mcgraham

There's a video clinic with Marcus Miller on bassplayer.tv (I'll find it for you guys this evening) where he spends a bit of time discussing the benefits of being able to 'read'. He tells a great story about George Benson (IIRC) which you really have to hear to appreciate. Essentially he says that reading is a great tool to have, and that it's worth spending just a few weeks getting to grips with music notation and practicing it to get it to a useable level (he's not saying fluent sight reading in weeks, just to a useable level). It's a fairly small sacrifice to make when you consider how huge the benefits are. Slightly OT, but I was playing with a jazz group at a wedding recently (essentially depping for them). The group could read very well over quite complex pieces, but their (collective and individual) ear was shocking. They were next to useless when it came to improvising and moving together as a musical unit; they really could not 'hear' past the end of their own instrument. The drummer was the only person that made it worth playing with that group; we really gelled as a section. In short, even with immense reading skills these musicians were lack lustre due to their poor ear. Conversely, some of the best musicians are those with a great ear and zero reading skills. HOWEVER! those who have a good marriage of the two are on a [i]totally [/i]different plane of musical ability. Definitely worth working on both IMO. Mark

Wasn't quite my cup of tea TBH, but it made some decent background music. Mark

Good advice! [quote]Basically, I am asking for some advice on practicing theory/harmony that isnt just playing through scales at X bmp etc as that clearly isnt working for me![/quote] I'd suggest breaking things down into manageable chunks. - There's the theoretical aspect of music, knowing your scales, arpeggios, chords patterns etc. I used to write these out on paper and memorise the information my repetition in this way so that I actively know it. I'd suggest thinking about how you best learn information. - There's the technical aspect, of being able to execute said patterns. I used to just practice them at a slow but totally non-strict tempo to get the patterns under my fingers, then move to a strict tempo, moving from slow to fast as my accuracy improved. This is a tried and true method, and works wonderfully. - There's the ear training aspect, to actually listen to the notes you're producing, and attempting to memorise the physical/emotional response certain notes create, their distinctive feel if you like. I used to play along with virtually every recording I had just having fun. I used to be as random as possible with my improvising, so that if I liked something I'd then work out why I liked it, if I didn't I'd work out why I didn't, and then where these parts could be drawn from, i.e. why they worked. - Then there's the application aspect of it, to play along with/listen to songs and be able to create parts that work from scratch based on your knowledge and execution of these previous stages. Singing along with songs and then identifying what you just sang is a great way to do that, transcription is also good, with or without your instrument. Despite all of that, you've got to have fun with your instrument. Don't be afraid to experiment. Some of the best things I know and can use now have come out of completely random and 'theoretically unworkable' ideas, or at least theoretically far-fetched. Mark

Pleased to hear that you're happy with your purchase. Mark

Glad to see I'm not alone... Thanks for those Bilbo. Mark

1.) solo player - [b]Fender, Fodera[/b] 2.) metal guy - [b]Ibanez, Warwick, Wal, BC Rich[/b] 3.) jazz guy - [b]Fender[/b] 4.) funk - [b]Fender, Musicman, Lakland[/b] 5.) fusion - [b]Fender, Fodera, Warwick, Lakland[/b] 6.) behind the scenes guy - [b]Fender, Lakland[/b] 7.) bedroom musician - [b]Fender, Ritter, Lakland, Fodera, Wal[/b] 8.) beginner - [b]Fender, Ibanez[/b] 9.) fanboy - [b]Fender, Warwick, Ibanez, Musicman[/b] 10.) blues - [b]Fender, Musicman, Lakland[/b] I'm not saying I'd necessarily choose each of these basses for this style, but rather a blend of what I know people use, what I reckon people would use, faced off against what people seem not to use in each style. Mark

Thanks for the invite ARGH, I hope to do that sometime soon, but time is looking pretty tight until the end of the year. I'll try to take you up on it at some point! I can't spoke for ARGH, but I would say it's arguable that 'drop' tuning includes 'drop-D'ing your basses, i.e. just dropping the tuning of one string, changing the interval between one string and another. Changes the range relative to standard tuning, but also the intervals between the strings. Whilst 'down'-tuning to me brings up connotations of tuning down all your strings evenly, i.e. keeping same string to string intervals, but the range of the whole instrument is shifted down relative to standard tuning. Mark

[quote]Nah..way up further..Castleford...West Yorks...A1..see Ferrybridge Powerstation,turn left on M62,stay left,get to Ponte/Cas Junction and go under and right. Why'd you ask?[/quote] Shame! You're one of the few people I know with an ERB, and it'd would've been cool to be able to check one out (provided you were ok with this). I've just been thinking about Dood's 7 that I got to try at a bash a while back and remembering how comfortable it felt. The idea of having that much sonic freedom (in terms of range) seems more and more appealing to me... [quote]No-one asks me anything anymore,I just spout my wisdom at all and sundry.....[/quote] Well... I'll agree with the sundry part Mark

ARGH, out of interest, are you near Mansfield/Nottingham area? Mark

Oh man, I'm sorry I missed this. Although I would've stuck out like a sore thumb. I really should keep an eye on who plays there. Mark

[quote]£12.95 per month[/quote] Bargainous! I don't mind spending around 10 quid a month for an album per month anyway, so considering what it would allow me to download is great. I'll have to look into that. Are there any drawbacks? Does anyone know if iTunes do anything similar? Mark

How much does this service cost per month? Mark

[quote]Alzheimer’s?[/quote] Nah, it's the jazz assassin's version of 'Catcher in the Rye' Mark

They had a coffee table style Limited (Re)edition of it too. It had a coffee table stylee book, numerous CD's, associated bumf, AND what appeared to be a 'blue' vinyl LP still in its original sleeve/jacket. I assume these are being distributed with these packs as New Old Stick collector edition vinyls. Mark

[quote]And your problem is?[/quote] Sorry Bilbo, I'm not meaning to put it down. I'm just not in the mood for it at the moment. Nothing wrong with the music, but right now it's not what I'm after, so I didn't get it. Simple as that really. I'll get it eventually don't worry Mark

Whilst browsing in Fopp I bought: James Brown - The Definitive Collection Squarepusher - Ultravisitor Zero 7 - The Garden I was tempted to get Miles Davis - Kind of Blue, or a collection of his 'greatest hits', however I'm presently bored of jazz. Not what I want to buy, listen to or play at the minute. I wanted something with a groove, something with a pulse. Hence why I bought these. Mark

Whilst we haven't evolved in recorded history, what is mechanically achievable in the products/devices we design and make has improved vastly. For example, different people prefer higher/lower actions, before truss rods or other equivalents, it would've been next to impossible to readily adjust the neck of an instrument. This would've been an ergonomic issue that seemingly had no solution, i.e. no-one could envisage a way to remedy this issue, therefore it would likely have been dismissed as 'a limitation of the instrument, get on with it or get over it', at least for a time. I can think of a few issues that seem 'physically impossible' to overcome, but that certainly present ergonomic issues for some people. Who's to say that in a few years someone won't come up with some method that blows your mind about how to overcome such problems? Mark

Well, I've always been a fan of the idea of combining bass and guitar into one instrument. Kind of extended range bass or extended range guitar, but not quite. Something that provides the physical nature of a bass and a guitar as much as is possible in a single instrument, e.g. Charlie Hunter (EADADGBE), but less divided courses of strings, i.e. more like a piano and its continuous range. Say... 8/9 strings to combine the range of a 4/5 string bass with a 6 string guitar. Possible tuning options: (B)EADG for bass (~30-34" scale), EADGBE/DGCFAD for guitar (with 25.5" scale extended by 'two frets' to ~28.5" scale to get the lower DGCFAD tuning) This would equal (B)EADGCFAD. Say ~32/33"--29" fanned fret scales... My 'vision' is that it would have more guitar like spacing, but not quite as tight, somewhere between 12-14mm spacing. Also splittable pickups for bass courses/guitar courses but also combinable. Midi capable saddles would also be a good idea. Preamp/eq, stereo/dual output, perhaps a trem on the high strings etc would be options too. Essentially I've always been jealous of keyboard players. Of their range, of their available sounds, and how portable all that is/can be in comparison to a guitar and how many additional bits and pieces you need to get there. This would afford greater range, would allow bassists and guitarists do their thing on the same instrument. So, what do you think? Different enough? Mark

Whilst I agree that basses by their very nature comprise those aforementioned features, I disagree with your insinuation that the basses that were mentioned are not 'million miles ahead' of Leo's design. The mere aggregation of features does not make something better or an improvement, but by providing an additional feature (or perhaps changing one or even removing one!) that may appear to be a trivial modification when taken in isolation [i]can[/i] contribute to a massively different technical effect that provides a marked improvement. Mark

[quote]A few inexpensive guitars have a headphone out but basses don't seem to have adopted it. It is easily possible to include one. Having built 3 basses with Q-Tuner pups I can vouch for their "transparency" . The problem here is that a bass fitted with them sounds superb through headphones and then loses a lot of that transparency when plugged into an amp, maybe a transparent amp is needed as well. By finger ramps I take it you mean a method of thumb placement ?[/quote] As you say, it is easy to include one. So why hasn't it been done? It would certainly help address monitoring and volume issues. I agree with your comment about transparent amps/rigs/speakers. But that is an issue with PA, cabinet and amp design, not bass design. Interesting comment about the Q-tuners. I'm contemplating switching out my DiMarzio Model J's for something a little different, but I'm undecided at present as they do sound good. Finger ramps - garywillis.com, or search for people like Matt Garrison etc. Mark