Bilbo

Learn the piece thoroughly, relax and don't let any mistakes go through. They will p*** you off for decades!!

If I recall correctly, there is a blooper in Jimmy Page's guitar solo on 'Stairway To Heaven'. Two decades since I listened to it so not 100% sure. Can anyone conform (I don't have a copy)?

There is a great Christmas album by Wynton Marsalis called 'Crescent City Christmas Card' with great jazz arrangements of classic Christmas tunes. Great versions of 'Let It Snow, Let It Snow , Let It Snow' (with a great Jon Hendricks vocal) and everything from 'Silent Night' to 'Little Drummer Boy' and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' - have a listen to clips on Amazon - its the best (only?) Christmas CD I have ever liked.

And what about the John Abercrombie Trio with Marc Johnson? That live trio album is sublime.

And 'So Near. So Far' by Joe Henderson - John Scofield, Dave Holland and Al Foster. 'kin 'A'

Jazz is life.....

Rotosound Solo Bass have worked for me for nearly 20 years on the same bass. Still no need for any repairs to my ebony fingerboard.

Play scales across the neck and then play the same scale up the neck as well (i.e. on one string). That way you teach your self a shape (perfectly useful) but don't lose sight of the SOUND of the scale (which is what matters).

Two octave scales in all keys/modes and then chord tones for two octave (eg C major ascending = CEGBDFAC) - its tedious and repetitive but there's no other way....

It is not 'difficult; - you just did it with a computer keyboard. You formulate an idea and put it into a language the is univerally accepted (in this case, English) and, using a set of rules (sentence construction, spelling etc), communicated that idea to the rest of us. THat's improvisation.

Music is no different.

If you take your II-V-I in C loop, you can play a straight C major scale over the whole thing. Put your loop on and play a root note on each chord change (like a basic bass line - one note per bar). Then try a third (F - B - E), now a fifth (A - D - G) and a seventh (C - F - . Listen to what each note sounds like in this context. Now do the chord scales one note per beat (DFAC - GBDA - CEGB). Now try it on the off beats. Now try changing the rhythms, or the order of the notes, play some of them twice, three times whatever. You are now improvising. By the time you get inot blues notes and chromatic scales, you will be on a roll.

Improvising rhythmically with just one note is also a good way to gain insight.

If you try all of the above it will suck.

But, if you keep doing this, you will gradually find things that you think sound good and you will use and things you don't like that you won't. That is called building a vocabulary and is why John Coltrane is not Sonny Rollins.

Scale fragments are brilliant for getting ideas going so take some lick you like off records (stick to ones you know the chords for at the moment) and transpose them inot C and work them against you loop. Its a voyage of exploration and one hell of a journey.

Remember - there are no such things as wrong notes, just poor choices. Make sure your choices are informed and you will make music. At this stage, LOUD, CONFIDENT AND WRONG is GRRRREAT!

You need to work on a vocabulary of scales:

Major, minor, melodic minor, diminished, augmented and chromatic scales. You'll also need to look at all of the modes for each scale (your brother will help but come back to me via PM if he can't/won't). And, of course, there are the pentatonic scales (which are variations on the above) and the blues scale.

You should look at transcribing other people's solos (NOT bass solos because they are relatively clumpy compared to horns/guitars - watch for the responses to THAT comment!) or, if you can't transcribe, just learn them by rote at the speed at which they are played by the original soloist. Start with 'easier' solos; more melodic etc rather than Joe Lovano stuff which is all but impossible to execute on the bass. Trombone solos, Baristone Sax solos etc are a good place to start (Gerry Mulligan's 'Song For Strayhorn' was my first transcription).

Gradually, over a period of months and years, your ears will develop and you will 'hear' things more readily. There is no quick fix here. Anyone who tells you any different is lying.

Of course, you can practice simply playing along with the radio and try to catch licks and lines. The more you do it, the more you will improve. But I do advocate the more academic approach outlined above as it is a tried and tested route to learning.

Don't be afraid of making mistakes. There are no such things a wrong notes, just poor choices.

Sit with that bass and don't play [i]anything[/i] until you think of something new to play or, at the early stages, just to look for. Even if it takes an hour. It will come.

Steve Swallow says "I believe it's written somewhere: "Steve Swallow has to sit uneasily at the piano for ten hours before receiving his next idea," so I sit there as patiently as possible. Eventually, an idea always comes..."

I always say that students should get used to that knot of frustration you feel in the pit of your stomach when you practice something you can't quite get. If that feeling isn't there, you probably aren't doing anything useful with your personal practice time.

Because, for along time, everything good in my life came to me because I played. That is no longer the case but it still feels like the safest place in the world to me. It helps me make friends, it is a creative outlet where I have no other, it earns me money, it relives stress, it brings me affirmation where I need it, it keeps me interested in what is going on in the world of music and art, its fun, its totally absorbing, it gives me a social life that sees me coming home with more money than when I went out (unlike most people's), it takes me to places I would probably otherwise not go and introduces me to people I would otherwise not meet (even TheBigBeefChief)..... and because I can.

So why wouldn't I?

I suck!

Seriously tho' (you weren't??), my technique is variable depending on how often I gig and on the nature of those gigs. I rarely practice bass anymore - not because I don't love it but because, where I am in my playing career, I rarely get to play anything that stretches the technique/capabilities I do have. I periodically hear something that gets my juices flowing and I pick up the bass and woodshed but, very quickly, I find myself on the same treadmill on function gigs, Latin or Funk gigs etc and, in a nutshell, NOT using the chops I am working on. So I look to other areas of music for inspiration. I was playing Donna Lee twenty years ago but have rarely done a gig where I would need to play at that level for more than a minute. So where is the motivation to continually practice at that level?

I am confident enough in my capabilities to feel that I could nail most gigs with a little work anf I have had no complaints but I find that I work on MUSIC now more than I do on BASS (i.e. composing, harmony, orchestration etc). I am sure my technique suffers as a consequence. If Metheny calls, I'll practise my a*** off but, until then, I can cope with what I have.

Is Steve Berry still nr Manchester, Thunderthumbs? He would be a great teacher.

About 3 years ago, I remember doing a big band gig and reading that line on 'Sir Duke' cold. Then I KNEW I had turned a corner on my sight reading!

Currently working on 'Wing & A Prayer' by Mike Stern (guitar part). Getting there.

Sounds great, QOTD - good luck on Wednesday. These grooves are NICE!

That Mighty Boosh clip was not even close to funny. Fast Show was much nearer the mark.

Jazz - its personal. Don't mess with MY definition. It's mine and I don't have to defend it.

I just have to LOVE it!

ScoLoHoFo - Oh!
John Taylor Trio
Dave Holland Quintet
Enrico Pieranunzzi
Marc Johnson's Bass Desires

It's exquisite!

I called it I Love Jazz because I DO and I know what I mean and don't need to define it because I KNOW what I mean and rock isn't jazz and, although I like some rock, didn't think it needed advocating for because there are zillions of rockers already doing so but there aren't many people advocating for jazz so I thought I would because I love it.

OK?

My point was that my reaction to the music I was listening to today IS visceral and that, despite its obvious cerebral appeal, when it comes down to it, the stuff I like fundamentally makes me FEEL good.

I don't need a backbeat for that.

Its MASSIVE!!!!

Eh... have you read the front page of this discussion board?

I was just listening to a Steve Swallow track called 'Re-Inventing The Wheel' (recorded live at Ronnie Scotts for the cd 'Always Pack Your Uniform On top') and I was overwhelmed by a wave of visceral excitement at the beauty of it. It features an opening cadenza by guitarist Mick Goodrick, a beautifully understated guitarist (now THERE'S two words you'd never expect to see in the same sentence!) and builds with some beautiful playing by Chris Potter (sax) and Barrie Ries (tpt). Adam Nussbaum on drums... gorgeous.

It reminded my of all of the reasons I love music and jazz in particular. Emotionally profoundly satisfying. I listen to jazz a LOT and just LOVE it. There are some beautiful players out there weaving some real magic without a shred of testosterone. Art for Art's sake.

Love it. This stuff deserve passionate advocacy and so I am here to tell you all..
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Put the barre chords down and LISTEN!!! [/size]

I agree that getting a good sound live is as much an art as ait is a craft. There are so many variables, not the least of which is the bodies of the people who are listening to the band (the difference between the sound in an empty room and a full one is massive). But I do think that a lot of bands struggle because everyone in the band (usually as a conseqence of an insentive and unmusical drummer but not always) is too loud. That's why a bass/guitar duet w/o drums would sound nice, because the clarity achieved by the intimacy of the setting would be refreshing for the audience.

Another thing to consider (particularly in jazz) is the relationship between a bass sound and a ride cymbal (I would KILL to play with Peter Erskine). Also the overall SOUND (not volume) of the drumkit will make a huge difference to the overall sonic effect of an ensemble.

Been using Rotosound Solo Bass (45s) on my Wal Custom Fretless for nearly 20 years (I think - basically, from around the time I got it in 1986). You tend to have to get them by mail order as they are rarely in stock in the provinces. But my sound is not an eighties Gary Willis 'mwahhh' fretless sound, more in a Steve Swallow/double bass kind of space. I think that techno space age fretless bass sound is a bit over-processed for me. In a nutshell, I like an anonymous string that lets my sound be my sound and the Solo bass does it for me.

Worth noting as well that I change mine around once every 8 years (whether I need to or not). I loathe new strings on a bass (but love them on a guitar)

Jazz in Pontypool!?!! Its changed a lot then since I lived in Cwmbran (born & bred)! Blues and Metal only when I was there.

Is the Torfaen Jazz Festival still on? - played there with Julian Martin in the late 1990s.

It's like eating an elephant - one bite at a time and chew....