toneknob

"Play so fast they can't tell that you're out of tune. That's the secret to playing fretless bass"

[quote name='KevB' post='1262795' date='Jun 9 2011, 03:16 PM']I'm happy to give the whole Saturday a miss, just not enough there for me. Never a big Priest fan, Lizzy have been little more than a tribute act since reforming and on the prog stage there's really only Caravan I'd be bothered about. I think Spock's Beard were better with Neal Morse present but I find his solo stuff a bit dreary irrespective of the overtly religious content. So on balance I'd rather see SB without Morse on the Sunday than the man himself on the Sat. BJH don't really grab me much, looks suspiciously 'almost tribute' as Lizzy on the face of it. Not familiar with Von Hertzen Bros so maybe I'm missing something there but won't lose sleep over it, for me [i]personally[/i] Sunday wins hands down. For Sun I think gates open 12pm and rumour was that The Enid (2nd on bill at prog stage) would be on around 2pm so guessing first bands around 12:30-1pm? Curfews are 11pm Sat and 10:30pm Sun[/quote] Caravan will be a struggle for me: while they're one of my favourite prog acts, there's not really enough of them to call it Caravan apart from the songs they sign. Even Doug Boyle's jumped ship these days, and he really made a difference. The songs themselves and Geoff Richardson on hedge clippers might win the day though. Agree with you re Lizzy. VHBros are great - I've only heard one album but it's good stuff: look for their single "Miracle" on youtube.

Everyone's got their favourite Jaco. Big Band, Joni, Weather Report, smooth, R&B, fusion trios, or tick more than one box from the above. I wish I could pack all that into 10 years or so of my recorded bass-playing history.

[quote name='Maverick' post='1262505' date='Jun 9 2011, 12:08 PM']If you'd said after Six Degrees I could agree, but IMO their best stuff comes from A Change of Seasons to Six Degrees, although I'm not a huge fan of Falling Into Infinity, I'd probably take Awake over that. To me, although Jordan Rudess is an amazing keyboardist I don't think he's a great composer, and as he's become more established in the band the material has become weaker. I think Portnoy's writing started going seriously downhill as well. And his vocals were always awful.[/quote] After FII and ACOS, I lost interest - only the covers on ACOS grabbed me. Everything since then felt too much of an undertaking to get into given I'd already wasn't that keen. Still, love Awake and previous stuff though.

[quote name='KevB' post='1262664' date='Jun 9 2011, 01:39 PM']For the number of bands potentially viewable it still doesn't seem too bad value to me, considering I paid that sort of money just to see Rush.[/quote] Hmm... Good point, I suppose. I saw Rush too, and got more than my money's worth (from the second row of Block A2 in front of Geddy). For a weekend ticket, and if showtime scheduling allows, I'd get Slash, Caravan, Von Hertzen Bros on Saturday; Curved Air, Tull and BCC on Sunday. I'm considering it now - I'll see what happens when show timing is announced.

DT were brilliant when I saw them at the Forum in erm 1994 or 95 on the Awake tour. Next time I saw them at the Astoria and they played all of The Number Of The Beast. Fun, but terrible sound. They lost the plot a bit songwriting-wise after Awake, it's all technique and flash. Silver Linings was ok but I only got that for the King Crimson cover on the bonus disc. High Voltage is a bit disappointing this year: neither headliner is enough of a draw for me, and there's just about enough good acts across both days to fill up one day's festival-going. Good to see that the Prog Stage is being billed higher than the metal stage this year - and they've changed the layout of the stages as well.

I saw it too - the Blockheads are indeed tight as can be, but the set left a little baffled with relatively few hits and an awkward medley of some of the better-known numbers. Muuuuch better is the "Hang On To Your Structure" show from Hammersmith, which also pops up now and again on BBC4 or Sky Arts. Wilko pops up in that one as well, but not for the whole set. (incidentally, NWR is in Wilko's touring band and they're well worth seeing. At their gig last year I got there towards the end of the support band - Mark Radcliffe's lot - and nabbed the last empty spot by the bar. NWR was right next to me and was very gracious in listening to the inane dribblings of the bassist who'd ended up next to him)

[quote name='ficelles' post='1261307' date='Jun 8 2011, 03:14 PM']My favourite Jaco album is actually Joni Mitchell's Hejira... Jaco's playing on that is superb and I reckon enhanced by the fact the album is centered around Joni's songs rather than his playing. If you haven't heard it, it's worth a listen. The way Jaco drives the opening track is dynamic. Just noticed wombatboter referenced Refuge Of The Roads in the post above - that's the final track on Hejira. Coyote is the opener. ficelles[/quote] Agreed - Hejira is fantastic, although Jaco only plays on four tracks - as well as Refuge, he's on the title track, Coyote and Black Crow. Better vfm in the Jaco/Joni stable is Shadows And Light, where the band is just blisteringly good. Jaco, Metheny, Brecker, Don Alias, Lyle Mays. Here's Jaco's solo from one of the Hejira shows - audio only, but some good pics making up the vid. Check out the "thumbs up" at about 4m50s. I can't do that. The Hejira on S&L is fantastic - although I'm sure there's a huge bum note at one point.

Definitely a good idea, when used correctly. Keep your eye on the Effects for sale part of the basschat forum marketplace. Also, there's a good article in this month's Bass Player magazine (John Entwistle on the cover) about the fundamentals of the effect.

[quote name='dc2009' post='1259751' date='Jun 7 2011, 02:51 PM']Wow, the first video has that sound as if he's really digging in, yet you can see his touch is seriously light. I can't comprehend how he is able to play PoT that quickly and remain clear, and his harmonics sound unbelievabubble. I do like the melody of PoT too, so nice.[/quote] There's a quote somewhere where he said something like "It took me 5 years to learn how to play it, and another 5 years to learn how to play it clean" Wikipedia says this of the song: "It is considered by many a bass guitar standard, and is often used as a benchmark for a bassist's abilities". Better get practising.

[quote name='Doctor J' post='1259707' date='Jun 7 2011, 02:11 PM']Your thumbs [i]don't[/i] bend backwards?[/quote] Despite what the ladies may say, the most I can manage is approx 55 degrees.

Would [url="http://www.bundlebox.com"]BundleBox[/url] work? I just used their shipping calculator to work out the cost of the bag at $70, using the stated weight of 3lb and approx dimensions of a GK MB500, 8x8x2in. Total cost of purchase, shipping, import etc comes in at just under £100. (tbh it works better when you've got multiple items to ship and they can re-pack to make the combined size less that it otherwise would be when sent separately). Sign up here using my [url="https://www.bundlebox.com/invite/GB01395/"]referral link[/url]

I put it down to a cool hat, alarmingly high-waisted trousers and

[quote name='TimR' post='1252467' date='Jun 1 2011, 10:54 AM']I'm wondering if the building work on the cross rail project is impacting the area. I walked up from Trafalgar Square and up Totenham Court Road last Sunday and the Denmark Street area was desolate. The works practically cut Charing Cross road off from Oxford Street and anything north. You have to make quite a deour. No passing trade?[/quote] I think business is pretty much as usual from my experience, however... I was in The Gallery on saturday, having a chat with the guy who works there (not Martin, sorry don't know his name). I mentioned that the BC was pretty uninspiring these days, he said there's a danger that the Crossrail work will affect the north side of Denmark St, and that the guy who owns the BC and other shops is consolidating stock to move into shops on the other side of the road and the surrounding area "just in case". As much as the Bass Cellar isn't that much these days, it'd be terrible to see the entire row of shops vanish into a railway station

My iGig got delivered this week. It's genius, thanks for the heads-up everyone. After I opened it up and saw the neck support and body-glove combo, I had to go for a little lie down. (they're currently in stock at Bass Direct btw. I ordered Saturday morning, it arrived Wednesday, which is pretty quick even without a Sunday and Bank Holiday in the middle)

[quote name='tauzero' post='1246903' date='May 27 2011, 12:08 PM']The Corrs for the view.[/quote] A chum happened to be in the studio when they were recording Talk On Corners. He got roped into doing the drums on one track when CC couldn't get it right

It's all going well until they say Working Them Angels is some of their fabulous tremendous best work

[quote name='Salt on your Bass?' post='1245407' date='May 26 2011, 11:43 AM']How was the sound form those of you who werent touching the roof?[/quote] A bit of a muddle for the first few songs, it was fine from the middle of the first set right through to the end. No trouble hearing Ged's bass properly and the kit sounded great. Friends in Block B had trouble as well in the first set.

I was at the O2 last night, brilliant show - I was in the 2nd row right in front of Ged. Got a load of pics, I'll edit and post the good ones later. I think he played about 5 different Jazzes over the course of the night, I can't remember when each was used and for what song, but here's some facts I do know - can anyone else flesh out the rest? 1. Black signature bass with new neck (pearloid slab markers, white neck binding) 2. Drop-D tuned Jazz for Stick It Out 3. Red Jazz pictured above for 2112, I think tuned DGCF No fretless this time - as used on Malignant Narcissim from the last tour. Any ideas about the others? The steampunk setting was cool - even the bass/midi pedals got the treatment.

[quote name='Big_Stu' post='1242059' date='May 23 2011, 07:11 PM']It used to be that Denmark St was almost all owned by MusicGround; is that still the case since they got nabbed, are they all indepedents again? Andy's used to be a cracking shop, but MG killed it, it was hard-core rip off prices when I was last there, but that was in MG's peak days.[/quote] Nope, still dominated by MG and Rhodes - Andy's is now a MG shop (I think - maybe something else), and also Macari's from Charing Cross Rd has moved into one of the shops that used to be MG. It's worth a look in all of them just to see what's there, there's an occasional curiosity in Vintage and Rare, Regent Sounds is friendly but a bit guitary, everywhere's got a bit to a lot of vibe of "you're probably not going to buy anything so why should I be nice to you", or in the case of Bryant's "I'd really like to sell you something so I'm going to be a bit too friendly".

[quote name='silddx' post='1242017' date='May 23 2011, 06:43 PM']Ooh, the Lemmy BP is on my coffee table, who are you in it?[/quote] Page 12, the "Let's get copy straight from facebook" feature. Look for the fretless Stingray! Not very exciting really. Back in the day, I threw together a bassist's useful links web site (long gone) when HTML was easy in the mid-90s. BP must have been either hard up for material or eager to embrace the internet age, as they mentioned it in the opening pages of the magazine.

[quote name='ZMech' post='1242267' date='May 23 2011, 09:23 PM']Instead I'd suggest bond street is your easiest midpoint as it's on both the central and jubilee lines, so no unneeded travel, meaning more beer and chow time. Bond street to wembley park will take your at least 30 mins of time sitting in the train, i don't know how long the walks through the stations are (can add a few minutes each end sometimes). timeout will often find you a good place to eat, or maybe someone on here will know of one.[/quote] Agree with this, although 30 mins is a smidge pessismistic - but definitely don't underestimate some tube line changes. Whereas some are as simple as crossing from one side of the tunnel to another (eg Victoria/Bakerloo at Oxford Circus, Northern(Bank)/Victoria at Euston), others can be a good 5-minute trek or more (eg Victoria or Bakerloo to Central at Oxford Circus)

[quote name='dc2009' post='1241844' date='May 23 2011, 04:41 PM']Which bit?[/quote] Both, really: Denmark St has indeed got all the shops but I'd never buy anything there; also just because there's a lot of tourists and places to eat in Leicester Sq it doesn't mean they're any good for tourism or food!

[quote name='mikegatward' post='1241762' date='May 23 2011, 03:47 PM']6.00 Tube to Sudbury Town (I heard this was the least busy tube station for Wembley) then walk to Wembley[/quote] It's a 2 mile walk, which explains why it's less busy. The Jubilee Line and Metropolitain Line are closed on Sunday up that way, but looks ok for Saturday. It'll be fine. The overland to Wembley Stadium might be a better option if the overground is running ok - see [url="http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/realtime/track.aspx?offset=weekend"]http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/livetravelnews/r...?offset=weekend[/url] Also, The tube will be closed by the time you finish drinking at Beirodrome. Night buses go out that way towards Shepherds Bush though.

[quote name='dood' post='1241419' date='May 23 2011, 12:13 PM']BassChat take over BGM! - Muuuuutineeeeeeeeeee!! ha ha ha[/quote] I'm in the Lemmy edition of Bass Player. And the Gene Simmons issue from 1996 ish