Bilbo

A few recordings we did to produce a demo for getting function band gigs (hence the short tunes and excerpts). The band played together once and hadn't played three of these tunes together before this session (which took 3 1/2 hours). The piano player is singing. I am on double bass on all but Black Friday (the Wal). The 'studio' was someone's front room and this was all done using Cubase and with the double bass DI'd using a K&K pick up (the Wal went straight in) . Guerilla recording!! I have to say, I am really happy with the results; no two handed tapping, no double thumbing, nothing flash, just journeyman bass playing. Oh, and I have called the band Whither Then?

Hi, Mike. Its a nightmare, isn't it? I have tried this one on and off for years and have never got anywhere near anything credible on solos and even disappoint myself on the basic walking lines! Despite the mistakes, your efforts are certainly better than anything I can pull off and you have, at the very least, inspired me to try again!!

[quote name='silddx' post='1097701' date='Jan 21 2011, 03:54 PM']Frank Zappa[/quote] He isn't dead. He just smells funny.

John Scofield

ALways fingers, never pick. It's not prejudice because that is defined as an 'unfavourable opinion formed beforehand without knowledge thought or reason'. I played pick for two years when I played heavy metal and then realised (gained the knowledge) that the sound pretty much sucks (reason) and that the bass sounded better (fuller/warmer) with fingers. I get that people like a pick to play some musics but I almost invariably don't like those genres (punk, thrash metal etc) and only really play music which invariably sounds better with fingers rather then pick. I love Steve Swallow, who only uses a pick, I love Anthony Jackson, but not when he uses a pick, I love Chris Squire who only uses a pick etc.. so I am completely hypocritical. But, as the OP implies, this is about ME and I don't use one ever by choice (except when I play guitar, where, having spent time working on Al DiMeola's methods, I have a better picking technique than most guitarists )

Keep it [i]musical[/i] Sometimes that means simple. Sometimes it doesn't. 'Being a bass player means getting off on making other people sound good' - Robert Hurst III (Branford and Wynton Marsalis). It takes what it takes. If the part screams sixteenth note unison lines, then nail it. It its minims, nail it. If its triplet 5's against 4, nail it. Play the music, not the instrument. The more I study music, the more the notes matter and the less important the instruments and players are. Serve the music not the id.

[quote name='TheRev' post='1096615' date='Jan 20 2011, 05:55 PM']Moondance? [/quote] He said jazz standards not [size=7]unmitigated drivel[/size].....

[quote name='morsefull' post='1095678' date='Jan 19 2011, 09:16 PM']Who would've thought it. I've just learn't the first part of "So what" including a walking bassline. Until the chord changes threw me off![/quote] THe tune consists of 4x8 bar section, three of which are D minor/dorian and the 4th Eb minor /Eb dorian Dm/// //// Dm/// //// Ebm/// //// Dm/// //// (/=one bar of 4:4) Impressions is exactly the same changes but played faster

Little Sunflower, So What, Impressions, Song For My Father, Canteloupe Island, Watermelon Man, C-Jam Blues - 4 minutes each and you're home and dry!! Personally, I have seen any one of these last the full 30 minutes

[url="http://www.good-ear.com/servlet/EarTrainer"]http://www.good-ear.com/servlet/EarTrainer[/url] Found another free one that you can use on-line. Got me hooked!

[quote name='cetera' post='1094092' date='Jan 18 2011, 05:04 PM']OK, I'm not convinced that you possess 'THE ROCK' [i]anymore[/i]! [/quote] I possess it. Its under the bed, gathering fluff.

Scroll through the Theory and Technique forum here and you will find loads of charts for reading. I have posted a few dozen and other have also so you should find plenty of material to practise on. Remember, you are trying to learn to read, not to play so make sure that is what you are doing during your practice time. Tab is no help in learning to read as it does the work for you instead of you developing the rskills/knowledge required to handle the process yourself.

Its the first chart in Standing in the Shadows of Motown. Where have you guys been?

[quote name='cetera' post='1093777' date='Jan 18 2011, 01:20 PM']Sorry Bilbo.... I'm not convinced that you possess "the ROCK"! [/quote] Post 41..... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=111549&st=40"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=111549&st=40[/url]

Or you could just not bother because, when you have finally nailed it, you will never play it again, except at music fairs, bassdays and when trying out basses in shops. Spend the time learning to read music instead.

Can't help with your specific problem (haven't got a bass with me) but I wanted to add that you do not need a fretless to play Portrait of Tracy. It is, in fact, marginally easier on a fretted. Continuum would sound better on a fretless but, for PoT, fretlessness is all but irrelevant.

That Dave Grusin version is stunning. Have had three copies and given two away as gifts!

Me me me......

I would get the cd because it is a great show and being able to get a handle on the tunes is a bonus. Or go to Spotify. IME, its not that unusual to get the charts AT the dress rehearsal and not in advance. Its not brain surgery; noone is going to die....

In my global moderator role, I have just merged 5 seperate Jakesbass feedback threads so this is now 5 pages long. I just want to add something that I have not mentioned that needs to be said. Some of you may know that I had long had amental block where the double bass was concerned having had a previous run in with the instrument that resulted in a hanmd injury. Amongst other things, I got into a discussion with Jake about what some of the issues may have been and I decided I would consider having another go. I was contemplating how to get hold of an instrument with a budget of fourpence ha'pennny when, get this, in an unsolicited PM, Jake offered to lend me a £3,000 double bass for six months to see how I get on. I also had a lesson with him when I picked it up (see above) which allowed me to regain my momentumon the instrument without any damage to my hands/arms. Now, this act of generosity has set me up with a whole new passion in music and I am looking forward to learning more and taking my playing in a new direction. But what made me even more grateful for the loan was the fact that, when he made the offer of the loan, Jake didn't know me; we had never met, spoken, seen each other play or anything else. Our only connection was a couple of mutual acquaintances on the Cardiff jazz scene (we both spent time there but at different times in our playing careers). Other than that, our only contact was here on Basschat. So, once again, kudos to Jake for his natural teaching skills, generosity in both spirit and action and an unreserved recommendation to anyone who is looking to improve. I will forever be grateful to him. And, while I am at it, I also have to acknowledge the fact that he occasionally tempers my worst excesses in posts here with his reasonable and reasoned responses. I promise I will not hold that against him

Jake rocks. If you are close enough to Aldershot and want lessons, you would be lucky to find anyone better. After 28 years on electric, around 12 months ago, with some targetted intervention, he gave me the gift of a whole new instrument (the double bass) and I have been gigging on it since March 2010. Still learning to get the most out of the thing and learninig the ropes but I can confidently say I can play the thing now and it has opened up a world of new music for me that was previously unavailable. Now THAT was money well spent..

They are all as good as each other, zdb. The fact is that learning the dots is actually pretty easy (a few days work). The process of learning how to recognise them in real time and convert them into hand movements and music is what takes forever. And there is no easy way of doing it other than thousands of hours of tedious practice. Ususal books mentioned include Rufus Reid's The Evolving Bassist and Ray Brown's book but there are loads of 'how to read music' books out there and, with support, you can make sense of it easily enough. Where are you in Essex? I am in Felixstowe if you want some pointers (but only if you bring the Flamboyant 6 ).

These feature heavily in the early years of Latin Jazz. I know Paul Chambers was thinking of getting one a couple of weeks before he passed away.

Learn to read music...... Iain Ballamy 1999

If you work on the principle that there are 12 notes available and 7 in most scales, you have a better than 50/50 chance of hitting a 'right' note even by accident. Silddx's ear probably improves that to an 80% chance of not being technically 'wrong' but, I have to say, having been doing this for 30 years, it will eventually feel like a shallow victory. Of course good things can happen by accident; monkeys, typewriters and Shakespeare come to mind. But, if you want to do this right, you need to know your intentions and how YOUR lines relate to the rest of the ensemble. If you are plonking around randomly, it will only ever be 'nearly but not quite'.