Bilbo

Try Urb's O'Shea link, peeps. New one on me. Some great stuff on there. Recommended

Off the Eden website: Interviewer: What do you expect is in store for the future of jazz bass? Yogi: I'm thinkin' there'll be a group of guys who've never met talkin' about it all the time. Interviewer: Can you explain jazz bass? Yogi: I can't, but I will. 90% of all jazz is half improvisation, even on bass. The other half is the part bass players play while others are playing something they never played with anyone who played that part. So if you play the wrong part, its right. If you play the right part, it might be right if you play it wrong enough. But if you play it too right, it's wrong. Interviewer: I don't understand. Yogi: Anyone who understands jazz bass knows that you can't understand it. It's too complicated. That's whats so simple about it. Interviewer: Do you understand it? Yogi: No. That's why I can explain it. If I understood it, I wouldn't know anything about it. Interviewer: Are there any great jazz bass players alive today? Yogi: No. All the great jazz bass players alive today are dead. Except for the ones that are still alive. But so many of them are dead, that the ones that are still alive are dying to be like the ones that are dead. Some would kill for it. Interviewer: What is syncopation? Yogi: That's when the note that you should hear now happens either before or after you hear it. In jazz, you don't hear notes when they happen because that would be some other type of music. Other types of music can be jazz, but only if they're the same as something different from those other kinds. Interviewer: Now I really don't understand. Yogi: I haven't taught you enough for you to not understand jazz bass that well.

Its not hard to see what will hapeen - just look at history. Take jazz (I had to get it in there, didn't I?) In the early days in the US, jazz was a no-profit, out of hours nonsense activity for a few musicians in a few obscure backwaters. Gradually, it caught on and got marketed. It grew and grew and hundreds of bands existed in territories across America. People were hearing it nightly on the radio and the bands they were listening were ALL playing live to the nations. The introduction of the phonograph record preceded and downturn in the numbers of bands that the industry could sustain and then external factors kicked in (loss of shellac due to WWII). The bands tailed off and small groups became the flavour of the day. Then rock and roll came along and, ZAP, even the previously succesful jazz acts were counting the days. Jazz is now a cottage industry, full of people who make a bit of money but many of whom live hand to mouth. Most people in the field do other things to make ends meet; teaching, commercial gigs, sessions (fewer and fewer), tv catalogue work, pit orchestras etc. My guess is that the bubble is set to burst as music ceases to be as important to future generations as it was to previous ones. There is as much money in music for XBox games these days as there is in many sub-genres. More people involved but earning less. I did a session for the BBC in 1982 on a state of the art studio and it still sounds great. My home PC is now more powerful. The secret is in the skills of the engineer/producer and not just in the gear. As we all get more expert, our home recordings will become more sophisticated and more competitive. For people interested in minority musics, this is probably a good thing. I also think that professionalism is more necessary now than previously. Getting hammered all teh time was romantic for the Stones et al. Now it will get you fired. I think the music industry in the future will be different; not better or worse, just different!

Even I would sell my jazz soul for that gig! 'There once was a woman, a strange kinda woman......'

They do look attractive. And expensive.

Great jazz trio gig last night at the Fox in Bury - Phil Brook on guitar and a new guy (to me) Jack Hunt from nr. Diss on flute (sitting in). NIIIIIIIIIIIICE!

I really think the size of your hands has nothing to do with any of this. I have always played with what is usually called a 'one finger per fret' technique on my left hand (fretting). However, because I am on a fretless, the accuracy required for all four fingers to actually HIT the exact spot where the correct note lays is simply not there physiologically so you have to make small adjustments depending on where you are on the neck but also where you are in the phrasing of an idea. In addtion, depending on the line you are playing, you sometimes need to play the next note on the same string as the last one whilst, at other times, you need to play it on a different string. All of this changes the position of both of your hands and your fingers quite significantly. Having it all under your hands in one position is a technical ideal but not always possible or desirable in practice. It is your ability to move your hand between positions without losing the internal integrity of a phrase that counts not the size of your hand. I suspect this is not really any different on a 36" scale to a 33". Small hands, big hands. I think its a red herring.

'So What' - Miles Davis 'All Blues' - Miles Davis

[quote name='lowhand_mike' post='174440' date='Apr 11 2008, 11:45 AM']for example i have no idea how For the love of money goes.[/quote] Betcha do!! It's been used on 'The Apprentice' ads - heavily phased/flanged bass line with a girl group vocal 'money, money, money, moaney'!! - Google it and you will recognise it, I guarantee it. It was written by Anthony Jackson so he must be getting some new royalties for it!

I had a Trace Eliot AH250 and two cabs that were used by double bass players Arild Anderson (Masquelero and other ECM work) and Miroslav Vitous (Weather Report etc) on seperate occasions, one at St Davids Hall in Cardiff, the other (Vitous) at the Brecon Jazz Festival. Apparently, mine was amongst the best gear in the area at the time (mid 80s) and I would also let them use it for free (free tickets that is!!)!

Jazz trio - shocking :wacko:

Welcome,. Maine - Marillion, eh!! My kid brother loved them (has a daughter called Kaylieigh!). We saw them at Reading with Fish all made up (was it in about 1482)! Halcyon Days!

The problem with finding your true path is in recognising that you are already on it.

[quote name='urb' post='173375' date='Apr 9 2008, 06:58 PM']Er... I love jazz too Mike[/quote] GOOD for you !!!!!

[quote name='Machines' post='173277' date='Apr 9 2008, 04:36 PM']48Kg ?! What is it made from, concrete ?[/quote] AA plywood construction with dado and rabbit joints throughout. Whatever THAT is!! It does come with wheels tho' so its not all bad!

Find a second hand Eden Metro Combo (£6 - 700) - it will do everything you want and more. I have used it for small group jazz, big bands, pit orchestra work, funk, pop and rock gigs, festivals and the Hammersmith Odeon (Labbats Apollo). It did it all without going above about 5 on the master volume. Great EQ, great sound - can't go wrong. [url="http://www.eden-electronics.com/products/combos/indiv/metro.asp"]http://www.eden-electronics.com/products/c...indiv/metro.asp[/url] Only shortcoming is it weighs 48kg but I can get it into my car on my own so no real worries only an occasional bout of laziness on my part.

I also use my pinky to do that volume control trick that ol' Steven Stewart from The Enid used to do. I can really motor with it and, on a fretless with a reverb/echo, it can sound very cellolike.

Whatever works. Knowing where the notes are is only half the battle. Knowing how they relate is probably more important. However, your diagram is a perfectly credible way of learning the basic locations of notes (assuming, of course, it is correct!!). Anther option is to learn to read music and the fretboard knowledge comes from that. But your way is fine.

Without being contentious, I can't see how you can play WITHOUT using your pinky. One finger per fret plus two more frets by stretching (obviously not at the bottowm of the neck - see my avatar). If you don't use your pinky (other than due to a disability), you really are cutting your potential by 25% or more (because it is the finger that can stretch the furthest).

I guess these guys have bad days like the rest of us and must get a bit hacked off with local rhythm sections that don't deliver what they want/expect. This all happened at least 10 years ago - I'd like to have a crack at him again - if he pulled a stunt like he did last time, I would have something to say this time (I am a little more confident now!!). I know he's bigger than me but, when you faced down a serial killer, you know you can do ANYTHING

I did a gig with Jim Mullen years ago - everything he called went like s*** off a stick and he didn't use charts, just expected you to know everything (I didn't). He was a nice enough guy but I felt that his perceived unwillingness to work WITH us as a trio resulted in a poorer experience for us and the audience alike. Jim looked good, tho'.

Probably old news to you young folk but I have recently discovered this website - CD Baby - where you can download MP3s of all sorts of obscure stuff at very reasonable prices - great way of hearing new stuff you ain't gonna find on the High Street. You can listen to most of the stuff before you commit. I have just downlaoded Janek Gwizdala and Matt Garrison cds for around a fiver each - all kosher! Recommended!

Kenny Wheeler's 'Music for Large and Small Ensembles' and the great 'Double, Double You'. Superb!