Bilbo

You should use the Leonard Rosenman's orc battle song from the Ralph Bakshi animated version of Lord of the Rings as your intro tape. It would be monster. Its only 38p here.... http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B000000O7G/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&condition=used

They spelt it wrong.....

ripper 1888 - I don't need to remember that I didn't say that......

I haven't seen anyone's. I don't get out much.

I have looked at and listened to hundreds of hours of Paul Chambers playing and just think that the best way to swing is straight quarter notes with as little ornamentation as possible. That is all.

Yeah - spotted the Yamaha thing already I am looking at options as we speak and can see the sense in the alto route. I am thinking I will go that route because the advice is pretty universal. I will have to fight my inate mistrust of deferred gratification to the end but more haste less speed woudl have solved me a lot of probelms in the past had I heeded its wisdon.

Those Stagg EUBs can be got for around that figure and have a credible reputation as EUBs. May be a good place to start and you can think about a 'real' bass later when the economics make more sense. Good luck.

I don't know Bob Reynolds or Louie Palmer. Any details?

I know nothing. But what I have worked out is that, unlike electric basses, each double bass seems unique. I know people who have had a great sounding bass that cost £50 and others that have been unhappy with their £10K bass. I also know that spending time with a bass will have some impact on its projection etc. Personally, I would rather just buy one and spend time playing it instead of driving around the country looking at them. But that's me and I know nothing.

Its your call. You can send them on trust. When I traded here, I met the guy, we both tried hte basses out and exchanged but there are other ways if the distances are prohibitive. Use the feedback section to see if someone has traded before and it may put your mind at rest. Most people here are cool and its only gone horribly wrong a few times and we have been able to intervene to resolve the situation. But, in a nutshell, it is up to you to make sure you only take risks you are prepared for.

Music theory is mostly just theory and not really 'genre specific'. A major scale is a major scale etc. You can certainly get some pretty useful stuff under your belt by having a look at the basic theoretical concepts around chord theory and scales. Guys like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Robben Ford sound so fresh because they don't just stick to the basic scales. But never underestimate the value of the basic blues scales. There is a world of music in there (Jazz/fusion pianist Chick Corea is very blues scale orientated, as it happens).

I would warn against them. They are cheap, an attractive trait obviously, but they are very small and lack credibility as professional instruments. Also, if you are anywhere near average height it will look a bit silly. I had one for about 18 months and it was pretty hopeless. The bloke who sold it to me (a dealer) should never have let me buy it. I ended up with CTS and a very long delay in getting properly started on the instrument. What is your budget? There are starter instruments to suit most budgets without having to buy a half sixe.

Playing metronomically will not swing and many electric bass players are particularly 'on the beat' and, consequently, don't swing (in my early days as a jazzer, I was criticised (behind my back) because my timing was 'too perfect'. Took me a little while to figure that out but the guy (Rob Smith, Cardiff's Heavy Quartet) was right. The nature of a double bass tone, the fact that it gets louder before it gets quieter, is certainly refelcted at least a little in fretless bass playing but, fundamentally, it is a distinctive element of the acoustic instrument that is specific to what defines swing. Anything that detracts from that will undermine the swing. There is a great track on Coltrane's 'Giant Steps' cd, called 'Countdown' where Coltrane plays a duet with Elvin Jones. Paul Chambers comes in at around 1.52 and WHAM! THAT is what the double bass does! As for not being able to hear the double bass; that is an intersting point in itself. Miles Davis once said 'noone knows what the double bass does but everyone misses it when it is not there'. Its presence', with very few exceptions, is not the same as an electric bass which tends to be more to the fore; brighter and louder. Steve Swallow's playing tends to get lost in the same way in the sense that it is a part of the ensemble sound not a seperate element. I guess its like the double basses in a orchestra; you only know they are there because the sound gets heavier.

I look forward to it.

After 40, any rock/pop music Seriously, though, I think there is always the potential for old rockers to look a bit 'sad' if they overdo the teenage angst angle of rock and roll. I guess its about learning to grow old gracefully.

Don't know Lee's work at all. Any recommendations?

This 'start on alto and move onto soprano later' malarky is a bit frustrating. I have little enough time as it is without playing the wrong blooming instrument. But is it a case of 'more haste, less speed'? I have looked at hire and it seems that sopranos are more expensive to hire that tenors and altos. Bloody typical; the smallest costs the most. Story of my bloody life.

[quote name='spike' timestamp='1332433619' post='1588354'] This is the one you need Bilbo, very reasonably priced too [url="http://www.sax.co.uk/acatalog/Selmer-Series-III-Soprano--125th-Anniversary---Solid-Sterling-Silver-226135846.html"]http://www.sax.co.uk/acatalog/Selmer-Series-III-Soprano--125th-Anniversary---Solid-Sterling-Silver-226135846.html[/url] [/quote] I'll have two of them.....(they are nice, though)

[quote name='Ed_S' timestamp='1332413275' post='1587842'] Mauriat..? [/quote] Mais oui....

I'm still using Cubase but my approach is not as sophistiacted as some here. I just use it for sketches rahter than 'proper' recording. If I ever find it doesn't do what I want it to do, then I will have to consider and upgrade but, so far, it has been fine. I tend to only record real instrument and am not that into midi/sequencers etc as performance tools (takes too long and bores me. Sibelius is my home turf. Love it.