Bilbo

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....

This is the only book you'll need. There is a tendency to buy more and more books to seek to address the issues we have with our playing but, theory wise, it's all in here for £32. Bargain!!

Google it. I did the other day and got a good price on 36 Gibson Hvy guitar picks. I couldn't find them locally and they sell them in packs of 72 for $18 (£9) in the US but they won't export them so I had to buy 3 x 12 packs for £13. Still better per pick than UK prices, even after postage. I love the internet.

I think we should start a new thread on good sounding rooms. I do around 70-80 gigs a year and can honestly say that it is only once or twice a year that I play in a room where the acoustics are conducive to a good sound. Mostly we play in horrid sounding rooms with high ceilings and nasty sounding reflections off tiled floors or brick walls - yeeeuch!! And some of these places have music seven nights a week! And full rigs don't really make that much difference if the room is a real dog. My favorite gigs are outside!!

They wouldn't conciously notice but, subliminally, they couldn't but... I think a lot of punters don't know how crap a lot of what they hear is until they are presented with something that sounds classy. Then again, a lot of musos aren't much better. Otherwise Carlsboro would have gone out of business decades ago

This is a massive issue. Whilst I agree that some reggae is played behind the beat and some metal ahead etc, these are generalisations that could confuse (like the one about a triplet feel in jazz). I spent the first 11 years as a player playing smack ON the beat (lots of metronome practice etc in teh early days) but, one day, playing in a jazz quartet, the drummer, a guy called Lee Goodall (Cardiff), suggested I play ahead of the beat to improve the swing feel. I asked him what he meant, he told me and 'BAM' my insight and playing went up a notch in an instant. Pushing the beat creates energy and forward momentum, whilst playing behind the beat creates a slightly more laid back feel, a sense of relaxation that can be beautiful. BUt playing too far ahead results in unwanted acceleration and too far behind and you slow down. The importance is the relationship between the notes you play and the beat itself. If the beat is constant and the 'distance' you are ahead/behind it is constant, you are in heaven! From a jazz perspective, I would recommend you listen to almost any Paul Chambers solo as Paul plays both ahead and behind the beat within the context of his improvisations, pulling the tension of each piece in both directions as his solos build. The tension and release are palpable. His walking lines tend to be slightly ahead of the beat. His intro to 'So What' on 'Kind Of Blue' (a short unison duet with Bill Evans) is played behind the beat but the famous bass riff that underpins the main theme is ahead of it. His lines on Coltrane's 'Giant Steps' are also ahead of the beat, really pushing the groove. The 3/4 line for 'All Blues' however, is much lazier and holds the groove back beautifully.

Just a thought - I have worked with only one pianist who could REALLY sight read anything. I discussed his skills with him and he revealed that it actually took him 15 years to develop this skill. THAT is why the schools in question don't teach sight reading - because they can't get it into an academic year. I guess its like those 8 week courses at community colleges - brain surgery for beginners! Yeah, right.

Just my four penn'th... I think I am on side with Beedster - teaching and learning are arts in themselves and being a good player does not make you a good teacher (I hear Jeff Clyne, an astonsihingly accomplished technician, can't teach for s***). Being a student also doesn't put you in a space to learn (my own year at art college was a wasted opportunity - my fault, no-one elses). I think more should be made of independent learning and mentoring or even distance learning (yes, it could work) rather than these large commercial seats of learning. I think the best thing to get out of a college situation is lots of potential playing opportunities all day every day. But if you ain't gonna do the wood-shedding, you ain't gonna get any better. There ain't no magic cure. [b]Recipe for Improvement[/b][u][/u] Lock yourself away with your bass, Mark Levine's Jazz Theory book (not just for jazzers), a PC containing Transcribe software and a pair of headphone, a few dozen cds and lots of coffee. Make as much sense of it as you can then go out and play with anyone, anywhere, as much as you can. Cheques can be sent to me care of Basschat....

My ear will sit, fetch and play dead but I still can't get it to fetch my slippers.

I think a compressor or limiter would help but would also recommend time spent with the EQ on your amp as it is perfectly possible to inadvertently create some problems by over compensating for something you don't like (eg trying to get more bass frequencies into you sound by turning up the bass rather than turning down the treble etc - they aren't the same thing). Also, it can be a string problem if your strings are old (i.e. check the notes that 'pop' out aren't all on the same string). You could also need to adjust the height of your pick-ups if there are discrepancies across the strings. There could be other things wrong that a compressor/limiter would only mask.

Stick with the reading, ednaplate, and watch those shortcuts. A reading bass player is a working bass player!

I win - 79 in total and a couple of studio dates. Mostly jazz trios but a few with a 9 piece Latin band and a whole load of funcions over the summer - bit of this and a bit of that. My best year to date in numerical terms but the quality of music in East Anglia is not great so quantity over quality this year, I am afraid..... I THINK I have only played two original tunes in the whole of 2007 (while no one was looking). The scene sucks, doesn't it?

Thou dost agitate the excrement....

Good point, bremen. Why do fretless basses generally cost more?

Or so people think... If I had a £ for every person who told me 'its not addictive' and 'they could give it up tomorrow if they wanted to', I would have that Fodera 6-string fretless. Addiction is a complex series of behaviours which are not always linked to chemistry. Cannabis is known to trigger a range of mental health problems in certain people. It may relax you, it may make you worry less about other things, it may help you sleep better.... but it won't, on any level whatsoever, make you a better bass player.

Cut your nails shorter.

Sorry, Kneal6, but I think you, and a lot of other people, are mistaken in the belief that 'It's pretty clear that drugs do enhance musical abilities'. Their use may create all sorts of perspective that may be used to inform the act of creativity (to use the Beatles example already mentioned, they may not have been able to write 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' lyrically without some experience of LSD) but to suggest that their use 'enhances musical ability', is, to my mind, a grave mistake and a potentially very dangerous one. There are, as we all know, 1,000s of musicians who have had their lives ravaged by drugs and equally as many who has attributed the abilities of their idols to their drug use (Charlie Parker's influence in this area is a matter of record). Anyone who has sought to address their musical shortcomings by using drugs (or alcohol) will tell you that it is a fool's errand. Read Art Pepper's biography 'Straight Life' - he was a competent sax player [i]in spite of [/i]his drug use not because of it. He could have been so much more as a musician had he focussed his energies more contstructively. Parker was the same. He learned to play like that by woodshedding his little ass off and not by getting high. Same with Coltrane, same with Hampton Hawes, same with Paul Chambers and Jaco. The examples are myriad. Charlie Parker was a gunslinger as a sax player but he was no composer, despite his reported desire to be one. Had he focussed his energy on proper study and not getting mashed, he would probably have got there. He was a deeply disturbed and unhappy man. Drugs (whether they grow naturally all over the planet or not) are poisons. They work by harming you. The effects of drugs are not 'enlightening', they are the early signs of the body reacting to chemicals it does not like or want (that's why people hallucinate when they are very ill). People who are ill when they have drunk too much are experiencing their body's panic and rejection of the ingested poison. You learn nothing whatsoever from the use of these substances (other than what effect they have) but you risk a whole lot (mental health problems are the very least - try gigging when you are clinically depressed - sweep picking will be the least of your worries). The only 'learning' you get from drugs is your own self talk deluding you into transferring 'cosmic relevance' to the harmful effects of the poisons you have ingested. Its a justification. You would learn far, far more by reading a book (on anything) or watching a movie. You could probably learn more just by sitting in a room full of people and listening to them. The reasons American musicians are generally technically better than UK ones is the fact that the practice ethic is routinely much greater over there. It's not because the drugs are cheaper. The only effect that some drugs (heroin, for instance) will have on you, with extreme use, is, by eliminating all sense of guilt, shame and conscience, to make you so self-centred and psychopathic that you will completely lack the ability to recognise the effect that your behaviour has on others. You can, therefore, dedicate yourself wholeheartedly to your music without realising how much you are neglecting your relationships with your family/partner/children/friends/musician colleagues/landlord/employer etc. You would then. like Parker and Pepper, become a great musician but a lousy human being. Your call.

It might be annoying, Captain, but it is as close to real life as you are likely to get in college. Playing a tune you don't know with a support structure that is not as you would like it to be. Story of my life!

I don't drink or smoke. Never have. Its not a moral stance, just a taste thing. I have never played with anyone that plays better after having a drink or getting stoned. They usually play a lot worse but either don't know or don't care. Sometimes the deterioration is not enough to get arsy about but I will mention it. If you do it again on my watch, you're a dick and I am highly unlikely to book you again. Simple as. You'll lose work, even if you don't know it.

<<<<< My American Walnut Wal Custom Fretless. Have had this one since 1986 and have never moved on. Gigging with it tonight in Bury St. Edmunds (jazz piano trio). Sounds better now than it did 20 years ago (or is that just me?).... The other Status 6-string is a plank with wires in comparison (sorry, OTPJ, I just can't get it to work in a jazz setting). My Wal makes me sound like me... what more can you ask of a bass?

So buy a battery just in case. You should always have a spare anyway.

I'm with the Old Git - Space is the place. Let the line BREEEEATH! Also, with the slapping stuff, the funk is in the thumb and not the popping. Too much popping (Mark King) reduces the funk quotiant dramatically. Less is more. Also, and am getting onto my own personal soapbox here, TONE!! A thin tone will be less funky than a full, rich bass sound with a zillion overtones. You don't need to PLAY the one all of the time but you do need to know where it is and to make sure the listener knows.