Bilbo

There is an argument that no electric bass players can swing..... That statement is by no means an absolute (an is probably nonsense) but there is a real issue in determining what the OP means by 'swing', what the industry/market means by 'swing and what the concensus definition of 'swing' is amongst musicians. I would respectfully suggest that Laurence Cottle and Jeff Berlin don't swing at all. The only electric players I can think of who I would agree wholeheartedly can swing would be Swallow and Anthony Jackson and I am not sure about AJ!! There is a Brian Melvin/Jaco cd called Standards Zone where JP plays standards (Days of Wine and Roses is one I recall) and they are horrible. Jaco could swing at times, unquestionably (see Word of Mouth), but, at other times, it could be horrible. But Jeff Berlin is the most non-swingingest bass player I have ever heard ! The other guys listed by Jake are all credible in terms of the logic of their walking bass lines etc but, when you listen to jazz all of the time, the electric players trying to play 'swing' stick out like a sore thumb and rarely have the depth of a double bass (not sonic depth but the layers of overtones and the attack etc). A good six string player can get into that zone occasionally but they invariably give in to temptation and go up the neck and that is when the swing ebbs away. For the record, I have been considering this question as a aesthetic priority for over 25 years and have momentarily come close in my own playing, when the stars were aligned, but, since I got the double bass, it was quickly apparent that I can't swing on electric OR double bass

All electric bass players......

I recently did something that I did last year as a way of opening some new doors for me listening. I buy Jazz TImes, the US jazz magazine, and every year they have a critics top 50 albums of the year article. Last year, I used it to link into the SF Jazz Collective, Christian SCott, Miguel Zenon, Avishai Cohen (trumpet) and some other stuff. This year, I got some stuff by pianist Armen Donelian, a Lee Konitz live album with Brad Mehldau, Charlie Haden and Paul Motian, a couple of Marcus Strickland recordings, a Ben Allison (bass led) thing, a Jerry Gonzalez cuban thing. I sample them via Spotify first but I find that its a great way of breaking out of your confort zone

Bass sizes are not that 'defined'. A 3/4 can be between x and y in length and can cross into other sizes (you will see adds for a 'small 3/4 size' or a 'large 3/4 size'. Stay away from a half size bass; they tend to be for young students only and will not be credible in a professional setting etc. But 3/4 is the default size for most jazzers and other secular musics. Larger basses tend to be used to be used for orchestral work but nothing is set in stone as some jazzers play 7/8 basses. But, the straight answer to your question is; try 3/4 size.

I gigged with a broken foot in plaster in the late 90s (really). It was ok but my walking lines limped a little

What Mingus are you comparing this to, Mornats? I'd like to be helpful but I can't hear what you are trying for?

Doddy is right. Its about need. Your technique only really needs to be as 'good' as the music you play. If you are a pop/rock player who just plays roots and minims, your left hand technique will not need to be at all sophisticated. If, however, you are ripping up 16th note grooves all over the neck, you will find the one finger per fret routine pretty helpful. Its a question of how much technique do you need to deliver what you hear? I made a decision a long time ago that I had as much technique as my ears could cope with and have concentrated on other things rather than 'speed'. I once read somewhere that 'all musicians have more technique that they know how to use' and I think there is a nugget of truth in there. I did a gig once where a string snapped and the bridge slipped and effectively blew out two more strings so I only had one string on which to play the rest of the set (only two more tunes). It is surprising how much you can achieve without the finer details of advanced technique.

Yes. Less is more. If jazz players do this, it is usually a train wreck. Listen to some recordings and see how others do it.

I still maintain that there is an element of learning to read that requires the ;doing; of it. The stopping and starting is important when you are learning the different patterns etc but, at some point, you have to learn how to link bar one to bar two to bar three etc and reading one bar perfectly is only useful if you read the next one perfectly as well and so on. Joining them up is an iimportant part of the learning, Reading prose requires you to read the words but also to make sense of the sentences. If we don't learn to join up the words inot a coherent chain, spelling each word will only have limited value. The important thing is that this is an 'as well as' not an 'instead of'.

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYc2jR5yGDs&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLFE5B7AAEB570B894[/media] Kermit Driscoll with Bill Frisell. Really creative bass player with chops he never displays.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17306242 $200 shares floatation. I think most of the players on here should get some for free; they have spent so much on Fenders already....

Made me smile, Karl. One of the best sounding Alembics I have heard in a long while.

I never drink so its a no brainer but, seriously, I gig with a lot of different people and rarely come across drinkers who are a problem. One pint or two etc over an evening is fine but the only issue is remaining ready to work. If someone gets pissed, its one warning then, do it a second time and you don't get booked again, however good you are sober.

Did you know Bag End is a literal translation of the French 'cul de sac'? Did you care?

+1 for Wal rhyming with doll. As billyapple says, it is a derivative of the manufacturers name Waller so it figures.

Nice video, Dave.

The 'key' that a song is in does not relate to the chords in the same way as it does the notes. If a chart is in G, the dots would require all Fs to be played as sharps. Nevertheless, if the chart lists a chord as F (not F#) then it is F. The key signature does not change the chord. Not every modulation in a chart results in a change in key signature. I guess it depends on whether the modulation is a momentary transition or a significant change in key.

S'cool.

Minor point but it would be helpful to the uninitiated to either alert them to the fact that WoC is a 12-bar blues or put the chords on the chart, just so people have a reference point. Otherwise, thanks for the link. You may also be interested in this: [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mr-P-C-Chambers-Popular-History/dp/1845536363/ref=sr_1_8?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331117049&sr=1-8"]http://www.amazon.co...31117049&sr=1-8[/url]

I have no experience of either but i am told Thwaites are helpful and Contrbasse overpriced. Best talk to others with direct experience rather than listen to me.

Someone beat me to it with NHOP with the snappily titled: 'Scandinavian Wood: The musical career of Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen in the light of his discography' (Jaeargen Mathiasen) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scandinavian-Wood-Niels-Henning-Pedersen-discography/dp/3842351577/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330954006&sr=1-1-fkmr0

Not an A-lister like many of that era but he did some credible stuff in the 80s with Gamma and Montrose (which, IIRC, introduced Sammy Hagar to the world).

Both, I guess. Where double bass was concerned, I knew that hearing my self properly was an issue (I can hear when I am playing but it is less clear what note it is and whether it is in tune) which prompted the IEM purchase but this revisiting of old stuff has made me realise that intonation of my electric playing is equally suspect. I actually think, on reflection, that one of the issues may be intention. You (Jake) mentioned once about playing what you hear and singing your solos in order to make the link between your ideas and their execution. The wrong thing to do is to let you fingers 'play' themselves i.e. singing what you are playing rather than playing what you are singing. Projecting this concept into the intonation debate, I am wondering how much of my intonation problem is a kind of built in latency between my ideas and their execution. I 'hear' a phrase or note (say a sixth) and my fingers dither over whether it is a natural or flattened sixth. This split second of indecision results in a subconscious 'miss'; a note that is marginally too sharp or flat, depending on the line. Not enough to be caught on the fly, particularly in a live situation, but, during playback, when my 'miss' rate is one in three or four or five, it all starts to fall apart..... Its certainly less of an issue when I am playing lines, walking or ostinatos. It is when I am improvising.

I have been cleaning and, to a limited extent, purging my music room and, whilst I was doing it, made the mistake of listening to some old live recordings I have done with all sorts of bands (they were on cassettes; that's how old they were) and the one thing that kept screaming at me throughout, apart from the shocking timing in the early days, was 'intonation's out, intonation's out)'. I then went to the Great Jaco lines thread and briefly listened to some old Jaco and thought 'his intonation is spot on throughout'. The $64,000 question is; how do I get my intonation to be that accurate. Mine isn't a million miles off now but it is not as impeccable as JFP III's. I am hoping my new in ear monitoring system will help. What do others do to ensure that their intonation is up to par when they are playing live? PS I could also start a thread on 'testosterone and tempo'....

Some other great performances that have not been mentioned Al DiMeola – Suite: Golden Dawn (single track from Land of the Midnight Sun but the rest of the cd is Anthony Jackson and Stanley Clarke!!) Michel Colombier – Dreamland (from Michel Colombier) - can't remember how many tracks Jaco is on. Beautiful melodic fretless. Black Market from Weather Report’s 8.30 live album) Night Passage – the whole Weather Report album Flora Purim - Las Olas (from 'Flora's Song') - beautiful melodic fretless. Black Market - Weather Report. Jaco is only on half the tracks but the rest of the cd is Alphonso Johnson and he is equally awesome. Jaco Pastorius - Word Of Mouth – Three Views of a Secret, Liberty City, Word of Mouth and John and Mary. The first track, Crisis, puts a lot of people off so be warned +1 for Bright Size Life – 8 tracks of pure brilliance from Jaco, The US live Jaco album ‘Twins’ is a must have (it is available in the UK as ‘Invitation’ but that was a single LP and Twins was the same lp but a double with more stuff on it and longer versions. Nativity - AIrto Moriera from ‘I’m Fine, How Are You?’ (single track)