Bilbo

I make Jeff Berlin look photogenic!

It's going through a 60w Roland Cube guitar amp!

I just figured out how to make a video using my Kindle. Sound is surprisingly good all things considered. Look out Mike (urb), here I come!! [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwToBKcb-9o[/media]

When you play ANY note on the bass,there are generally two things you can control; when the note starts and when the note stops ( ok, vibrato but put that aside). When you start playing it is easier to start and stop a fretted note. The are, however, many techniques that allow you to manage an open string. Once these are developed, open strings are no problem. In fact, they may be your best friend.

Never 'got' Hawkwind.

It is well known that the actual [i]price tag[/i] itself can reduce the amount of luscious bassiness that a double bass can project. I recommend you go back and ask them to add a zero to the price. That'll do it.

I have just finished week one and am having my a*** kicked. Great introduction and a great way to fill in gaps in your learning. I am hearing faults in my playing that make me cringe but so nice to feel that real progress is possible.

Sometimes it makes sense to use the metronome on 2 & 4 making the time you use half of that stated i.e. 120 for 240 bpm. Doesn't work for odd numbers but may get you closer to the stated time.

Sometimes there just ain't enough hours in the day

They exist most often but it is a case of whatever works. No reason you can't have a ninth in the root.

Could be described as a slash chord Db/F which is, as you say, an inversion.

The bridge thing is a no- brainer. If I can do it, anyone can.

I am not one for obsessing about gear at all. I think there is a trend amongst players, however, that looks for the secret means by which one can achieve greatness that is not linked to hard work and practice. 'If I buy this piece of gear, I will soon be as good as Flea/Jaco/Marcus etc etc'. If I buy this book, dvd, cd, software etc, I will improve immeasurably within a matter of days. There is only one way to greatness; a zillion hours worth of diligent, tedious, hard work. I have done about half a zillion to date so watch out, guys....

Most Jazz recordings take place over a few hours, rarely more than a day. There is seldom a budget that allows for anything greater. Look at the discographies in any jazz biography. 95% of the material is one date. Kind of Blue was done in two sessions, each lasting around three to four hours. More remarkable is the fact that a truckload of Blue Note classics were recorded in the living room of Rudy Van Gelder's parents and not in a professional studio!

It can matter on very intense passages etc but, in reality, rarely does. I know nth tune La Grange and, although I have never played it, would be surprised if a range of options won't work (Dusty ain't no Alain Caron )

I know what I am going to do; now I just need to find the time to do it

Love the concept.....

I have to say that is not my experience. Most musos I have known are pretty indulgent at jam sessions. I have seen the most appaling train wrecks resulting in positive responses. I have been roasted more than once but never maliciously.

I think I read somewhere that these basses (depending on the model) are manufactured in CHina but ASSEMBLED in Czech/Germany etc. I may be wrong, though.

[quote name='charic' timestamp='1367586622' post='2067269'] I dare you to play straight 8 root notes for a whole song [/quote] Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.... Look up Racing For Home: No Quarter on youtube.

[quote name='iceonaboy' timestamp='1367586238' post='2067256'] Maybe its just me, but I think all jazz players make it up as they go along anyway [/quote] And THAT'S why it is hard!!

Interstingly, when Branford Marsalis finished the Sting tours, he said that going back to Jazz was hard because he had to get back into [i]thinking[/i] (rather than playing) that fast. I think Mike has a point; it is not the chops that are missing, it is the ability to translate your mental idea into a physically executed line that is lacking when you are not hitting the mark.

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1367583535' post='2067209'] Just wondering how you get so many gigs, Bilbo? Regular band, dep work? Do you have an agent? [/quote] I don't have that many, although I have done (2008). I am on about 50 a year nowadays although they are all good ones now (musically, I mean). When I did 120, 80 of the were awful, awful stuff. Bad players playing bad material badly but for good money I get to play with great people by booking them. On the bakcof my Paul CHambers biography, I wrote this: [i]'Rob Palmer is Senior Probation Officer and a semi-professional bass player of 28 years experience who has played jazz for most of that time. He has performed and recorded with some of the leading British jazz musicians including as Jim Mullen, Iain Ballamy, Stan Sultzman, Janusz Carmello, Dave DeFries, Tim Whitehead and Roy Williams. His ambition is to play with one of these guys twice'. [/i]

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1367579743' post='2067134'] I have heard it said before, that there aren't many notes that are wrong in jazz. [/quote] I seem to manage to find the suckers, though

I use Nymans but haven't got the faintest idea of what it is supposed to do I think I may try some others to see if my crap bowing is the fault of the rosin rather than me!