Bilbo

Diminished is less then or taken away, an augmented is more than or added A fifth in C is G A dimished fifth is one semi-tone below a fifth i.e. Gb/F sharp An augmented fifth is one semi tone above i.e. Gsharp/Ab An augmented fourth is one semi-tone above a fourth i.e. in C major, the fourth is F so the augmented fourth is F sharp. But you are running before you can walk, Sarah. Stick to basic scales for now and, when you have that sorted, the rest can follow. The basic major and minor chords will work for 90% of the music you play.

An arpeggio is a chord played as a series of notes not as three or more notes played at the same time. Don't let ANYONE tell you it is better not to bother with theory. They are fools and will lead you nowhere. I have a saying: Ignorance is Ignorance. Theory is your friend - love it and it will give and give and give.

Sorry to be a tart but I have no time for high street music shops. After you have passed on from the beginner level basses, you are very quickly into territory that 99% of these stores don't ever go into - professional instruments. Places like The Gallery are perfectly willing to let people look and play because they know that this time, next time or the time after, they will come back with money. I tried an Eden Metro out at the shop and bought one, mail order, about two years later. Now they guys in the shop wouldn't have made any connection between these two events but they have enough insight to know that's what is happening and so encourage it. But, in the end, they are businesses and, like all businesses, it is their job to make as much money as they can. I am a customer. It is my role to spend as little as possible. There is a clash here. They are the enemy.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='266328' date='Aug 20 2008, 02:46 PM']I don't believe scales are the right place to start on bass. Instead, learn the basic arpeggios - major, minor, dominant 7th, minor 7th, major 7th, half diminished, diminished. If you're outlining a chord sequence that will help you far more than learning whole scales in each key. It's all about the root, third, fifth and seventh. You can do so much with those four basic notes. Alex[/quote] Root, third, fifth and seventh of what? Sorry, mate. I'd recommend going the other way and learning scales before chords

Bb is first fret of A string, B the second. Look at a piano keyboard. C major and A minor are made up of all the white notes. The black ones are sharps and flats. F major is all white notes except one flat, Bb. F and C are the only notes that can't be flattened. E and B are the only notes that can't be sharpened. Note for all pedants: I know!!!

I would say start with C major (no sharps or flats): CDEFGABC A minor (no sharps or flats) ABCDEFGA Then F Major FGABbCDEF Then D Minor DEFGABbCD Can you see a pattern developing yet?

First learn where the notes are on the neck then learn the following scales.... Major (12) Minor (12 but they are the same as the above only a minor third away) Melodic Minor (12) Diminished (2) Augmented (2) Chromatic (1) Pentatonic (12) Blues scale (12) It's the modes that start to confuse people each major, minor and melodic minor scale has seven each but the whole thing is a lot simpler than it sounds. The advantage of the bass is that the fingering pattern you use for one major scale is identical to that of another, you just start on a different fret. So you only have to learn one piece of information. In a nutshell, there are only 8 scales to learn. If I said learning 8 scales is the first and main step to knowing everything you need to know, it doesn''t look nearly as intimidating! You realise, of course, that you have an additional responsibility to learn this stuff properly so you can cut the blokes out there that think that girls can't play music, especially the heavy stuff?

[quote name='Sibob' post='266102' date='Aug 20 2008, 10:02 AM']Just chill out 'Feel' it!! Si[/quote] YEAAAAAAH! No need to practice - the Time Fairy will come and sort you out! Drum machine or metronome. Its the same thing. The discipline you are developing is in learning to play your lines whilst LISTENING to another sound source and making the minute adjustments you need to ensure that your playing is locked in with this other sound source. You could just as easily use recordings.

Can't read the article as my work PC blocks the link. As an electrical bass player, I acknowledge the relationship between a piece of kit and your sound but we have to remember that we use our ears to determine the sound we want and adjust our gear accordingly. Unless we get new ears, our sound is always going to be in the ball park of what they tell us is the best sound we can get. ANd our execution of ideas/phrases will be borderline the same whatever gear we have. There is a lovely story dating back to when Van Halen were supporting Ted Nugent in the early days and TN wanted to know the secret of Eddie Van Halen's sound. So he tried his gear out and sounded like ..... Ted Nugent!!! Ref: eqing the bass vd bass drum. That may apply in rock etc but, in jazz, you are better off eqing against the ride cymbal as it can kill your sound if you don't get it right.

I am astonished that any of this matters to anyone.

Natural wood basses tend to date less. And a beautiful wood finish will always win over a colour. Some of the exotic woods being used on the new wave of handbuilts (Sei , Fodera etc) are stunning - how can a tobacco sunburst compete?

I am working on inventing a bass combo the size of a credit card that sounds like an Eden Metro. No luck, so far .

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='259898' date='Aug 11 2008, 01:05 PM']Right how much blood are we talking? How many ambulances? In my head I have horror movie style spurting and just a flood of blood[/quote] One ambulance but we are talking swimming with blood and a toilet full of distressed female wedding guests all with their feet in the sinks (as reported by our female voclaist).

Debuted my SWR Baby Blue/modified GK MBX112 hybrid rig at a jazz trio gig yesterday. Not 100% as yet (first time out, as I said) but very promising indeed. Need to spend some more time with the amp's eq and fill out the bottom end a little but, volume-wise, the little poppets are delivering.

You don't have to move around like a lunatic in order to engage and audience. It can, in fact, be wholly incongruent. Where jazz is concerned, accuracy is more important because you are trying to form and execute ideas simultaneously, unlike most popular genres where all you are doing on gigs is reproducing well rehearsed set pieces. Yes, I accept you are being paid to entertain; that is why most bands with top names like Kylie or Take That are actually hidden from the audience. But, in jazz at least, it is the music that matters not the musicians! Engaging the audience doesn't require lighter fuel or a seizure....

Just bought two GK MBX112s off synaesthesia. All went well. items were a bargain, as described, well packed on posting, sent quickly etc. All round satisfied customer. Recommended as wholly reliable.

[quote name='doctorbass' post='108761' date='Dec 24 2007, 01:56 AM']Otford July 07 opening for Limehouse Lizzy[/quote] [i]Opening[/i] for a tribute bnad - now you really [i]have[/i] made it

Does anyone actually fall for those 'rock' poses anymore? I was watching someone on T4 earlier and they were staggering around looking drunk like the Stones do and I just thought 'thats a sixty year old pose'. I guess its all new to the kids?

Had them on the first gig (1980) and never again. Its all in the preparation. There's a saying 'Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can't get it wrong'. Personally, and this is an instrument specific perspective, once you realise that noone would notice the bass player, visually or aurally, unless s/he actually caught fire, the edge is taken off it

Teen Town by Pastorius - I am sure I could play it when I was 17 but now, bluggered if I know why I can't nail the sucker (with hindsight, maybe I only THOUGHT I could do it at 17?).

Accuracy every tmie!

Trouble is, he is with McLaughlin who is one if the world's worst/most typewriter orientated players - clearly paid on a notes per second basis. Most players sound better away from him!

I can't look at the videos posted above as I am in work but what I have seen so far of HF is a bit like what I have seen of Matt Garrison. Technique is like acting - if you can see it happening, its not very good! I have a DVD of Garrison with Herbie Hancock and I really like what he is doing but I bought one if his CDs and found it a bit 'so what?'. The best playing, for me, is that which is fully integrated into good music. Jimmy Johnson, Anthony Jackson, Steve Swallow etc all excel as technicians without drawing attention to themselves. The showboating aspect of players can be a distraction. I will be seeking out some more Feraud before I express a definitive Bilbo opinion but, so far, the YouTube videos are not giving me what I look for.

I know - I love the fact that he is exactly the opposite if a stereotypical 'proper' jazz bass player but swings like a donkey's and has a creative, individual voice!!