Bilbo

Get this: when I type, I use four fingers on my left hand and two fingers and the thumb on me right hand. And who said bass playing skills weren't transferable?

The book I recommended is a very good source for the answers to tnit's question but, in a nutshell, for me, the answer is 'all of the above'. If Iam playing a tune I know well, it is more likely that I will relax and play more 'intuitively' because I know the changes well. If, however, I am playing something new that I haven't seen before, I am more likely to be in a 'conscious theory' mode. Often, if I am playing a tune I kind of know, I will play half of it in relaxed mode and half (the middle 8 of Have You Met Miss Jones?) using consciously applied theory. Strangely, I often use theory more consciously when I am playing walking lines. But there are examples where I am playing along with a sax plyer who keeps playing a little riff and I can consciously process the m,elody and harmonise it, creating a nice little improvised effect, a 'yeah' moment . Often, it is a case of 'hearing' what someone else is doing harmonically so you can react to it. I guess it is like understanding the written word. We don't process all of the grammar, we just know what it means but, if we are trying to hear or say something important or complicated, we are more likely to pause and consider our next sentence. The book I recommended is massive and incredibly detailed; not a light read at all but at £11 Kindle price, it is enormously good value..

Just wanted to draw people's atention to a really great book on the process of playing jazz. This is not a 'theory' book in the normal sense as it contains no scales, chords or anything of that type. It is about the things that need to be dealt with if you are to play Jazz. The book is called ' Thinking in Jazz: The Infinite Art of Improvisation (Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology' by Paul F Berliner and is available on Kindle for just over £11. There are no dots in it so it should transfer to Kindle ok. http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thinking-Jazz-Improvisation-Ethnomusicology-ebook/dp/B004M8S3XW/ref=sr_1_15?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1332945587&sr=1-15

Every player/vocalist needs to deal with time. We are all assuming, for a start, that the drummer is playing. It may comes as a surprise to some here but sometimes they stop (or don't even start for a whole tune) and, if anyone is relying on them to keep time, then they are lost. A lot of jazz/folk/function work is in duos and trios without drummers. If you are looking for someone to tell you where the one is, you'll be waiting a long time. Part of being a musician is active listening; listening to all parts of any ensmble simultaneously, including yourself, and making minute adjustments moment to moment to manage groove, pulse, intonation, tone, phrasing and, most importantly, time. Every beat tells you when the next one will come, how loud it should be, which note it shoudl be etc and, if there is the slightest slippage, you will need to respond (jazz musicians shoudl be particularly well prepared for this but, regrettably, many are not). If you are expecting everyone else to hold perfect time so you can't go wrong, then you have some work to do.

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?