ngombe's sunday

[ngombe]

Hi - I'm quite new to this place so this really does feel like jumping into the lion's den.

It's been a good weekend; lots of sun, good live music here in birmingham (especially
'Example'at Birmingham University yesterday).So rather than just go through my practice
exercises I was in the mood to riff off it instead and I've posted the results up for you guys
to have a listen and post any feedback you might have.

[url="http://www.myspace.com/incompletomajorsounds"]http://www.myspace.com/incompletomajorsounds[/url]

The recording is rough and ready - it's one take on the bass and guitar and I know I've
missed the pocket here and there. I came up with the slap line yesterday so a lot of this is
still improv, and I don't always make it back in time from some of the fills. The start's a
bit messy as well - I'll edit it up later when I've learned how.

There's another reason for this post - I'm humming and harring over whether to keep my P
bass. There's a thread in gear about this. I've made a couple of versions to compare the P*
and the Ray playing the fingerstyle line so people can comment on the sounds and maybe help
me figure out how to use it properly.

I threw in some dodgy rhythm guitar to try and make it a little more interesting. I'm really
not a guitarist as you'll probably hear. My regular guitarist is away this weekend and like
I've mentioned elsewhere I'm between bands so it's a one man show today.

Credit where it's due - the original backing track is from Josquin Des Pres' 70's funk and
disco bass - one of my favourite practice books. Normally I'd just follow it and concentrate
on my timing but today I went for a wander with it.

I'm not looking for a critique of the recording. I used Ableton Live, I've just recently
found the record button - I don't know much more than that about recording. Anything
positive or negative you've got to say about the playing / bass tone(s) / composition or
feel would be greatly received. Here's a starter for 10: I think the slap line works well
and I think it works pretty well as a duet in the original but I'm not sure which I prefer.
What do you reckon?

last caveat I promise - the myspace page is also new, my daughter made it for me a couple of
weeks back and it's the first time I've really used it. It's looking a bit sparse to say the
least but spare time's at a premium and I'm having more fun practicing and hanging out here
during the breaks.


* myspace is being an ar$e with the upload and I've run out of time today. Will upload the P version in the morning b4 work i hope.

[ngombe]

hi - an update and a bump from myself (talk about billy no-mates! )

I've added a short clip of the same jam but with a Precision playing the low end / finger line. As mentioned it's a follow up to another thread about [topic="1315"]Precisions[/topic] in the gear section. If anyone's made it over from that thread they can have a listen and compare and contrast with the ray version. Somehow the eerie silence here makes me think not...

If anyone's got anything to say about the slap line I'd really appreciate it. I know it's not very fashionable to slap these days but I was trying to jam against the original so I picked a sound that would be distinct from the fingerstyle line. I've neither got the chops or the inclination to play very busy slap lines but I think this benefits from the empty spaces and makes a good groove to practice to if nothing else. It's not meant as a solo composition, it's just me jamming while I'm waiting for a band. <grovel>Pretty pretty please give the first track a decent listen, I think there's some good stuff in there (by my humble standards) and it gets a bit less messy after the first minute.</grovel>

later

Joe

[john_the_bass]

joe
trading you a listen!
yeah i like this, the line has a nice pace to it, although i'd like to hear it faster! the p fingerstyle in the second track justifies why you should keep your P. it does exactly what a P should do in my opinion and i reckon you should attempt to put something like that together live - either with a looper or a second bass player. the slap line overall showcases your playing and the sound of the stingray - i've never really done anything exciting with mine - which is all good in my opinion.

Good stuff.

[ngombe]

thanks mate - It'd probably sound lots better if I wasn't murdering a guitar over the top of it. Hopefully my real guitarist will like it.

I did wonder about the pace - I went for 90bpm to give it a dubby tempo and I tried to play with a lazy feel.

I think I overcooked the P recording in terms of levels, my recording skills are even poorer than my guitaring.

There's probably an OK track in there with some work but without a band at the moment I can't take it much further.

cheers

Joe.

PS - if anyone out there want's to have a go at it and show me how it could / should be done I'd love to hear it. I know there's a lot of people here who'd really make this groove.

[thumb4bob]

I thought the funked version grooved better, but then its probably supposed to being the funked version, liked the slap line tho

[ngombe]

Thanks thumb4bob.

They're just doodles while I'm waiting for a band to practice with. Two more weeks to wait and then I've got a meeting with a singer, keyboardist, trumpeter and (hopefully) a drummer to see if we've got the makings of a Band. All going well I'll be able to post something a bit more musical after that.