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Bilbo

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Posts posted by Bilbo

    Fallen Out Of Love With Fretless

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    I have played primarily 4-string fretless since 1986 - most fretted playing has not been on gigs. I recently joined a Prog band and needed a 5-string for the low B so I got a Marleaux Consat 5 off warwickhunt on here. Since that arrived, I haven't played the fretless. Simple fact is, after 35 years of being slightly out of tune, I am enjoying the accuracy of pitch! I have a double bass gig tonight so I can quietly revisit dodgy intonation for a couple of hours but it is certainly  'easier' to play fretted is so far as you don't have to fret about the intonation (see what I did there?). 

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    Which is The coolest bass solo song.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    On 03/05/2022 at 18:06, P-Belly Evans said:

    6.47 to 7.11

     

    I can't explain why but this is one of my most favourite licks ever. Short and damn sweet. Gives me goosebumps. You have to listen to it on a stereo or through headphones to appreciate the pure power of it.....sublime.

     

     

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/dual-of-the-jester-and-the-tyrant-return-to-forever/

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/duel-of-the-jester-and-the-tyrant-excerpt/

    • Thanks 1

    How long...

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Bilbo

    I do remember a brilliant story about a gig I did with a guitar player who knows me well and a drummer and singer who didn't. Before we started playing the gig, we sat down to talk through the set list. This amounted to the singer asking me ' do you know this one'? and me replying 'no'. As we were called to the stage, I was listening to the first tune on my phone just to get a sense of the groove. It turned out later that drums and vocals were freaking out because we were about to play and I didn't know any of the tunes. 

     

    We played a blinder. 

     

    With vague notions of the tunes, good eye contact, watching the Guitarist's hands, 30 years of experience and big ears, I was able to keep the whole thing together without any difficulties whatsoeve. If I had said we can't play anything I don't 'know' , it would have been 2x45 minute versions of Johnny B Goode. Most of my best gigs ever have been playing things I have never learned. 

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    • Haha 1

    How long...

    in General Discussion

    Posted · Edited by Bilbo

    I almost never learn anything. I read dots and chord charts so can play most stuff cold. The trouble with learning stuff is that you have a very narrow available body of work at any given time. I learned lots of tunes in the past but cannot remember them. If I have the dots, I don't need to remember the tune, I just play it off the paper. If you have to learn something (because the band leader doesn't like music stands on stage), learning stuff off the paper is the best way and saves you a lot of time finding out what is happening. I read through this last night relatively cold (not the solo, just the 'bass' line). Listen from 5:44 onwards. I could never have done it by rote.

     

     

     

    • Like 2

    Bilbo's Transcription Archive

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted

    Sorry it's been a while but this is the Robert Hurst bass part for the tune 'In The Afterglow' from the 1991 Wynton Marsalis album, 'Standard Time VOl. 1'. It is a slow ballad but the phrasing of the bass lines is incredibly nuanced and it took several passes to get some of the phrasing right. Ballad playing for Jazz bassists is a very subtle art form. Staying on the root works perfectly but this part shows how sophisticated you can get whilst remaining sympathetic to the main themes.

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/in-the-afterglow-wynton-marsalis/

    Which is The coolest bass solo song.

    in General Discussion

    Posted

    Or his take on 'Tears In Heaven'. Both of these tunes are the real deal: harmonically and melodically sophisticated music that is rhythmically strong. These are 'solos' that are not based on silly tricks and 'juggling' but on melody, harmony and rhythm. I don't live everything JB does (I don't like his High Standards and Low Standards cds, for instance) but you cannot deny this guy has chops, technically, compositionally and harmonically.

     

     

    Bilbo's Transcription Archive

    in Theory and Technique

    Posted · Edited by Bilbo

    A one minute reading exercise that is 'real world' and represents a small part of the 2001 recording 'Here...Now' by the Wynton Marsalis Septet. The recording was a ballet Marsalis had written the music for and this is a tiny part of that, performed, I believe, by Gerald Cannon. It is not a show piece for anyone but it will allow a relative beginner to play at least a part of a Marsalis long form composition.

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/style-wynton-marsalis-septet/

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