinks, and certainly don't need defending from that big nasty man.

Looks like JB got what he wanted, if indeed he wanted to cause a storm.

Although sanity has been restored with the Tim Wanacott lookalike.... :)

Posted

I agree that Gary Willis owns the fretless-he's a fantastic player. But there is a track on his first solo album called 'Everlasting Night' and it could be easily mistaken for being Jaco.( The Album 'No Sweat' is one of my favourite bass lead album...it's brilliant).
I know that is only one tune of many,but I can see both sides of the argument.

Posted

I'm assuming, never having actually listened to a Jeff Berlin/Bob Carolges long player, that his playing isn't all that. I only say this as if he was half decent he wouldn't have to court controversy quite so much.

Posted

I don't really know much about him, so I just checked his own website

The first line of the Bio is "Jeff Berlin is a legend of the electric bass. Simply put, he is considered by many to be the finest electric bass player in the world."

Posted

[quote name='Doddy' post='1302613' date='Jul 13 2011, 05:15 PM']I agree that Gary Willis owns the fretless-he's a fantastic player. But there is a track on his first solo album called 'Everlasting Night' and it could be easily mistaken for being Jaco.( The Album 'No Sweat' is one of my favourite bass lead album...it's brilliant).
I know that is only one tune of many,but I can see both sides of the argument.[/quote]

I agree Paul - I love that album too, it's one of my most listened to bass player led albums ever - and the last track is a masterclass in timing, feel, note choice and es, lots of 'Mwah'! :) - I think Gary has always said Jaco is an influence but he also always sounds like himself, in a blindfold test I can detect his playing in just a few notes - a true sign of a player's identity is ever there was one.

Posted

[quote name='silddx' post='1302742' date='Jul 13 2011, 07:08 PM']Does anyone think Patrick O'Hearn sounds like Jaco?

Rubber Shirt is the one you'll all have heard.

[/quote]
DING! your avatar is Frank Zappa's evil twin. You can't have enough Zappa. Even Jazz from Hell.

Posted

[quote name='silddx' post='1302742' date='Jul 13 2011, 07:08 PM']Rubber Shirt is the one you'll all have heard.[/quote]

Never heard of it. Although, listening to it an knowing it's a Zappa thing, can I ask if it's not actually piss-take or not...?

Posted

[quote name='Jerry_B' post='1302756' date='Jul 13 2011, 07:29 PM']Never heard of it. Although, listening to it an knowing it's a Zappa thing, can I ask if it's not actually piss-take or not...?[/quote]
It is not, in any way, a piss-take.

Posted

[quote name='ShergoldSnickers' post='1302760' date='Jul 13 2011, 07:31 PM']A life's worth of bass playing destroyed in 250kb.[/quote]
Had they managed another 73kb and included his footwear, the word 'destroyed' becomes [b]obliterated[/b]. :)

Posted

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='1301522' date='Jul 12 2011, 08:08 PM']Pino. Nuff said. Totally original. Instantly recognisable.

I can't forgive Berlin for that stupid 80's video with some wrestler/boxer in it. Embarrassing.[/quote]

+1 for Pino. I do agree with some of the stuff that JB says, but definitely not the fact that everyone who picks up a fretless sounds like Jaco. Jaco was one of a kind (IMO) but as a lot of posters have already posted, there are a lot of good fretless players who don't sound like him. Pino being a case in point.

Cheers,
louisthebass

Posted

[quote name='silddx' post='1302812' date='Jul 13 2011, 08:17 PM']It is not, in any way, a piss-take.[/quote]
Absolutely. It's a gem.

For those who don't know, it's one of Zappa's experiments with what he called "xenochronicity": elements of music taken from different places and points in time, and layered together to create a new construction. In this case, the drums and bass were recorded on completely separate occasions, for utterly different purposes. Zappa happened to try playing them together, and it worked. By 'eck, it really worked.

Posted

[quote name='lojo' post='1302675' date='Jul 13 2011, 06:20 PM']I don't really know much about him, so I just checked his own website

The first line of the Bio is "Jeff Berlin is a legend of the electric bass. Simply put, he is considered by many to be the finest electric bass player in the world."[/quote]
Particularly unedifying when someone writes their own bio :)

I was surprised his ego could be condensed down to so few words

Posted (edited)

I listened to some of Jeff Berlin's playing earlier from his rather mememe website.

At first I thought I was listening to Juan Martin or John Williams on the wrong speed, as I seemed to be hearing someone playing classical guitar but slower and deeper in pitch.

The I realised it was just some tosser trying to be overly flash on a bass guitar. Why not just play classical guitar Jeff? No-one's interested in you trying to pretend a bass isn't a bass...

Anyway he is wrong, fretless bass is totally radical, and I have proved it myself by trying slap fretless along with Erykah Badu's very coool album Penitentiary Philosophy without sounding even vaguely like Jaco. More like Harpo or Groucho I'd say.

If anyone wants to hear more un-Jaco fretless, I am at Bristol Zoo (no really) on Saturday at 11am.

ficelles

Edited by ficelles
Posted

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='1302895' date='Jul 13 2011, 09:32 PM']Absolutely. It's a gem.

For those who don't know, it's one of Zappa's experiments with what he called "xenochronicity": elements of music taken from different places and points in time, and layered together to create a new construction. In this case, the drums and bass were recorded on completely separate occasions, for utterly different purposes. Zappa happened to try playing them together, and it worked. By 'eck, it really worked.[/quote]
S'right! Patrick O'Hearn largely improvised it too, with Zappa directing him while he recorded it.

Posted (edited)

[quote name='dood' post='1301236' date='Jul 12 2011, 04:21 PM'][s]fretless bass[/s] Jeff Berlin's moustache is a cliche [s]instrument[/s] and it should be outlawed[/quote]

Fixed :)

You're welcome.

Also, Les Claypool's fretless playing sounds absolutely nothing like Jaco.

Edited by paul_5
Posted

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='1302895' date='Jul 13 2011, 09:32 PM']Absolutely. It's a gem.

For those who don't know, it's one of Zappa's experiments with what he called "xenochronicity": elements of music taken from different places and points in time, and layered together to create a new construction. In this case, the drums and bass were recorded on completely separate occasions, for utterly different purposes. Zappa happened to try playing them together, and it worked. By 'eck, it really worked.[/quote]

Aha - this must be a case then of 'one man's poison is another man's meat' as to me it sounds like someone messing about :)

Posted

[quote name='silddx' post='1303043' date='Jul 13 2011, 11:46 PM']I think we have to ask, what makes a player choose a fretless bass over a fretted bass?[/quote]

Well, they look nice. Apart from lined fretlesses - they're icky :)

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