Bilbo

[quote name='mcgraham' post='182781' date='Apr 22 2008, 02:04 PM']Hang on a second, are you saying that learning a piece from written music falls under the category of 'transcribing'? I'm not disagreeing by the way, I'm just wondering if the generally accepted definition of transcription is a lot broader than I imagined it to be. Mark[/quote] THat is what I said but it isn't what I meant Transcribing would literally mean writing the notes down. I guess what I meant was 'learning pieces of music off recordings' is easier/quicker if you can write stuff down (transcribe) and read it than it would be trying to learn it by rote. Not like me to talk b******s!

[quote name='urb' post='192203' date='May 5 2008, 01:25 PM']god arrangements[/quote] Is she freelancing now, then?

Ah - my first 'posh' bass (actually it was just a little less cheap than my firs Hondo II Precision copy) - I recorded with the SB700 at the BBC Maida Vale studios - still have the tape and the bass sound is great. I say go for it!

There is a guy called Paul Herman who used to live in Epsom. He used to work for Wal and did mine as few years ago. Look up Herman guitars on the net and see if he's still around. Tell him Rob Palmer recommended him (he'll say 'who the f*** is Rob Palmer'?)

If this is done on one mic, you are lucky to even get what you have. Just think of all those frequencies coming at the poor little thing! I would suggest you have too muh of a clash betweem the tones of the guitars and the bass. The bass needs some frequency seperation from the guitars if it is tpo be heard. You may need to take some mids OFF your sound so it sinks to a lower place than those guitars. There is a lot of spillage across the mix - everything sounds like everything else (not really but you getmy point).

[quote name='rodneymullen' post='189950' date='May 1 2008, 08:00 PM'][url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzRT3yu-3dc"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzRT3yu-3dc[/url] Marco Panascia is fresh [/quote] Thanks man! I'm going looking for these guys!!

'Julia', a Lennon and McCartney tune performed by John Scofield, Medeski, Martin & Wood on their Out Louder CD. It BLEEDS, man! and the World Saxophone Quartet with our very own Tony Kofi on board - HEAVYYYY!! I need to get some more of their stuff!

When I arrived on the Cardiff scene (1988), Paul was playing a 4 string Gibson Grabber. He was playing with the likes of Rob Haddon and Dick Hamer. I saw him a couple of times with the new Wal but then he seemed to disappear. I left S. Wales in 1994 so have lost contact with most of my old colleagues down there but I still get down to see Julian Martin occasionally. I'll ask him what happened to Hillman. Did you ever see Jon Caulfield play? I gave him some lessons way back. He worked in Cranes (sales).

I played a beautiful 5-string Wal at Cranes in Cardiff not long after it opened. I am not sure but I think Paul Hillman bought it in the end (he had one anyway). It was a blinding bass but I didn't have £1,500 at the time (still don't for that matter!). Paul was an OK player - what's he doing now? Dreadful to say it but I can't remember where Livewire was.... I recall Gamlins and Gwent Music and, of course, Cranes but where was Livewire?

Only ever played one once (1988) and wasn't impressed - not that there was anything inherently wrong with it, it just didn't float my boat. I may have missed something as I lacked the experience I have now and, not knowing what I didn't know, would have probably missed an opportunity to explore a deeply respected instrument. Reputations like Alembic's (and Wal's) are not built in a day. They take many years to develop. What I will say is that many of the classic Alembics (not the cheap one like the Epics etc) look stunning. Take a look at their archive of custom models. [url="http://www.alembic.com/info/fcvault.html"]http://www.alembic.com/info/fcvault.html[/url]

Don't like them. Slippery little suckers!

Linley Marthe died? When did that happen?

First thoughts! I think one major aspect of these developments is that the internet has the potential to increase the capacity of musicians to shortcut the monopolies that the major labels have on distribution. By cutting out the need to ship truckloads of cds to stores all over the world, small operations (even one man projects) can complete with Columbia or Sony on a level playing field. These developments will best suit minority musics like jazz etc where sales of 1,000 cds are considered successful but the principles will apply to all. This is all particularly true of MP3 downloads where you don't even need to get the material pressed onto a cd to get it out there. The problem that arises, however, is that there will cease to be any form of editing so the market will potentially become flooded with second, third to tenth rate product. Most of this stuff will never be reviewed in industry magazines or be placed in strategic positions in music shops. Most of it will never see TV or radio airplay. It will thus become harder to search through the piles of cr*p the is out there in order to find the diamonds. There will also be fewer opportunities to earn massive sums of money from CD sales because fewer people will have the massive marketing machines that defined the majors. There will be fewer bands touring the bigger venues and the smaller venues will get smaller until a 400 seater will be the maximum. It will be a kind of musical communism where the biggest marketing strategy will be word of mouth. As a minority interest musician, I find it all quite encouraging!

20 years with an ebony fretboard and groundwounds and no problems with fretboard wear. Can't be bad.

Jaco was top banana well before he died, Astronomer. And well before his mental health deteriorated. We were all singing his praises in the late 70s. He died in '87. His death has no doubt added to the legend but his playing was what got him noticed, not his lifestyle.

Dog Snot Ricky Coo Coo & the Scented Wallpaper Top Notch First Draft Odd Sox The Point Anywhen Corpuscle Mule

[quote name='WalMan' post='187872' date='Apr 29 2008, 10:39 AM']Jaco - I've tried, honest I have. Love his stuff on Heavy Weather, but find his solo albums (which I picked up on re releases in an HMV sale a couple of years back) heavy going and largely unlistenable[/quote] Totally accept that a lot of Jaco's solo work is not immediately accessible but some of his stuff on 'Word Of Mouth' is DEEP! Keep revisiting it, Walman, its great stuff. Just another point - most players, however good they are, have their own idols and influences and I have never heard anyone (except Jaco, who I am only TOLD said it) say they are the top banana. Anyone who SAYS they are the greatest is, for my money, a fool.

Isn't this discussion inevitably flawed by the introduction of the concept of genres. If a person is popular as a bass player in a popular genre, s/he is inevitably going to be rated more highly than an underground hero. So Steve Harris is going to be rated more highly as a HM player than Jaco or Manring despite it being patently obvious to anyone that can hold a bass that Harris is not even close to being in their league in terms of technique, innovation or musicality (that is an objective not subjective point). So, Harris is, by definition, overrated. Sorry, but Entwhistle is the same, as are 1,000 other pop/rock players. Whenever I read these forums, I am always astonished by the ways in which people of limited listening experience will nail their colours to the mast in praising their favourite players as geniuses (genii?): just look at all the 'underrated' player threads - mediocroty is more than enough for many people. My point is this; surely the purpose of the exercise is to embed the bass part into the ensemble in as creative and musical a way as possible. Jaco was famous for his shreadding but his most successful work is when he is integrated into the compositional whole - that is when he shines, not when he is somersaulting onto his bass. Wooten is a clinician, an athelete, a circus act - but I have never heard him make music better using his (copious) skills . Same with Bill 'the trainwreck' Dickens. Jeff Berlin is another great technician but he needs a producer SOOO badly (has anyone heard those ludicrous Norah Jones things he has put on his MySpace page- somebody TELL him, please). So, for me, the overrated bass players are not the clever, technical ones per se, but the ones who do 'clever' bass things that don't contribute positively, with integrity and class, to the music being performed. My problem with Jameson isn't his playing - its those bl***y awful Motown tunes: acres of bubblegum with no emotional depth. I like his mind, his way ofnegotiating the changes but, for God's sake, don'tmake me listen to that dreadful stuff any more!

I didn't think Jazz needed controlling!

Prisons - I was playing at HMP Latchmere House the day that the Twin Towers fell - the PRISONERS called for a two minute silence before we had the night of our lives. There was a band made up of staff and prisoners that ROCKED and their singers were the best! If you ever get an offer to play a prison, do it!

Was he an innovator? I heard little more than a Larry Graham thing with a bit more speed but a lot less funk. I did enjoy some of the Chick Corea/RTF stuff but I just thought his bass playing never really gelled for me - too clunky. I actually preferred his upright playing but thought his electric playing was heavy-handed (i.e. clunky). After the first two LPs I mentioned above, I thought he was just endlessly repeating himself (like me, I guess )

Like many of us here, my learning is a mixed bag. Mainly self taught, I had a half dozen lessons with a guy called Dan Quinton (Otis Grand and the Dance Kings) and a couple with Dudley Phillips but that was about it. I can read but was entirely self taught in that area. My main learning was done through listening and transcribing off records and time spent with a few theory books. A handful of videos appeared here and there (Jaco, Jeff Berlin, Gary Willis and John Patittucci IIRC) but, as I said, it was mostly transcribing and theory books. I actually think that most learning is from one's self - a good teacher can impart information but only you can LEARN it! I would argue that reading music is one of the most useful things for learning as it really speeds up your ability to benefit from the materials available and to understand the 'maths' of music (an important aspect of more sophisticated musics). Transcribing helps you share in the problem solving and creativity of those players (of all instruments) that move you but effective transcribing is, to some degree, dependant on your ability to at least understand written music. You can, of course, transcribe by rote rather than by the written note, learning the stuff by repeated listening etc, but this is a much slower process in my experience.

Nice jazz trio gig at the Fox in Bury St Edmunds last night. Ben Pringle on piano. Apart from being a lovely guy, he has a nice touch, with some classic stride piano mixed in with some more contemporary voicings. Ben apparently wrote the music for 'Time Team'. We didn't sound like that tho' He also told me how to locate that irritating buzz on my home studio!

If you get School Days and Journey To Love, you've pretty much heard Stanley Clarke. Personally, I think he is overated and much of his product has dated badly. But I know I am in a minority so you may want to check out some other people's responses!

The 'key of G' implies that all the chords and scales throoughout the piece related to the chords and scales that evolve out of the G scale (GABCDEF#G) scale - staying on the G chord is a very, very tiny part of the potential of a key signature. Composers in the European tradition (classical music) create whole symphonys in a single K (Symphony in G major etc) so the potential of a single key is vast.