Bilbo

I think it depends on which aspect of the process you are focussing on. If you are at the note recognition stage, it may be of limited use as, at this stage, it is more important to get the note right than to readin it 'in time'. If you are at the reading rhythms stage, I would say it may or may not be useful depending on what level you are at and whether you are reading complex rhythms over several bars or just one bar of eighth notes. If you are at the stage where you are trying to bring it all together as a professional skill, I would say that a metronome has value in that it does place a discipline on you to 'keep going at all costs', as you would if you were on a gig.

To me, an 'advanced' teacher should know everything there is to know about harmony, melody and rhythm. In short, if I go to a teacher, it is to find stuff out and if they don't know it, how can they be advanced? Now, having said that, I think it is important to acknowledge that you can use different teachers for different aspects of your playing. If you want to learn about jazz, you may want to seek a bass playing teacher if you want to learn about walking bass lines but, if you want to know advanced harmony, you may be better off looking up a pianist. Do you want to learn groove playing, ear training, improvisation - each area could require a different teacher. There is, of course, the argument that a well rounded teacher may not have the superficial chops that some of us here can throw around at a Bass Bash but may be far more in tune with the fundamentals of playing and can nail those gaps that us self taught players ineveitably have. In his biography, one of Ron Carter's students, some guy called Victor Bailey, tells of his first lesson with Carter and describes being asked to play an F. Not an F arpeggio or an F scale. Just an F; a single note. And the lesson starts from there. Is your lesson one of a weekly series over years or a one off masterclass to nail a specific flaw in your playing? All of these scenarios may mean you want a different teacher. When I had a lesson off Jake, I didn't need him to tell me what scale to play over an F7b9, I needed him to show me how to hold the thing and get a note out of it without busting a blood vessel! If I want lessons in advanced arco playing, I know Jake would recommend another teacher more familiar with that kind of playing. Its horses for courses. What I do fear is that people who can play some VIctor Wooten tricks think that this makes them advanced players (I know when I naield a few Jaco and Jeff Berlin things I thought I was the dogs... 20 years later I STILL can't get through a 12-bar blues in F to my own satisfaction). But the 'advanced' tag on a teachers advertisement is like the 'new and improved' tag on any other product. Its a sales trick to lure you into parting with your moolah. It is more important that you make sure that the teacher can teach you that which you wish to learn.

These learninig tools make me laugh!!! Its got to be easier just to learn them by rote than to remember these formulas!!

Just get a bag of spanners and throw them down the stairs. Save yourself a lot of time OK!!! OK!!! I was joking

Someone oncetold my kid brother; 'play as fast as you can, not as fast as you can't' I go t'other way round, Doddy!! C no flats, up a fourth, (f one flat), up a fourth (Bb two flats), up a fourth (Eb three flats), up a fourth (Ab four flats), up a fourth (Db 5 flats) Or C DOWN a fourth (G one sharp), DOWN a foourth (D two sharps) and so on....

Yuk!!

[quote name='Davo-London' post='992887' date='Oct 18 2010, 10:41 PM']Relayer was the last Yes album that counts in my opinion.[/quote] No fair!! I loved both Going for the One and Tormato and even liked Drama a lot more than I expected to when I heard the 'Buggles' news but, I agree, 90125 was a bit too mainstream for my tastes.

I have a K&K Sound Double Big Twin Upright Bass Pickup (£70ish) which sticks to the underside of the bridge (see pic attached) and its ok but I am thinking of a Plat Pro to help manage the sound at higher volumes (which I rarely require). It is interesting to add that, as my double bass is a five-string, I have to stick the pads under [i]the gaps between the strings [/i]and not under the strings as per instructed (they have since introduced a 5 string model but I am not going to buy it as I would probably prefer to wait until I can afford an upgrade). [url="http://www.gollihurmusic.com/product/1426-KANDK_SOUND_DOUBLE_BIG_TWIN_UPRIGHT_BASS_PICKUP.html"]K&K DBASS_PICKUP[/url]

Keep 'em coming, Jake. Its all good reading practice (instead of tedious repetitive Simandl exercises!!!)

Always found Sanborn to be a bit of a lightweight. Great production values and some good players etc but no depth.

Got a budget in mind, as this will determine your options? The more money you, have the more options.

I have actually reached the point where I won't work with some people because of these kinds of problems. If a player makes rudimentary mistakes, I will tell them. If they don't 'deal with it', I won't book them again or take a gig that they are on. There are plenty of good players around so I don't need to book those that can't deliver a musical performance. I have done too many bad gigs 'for the money' and my self esteem has been undermined by it so I decided to take affirmative action. Less gigs but better quality music. I win!

This is a tune off the Wynton Marsalis Septet 'Live at the Village Vanguard' 7 cd boxed set. Its a blues in C. The tune is on Spotify if you don't want to buy it but I urge you all to go to iTunes where you can get this 7 CD boxed set as a 63 tune download for £8.99!! (Watch it, though as there are compilations of the 63 songs for the same price. Make sure its the full set you are getting for £9). Its a great set by a great band at a phenomenal price. The line is by Ben Wolfe (Reginald Veal plays on most of the tunes) and its a straight swinging blues (which is is what I am looking at now as I need to nail straight time playing on the double bass as a stamina building exercise). Its also an easy read, which is nice!

Another guitar! I swapped an Ibanez AR300 solid body guitar in the mid 1980s and still regret it. Wish I could get it back but I have no idea where it is!!

First jazz gig I ever had was a Leeds graduate (Dick Hamer - Cardiff). Great player and even better mentor to young players.

[quote name='lowdown' post='989147' date='Oct 15 2010, 01:13 PM']I see you got hold of it then.... Garry[/quote] Yeah. Downloaded it last month. Its pretty.

I got a great sound recording with a mic (Rode NT1A) just in front/off centre to the bridge. My big issue, which is such an important part of this, is the getting of the best sound you can with your hands! I find that, when I start playing, I can be a bit inconsistent but, as I carry on, it tightens up, improving the sound greatly, before, a while later, the hand positions collapse with fatigue and the sound quality goes with it. Its all about building up the stamina. Gettign a good sound that is consistent over an evenings performance is my goal. All my (K&K) pick up is really doing is amplifying the inconsistencies in my playing!!

Something like Keith Jarrett and Charlie Haden's 'Jasmine' cd.

[quote name='lojo' post='988335' date='Oct 14 2010, 07:33 PM']I guess its like me not wanting to play mustang sally, but amplified greatly in your case to cover alot more music[/quote] Exactly.

[quote name='crez5150' post='988314' date='Oct 14 2010, 07:15 PM']I write loads of original songs and instrumentals, spend hours recording.... I never perform any of it live though cause I'm too busy with my function band playing covers[/quote] That sooooo sucks. But that's what the Macdonaldsisation of music has done to us all.

You are wrong, but not for the reasons you think. When I gig with a function band and play something that involves straight root note quavers and its locked in, I get a little buzz, the same as everyone else. But I have been doing this for 30+ years and that little buzz is not enough and hasn't been for a long, long time. Its better than nothing but its like watching the same movie 1,000 times. Even if you like the story, knowing the outcome limits the pleasure gleaned. Its like those old records that you used to love. You still love them but familiarity breeds its own ambivalence and you like to listen to them less and less frequently. I find most covers, particularly the usual crowd pleasers, are in that area; uninspiring through overuse. When you find yourself doing something fresh, inventive, provocative and intense, the buzz is that much greater.

[quote name='lojo' post='988265' date='Oct 14 2010, 06:41 PM']music does not become obsolete when the original artist has stopped gigging or is to massive to see play live in the local bar[/quote] Yes, it does

Words? I write instrumental music that never gets performed. The music I play live is generally the same sh*te everyone else does! So its Lerner and Loewe, Jerome Kern, Hoagy Carmichael, George Gershwin, Sammy Cahn, Stevie Wonder.......

The 'I haven't got time' argument is an interesting one! My own take on it is similar. I haven't got time to spend learning how to play Victor Wootenesque party pieces of no intrinsic value. I am going to die one day and would rather leave a single original song/piece of music than go to my maker knowing I nailed 'Rhythm Stick'..... So I spend my limited time (I am not a pro and have a day job) exploring composition and improvistaion, not learning other people's stuff. I also think that 'learining new techniques' by playing other people's music is legitimate but there is an argument that this is what practice time is for not performance time. I have always learned bits of other people's stuff to explore new techniques/concepts, we all do, but these never appear in covers as most of that stuff was stuff I processed up to 30 years or more ago. PS In case anyone doesn't get where I am coming from, I argue these points as an ideal to aspire to and not as a model to which I am able to adhere. Please don't make the mistake of taking me too seriously. Even I don't do that!!

[quote name='Legion' post='987972' date='Oct 14 2010, 12:52 PM']What I want to know is when I click on "View [b]New[/b] Posts" why does this one keep appearing...[/quote] Because it matters more to some of us than which batteries people use in their pedals.