Bilbo

I recommend you fiddle for hours. That always works for me Learn to love the egg-timer!

[quote name='redstriper' post='421895' date='Feb 28 2009, 07:21 PM']Don't want to put you off, but I've been trying to do that for 30 years and still can't manage it - I think it's called tone deaf, but don't let it hold you back [/quote] If you can tell the difference between a dog bark and bridsong, you are not tone deaf. If you can't, you can always play Country & Western I made a lot of progress trying to name intervals on the fly (hearing something on a record, tv, even ringtones and working out the sequence without an instrument - its hard when you start but it does get easier. When you recognise the fact that most harmonic movement is within a half octave, you soon realise that there are generally only 5 options! It less intimidating already.

I'm with timlouden. Its about making the chart as legible as possible. I think you need to decide what you want to achieve with each chart. In the 5 or 6 transcriptions I have posted here I tried to make them as full as possible, including every fill, solo etc. But sometimes you may only be transcribing a part - a riff, a specific solo, an ostinato part etc. so you don't need to be as comprehensive. My choice for doing complete charts comes from years of frustration on my part at the lack of good practice reading material for jazz students. So I take a performance I like and write the whole thing out. For ther record, I understand that Charlie Banacos, the US educator that has worked with Jeff Berlin and Mike Stern, always encourages his students to transcribe whole charts inlcuding piano parts in an effort to improve people's ears. It is very important to make sure your charts include harmony/chords and not just the dots as their absence would devalue to exercise.

I have no doubt that my posture was a part of the problem. I played standing and sitting withthe bass at different heights but the problems got the better of me and I gave up - ironically, had I still been where I was when this happened, I would have been over the road from Jakesbass and could have had lessons! I may try again one day but I guess it is difficult to commit the money to a purchase when you have a nagging doubt that it may bite you on the a***!

Been using Rotosound Solo bass groundwounds for 20 years on a fretless without any significant fretboard wear. Gives me everything I want with no hassles (which, I guess, is why I have never needed to look elsewhere for strings). I use the same bass for jazz, Latin and funk/rock/pop and it delivers everytime.

Can't really comment without trying the ideas out but would ask about the issue of intent. If you are moving stuff around randomly and it resolves by accident, where is the artist in this? I am hoping this is a failure in my interpretation of the model as you have described it (I always find the written explanations easier to understand after I hear the thing work) but it sounds like a scatter gun approach (i.e. all notes can, in principle, work against all chords so why not play them). I hope I am wrong.

I have always aspired to a sound that contains as much wood as I can get with as little technology in the sound as is possible - I guess that's why I don't generally like effects, new strings or frets.

[quote name='endorka' post='419967' date='Feb 26 2009, 11:32 AM']The other aspect to the wobbly neck is that I find I have to grip the instrument harder with my left fingers and thumb, which of course is more tiring than the normal DB.[/quote] You have just answered my question in one sentence, Jennifer. It is primarily my left hand that is vulnerable to cramping and it feels like this tendency is aggravated when I try to play with my left arm raised (i.e. like when you play an upright). If the physical effects of playing a EUB make the left hand have to work even harder, I suspect that it will be worse rather than better. I guess I will have to stick to trying to work with the electric and seek a more organic sound down that route. I know it can be done but I still get the prejudice (lost a gig last week over it). Thank you all for taking the time to respond.

Anyone got a fretless one of these they would want to swap?

As an ideal, I like my sound to be an integrated part of the whole and to blend into the music to the point of it being invisible unless it is removed. A great sounding bass on its own is of no real interest. The relationship between my tone and a drummers ride cymbal is the most important aspect of a lot of my playing and a 'great' bass sound can be crushed by the wrong cymbal. When the two are working together in harmony, I'm in heaven. Its worth mentioning that the sound of a modern orchestra evolved over centuries of experimentation of what the optimum sound was; x violins, x violas, x trombones etc. I think that modern music is more flexible but each of us has to find his or her personal optimum chemistry in terms of where our individual sound fits in with the collective whole. Its a holy grail thing. I have only ever got it for moments.

Need a dep???:

The idea that a bassist can do no wrong implies that there is a 'right' way of playing. I think there is a continuum between boring and repetitive and highly creative and original and, determining where a player is on the continuum is irrelevant. It is where the listener is that matters and we are all in a different space. Every mention of jazz here is shortly followed by references to random noodlng. But lots of the 'can do no wrong' players mentioned here bore me rigid. A great player playing tedious music (Marcus Miller) is no more use to me that a bad player playing great songs (Phil Lynott). One mans 'interesting' is another mans 'inaccesible', one man's 'in the pocket' is another man's tedious and repetitive. The mix required to make a player 'flawless' is individually defined so this debate is moribund.

Did a lovely jazz trio gig last night with a REAL piano. It is sadly very rare to play with a real piano as most venues don't have them anymore. Digital pianos are getting better all of the time but, when you get to play with a great pianist (Ben Pringle - he did some of the music for C4's 'Time Team' - please, nomention of jazz and archaeology ) and a real piano, you realise how poor the electric pianos are. My Wal/SWR/GK set up was perfect as the piano had no amplification so the sound was that much more organic and dynamic. I could get so much more out of the bass as a result.

Sounds cool to me, Pete. We should find a band with a weak bass player and all stand at the back and intimidate him!!!

Start with 'Black Market' of the 'Black Market' CD or the '8.30' live recording (there are versions on Youtube)

Haven't got a scooby.....

Jim Stinnnet's second book of Paul Chambers solos featurs bowed solos specifically. [url="http://www.uptonbass.com/Arcology-The-Music-of-Paul-Chambers-Volume-Two/"]http://www.uptonbass.com/Arcology-The-Musi...ers-Volume-Two/[/url]

Thanks, Kirky! Just what I was looking for.

Looks like a non-starter then! I cannot play a double bass for more than about 15 minutes before I start getting pains in my left arm (not fatigue, real pain!!).

[quote name='mathewsanchez' post='415214' date='Feb 20 2009, 12:55 PM']I used to be able to play twinkle twinkle little star on violin when I was about 8 years old. Can't pick one up without damaging someone's hearing now... [/quote] Well done, son. Can I ask where you did this? I have wanted to do these grades for years but don't know where to go to do them (I left school in 1806).

I have mentioned here before that I have tried the double bass before but, due to injuries caused to my hand(s), I couldn't keep playing. I was wondering, therefore, how these Stagg's compare to the real thing not in terms of the sound etc but in terms of the sheer physicality of playing them. Does the fact that they are smaller make them easier to 'get around'? It may be an option for me as an alternative.

[quote name='JohnSlade07' post='414783' date='Feb 19 2009, 09:35 PM']I've managed to work out the first few bars but would like to finish learning it some time before 2012.[/quote] Have they finally made John Entwhistle's bass playing an Olympic sport?

[quote name='crez5150' post='413323' date='Feb 18 2009, 04:55 PM']Oi Bilbo...... I beat you to that...... [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=41648&hl="]Celebrity Face Cyst[/url] and mine was much funnier! ner [/quote] Sorry, crez. I'm new here....

[quote name='Lemuel Beam' post='413037' date='Feb 18 2009, 01:41 PM']Diamondhead - wonder what happened to them?[/quote] [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Head_(band)"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond_Head_(band)[/url] I still have a copy of their legendary 'white' album that I bought at a gig!

Ra ra ra!