Bilbo

I agree, J. I also think that the nature of the double bass finger board increases the reliance on open strings as a tool and reduces the tendency electric players have of playing set patterns and just moving them up and down a fret to change key. I am finding that the position playing really starts to open up the neck and to reduce the reliance upon licks and learned habits. I think also that there is an element of trust here. Fatback has posted a couple of times questioning 'sacred cows' in the practicing of double bass and, whilst I have no problem with attacks on the status quo, I do feel that this can be a potentially, and I stress potentially, negative approach to utilising a learning method that has a well established record of success. I woudl suggest you work with the established methods and see where they take you. They certainly won't hold you back and may take you to places you would not go otherwise. I would also recommend Neil Tarlton's two books 'Beginning Scales' and 'The Essentials of Sevcik' (Google them) - the second of these is for arco work but I am finding them both to be very useful in breaking down your basic techniques to the essential parts. Not a replacement for Simandl but a valuable supplement.

There are several options and some are likely to be better than others but I would argue (and I am no expert) that whatever you get, for £1K it is not going to be a top class instrument but a useable introduction. If you spend £1K, you will soon hanker for a £3K bass, if you spend £3K, you will want a £5K bass and so on up to five figures and beyond. My research tells me Stentors, Christophers, Thomanns , Zellers, B&H etc are all credible starter instruments and all of them have models in your proce range. I bought my 5 string from Gedo Musik in Germany (£1500) and its working for me. Its not the bass of anyone's dreams but it gigs well and I have no real complaints. Lots of people have tried all of the above models and noone has really trashed any of them so, for my money, I say get one and get playing rather than spend months trying loads out but not getting started (you can hire them for £30 a month, by the way - another option to consider). Is Paula teaching you?

I once read that very young children respond identically to all sorts of music, irrespective of its so called sophistication but, as they develop, we, as a society, unconciously condition them to 'hear' simple stuff more readily than the complex stuff. My advice is to play the most radical extreme stuff of all genres to them so, whatever else happens, they won't have prejudices but informed opinions based on experience.

I've never been to prison.....

Tough one for me as I would have to pick a jazzer and there are so few that actually make a living Guess it would have to be Dave Holland (your own music and all that other fantastic stuff) or John Patitucci (same)?

Three works performed at a PRS licenced venue would, I assume, include three tunes played at any old pub in any old town as long as it is PRS registered? Is that correct? I t may be worth me registering (and would be a massive boost to my ego even if I never earned a penny )

[quote name='Earbrass' post='1050341' date='Dec 7 2010, 11:25 AM']Hmmmm.....how fit are these teenagers?[/quote] Thunk (Bilbo's forehead hitting the desk.....)......

I am the only one who noticed that Sentric is an anagram of Cretins?

I have never worried much about PRS as I write jazz tunes that noone ever plays but me (and then noone is listening so who cares). But, when it did matter (in 1981), I was led to believe that there was some rule about having had to have had 30 minutes of your music played on the radio or tv to make you eligible for membership of PRS or something like that. Is that not the case? (I got that piece of advice off a wino outside a pub in Pill, Newport - it was called The Frontline because of the drive by shootings)

I agree that the merits on working with the bow for the purposes discussed are very real. I don't think you need to spend 6 hours a day with it to reap rewards if you are nott looking to a classical career. Half an hour is enough. What I do think is important, and this is the wisdom of an Ancient which learners would do well to heed, is the value of regular [i]sustained[/i] investment in core skills like learning to read, running through rudimentary motor skills, repeated scales and arpeggios and tedious stuff like string crossing exercises etc. These are [i]far more [/i]use than hours spent learning party tricks like two handed tapping and double thumbing (although that is actually a relatively easy trick to learn). Spending 8 hours a day 'practising' what amounts to licks and tricks on the bass is a great thing to wave around in conversation but it is actually an inefficient use of time. Two hours a day (most days, not every day) of [i]susutained and targetted [/i]practice is far more use in your development. Working with the bow covers a range of disciplines and forces those of us who are seeking to make the transition from electric to double bass to focus on playing this new and wonderful instrument properly and not 'getting by' with what we can bring from the electric. The best way to prioritise your practice time is to do what you [i]need[/i] to do to get better and not what you [i]want[/i] to do because it supports your delusions about how good you are. The problem with the route I recommend is that the rewards are deferred for months if not years whereas learning a Wooten lick can get you a 'wow' at a jam session much more quickly. You need to ask yourself what you want to be; a musician or a circus act, someone who workd as a player for the rest of their life or someone who is legendary amongst a small circle of impressionalbe teenagers. If you want to play the double bass properly, get bowing.

It wasn't Carol Kaye on Pet Sounds. It was me.

I thinik it depends what the techniques in question are for. I find some, such as double thumbing and tapping, almost entirely gratuitous and of little intrinsic musical value. I can slap enough to get by but have never really felt the need to develop the technique to the Miller/Wooten level, primarily because, after a momentary 'wow' moment, I find I don't actually [i]like[/i] the music played using this technique. Same with tapping. I got Jeff Berlin's Motherlode and some of Stu Hamms Radio Free Albemuth stuff sorted but never really felt it was anything other than a party trick and consequently stopped developing it. It certainly isn't a 'core competence'. As for plectrums, in terms of my own playing and the music I play, I find that I don't like the sound very much so an not a user (I do play guitar with one so its not that I can't....). Having said that, I love Chris Squire and Steve Swallow who both use icks. But, for me, I work on other things. But arco double bass. Now [i]That's[/i] a sound I can use!!!

Been using a Metro for over 10 years in rock, jazz, blues, funk, big band, shows, latin - it has never let me down and always sounds great (If it doesn't, its usually me being lazy or complacent with eq and not any failing on the part of the amp )

I'm fillin' up Its great to see so many people 'getting it' at last. Its not about doing a reading gig, its about gettin g more out of your practice time, learning the neck, learning to play without looking at your hands (and without poking your tongue out), about relationships between notes and strings and chords and tunes and melodies and harmony and rhythm. Its brill and I wish I could do it better!

We do a bossa nova version of 'How Deep Is Your Love' which always makes me smile inside.

A bit crap last night. The band couldn't find its groove, punters were at the ambivalent side of appreciative but probably picked up on our feelings on the less that exemplary offerings. Still, noone died, noone quit and we are there New Years Eve for another crack at it (and some rehearsals between now and then).

I have to agree the 'one' is 'Summer Nights' from Grease. Every generation is up for it. What about 'You Can't Hurry Love'? Supremes or Collins versions. And what about Bach's 'Air On A G String'? Or 'Mars' from Holst's 'The Planet Suite'? Or the 'shark theme' from 'Jaws'? - two notes and everyone is on board

Note values are indicated by the stem. Semibreve = whole bar* Minim = half a bar* Crotchet = quarter Quaver = eighth of a bar Semi Quaver = sixteenth Hemi Semi Quaver = 32nd (rarely seen) Hemi Demi Semi Quaver = 64th (I've never seen one) *(fixed 11.2.11)

They don't seem to have Astor Piazolla's 'Libertango'. Or any decent jazz for that matter. Must be 'for lightweights only'.

Not played one but I think it is important to note that double basses are a whole dfferent ball game to electrics and there is no 'standard'. Two basses made by the sme person will be different. This bass is a better quality beginners bass and is probably as good as any other for that price. Personally, I would say go for it and worry about getting the bass of your dreams later on when you are able to play the thing and know what the better basses are about. I bought my bass mail order and its fine (Gedo Musik Germany £1,400). Its not as good as a really good bass but it is perfectly good to learn and gig on. I know all of the arguments about playing the bass first etc but, in the real world where I live, I couldn't afford to spend £600 driving all over the UK trying out basses so just jumped in and bought one that had an ok reputation. I don't regret it.

Found another one! Produced by Paul Gray of The Damned

Westbourne Sports College in Ipswich (wherever the hell that is!!)

1982 2009

Some courageous stuff on there, Jase. Good to hear it.