Bilbo

Then Zappa rocks!

[quote name='crez5150' post='209626' date='May 30 2008, 02:21 PM']Function bands are there to play to the audience.... the audience want to hear songs they know and love.....[/quote] D'ya think? In my experience, this is what the bookers and bandleaders BELIEVE but is not necessarily what the audience want. What they usually want is to dance. A really grooving band can play almost anything as long as it has a back beat and drive. The endless piles of sh*te that most function bands play (including, if not especially, my own) are swallowed wholesale by the punters who, as a collective, love everything, however bad. One of the bands I occasionally do gigs with (£120 etc) are awful but the testimonials they get are glowing (I do the gigs as I like the people (and the money) but they are awful). The problem I have with function bands, frankly, is that, despite the fact that they have 100 years of hits to choose from, they all chose the same old b******s. Chaka Khan's 'Ain't Nobody' (all beat and no groove), 'Mustang Sally', 'Angels', the aforementioned 'Lady In Red', 'Killing Me Softly' - you know EXACTLY what I mean. This isn't about what the punters want. This is about doing the thing as superficially as possible and still getting away with it. Two rehearsals and you're gigging because you've all done it 1,000 times before. If it doesn't change soon, the music industry deserves to die.....

Fourths and minor sevenths do present another problem in terms in fretless playing and intonation. Using the one finger per fret model is not as simple because your fingers are actually NEVER straight across the neck particularly at the lower end of teh neck (they are simply incpapable of being so, physiologically speaking) so you have to make subtle adjustments every time you move a note. I think, though, in a nutshell, you just need to stick with it, keep practising the changes you are looking at and develop a personal approach to the issue that lets you find a way to fluently execute your ideas using these intervals. As someone above said, theories advocated by Bailey, Berlin or anyone else are guidance and shouldn't be taken as gospel. As much as anything, there is the limitations of the written word. What is written in these books is often incomprehensilbe if you don't know what they are trying to say! I always find they make sense after I have already worked out the thing they are talking about!

Pete did a dep for me for a Latin in Ipswich earlier this year and delivered. The bandleader has tried to book him again since but he was busy so they got another bloke who just couldn't handle it. Bearing in mind that, when he got to the gig at 10 p.m., Pete had never played that kind of music before, credit has to be given for his sharp ears. He's now our first call dep for that (weekly) gig - even if he doesn't know it.

I think there is another factor in that many of the early exponents of the wonder of Wals were fretless players; Percy Jones, John Giblin, Mick Karn etc. For a LONG time in teh late 70s and 80s, Wal was THE fretless bass to have - still is for me. I have never played a fretless I like more than my own. Never played a BASS I like more than my Wal, come to think of it.

[quote name='Astronomer' post='209119' date='May 29 2008, 07:27 PM']Eventually she said, "I know you come up here and play bass, but I never realised you were a musician."[/quote] Don't be silly - you can't do both....

Your question is a bit like 'do you need spelling, grammer or language to tell a story'? You need them all and more. Most of all you need ideas and a context. Chord tones and scales give you both but you need to experiment to make sense of it. If you just used chord tones, you would need a lost of chordal movement to maintain interest. If just used a scale, you would need a sense of melody like a raga player to pull it off indefinately. You need a comprehension of both to make sense of it all. And then, when you understand all that s***, you just forget it and play. S'easy really..... In an nutshell, music is made of harmony, melody, rhythm and dynamics (I like to add silence to the list). Control them all and you are in heaven. Leave out harmony and you are in Asia, leave out rhythm and you are in Europe, leave out melody and you are in Sepulchre . Leave out silence and you might as well be on a train.....

I have been trying to play Charlie Parker's 'Passport' for the last 20 years. I never seem to get it to phrase properly. Soloing over the changes is relatively easy, its the head that still sounds wooden. I keep recording it but, to date, no joy.

And thereby hangs the problem. The question you are asking is that to which the greatest musicans in the history of the art form have focussed their individual and collective minds. You are asking for the Holy Grail to be sent to you Recorded Delivery. The only strategy is years of trial and error. Transcribing other peoples solos, preferably NOT bass players, will give you insights but, to sum it up simply, your choices of what constitutes a musical idea is yours and yours alone. Mine will be different. That's why all musicians are different. You make it musical using your experience as a listener and player and, gradually, over time, your ideas formulate and become coherent and carry their own form of internal logical. If you practice hard, your ideas will begin to appear. If you practice really hard, they will be good ideas, appreciated by other listeners. If you practice hard forever, you may have ideas that move other people and that amount to a voice of your own. Remember - its the journey that matters, not the destination.

Have you heard 'No Quarter'? Seriously, tho'. I have written elsewhere of why I think people get into more sophisticated genres. You just get bored with the predictability of simpler music forms. I still have a soft spot for HM but it is based on nostalgia and the genre holds few surprises for me, especially bass-wise. So I have, over a long time, looked for other things to get excited about and jazz forms a substantial part of that - although even I am bored of the head-solos-head formats that are a central theme of several of its sub-genres (hard-bop etc). Jazz is best when someone is taking chances! Same with most music, I guess.

NWOBHM B listers 'No Quarter' - featured on 'Heavy Metal Heroes Volume Two' and a Friday Rock Show Session in '82. One 12 inch EP, Survivors, now goes for £40 on the internet. My 15 mintes of fame.

Yik!

I use Duracel simply because I find that, when they die, they die quickly. So, rather than have a gradual and undiscernable deterioration in the quality of the signal that results in you fiddling with your eq, it quickly deteriorates into a hideous buzz that screams 'change the battery now'. I do like a bit of clarity.

I would leave the bass alone for a couple of days and probably the computer keyboard too! Rest.

The flute wasn't a waste of time, mate. She tried it, she learned some stuff about music (reading?, listening, playing in time, bits of theory - there's loads of transferable skills here). She decided she didn't like the flute - could be because she didn't connected with it. Could have been a bad teacher (there are LOADS out there), could be that the teacher only threw classical stuff at her when she wanted to learn more popular music forms, could be that she couldn't identify with the genres she was being introduced to. She may find out later that she does want to play the flute (or saxophone?). There are 1,000s of top notch musicians out there, professional players and celebrity musos alike, who started on one instrument and later changed to another, sometimes several times. Its a journey and many kids don't get the instrument right the first time. It woudl be a shame to ditch the whole idea on the basis of one bad decision. I know its a pisser when you are spending money but, as someone said, you could sell the flute (or play it yourself). The gift of music is priceless and the outlay relatively cheap (what does an ipod cost? Or a weeks holiday?).

Paula Gardiner, Gill Alexander, Melissa Slocum, Chi CHi Nwanoku (principle Double Bassist with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment), Miranda Sykes, Antonella Mazza..... I could go on - some of these pop bassists are a bit weak when looked at alongside some of the jazz and classical double bass players listed here. There are hundreds of quality female double bassists that could knock these 'celebrity' bassists into a cocked hat. The world of music is broader than you think!

Just got a listen to him on his website. Am loving it and just ordered a cd off Amazon (£5). I have, for a long time now, enjoyed neuvo flamenco so this is not new territory. But his is just a beautiful sound and it has got me wishing I could play that instrument (see previous posts about why I can't).

[quote name='BigBeefChief' post='201628' date='May 18 2008, 05:54 PM']Ref: the original clip. I managed to sit through it twice. Although I can't say I enjoyed or liked it, its much better than most. I can see the guys talent and I can [i]almost[/i] tap my foot to some of it. And that for me is a giant leap. I'm off to drown myself in a shallow bath.[/quote] Keep at it,my son! You'll get there in then end!!

But I like the tin foil hat....

And another under represented gem of a player - Marc Johnson. His sound was one of the first double bass sounds I could recognise immediately. Still love his Bass Desires stuff .... [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ML3Pj5AijY&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ML3Pj5AijY...feature=related[/url] Listen to Frissel's solo! Saw him with John Taylor a few years ago and his sound was superb. His bowed solos are some of the most beautiful in jazz.

No probs, Jase. I saw this one myself but didn't really like it (I am not a Clarke fan - I find him clunky, always have!!)

[quote name='chardbass' post='201313' date='May 18 2008, 12:03 AM']Jeff Berlin and his Dean bass.[/quote] They do suck a bit, don't they? I understand Mike Stern (guitarist) has the worst gear possible but makes it sound fantastic.

I've got hayfever.....

I have had this irritating buzz on my PC recording software for months - it was recording midi stuff perfectly but the audio stuff always had this irritating little buzz in the background that rendered all recordings fundamentally imperfect. It was particularly bad with my Wal but, after changing guitars/basses 5 times, I still couldn't locate it. I tried plugging stuff in and unplugging it, changing leads, checking earths, everything. But, whenever I tried to record anything using guitars or basses, this tiny little buzz would return. Sometimes it was louder than others. I would fiddle with levels on the instruments and on the audio interface - you name it, I fiddled. Anyway, I found out what it was last night. Everytime I was fiddling, trying to get rid of the buzz, I was sat in front of the computer with the guitar facing the monitor. The pick ups on every guitar were picking up interference from the monitor/PC - all I had to do was turn away from the thing and, magic, no buzz. Isn't technology wonderful! Happy that I nailed it. Hacked off that it was so simple and stupid and that I hadn't spotted it earlier. Here's to buzz free recording in future.

The action of an instrument and the fact that it is or is not playable with or without amplification is of no consequence. The music is what matters and Holland, of all people, transcends the idea of technique and focusses on the music Dave Holland remains one of the world's greats. I have about 70 cds with him on an each one is as fresh as the last. I love his ability to keep me interested, his creative spirit, his artistic vision and his beard. Proper jazz. Favourites? The Razor's Edge, Conference of the Birds, Extensions, Music For Large and Small Ensembles (Kenny Wheeler), Questions and Answers (Pat Metheny).... the list is endless. Have seen him 5 times (with the Extensions Quartet, Kenny Wheeler LargeEnsemble, Pat Metheny Trio, Jack DeJonhette and with a small orchestra playing a composition written especially for him-thelastonewas the weakest for me). His presence adds depth to any performance and I would urge anyone interested in contemporary improvised music spend some quality time listening to him. It would be time well spent.