Bilbo

After a great year in 2008 (120), 2009 was a bit of a let down with only 52. The people I work with lost three residencies to the recession (two venues stopped having bands and one went bust). One of them has restarted albeit fortnightly instead of weekly but the other two are dead in the water. Its given me a reason the revisit the double bass (to try and get more jazz work) and a little more practice time but here's hoping 2010 picks up.

Band in a Box may be useful. Its not great but as a sketch pad, it can be quite effective in allowing you to put in chord sequences and hearing them with different feels. The samples are weak and the rock stuff particularly poor but, as I said, as a sketch pad, it has merit.

That'll be a Chapman Stick, won't it?

Most Western jazz harmony comes from six scales: major, natural minor, harmonic minor, melodic minor, diminished and augmented. In VERY simplistic terms, chords are genrally built around alternate notes on each of those scales e.g. 1,3,5,7,9,11,13 C Major scale = CDEFGABC so 1357 is CEGB = a major seventh c Natural Minor = CDEbFGAbBbC so 1357 is CEbGBb = minor seventh c Harmonic minor = CDEbFGAbBC so 1357 is CEbGB = minor/major seventh and so on. Its a massive subject (especially when you get into voicings and inversions) but the principles are quite simple. I woudl recommend you get in touch with someone who knows this stuff and get some 1:1 time.

You can also get a C-melody saxophone, whatever that is!

[quote name='silddx' post='680207' date='Dec 10 2009, 01:19 PM']Damped pick tone is almost impossible with fingers though.[/quote] Damp the strings with the side of your palm and pick with the side of your thumb. Works for me

[quote name='Rich' post='680244' date='Dec 10 2009, 01:49 PM']Do we as bassists have a reputation of generally hating picks or something?[/quote] Probably. But I think the important thing to remember is the music. The sounds we make and their relationship with the other notes/sounds being played at a given moment in the music is what should define the ways we execute our ideas. One of the main problems with bass, guitars and drums is that we can all be distracted by the ACT of playing rather than its PURPOSE. We are impressed by the PROCESS rather than the OUTCOME. I haven't used a pick since I developed the facility to do without but my favourite electric player, Steve Swallow, uses on all of the time. The producer who asked Rich to play with a pick was doing his job; producing i.e. what will make the music better rather than what makes the bass player feel more comfortable.

I am trying to look this up (saddo that I am) and can't find a definitive answer but it appears that it evolved rather than happened. Early instruments appear to have been variable in pitch but a common phenomenon appears to have been pentatonics (a Chinese discovery originally). Early keyboards would have had all white notes but, as musicians 'discovered' other notes, they added them one at a time calling them sharps or flats etc. Tempered scales came later but I guess noone woke up one day and said 'lets call this easy one C' but it evolved over centuries and across continents to what we call the tempered scale today. All of this is a Western phenomenon and other culltures have different notes/scales etc. In short, it was unintentional.

47 - old? From where I am standing it looks, errrr, next.....

To be blunt - a lesson is a lesson not a gig - you should not have to 'impress' your teacher with astonishing displays of technique (if you can, he probably isn't the right teacher - arguable) and any teacher who requires you to start a lesson with Donna Lee etc is clearly a prat. You should be able to warm up perfectly adequately by a few hand stretches as you go in through the front door of your teachers house/shop/studio or by a few moments of simple, comfortable playing. I know its a temptation to try and impress your teacher but if s/he is worth their salt, you will a, almost certainly fail, b, make yourself look immature and c, waste half your lesson showimg off what you know and learning nothing (which was, after all, the point of you going to the teacher in the first place).

Its arbitrary. The note is 'first' because the key is routinely taught first because it has no sharps or flats i.e. the major scale is made up of the white notes on a piano. Its the easiest to read if you are learning to read music as it has no key signature (as does its relative minor, A). Otherwise its cyclical; there is no 'first'. I suspect that, historically, it all 'starts' with A minor rather than C? Lefty may know - its all Greek to him....

Its getting easier slowly. That low F is still a toughie but even that is coming along as I get more evenly balanced in the left hand fingering. The buzz is not in the results you hear per se but in the fact that I can do all that without any tears! So far, so good!

I had my first double bass lesson with Jakesbass last Saturday, the same day I got the bass. I got the instrument home and left it alone for a day due to other pressures. On Monday night, 7th Dec, I spent an hour working on the material Jake provided me with and made some immediate progress. For me, as I have said before on here, one of the barriers to my playing the upright related to difficulties I was having with pain in my hands which prevented me playing for more than a few minutes at a time. With Jake's help, even after one day, I was able to do things that I couldn't do before and was able to see improvements from when I last tried 8 years ago (ish). After three days practicinf, (in reality, three hours in total) I was able to play a rudimentary solo bass piece (mostly on the D and G strings, to be fair but not entirely) for over 4 minutes without any difficulties and with no residual pain in my left hand (or my right). I recorded some short improvisations on day one and day three which, despite their obvious shortcomings (weak intonation, clumsy phrasing, lots of extraneous noise etc), are startling, when compared to where I was last time I tried. And all with no pain or strain. I have a long, long way to go and have to remain focussed on the little details for some time yet but I wanted to share my new found enthusiasm and excitement at starting this journey. The message? Never underestimate the benefits of a good teacher! Hoever good you think you are, some small direction from an experienced colleague can make a massive difference.

Use the whole neck as and when it is required - otherwise its like saying 'only use A to H when you write' or 'only words of one syllable' when you speak. Stay at the deep end if your instincts tell you its the musical thing to do but not because the other end is scary or complicated - that's just advocating ignorance.

I think it all depends on the circumstances. As a jazzer, I am not actually 'in' most of the bands I play with so, if I am booked alongside a musician who I don't 'like' personally, I only have to behave for one evening. In truth, there are very few people who I can't get along with on a civilised level but, then again, in these circles you are generally playing with intelligent people who are interested in the music and are sufficiently humble to know that we all have a lot to learn and a long way to go before we can start badmouthing/looking down on other players. I know I am generalising but, in jazz, you don't get the arrogance that you sometimes see in some popular music genres. We could all use a little humility (I have more than most....)

Its less complicated than that, Jake. You listened to what I had to say and responded to the issues of concern that I raised. Instead of coming at it from a sterile 'this is what you have to learn' angle, you came at it from a 'this is what Bilbo needs to do to solve his problems' perspective. Communication is always a two way street but you listen as much as, if not more than, you speak - unlike me A lesson with Jake is bespoke, folks, not off the peg/one size fits all. I certainly heard no rambling from your side of the room and, trust me, I know rambling when I hear it !

I used to work with a variation of this when I was a practising fool in the 1980s. I just started on G on the 12th fret (G Ab A Bb), then worked my way down (11th fret (Gb G Ab A), 10th (F Gb G Ab) and so on back to the 1st fret (Ab A Bb . Then repeat on the D, A and E strings. That way, it starts easy and gets harder as you move down the neck. And do it with a metronome, just to hack JB off .

More plaudits!! I have just had my first DB lesson with Jake also. Marked by his patience, understanding and attention to detail, he has given me the chance to lay some ghosts to rest and to move over to an instrument I have longed to play for decades. I have just pm'd him to say that I feel like I have been reborn, playing wise, and have been given a whole new entusiasm for practising, a new focus and sense of purpose. It would be indiscreet of me to go into too much detail but I can never thank Jake enough for his generosity and encouragement at what is a crucial point in my musical career. Whatever else happens now, Jake will always have played a crucial part in it. The man is an absolute diamond.

Obviously, I am a klutz

[quote name='chris_b' post='674032' date='Dec 4 2009, 11:27 AM']That's not true.[/quote] You've never had a bass for 24 years, have you? Despite being careful, mine has fallen off stands, been knocked of the tops of amps, fallen over when leaning against a car/wall etc. Mine was even left lying on the floor in a car park for 40 minutes whilst I drove a twenty mile round trip obliviously before realising I had left it there (it was still there when I got back - I lost a year off my life that day). I have hit the headstock against singers, ceilings, walls, windows, light fittings etc. I am not sure but I even think the dog has p***ed on it before now. These are not museum pieces, they are tools. Yes, I look after it as best as I can but all the care in the world doesn't prevent the occasional knock. For the record, the bass sounds better today than it ever has - not because of the knocks but in spite of them. And, do you want to know the funny thing. I have never broken a string, it has never not worked, the knobs are still on it, the electrics are silent, the neck is straight as a die, it stays in tune from gig to gig, never mind for a whole set. And its worth more that £3.5K to me

Where are you, BP? Someone here will have a Wal near you.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='674013' date='Dec 4 2009, 11:03 AM']... there is a good chance that you'll actually sound less like Mr Chancellor with a Wal then you do at the moment.[/quote] How marvellous! There's a quote from Steve Swallow where he says that, in order to make progress as an individual player, you have to 'eat your father' i.e. get rid of your influences. Blind pilot needs to work hard at NOT sounding like Justin Chancellor - ironically, using the same bass may be a start!!

Such battlescars are inevitable. Learn to love them. Its the sound that matters, not the colour (and, if its buckle rash, its out of sight anyway). I never get buckle rash because my belt buckle is tucked neatly away under 46 years of gluttony!

[quote name='BigRedX' post='673993' date='Dec 4 2009, 10:44 AM']Even if you were lucky enough to be able to use Justin Chancellor's bass, effects and amps, doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to sound like him.[/quote] There is a lovely story of Ted Nugent being impressed by his support band's guitarist's sound and asking to try his gear. The fledgling musician in question was Eddie Van Halen. When he picked up Fast Eddie's guitar, without changing the amp settings etc, Nugent sounded like.......... Ted Nugent The bass is only part of the sound. With a Wal, you can find yourself so easily.

Yes - because they are the dbs. I have had one since 1986 and have never played a bass I prefer since - I have owned three other bassses at the same time as the Wal and might as well not have bothered as they stay on the wall. I play jazz, funk, rock, pop and Latin and it delivers everything I need in each genre. There is no 'Wal sound' because they are so versatile that Percy Jones, Mick Karn, Geddy Lee and me can all play one and sound nothing whatsoever like each other. They don't have endorsees and everyone you ever see being played is bought and paid for by the owner. Compared to many other designer basses they are competitively priced. Try one and you'll never go back (unlike some of the tarts on here who clearly don't know the meaning of the word 'commitment' and , consequently have condemned themselves to a life of GAS )