Bilbo

Did some random downloading last week and found a great album called Oye by Miguel Zenon and the Rhythm Collective. It features a lovely bass player (electric) called Aldemar Valentin . Worth checking out.

One note at a time.

Speak to the pianist. He will be able to advise you re: keys etc. Summertime and Fever are both relatively simple but played as Jazz standards they are not simple like Mustand Sally is simple. You don't just learn the part and play it by rote. Best advise I can give is to listen to Ella/Peggy Lee's versions of the songs and absorb them but don't 'learn' the versions you are listening to because when you play them for real, what you think you have learned will be pretty much useless.

LSOH is a relatively easy pad. Lots of rock n roll cliches, nothing overly taxing, just a lot of fun. Feed me, Seymour!!

You put your left leg in and your left leg out, you do the okey cokey and you turn about. I can imagine the RHCP guys agonising over whether to include the pentamerous supertonic in the chorus as they sit there having their tattoos waxed.

[quote name='bassist_lewis' timestamp='1401915845' post='2468356'] Haven't read the whole thread so apologies for any repetition. If you subscribe to Victor Wooten's belief system then everyone is self taught (see the Music Lesson) so wether you go to uni/college or not is almost irrelevant, especially nowadays with the internet providing all the information and lessons you could possibly want for free. What a degree does give you is time to focus on your craft and to gain contacts. On my degree course there was definitely the feeling among students that marks we're awarded arbitrarily, I knew people who worked 12+ hours a day for months in their final year on projects and performance exams and got mediocre marks while others threw stuff together haphazardly in the 3 days before the deadline and got merits. In my opinion music is too subjective to grade in any meaningful way (aside from the basics like technique, professionalism). Your music degree is what you make of it. [/quote] I agree with this. I think there is a lot to be said for being able to focus on the musiking for a few years to see where that level of focus can take you but, ultimately, the 'truth' will out and a lazy student will not progress as fast as a hard working one (when I work with 'celebrity' Jazz musicians, there is often a clear link between the amount of study and practice they do and their ability to play). There are those savants we all hear about who can play without doing the work but I don't really believe in the hype. Pat Metheny was apparently offered a teaching post at Berklee after only six months studying there. In playing terms, if you do the work, the qualification is kind of irrelevant and there is plenty of evidence that independent study can offer rewards that are equal to formal study (all the Royal London College of Music degree students that I play with are sharing the bandstand with me, aren't they?).

Stand on a bathroom scales holding the bass and note the weight A. Put the bass down and weigh yourself without it. Note the weight B. Take B from A and you have the weight of the bass. Alternatively, buy one of these. http://www.google.co.uk/shopping/product/18134415226041566479?q=luggage+weigher&hl=en-GB&gbv=2&prmd=ivns&sa=X&ei=0j6PU9itO8KL7AaRvID4Dw&ved=0CCwQ8wIwAg

I have just been asked to record a session for a composer up a mountain in Wales. The other instrument is a kora, played by a guy in Senegal. I will record my part in my music studio (shed) in Felixstowe. Brilliant!

There is a tab score on my Sibelius 2 so I woudl expect there to be one in yours (under 'instruments')

It is the real world of retail. If you sell something like guitars that cost hundreds, there is the risk that you will be carrying thousands of pounds worth of stock indefinately. The money is to be made from moving stock rather than warehousing it so the pressure is on to find some products that move quickly to support your main operation. For a music shop it woudl be strings, straps, fast-fret and plectrums etc My kid brother opened a Harley garage in Chepstow with a view to working on bikes but he now mostly sells biker related clothing. I have spent time at his shop and seen, at the most, one or two bike related transactions but a dozen pr more purchses of jackets, boots etc. I guess most musicians own one, two or three guitars but a couple of dozen t-shirts. More transaction is less warehousing costs so the best plan is to sell lots of things cheap rather than hardly anything expensive.

I have no doubt that the funding arangements and performance requirements of successive Governments (i.e. of all hues) etc are compromising the raison d'etre of educational establishment. It is all about 'maintaining the illusion', not about equipping the student with the knowledge and skills associated with their chosen field.

Look guys. I have decided that I am going to win this month so I recommend you don't waste your time concoting some great opus (No Opus and Bob Opus). Something shallow and uninteresting will do.

I have not said this to any tutors, that is my point. The tutors have said it to me.

I am not altogether sure what I am posting about here but I know a lot of lecturers in colleges where Music is studied and awards granted at Diploma and Degree level. What I am told, and this is mirrored in other non-musical academic courses, is that it is pretty much impossible to fail these qualifications as there is enormous pressure on the lecturers to pass everyone so that the college/university performance statistics look good. I have performed with loads of musicians who have attended colleges and universities and, being blunt, I am not overwhelmed by the standards achieved. The great musicians I play with nowadays are as likely to be self taught as they are schooled and it is difficult to see what difference it makes. Certainly not £50K's worth. Just wondered what others thought.

What about Sepultura? They started around 1984 but I guess that means Venom top them (1979) Personally, as an original hard rock fan, heavy metal was a change of emphasis that was further comnpromised by speed metal and death metal before the extreme metal and doom metal thing diluted the idea further. I have to acknowledge that I haven't got the faintest idea what I am talking about but, then again, when did that ever stop anyone posting?

Great image - we can take this in so many directions.

You are a dangerous man.

My bass sounds at it's best when I play it in my 10 x 12 conservatory. It makes for very intimate gigs.

I got my endpin from Ben about a week ago and fitted it earlier this week. I played it at home and was perfectly happy with the product. I have to say, my reason for buying it was not sound related but I had a problem with my existing endpin slipping as I gigged and wanted an endpin arrangement that prevented this. I debuted the endpin last night in a Quartet setting with guitarist Jim Mullen and have to say that the increased stability and security I got from the new pin was very welcome, particularly as I leaned across the bass in thumb position. More to the point, the pianist, whose opinion I value, said that the sound was better, that it had more attack and more 'wood' in it (something I aspire to). The bass sounded particularly good on the Latin numbers we did (the attack would have helped that) and some of the grooves were exquisite. I have always believed that a significant element of the groove is in the [b]sound[/b] of the bass not just in note placement and this seems to have been borne out last night. In short, another satisfied customer.

Not interested. I do not buy the idea that you can buy yourself better and do not consider myself to be even remotely capable of indicating what elements of a bass shoudl be included to improve it. Any imput I had would be entirely cosmetic and, this, serve no purpose. My advice to anyone who wants to sound like me is 'sorry, mate, you can't, even on my bass'.

Joint second with a sausage!!

How do I check what the default inputs are?

Great player, great sound. Markbass must be thrilled.

Have you got a device that can download the ireal book? Or the Fake Book app? They are very inexpensive and can allow you to acces chord charts for thousands of tunes (not so good for the notes, though).

Go me!! Thanks for the support, EZ!!