jakenewmanbass

Brilliant, thanks chaps, I'm really not good at searching stuff, I used the search function for 'courier' across the site and in separate forums and still had no luck, I'm sure it's pilot error!

anyone?

I'm sure I'm being an idiot and I'm well aware that there have been many courier threads on here, I'm looking for some courier recommendations for international shipping... can anyone shed light or point to former threads that do. Ta

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1389264593' post='2331989'] Can't watch the video here but it has often struck me as peculiar that the songwriter gets so much in the way of royalties compared to other 'stakeholders' in the process. There are some great songs that have become massive hits but, without the arranger, producer, musicians, performer, even the video director etc the 'song' can a bit something and nothing. I head some old Hoagy Carmichael tunes once, performed as he intended, and they were pretty crap really; the band was weak, the performances lame etc. And yet, years of re-arrangements through hundreds of fresh ears, voices, instrumentalists and they are classics. I get that the 'idea' is the important part but, actually, is it the [i]only[/i] important part? [/quote] An interesting view. I know a few people who have been involved in major selling bands and ultimately ended up with very little beyond wages... Stings a bit.

On the road again: I travel up to Manchester on 25th for an overnight (sunday lunch gig) so if anyone wants a lesson en route or in manc around that time drop me a PM Cheers

every gig from this point forward... anything less and you're not a bass player

[quote name='Hector' timestamp='1387281380' post='2310114'] I'm with UBM on this one - there are plenty of calisthenics/exercises that you can do on a bass to tune your muscles. I'm a huge fan of this book, which I've gone back to to get in shape after time off: [url="http://www.davidgage.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=98"]http://www.davidgage...?products_id=98[/url] But I appreciate there are other exercises out there which are likely just as good. I would say on a related note, that I have decided that I think that the whole idea of never practising "unmusical" technical exercises is tosh. I used to agree, but have changed my tune a bit. I think of it in terms of cognitive load - you can only focus on a few things at a time. Exercises are good for fine-tuning your technique and being able to totally focus on micromanaging the movements of your fingers. [b]What does everyone else think?[/b] [/quote] I agree Hector, there is a nice place that can be found by just doing things right, forgetting about whether you're playing a good line etc can allow you to focus on the purity of execution, which can be most enjoyable, especially when it becomes part of you as a player and you then see it come out in your playing...

Grip strength is one of the most overrated ideas that people seem to (IMO falsely) hold about playing DB It's not about grip, its about finger strength and dexterity supported by forearm, upper arm, shoulder, lats, deltoids, and ultimately all core muscles. Using muscles in a grip specific way is likely to hamper the finesse required for DB playing, I was a caver (with a little climbing) in my youth and the type of strength encouraged by those activities was in my experience unhelpful, creating tightness and lack of flexibility, so much so that I gave that (and Ju Jitsu) up because I could feel the restrictions they placed on my playing and I also worried about the injury risk. Playing bass is THE best exercise for playing the bass and no amount of gadgets will replicate that, general strength can be achieved with other types of exercise which is [i]potentially[/i] beneficial, but I would monitor any developments for evidence of restrictions to playing mobility and always seek to remain flexible. Yoga!

This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=457nVpxJDkA

Brian sounding very heavy in Peg...

Range is what determines someone's suitability for a part, just like we hang out in the basement of tonal range... so you wouldn't book a bass player to play all high up the neck like would you....

How far are you prepared to travel?

[quote name='flyfisher' timestamp='1386527728' post='2301100'] One thing that has always intruigued me about music is the chicken-egg thing. All this pentatonic, mixolydian, major minor stuff pretty much goes over my head, yet I can play a blues jam pretty well just from what I've learned by hearing over the years. Presumably it was (playing) music that came first rather than someone sitting down and 'inventing' musical theory from scratch? So is all musical theory just a way of wrting down and explaining what already sounds good to our ears? After all, there are countless examples of great music created by people with little or no musical theory, so why it it generally treated as essential for any 'serious' musician? [/quote] The sounds came first so learning them with your ears is an important way to absorb them, explaining to each other in theoretical terms is useful for speed, just language innit.

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1386499663' post='2300648'] I'm guessing this is an explanation of why, in my experience, when I play fretless or upright, hitting the 'correct' intonation seems to to be much more important on some notes than others, e.g. the octave needs to be correct, and the fifth, but the third can be out and just sound spicy. [/quote] Well you're into the realms of microtones now, there is a definite difference between Db and C# when context is considered, eg C# when played as a third of A Major has a brighter feel than Db as a root of it's own key. Classical string players are finely tuned to these differences. But broadly in answer to your question... Yes!

[quote name='bassman7755' timestamp='1386371090' post='2299535'] Its works because your used to hearing other people do it in the same context - its a defining idiom of blues music. Music is actually just as much about what your accustomed to hearing people do in a given situation than it is about abstract theory. [/quote] In a nice way, I'm not sure I agree wholeheartedly with your last statement, there are forces at work in the harmonic series that dictate certain satisfactions, like landing on a major chord after a dominant which has a natural conclusion. This is brought about by physics and the physical world. I do appreciate that there are cultural variations that will allow for differing perceptions (eg a Gamelan is actually in tune whereas tempered instruments are not, but the respective cultures will hear their own as in tune) however one of the reasons that music is a universal language is because there are forces at play which chime with the human understanding of the physical world, with regional variations, an accent, if you like. Which leads me on to one of my theories about authenticity; some of the best musicians I've come across are often very good impersonators, they get inflections right, but a native will always spot someone who is not a local, which makes me wonder how we as musicians sound to the peoples of origin of the music their culture has developed, that others imitate, like blues for example

It stems from the voice... 'blue' notes are actually between semitones, so bending on the guitar is a natural way to achieve them. On tempered instruments like piano and to a certain extent bass (as we tend to bend less) we play both major and minor third in quick succession to give the illusion of the note in between. Try it, play C then Eb slide to E... then C again Most blues will take major, dominant or minor sounds. The dominant chords over which many blues sequences are played will handle a variety of notes that don't belong to the parent scale because they are in their nature less settled than major and some minor chords, they are traveling chords, there is a tension suggesting movement created by the relationship between the 3rd and the 7th wanting to resolve (up and down respectively), which is why you can play dominant chords ad infinitum; they will always lead you to another one or back to the one from which you came...

I'm happy [i]to [/i]play, but I could always improve.

The William Tell Overture... Just making the point that the idea of 'covers' is a bit strange in all but 'covers' bands as most people that make a living playing music play the music of others most of the time... so in fact original music is quite a small (but nevertheless significant) part of the business.

I know John (Kenzie) from his Salford days, I'm really glad to see him in that arena, he's a great talent... I love Jeremy Stacey's playing, I did a session in the summer with his equally brilliant brother Paul. Nice project, Pino beautifully understated.

Picking up on the grains point made earlier... It is becoming more and more accepted that grains can cause an inflammatory response in the body with some very considerable medical opinion suggesting that grains and sugar are, at least in part, culprits in heart disease. Inflammatory responses can also present in the joints, and in no way would it harm anyone to take all flour and sugar based products out of their diet for a while to see if there is a positive response... Give it a try, many many people have tackled arthritic problems with diet. edit... if you did this for 2 weeks (no fruit or alcohol for that time either) you could expect to lose up to a stone too

Thanks guys, your feedback is much appreciated And as always, I'm glad it makes sense to you!

I use an iphone to read on stage and it's perfectly fine so the larger screen of the ipad would certainly suffice.

I once arrived at a massive corporate function in Glasgow, Menzies Campbell and some royal bod were there (amongst other so called 'dignitaries') As we were sound checking, the event organiser, who was the person who'd found us on the internet, seen all our publicity material and actually made the booking herself came up to us and said in a long drawn out scots drawl.... "Is that awl yoooouuu doooo!?" ''that kaind of musac?" We played for 10 mins and were taken off. As an added bonus, the flight home was struck by lightning! I swear I saw the skeleton of the bloke in the seat in front of me...!!!

Great news Pete, you have good aptitude, you adopt suggestions very quickly. Keep the work up, it will pay off, eating elephants is best done a forkful at a time