Bilbo

Not my bag but this is so 'on the money' in terms of professional production values, tight, flawless playing and interesting compositions. You have every reason to be proud of what you have achieved.

Look for Mark Levine's 'The Piano Book' as a starter...

Like others, I cannot read the article as our internet blocks it but, IMO, the reality is that, in order to become a musician in the 21st Century, all you need to do is to [i]say[/i] you are (that'll get you into the MU, at least ). If you think of the people who are collected under the umbrella term of 'musician', it can include a whole load of people who can't actually [i]play[/i] anything. So the 100,000 hours is arbitrary. Is there room for quality control in terms of entering the world professional music? Can we decide who can call themselves a musician and who can't? Of course not.

'Bumping' - not heard the term in this context. Can you explain?

Gary has just spend three weeks messing about with a bass he sold to me for my nephew in Wales. Not only did he sell it to me for a bargain price, he took it apart, boxed it up and waited in for a courier to collect it as I am in Suffolk, he is in Herts and the bass needed to get to Wales! All for a cheap beginner bass that noone has made much money on. Some little kid in Wales is going to wake up tomorrow with a bass he didn't know was coming and with a big smile on his face. Gary made it happen and should be given credit for all his efforts. Muchos Gracias!

And a lovely player to boot. I used to book Dafyd for Jazz Attic jam sessions at the Four Bars Inn in Cardiff in the 1980s/early 1990s and he was 100% reliable and a lovely player (I recall he had a Warwich Thumb then or am I imagining that?). We have touched base a few times since and he has always been a nice and honourable guy to deal with. Would trust him with anything.

I think that it is likely that most people who do backing vocals in bands don't spend any time at all working on it and expect it to fall into place quite easily (which it does on some tunes). Its bound to depend on the complexity of the bass lines etc but, in my experience, its a case of some parts are easy, some are hard, the harder the parts are, the harder you need to practice the dual role before you can pull it off.

'Definition of swing - any two successive notes played by Paul Chambers' - Martin Williams, IIRC.

Got some real gems recently. Saw them on e-music and thought I'd give 'wm a punt. Really glad I did. SF JAZZ Collective | Live 2010: 7th Annual Concert Tour - featuring Avishai Cohen: Trumpet, Stefon Harris: Vibraphone/Marimba, Miguel Zenón: Alto Saxophone/Flute, Robin Eubanks: Trombone, Edward Simon: Piano , Matt Penman: Bass and Eric Harland: Drums [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-2010-Annual-Concert-Tour/dp/B004ISGWMA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300280978&sr=1-1-catcorr"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-2010-Annual-C...;sr=1-1-catcorr[/url] Really stronmg arrangements and really strong performances from all. Miguel Zenon is a revelation and I found he is also on another 'find': Antonio Sanchez Live in New York - a four piece harmony-less quartet featuring Sanchex with Scott Colley (bs), David Sanchez (ts) and the aforementioned Zenon on alto. Major league stuff. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-New-York-Antonio-Sanchez/dp/B003VC8TYI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1300281229&sr=1-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Live-New-York-Anto...1229&sr=1-1[/url] Also found a hidden gem in Muhal Richard Abrams 'Colours in Thirty Third', a 1987 album that features Muhal Richard Abrams: piano, John Blake: violin, John Purcell: soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, Dave Holland (tracks 5, 6 & 7): bass, cello, Fred Hopkins: bass, Andrew Cyrille (all except track 2): drums. Its 'kind of' free jazz but its not chaotic at all and there are some beautiful written passages. Challenging but in a really good way. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_in_Thirty-Third"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_in_Thirty-Third[/url] This stuff is all really life affirming. All three are highly recommended.

I will try and record the gig but reserve the right to destroy the tapes if I sound like a complete tit.... The big issue is the choice of material. The big 'killer' is the fact that there will be no rehearsal!! The sax player lives about 80 miles away. I will get a couple of sessions in with the drummer but that's it. What am I thinking?

47 and I ache....

I like her music but find her voice irritating so shes a no go area for me, I am afraid.

Standard size for most musics is 3/4 so bear that in mind (this one is a 3/4 I assume because the others are labelled at 1/2 or smaller so the absence of a size would indicate it is standard). There is a lot of competing advice out there and the more I researched, the more I found it unhelpful - not because it was inherently wrong but because the available advice generally offered solutions that were always outside of my budget. This is worse for you because you need a certain sort of dealer to take advantage of a particular scheme. My advice is to go for it. A reputable company like Moseley's are not going to sell you a total dog. Its probably a trade in someone swapped for an upgrade and you may find you do the same over time. I say go along and play it - if it feels exciting, go for it. They have agreed to set it up so that's half the battle. As you know, you aren't going to get an Italian hand made bass - this is a 'let's get going' bass. Just get one and get started. Good luck.

Am happy with my general progress in terms of time and intonation but am thinking that the action on my bass is not helping me with the finer points of phrasing etc (it is as it was when it was delivered). I can't afford a full set up (£400+) so am just going to get the bridge lowered and the nut adjusted acccordingly. I have it in mind to get the other bits and bobs done in time (when all the extra gigs I get by being a double bass player come rolling in .... ) but, in the meantime, a simple lowering of the action will loosen things up for me. I have a gig under my own name next month and I have chosen to put in a trio of bass, drums and tenor sax. No harmony instrument. Scary and there is a high risk that I will fall on my arse but I just feel like I have played it too safe for too long and I wanted to know what it felt like to stick my neck out. Have booked two great sidemen who are willing to try this so am happy with that end of things and I will be debuting a few of my own pieces but, either way, I need this for my soul! A lower action may help...

Am happy with my general progress in terms of time and intonation but am thinking that the action on my bass is not helping me with phrasing etc (it is as it was when it was delivered). I can't afford a full set up (£400+) so am just going to get the bridge lowered and the nut adjusted acccordingly. I have it in mind to get the other bits and bobs done in time (when all the extra gigs I get by being a double bass player come rolling in .... ) but, in the meantime, a simple lowering of the action will loosen things up for me. I have a gig undfer my own name next month and I have chosen to put in a trio of bass, drums and tenor sax. No harmony instrument. Scary and there is a high risk that I will fall on my arse but I just feel like I have played it too safe for too long and I wanted to stick my neck out. Have booked two great sidemen who are willing to try this so am happy with that end of things and I will be debuting a few of my own pieces but, either way, I need this for my soul! A lower action may help...

Of the options, I have only tried the GK combos and I think their only redeeming feature is that they are light. I played mine in a sax/bass/piano trio (no drums) and it sounded thin and lacking in warmth. It did that with electric also so I think it is the speakers - the cabs are made of a fairly thin metal and the effect is great at low volumes but not for performance without a PA rig.

If you scroll down to the bottom of this String Emporium website there are a range of helpful notes ablut all sorts of elements of double bass playing, manufacture, materials etc. Usefull stuff if you have a minute to scan it. I got my Finale CF Bow from them and they were really quick and easy to use. [url="http://www.stringemporium.com/index.htm"]String Emporium [/url] Some examples: Classical or Jazz upright bass? How to Practice on an Upright Bass Flying with an Upright Bass Dr. Beat Thoughts on Etudes

[quote name='fonzoooroo' post='1161502' date='Mar 14 2011, 10:35 AM']They're same pitch as double bass. Bottom string on a cello is C wchih is C on the A string of a bass. (double bass or bass guitar)[/quote] And you can get an extension thingy for a double bass that takes it down to C an octave lower. [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%3a%44ouble_bass_C_extension.jpg"]C Extension - picture[/url]

[quote name='Eight' post='1161179' date='Mar 13 2011, 10:56 PM']I've recently come to think that bass players are so much more musical than their guitar or piano equivalents, in that they are so capable of playing by ear that writing the sh*t down and posting it on the internet seems a waste of time.[/quote] Its not that; its because, in 99% of cases, its [i]easier [/i] to work out a bass line than it is a guitar of piano part.

Its a pretty easy read, actually. Lots of rock n roll type lines if I recall (did it 15 years ago!!)

Compositing

There are thousands fo cahrts available but finding a recording of a big band chart that you have a recording of can get expensive. I have put several walking basslines on here under theory and technique. Search for Ron Carter, Dave Holland, Milt Hinton, John Patitucci, Ben Wolfe - here's one for starters [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=35493"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=35493[/url]

Professional musician or dole? No brainer. The trouble with your situation is that you know what you want to do but it is not the 'easy route' and it is inevitable that people are going to be put out. One of the hardest lessons we ever learn as human beings is that, sometimes, doing the right thing can upset as many people as doing the wrong thing. Managing such situtaions takes a degree of emotional maturity that some lack. There is a third way. You could stay with your old and but get a dep in for gigs you can't do. I don't know what kind of stuff your 'old' band play but assume that, with a bit of thought, they could find a dep easily enough - especially if they were a reader (charts or dots). There are loads of us in Suffolk so the may be someone on here who can fill in for gigs you can't do. If you want to make music your living, it is pretty much inevitable that you are going to have to have a few irons in the fire at any one time and most professionals are willing and able to accommodate properly prepared deps.

Done. An audience of 200 at a jazz gig? That'll be a festival then

I think its a British thing. We don't tend to tell people of their failings to their faces (but slag them off behind ther backs). I think its actually quite sad because, without that feedback, we are never going to improve. I have looked at several videos and listened to mp3s that I think are weak for one reason or another but I don't see it as my role to critique everything I see/hear on this forum, particularly if I think the material is poor. People don't know me and have no comprehension of the insights I may or may not have into the music, particularly the music [i]they[/i] play as opposed to that which [i]I[/i] play. My posts exist alongside those of several thousand other anonymous avatars and my praise or criticism has no context. Having posted my own recordings here and got a dozen or so positive comments out of 120+ downloads, I can only assume 110 people think 'tosser' . Do I need to actually [i]hear[/i] it to know that's what is being thought? Probably not. Not liking something is different to knowing it is deficient in some objective sense. If I don't like a song, it means nothing. If the player drags, is out of tune etc, then the criticism is legitimate but, the point is, is the person who has posted the recording emotionally mature enough to deal with that kind of criticism? I don't know the answer to that so I leave it alone. If I want a blunt opinion, I will put it on Youtube or Talkbass....