Bilbo

[indent=1][/indent] [indent=1]Its been hanging there for about 26 years. When I started it was slung a little lower (in rock bands) but I found that, as I played more and more of the neck, I needed more ready access to the top end and found that having it too low made that difficult. So I moved it up and down and bit for a few weeks/months until I felt I had got the optimum height. And there it has stayed ever since. It never gets uncomfortable and I never really find the bass heavy so I have no reason to consider changing it again at this point. But, as you will have guessed, it is an entirely personal thing.[/indent]

Saw th video at last. Some more great stuff on here. The bar has moved up again in recent years and us ol tarts are getting left behind (which is as it should be)....

All these exciting young players around, its great for the instrument......

As a long standing jazz musician.... I can sit in a room on my own and not be frightened. I can make stuff up as I go along. I can ride on the top deck of the bus on my own.

Agree with Mike on the importance of rehearsals for jazz musicians. A culture seems to have developed in the UK where noone who plays jazz ever rehearses and, as a result, most gigs, particularly in the provinces, are the same old same old. I had one rehearsal on Wednesday and we are doing 11 originals on Sunday that have never been played live before anywhere. Imagine what we could achieve with regular rehearsal time. On the occasions when I do rehearse with jazz bands, they alway sound SOOOO much better. These top guys (sorry, can't watch the clips in work although I do know Sixun) rehearse their arses off and it sounds like it. 'Improvisation' does not mean 'don't bother learning the material and make it all up as you go along'.

Get that reading going and, 6 months from now, youi will be a better reader than 90% of the people on here and will get all their gigs

I sent a flight cased bass overnight Felixstowe to Cardiff for £15 insured so that price is competitive. It was wrapped in brown paper and bubble wrap just to protect the cover of the flight case from nicks. The flight case was there to protect the bass and if that was inadequate, I suspect the truck was at the bottom of a cliff on fire and nothing would save it!! It got there no problem (Parcel Monkey).

Did a rehearsal last night for my next trio gig (this Sunday). We are doing 11 of my own compositions for sax/dbass/drums. Can't wait!! Some are stronger than others but the players I am using, who's opinions I respect (and who will not patronise me in a million years), are enjoying the material and occasionally grinning at the charts (and furiously counting) as the melodies weave in and out through odd time signatures and weird intervals (some are, however, fairly predictable). Apparently, several my compositions sounds Morroccan, which is interesting given that I am part Indian!!

Manuscript paper is good but laying things out and correcting mistakes is easier on Sibelius!! As is transposing Its all good.

I think we are missing some of the dynamics of the forum here. Firstly, there are as many as 5 generations of players on here. Kids of 15, students 25, pros in their thirties, old pros in their forties, new starters in their 50s and even a couple of 60+ year olds. Then there are the dozens of genres represented here, the gear nuts and the 'one bass fits all' brigade, double bassists and ERB fans. In order to have some common ground for discussion, it is likely that we will talk about the most influential players be it Jaco, Flea or young Hendrick. Most of us know the top ten of each generation or favourite genre whereas few of us will know the next 20 of each others generation or genre. Secondly, a lot a great players have long careers and as many people will buy the next Rush CD as they will the latest Professor Green CD so the influence of a player is not as closely linked to the 'era' in which they 'arrived' as we may think. So talking about Geddy Lee, Dave Holland or John Patitucci's recent work is not just nostalgia but also about following the career of an established artist Thirdly, many of us like the bass player that plays with the bands we like and see qualities in them that those who don't like that band, genre will miss. Fourthly, some folk are looking for innovation and technical excellence from bass players whilst others are looking for great songs where the bass playing is incidental. Geddy Lee's playing, whatever else it is, is exceptional whereas 99% of us could play Adam Clayton's lines so, when it is time to talk about something interesting, it is the exceptional that gets attention. Fifthly (I have never got to fifthly before. How exciting), there are those that develop a skill by the application of effort and study (say Manring or Anthony Jackson, Stuart Zender or Bill Sheehan) and there are those who, it would appear to most of us, learn to do what they do in a more 'organic way' (Lemmy, Steve Dawson (Saxon), Nikki Sixx, Sid Vicious, Peter Hook etc). A lot of pop bassists 'have' great feel and great sounds because they are ghosted on CD or run 1000 takes before getting a good one and actually can't play that well in any real sense. So those in the know are less inclined to extol their virtues or get excited about their skills. My simple perspective is that, if I can play it, it can't be hard so I am not that interested For me, a lot of great groove players in popular music are that by accident and good luck to them. Modern players take time to filter out inot mainstream listening. You get something exceptional (Dirty Loops?) and it goes viral. Something more mundane like an innocuous pop single by a band that appeals to teenagers is not going to get the attention for the wider community. Where players are concerned, most bands in most generations are not producing anything new. What did Oasis offer, in musical terms, that The Damned didn't or Big Country or Jesse J. DuM dum dum dum dum dum dum bass lines with three fills per tune are not going to generate a debate. Blur's material is not musically excpetional enough to get a lot of non Blur fan players on board whereas Manring is going to get noticed.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1329856345' post='1548687'] those 3 men and a dog might agree..!! [/quote] That would be a jazz festival..... with Van Morrison headlining the Saturday and Jools Holland the Sunday.

Didn't want one anyway

I prefer 'Smells Like Teen Spirit In A Small Pub'. Might call a tune that!

No

I knwo what you mean about some doublers being weak on one or other of the instruments (Dave Holland on electric!!) but there are doublers who excel (Brian Bromberg, John Patitucci, Christian McBride etc) and its a matter of personal choice whether you want to invest in one or other instrument to the exclusion of the other. FOr me, it was more a case of how much technique on electric have I got vs how much I need? I can whizz about in 15:8 but it is never required so I can afford to spend some time on the double bass. If I ever get a call from a Zappa tribute band, I can 'shed

To be fair, my taking the new bass up coincides with the recession, the closure of 1,000s of pubs and clubs and my decision not to take gigs with s*** players. Shot myself in the foot there, then

If you don't like playing it, don't play it. When the DB gigs come in, suggest someone else and then they may return the favour one day. I did 28 years on electric only and, since starting on DB, my gigs have gone down by about 75% so the 'DB will get you more gigs' argument is not as robust as one would like to think

I thought that Krall thing was on e of the highlights! Not the best piano playing but a nice edgy arrangement. That, the Alen and the Jamal thing. BUt Basie made me smile. What a band!

I have to say, its mildy harrowing to think that, some day soon, all those people who buy it will be thinking everything from 'Wow, What a fascinating book'.. to 'What a load of boring old tosh'. I'll be happy with something in between the two but, in short, once its out there, I guess I am fair game! A little scary.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1329908972' post='1549351'] 'Kind Of Blue' is my all-time favourite recording in [i]any [/i]genre. [/quote] Have you read this? http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kind-Blue-Making-Miles-Masterpiece/dp/1862075417/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1329909728&sr=1-1

Thanks for the tip off - first I have heard of it. My contribution to the book was finished last October/November so, whatever happens now is out of my hands. It had reached the point where my only desire was to see the book published so people wouldn't think I was making it all up!! Nice to see the publishers are on the case and getting it 'out there' well in advance.

I own more guitars than basses. Have always played both but use gutar only for writing and don't gig on it at all.

Some more recent stuff in the genres of South America...... This one features my debut as a backing vocalist (mine is the lower 'bop be che bop che bop') [url="http://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/chiclette-con-banana"]http://soundcloud.com/robert-palmer-1/chiclette-con-banana[/url]

I refuse to comment on grounds that I might incriminate myself.