Bilbo

People have different methods. I have to say I am the last person to advise you as I can spend all day on a tune and then forget it tomorrow! Actually, what you need is David Bakers 3 books on How To Play Bebop. Vol 3 has a chapter (Chapter 2) on how to memorise tunes. Baker's books are great learning tools and this one covers your needs. You can get it as a sownload for Kindle but I woudl recommend the hard copy as the musical examples don't look good on a Kindle (altnough they aren't so bad on a PC). The are 20 odd steps so I can't type them all out here (no time) so I recommenmd the book. step 1, for example, is 'Sing the melody over and over until it is correctly implanted. Listen to recordings, check fake books, sheet music etc'.

Surely a lot of it is about group dynamics; forming, storming, norming and performing. I guess a lot of it is about using the idea of a jazz band as a metaphor. Like all such things, it only works to a point. I did a business studies course too at age 17-19 (day release). Bored me senseless (I literally slept though some of it).

Have also read the comments below the article and am pleased to see it caused such a great reaction. Unlike most of my posts in this thread!

Great fun. My suggestion on the head would be to watch where your notes [i]end[/i] as well as where they start. You will get better phrasing if you play some of the notes shorter and tighter. Also, the background bass would sound more authentic if you played alternate deadened notes alongside the held ones - the phrasing of latin bass is supposed to replicated the surdo (bass drum) in samba and they play one short note followed by a long one. It gives the rest of the groove more space. Hope that makes sense. But, in a nutshell, great video, great concept.

I always call these tunes 'the ones we all do', because they are the first one in the book; Charlie Parker's Confirmation is another 'one we all do'. But, that aside, its nicely done. As a read, its not 100% perfect but, if you were on a gig, they would much prefer your feel to someone who didn't fell right but got every note right. Good work.

Irene Cara sang it but it was written by written by Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford. No, I haven't got the dots (great bass line tho').

Steve Davis was a relatively minor figure in John Coltrane's career (i.e. less significant than Jimmy Garrison and Reggie Workman) and he appeared on several early iconic Coltrane Quartet albums including My Favourite Things and Coltrane Plays The Blues.

I have played with Jim Mullen, iain Ballamy, Stan Sultzman and a few other renowned jazzers. Once each. If I have studied properly, practiced more, got my s*** together etc, maybe i would have got to play with some of these guys twice. Be ready, people.

Now you know why I am a jazz musician. I can't remember s*** so I make it up as I go along

Finally got to it, Mike. Love the concept.The Sei sounds cool. What effects are they (plug ins, I assume?).

Kate Bush fronting a metal band. Marvellous! (I genuinely like it)

A + in a chord refers to an augmentation (i.e. sharpening the note). If you can sharpen a note, you can also flatten it so a chord can have both a flattened and sharpened note in it, although it is generall not named that way. It generally relates back to the melodic minor (as opposed to natural minor) which is a major scale with a flattened third. The V chord in a major key is a dominant 7 chord. In a melodic minor scale, the V chord is a 7b9 but can also b a #9 (both work). A +chord can also be a +4 (+11) or +5 which relates to a lydian dominant (CDEF#GABbC). The really interesting one id the altered scale C C# D# E F# G# B C, the 7th mode of the melodic nimor scale. This is quite advanced sh*t so stick with it. Oh - the arpeggio choices are I III, V VII bIX or I III V VII #9 but they are only ways of understanding the arpeggio and rehearsing it, you would not play it that way very often if at all.

[quote name='JakeBrownBass' timestamp='1325709743' post='1486546'] I can send you the Sibelius or music XML file if want bilbo, just send me you email address. [/quote] PM sent. Many thanks

F### me sideways. That reads as good as it sounds! I am going to convert it to bass clef for easier reading (I can't get it all on my 4 string so will need to tweak). Shame the transcriber didn't put the chords in as the study value is reduced. Without the chords, learning potential is a less.

Start with the major scale and the chords that make it up and everything else will come from that. Learn the language of intervals (the distances between notes) as these are the backbone of most theory. once you get the principles, a lot of it is transferrable to other scales and chords.

I am also gradually learning to play without clenching my teeth! (seriously, its a bad habit I am trying to break))

[quote name='Gareth Hughes' timestamp='1325602386' post='1484935'] Hey Bilbo - I can't seem to open the file on my Mac. First time I've come across an ipb file. Any ideas? EDIT - Just found the file on the miguelzenon.com site. Thanks for this. [/quote] For anyone else with problems, I uploaded this as a pdf, it is the Basschat website that turned it into an ipb file. Don't know why it does it and I wish it would stop but it's not up to me! If anyone wants the pdf and can't get it off miguelzenon.com, PM me and I will send it by email (it is free on the website so assume there are no copyright concerns).

Jimmy 'Flim' Johnson of Flim and the BBs/Wayne Johnson Trio/AllanHoldsworth/James Taylor fame was playing a 5-string Alembic in 1975. He got the idea from his father, also a bass player, who played a 5-string double bass with a low B (long established as the 'industry standard in Germany, I believe). I know that Anthony Jackson is credited as 'the' pioneer of low B six strings but I suspect that this idea was a pretty natural development and several people may have explored the option simultaneously. But Flim was definately recording with a low B 5 in 1975. As for range, the 5-string bass goes two octaves below middle C and one and a bit above (depensint on range) so we are talking around 3 octaves in toal. So the piano goes a lot further in both directions

Did two double bass gigs this weekend, both 3 x 45 minutes sets. THe first, New YEars Eve, was a duo gig, again with Chris (see above). Nice gig in a restaurant in Thetford; nice sounding room, lovely people etc. I got through it and only picked the electric up for the last two tunes due to the impetus being lost in my double bass playing. I was a littel concerned as I got that tingle in the ends of my fingers that made me think 'uh-oh'. But, during the following day, that tingle seem to disappear and I got to the NY Day gig feeling ready to play. The second gig was my own trio of sax/bass/drums and it was a new drummer I hadn't played with before. Well, the shiocker was that I found it so easy to play the gig that my DB playing was more expressive and 'open' than it has ever been. I found that I could hear my ideas forming and could execute them without 'fighting' the instrument. I could get around in the bass more freely and, as a result, my lines and solos were more musical than they have been to date on the big bass. I did go to the Wal for the last two tunes but that was a musical choice not a 'physical' one. What was funny was that I ripped seven bells of s*** out of the electric bass for that 10 minutes or so because it was so 'easy' to play after three sets on the double. It felt good to be playing more musically, though, and to have my note choices come from the same place that they always have instead of from a 'pseudo-callisthenic' perspective!! Inshort, my mind was playing the bass not my hands. Another level reached.

There are now thousands of transcriptions out there that you can use to keep you reading skills together. Get a bass clef Charlie Parker omnibook, the Bach Cello Suites, stuff like that that keeps you playing outside of your comfort zone. It is really hard to keep improving when you have no regular reading gig but you will find, as the years go by, that whenever you return to to reading, the skills come back quite quickly in real time. Also, work on transcriptions of your own (and post them here ), write out some of your own ideas etc. Just keep working with the written note in mind.

The DL guy has really upped the bar for pop/funk bass. Some of these lines are really out of the box. I would love to be able to play like that but, I learned a long time ago, if you keep trying to 'keep up' with the fastest guns, you can waste a lot of time not finding your own voice. As a jazz player that is wasted time but, all that aside, I wish anyone who wants to nail this the best of luck. And if anyone does get it written down, I'll be the first to download it!!

Brings back lovely memories. It was one of the early lps I used ot get into jazz and I worked this tune out as an early transcription (Egan is hotter on this video than he was on the LP). Egan studied with jaco and you can really hear it in the closing stages. He found his o wn voice later on. Note the toothbrish holding Metheny's guitar strap on. He broke the strap button and used a toothbrush as a temporary repair and there it stayed for decades!!!

This chart is performed on YouTube (I posted the video on a 'Jazz for the uninitiated; thread. Monster chart. This is the bass chart but the full chart is available for free download (with others) on miguelzenon.com

I actually know a woman who, at school, wanted to play the double bass but was told 'No, you can't. You are a girl and it is too physical for you'. So she didn't. THere a hundreds and thousands of female DB bass players (some of them quite good )). Same as the woman I knew who was told BY A CAREERS OFFICER that she could not be a Probation Officer because she was TOO SHORT (height was never a requirement). She is now a Senior Probation Officer, thank GOd, having got better advice but it goes to show how much damage can be done by not questioning the advice you are given.