Bilbo

Every decade, whether I need to or not...... Hate new strings. All clanky.

Just listening to 'Miles Ahead', the first Gil Evans/Miles Davis collaboration. Great, great stuff.

All good advice. My only beef with all of this info on Latin bass playing is that there doesn't seem to be much of a market for the equivalent 'Latin Drumming'. I got the Goines/Ammen book a decade ago but have rarely come across a drummer who was able to go there with me!!

[quote name='bob_pickard' post='886234' date='Jul 5 2010, 12:54 PM']Well Done Bilbo! I'll be joining you in a few weeks - Gedo's stuff looks great but what made you choose them over Thomann etc etc?[/quote] The fully carved bit was part of it (Thomann's 5 strings are laminate if I recall correctly), as was the fact that they are Czech not Chinese. 27frets was also very positive about his Gedo bass and we discussed it at length. Add a two year guarantee that would not be available with a private sale and I was sold. My personal view, and it is no more than that, was that I could agonise over getting the perfect bass and tie myself on knots seeking the holy grail of basses or I could get a sense of what I want and then go for it. I believe that I learn to play the basses and guitars I buy rather than expecting them to 'fit me'. Endless tweaking of action and string size etc have always struck me as of limited value. I spend time with my instruments in order to make the minute adjustments I need to make making music possible. Its not an easy task and I don't think it will be significantly easier if I get this instrument over that one. Two basses and 5 guitars later, I have never been disappointed. The basses that have come and gone have done so primarily because they are fretted.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='885802' date='Jul 4 2010, 08:59 PM']I'm sold, I just hope my recent left wrist scratchy feeling isn't going to turn into anything serious, I'm going to call the GP about it tomorrow. [/quote] Have you had a lesson? I had really bad problems in teh past but one lesson with Jakesbass and I have had no trouble since. Worth it as a preventative measure?

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='885824' date='Jul 4 2010, 09:16 PM']I would be very nervous of using a high C string, I'd assume it would be so weedy it would need a very confident player to make the most of it.[/quote] Interestingly, and this was one of the things Bernie mentioned when we discussed the option, the notes on the high C ring truer than the same notes higher up on the G string, much the same as when you play notes on the G string that also appear higher up the D. It doesn't sound thin at all. Will be even better with the Evah's (had to source a Evah High C from the US, though (Quinn Violins)!!)

After nearly seven months of research (soome of you here have contributed to this), I finally got myself my very own double bass. I listened to the arguments from everyone about trying thousands of instruments, preferably old ones, and all of the horror stories about the various pitfalls everyone has heard about. I also listened to the 'just do it' brigade, spoke to luthiers, dealers, players etc and looked all over the net for advice and guidance. And then I made my decision. I bought one from Gedo Musik in Germany. Get this: its a five string (high C). I looked at several others and was attracted to the idea of a 5 string and, luckily enough, the no.1 call guy for jazz in the area where I live is a 5 string player (Bernie Hodgkins) so we talked and he convinced my that my reservations were unwarranted and so I just went for it. It cost 1,700 euros (£1350 +p+p) and it all came in at £1,458 (inc. bow and case). Here is a link to the bass at the on-line store. [url="http://www.gedo-musik.de/shop/product.php?id_product=177"]http://www.gedo-musik.de/shop/product.php?id_product=177[/url] Only concern is the usual strings issue and I have some Evah Pirazzi's on order but I gigged with the bass today (two sets in a piano/sax/bass trio) and it sounded great (my playing was a bit clumpy but I had only 30 minutes practice on the instrument before I got to gig it so I can't complain). Couple of dodgy moments with the high C but nothing grave. Ok, its not an Italian bass but the instrument is a Czech made, fully carved bit of kit with ebony fingerboard (the neck is two octaves and a whole tone long (equivalent of 26 frets). That means my range is from low E to D a whole tone short of 4 octaves higher . Gets me well into the cellos range so I am going to spend some time working on the arco stuff - I have a French and German bow available to me so will spend some time with each to ascertain which type works for me (I have at last found an arco teacher locally - cellist by trade but also plays DB). The build quality is very good and I am happy with the purchase - its not a dream bass by any standards but, for a beginner like me, I could ask for no more on my available budget. I will get some photos up as soon as I can.

I agree completely. Now I am a double bass player, everything else seems shallow. I can get more notes out of the electric but the presence of the double bass is so much greater, it is profoundlyu engaging for me as a player. I am crap at it at the moment and can barely string a phrase together but it feels like a rebirth. Marvellous.

Got about 5 things on the go at the moment. Jeff Berlin's 'Joe Frazier' (main theme only - can't be bothered with the rest) and 'Palewell Park', Dave Holland's part on Kenny Wheeler's 'Music for Large Ensemble' and a couple of other odds and sods.

Kudos to you (and others), Peter. I got a chance to check the recordings (why am I unable to take other people's word for it? ) and have to agree that it is a D not an E. I suspect the 'that's how it was in the fake books' explanation is the most likely. The good thing is that I can now play it on the double bass much more easily than I could an octave down! Now can someone convince me that All Blues is in A :lo:?

Same happened to me years ago. Did a session for a producer in Risca (S. Wales), playing bass on a very raw track (just drums and keys) and then went away. Couple of years later, I was played a track by a [i]different[/i] producer and asked what I thought of the bass player. 'solid enough but nothing remarkable'. He laughed. Of course, it was me. The producer had addded layers of stuff and I just hadn't recognised any elements of the original track.

John Taylor's 'Angel of the Presence

That's the wonder of it. You never stop learning. The further you get in understanding the stuff, the further away the horizon gets. The secret is not to try to learn it all but to learn what you need to be you.

I have an article in an old Double Bassist magazine that suggests that the mic should be about five feet above the ground about five feet in front of the bass, pointing downwards at the bass (the instrument is meant to project so the best sound is not at the bass itself - remember bass frequencies have a long wave cycle so too near and you will lose a lot). Trouble with this is you will have a lot of potential difficulties with ambient noise if others are playing too. My own recordings are done with a Rode NT1-A about 12" in front of the bridge - the sound is warm and full - but that will obviously depend on your bass. The 'mic in a towel wedged in the bridge' idea zero9 suggests was used by Rudy Gelder in experiments with Paul Chambers on all those 50s Blue Note recordings so it may be worth a try. IME, its all about experimenting as the different mics/basses/techniques will impact on the sound captured.

The biggest problem with playing bebop is not in playing that fast but in THINKING that fast. It takes practice, nothing more and nothing less

These shred fests just don't do anything for me any more (I used to buy it wholesale). I can appreciate the technical skills in evidence but, as they often say of acting, if you can see it, it isn't very good! Watch Joan Hickson as Miss Marple. No acting in evidence: she IS Marple. Find me a bass player that plays like these two but who doesn't draw attention to him/herself and you will have found a diamond.

I have to defer to your obvious knowledge but, by my reckoning, if the first note is D, the tune is in Cm, not Dm. I'm off to check!!

Derren - sorry if my humour was thought to be undermining. It is a long standing tradition here that, if anyone mentions Moondance, I have to intervene disparagingly - its my job Whilst I can see the arguments for the 'crossover' appeal of Moondance, like Fever, Watermelon Man, Mercy, Mercy, Mercy and several other 'evergreens that aren't', it gets requested almost every time you play a gig. These tunes are almost universally crucified at gigs and their shortcomings as compositions quickly become apparent - they are heard often because they are easy to replicate, not because they are any good. As a staunch advocate for the beautiful music that is jazz, I believe it is the responsible thing to do to draw attention to the fact that stuff like Moondance is pseudo jazz and only that. I will not advocate for mediocrity in place of quality. Moondance is objectively (and subjectvley) poorly written, poorly played and a pale imitation of all that is good about jazz. If people like it, so be it, but people like X Factor, Eastenders and daytime TV - doesn't make it any good. Its appeal is based on ignorance and ignorance should be challenged - not because we are snobs but because our 30 years of experience give us a greater pool of knowledge on which to draw. If that makes me a snob, then every teacher in the world who seeks to enlighten their students is a snob. Our approach is mischievious but the message is the same. This is low grade stuff - there are richer pickings out there.

[quote name='Major-Minor' post='879921' date='Jun 28 2010, 02:47 PM']This is gonna sound very pedantic ! BUT This hand written copy has several mistakes (assuming you want to get somewhere close to the original). Apart from the fact it should be written, as Jennifer has pointed out, an octave higher for a bass player to read (ie sounding an octave lower), the very first note (and of each repeat of this phrase) should be a D. And when it modulates to Eb minor, again the first note of the phrase is Eb (not F). Of course there is nothing wrong with varying your own version away from the original (I do it all the time on this tune), but I think it helps to get it right to start with. The Major[/quote] This is written an octave higher than it is played by most of us, Pete. I have always played it exactly as it is written here and the first note of the riff played this way is the lowest E on the bass. The main riff ends on the D that is the key centre of the first 16 bars (E A B C D E C D - 'soooo what'). I have a video of PC playing this - I will check it out when I get a chance but I recall he does play it higher up the neck that I do (I guess he wins that argument). I also agree that the first note of the riff in the middle 8 in Eb is F not Eb. I guess I could be wrong but, if I am, its a 28 year mistake that has never been corrected by anyone! NB - the recording of the original So What was recorded on two tape recorders simultaneously. One of them was set incorrectly. Noone noticed and the 'wrong' version went out on the original release of the recording sounding out of tune (a quarter tone too sharp).

I saw it and found it disappointing. I agree that the tv speaker thing didn't help and whoever mixed it for tv needs a talking to but I found the whole thing steeped in nostalgia and very little else. 6/10

Always wanted one of these but that colour is rancid!!!

All these standards are pretty much Jazz 101. The dorian minor is the way to go on So What, as Doddy says but, as was also said, you will lose the form every now and then (we all did it...). Just look to the pianist for the cue to go to Eb. As for Moondance; don't worry. You can't polish that turd.....

I have used Rotosound Solo Bass strings on a fretless Wal for 24 years with no wear (ebony board so that helps). Here they are in action over the last 10 years (same set of strings for most of them). [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=42836&hl=wal+street+crash"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...al+street+crash[/url] [url="http://www.myspace.com/bilbopalmer"]http://www.myspace.com/bilbopalmer[/url]

A great source of several standards in the keys in which they appear in real books are the Miles Davis cds 'workin', steamin', 'relaxin' and 'cookin'. Paul Chambers is a very stable bassist (he had lessons with Ray Brown, Jake) and doesn't break it up veryu much so his lines are generally very logical and easy to follow. Three of them are here for less than £5 [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Workin-Relaxin-Steamin-Miles-Davis/dp/B001F4YTMA/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_2"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Workin-Relaxin-Ste...f=pd_rhf_shvl_2[/url]

Watch it, missus! You are already better qualified than me