Bilbo

Machine Head!! Another forgotten gem!! And 'Burn' (the title track is jaw-droppingly good)

Rainbow Rising. Just spotified it and had forgotten how good it is. Marvellous stuff!

There are examples on line of pianists playing trumpets etc, bassists playing three basses (Michael Manring). Plenty of party tricks to go 'round.

What you are describing is a very common experience and, arguably, never goes away. I have done a series of gigs over the last six montns with some top drawer players; John Etheridege, Jim Mullen, Julian Siegel, Tony Kofi etc etc. I recorded most of the gigs on my Zoom H1 and have had the opportunity to listen back to most of them and what is interesting is the fact that, whilst recognising a personal style (something that all jazz musicians aspire to), a lot of that comes from repetition of phrases and lines driven by muscle memory rather than the creative process. On the few occasions when it comes together, it is usually because I am mentally in a space when I can be focussed on the music itself rather than the 'occasion' and can both remember everything I have ever learned and forget it all at the same time. It is a zen-like thing. YOu practice to internalise stuff not to 'learn' it and, eventually, if you are lucky, it comes out in your playing. FOr me, it happens at most once or twice a gig and, ig I am lucky, I have one or two gigs a year where I can do no wrong. I was once thrilled to learn that Dizzy Gillespie felt that his 'hit rate' was about the same!! THe subject is covered comprehensively in Barry Green's 'Inner Game of Music' (£6 for kindle or, on Amazon Marketplace, for the hard copy) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inner-Game-Music-Timothy-Gallwey/dp/0330300172/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386839049&sr=1-1&keywords=barry+green+the+inner+game+of+music

Nearly the Flutterby Bitterfly line-up. Monster players, great compositions. What more can anyone ask for?

Have done a lot of travelling by train this week and have consequently done a lot of listening. I sooo love this music, it's untrue. I did a piano trio gig recently which was recorded and it had some of my best playing on it ( hidden amongst the train wrecks ). Nice to know you are still improving at 50! Elitist my hairy a***, some Jazz is just beautiful. A sample of that gig (better tunes are available and may appear later when I have the time to upload more) [url="https://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/caravan"]https://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/caravan[/url]

Set the dogs on 'im!!

Fret Line width 0.05 mm, width of finger 14mm. You still need your ears, guys!! The line just gets you in the ball park with probably little more accuracy than habit. Add in imperceptable movements in string set up, pressure induced bending, changing hand position as you dance around like a loon etc and you are left with only one universal truth: if it is out of tune, you need to move your finger.

'kin lightweights 10,000,000 violin, viola, cello and double bass players can't all be wrong. Stabilisers, sorry, fretlines are only necessary if you need to look at the neck. So you can never do a reading gig ever again? Use your ears, guys. It's not so difficult.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIeZq1lA6Ag&list=PL5846D18972B6778F"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIeZq1lA6Ag&list=PL5846D18972B6778F[/url]

It's a C diminished with an added WRONG NOTE!!

I was a big fan when I was about 12 (I had all of their LPs (on vinyl) and remember listening to them in my school uniform). Then I discovered Yes and that was the end of ELO

My end-pin keeps slipping on gigs. It is as tight as I can get it without pliers but still seems to slip when I am playing, causing embarassment, if nothing else!! Anyone got any idea what the problem/solution may be? I don't THINIK I am leading heavily on the bass.

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1386067912' post='2295152'] What do you mean by my list looking like 'fluff'? I don't quite understand what you mean there. [/quote] Basics of slap and tapping. Both are universally applauded but fundamentally peripheral to the business of bass playing. Hence 'fluff'. My point is simply that most people would be better served working on stuff that is useful not whizzy Ref: triplets. The secret is not concentrate on the pulse, not the triplet. If you make sure you play the notes that are on the beat, the rest takes care of itself.

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1385984937' post='2294263'] elephant? I thought it was one of these… [URL=http://s1221.photobucket.com/user/paul_510/media/image_245923197_zps1445d972.jpg.html][IMG]http://i1221.photobucket.com/albums/dd471/paul_510/image_245923197_zps1445d972.jpg[/IMG][/URL] [/quote] Fifth Element?

Let the teacher watch you play and see what your strengths ans weaknesses are. You list looks like fluff to me. If you have never had a lesson, you may find you work on basics. Ron Carter started his first double-bass lesson with Victor Bailey with 'play an F in first position'.

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1386024366' post='2294871'] So are frets but nobody complains about them. [/quote] I meant fretlines are ugly. Frets are ok; fretlines are just vandalism

But they are ugly

I am about to start work on my studio. It is to be housed in a purpose built 8 x 10 cabin the garden. Power is to be installed next Tuesday and then it is a case of re-assembling the hardware! Can't wait to be noisy again!

You are clearly not confortable with the form or with improvising in general. You just need to practice more. I have been working on this for 30 years and still feel like a beginner. The best approach to improvising is to sing what you want to play and play it (listen to George Benson playing his guitar/voice unison solos, you will get the gist). The important thing is not to sing what you are playing but to play what you are singing. The difference is massive. As for phrasing - listen to other players REALLY closely and learn their solos (by ear, in the first instance - playing them is easy after that). You need to find players who are in the ball-park idiomatically with what you want to do (a country player's phrasing would be different from a jazz player etc). That's about 20 years work. When you are done, let me know and I can give you another exercise

I voted days ago (first, IIRC) without comment and went for Spoombung. I love his stuff generally anyway but this was, for me, the one that spoke to me the most. Hope to get to rebuilding my studio next weekend (7/8th Dec) so maybe next month (not another Santa picture, purleeeese!).

Yes - a 5-string will allow you to play more lines in one position although I suspect, in the long term, it won't be a massively important 'short cut' to playing. THe neck will be marginally wider and the physical demands of playing wider neck will offer challenges developmentally but, in the long term, this will make minimal difference. A 5-string certainly offers options that a 4-string doesn't so it is worth going for it. My advice is forget stressing about those kinds of details and get playing. There are no real short cuts, just the illusion of short-cuts; the fact is that you just have to do it.

You can flounder about in the dark if you want. I find turning the light on reduces the likelihood of mishaps

Been waiting to see this for a while and it has just appeared. http://www.arsc-audio.org/awards/awards.html

Not going to get anything in this month. Studio still in boxes and no time. Just about making my gigs!!