Bilbo

Have been using Rotosound Solo Bass (groundwound) for 20 years on the same (ebony) fretles fingerboard with no problems.

[quote name='Machines' post='165271' date='Mar 28 2008, 02:25 PM']Wals - isn't that ice cream ?[/quote] No - sausages!

How would he know how loud it is if it has never been played?

[quote name='s_u_y_*' post='165240' date='Mar 28 2008, 01:50 PM']Japanese Jazz? [/quote] That would be a Precision.

No - my Wal is played in a traditional and uncontentious manner, as has been the case since the electric bass was invented by Monk Montgomery. Its model name of 'Custom', therefore, has integrity and is, thus, allowed. My Metro combo, on the other hand, sounds great as long as there are no trains running.

I am about to start a campaign that seeks to ensure that Fender 'Jazz' Basses, of all hues, are only ever used to play 'Jazz' and that any use of said basses for idioms other than Jazz should result in the removal of that instrument from the perpetrator and it sale, at a reduced rate, to responsible jazz musicians in order to gain funds for the Musicians Benevolent Fund. I would also insist that 'Precision' basses should be played with precision and that all Double Basses should be played twice.

I envy you. I was in Cardiff when Jed WIlliams was running the Welsh Jazz Scoiety & the Four Bars Inn which is a relateively small pub near the castle in Cardiff. I saw Scofield in that little pub - Mike Stern was scheduled to play with Bob Berg but cancelled when Leni Stern got cancer but other gigs included Dave Murray, the World Saxophone Quartet, Art Farmer, Kenny Wheeler, Bheki Mseleku - the list was endless. Then there was Brecon Jazz every year which , because I was local, I did lots of playing at (7 times one year) and saw lots of great stuff for free - Miroslav Vitous and Arild Anderson borrowed my amps one year, Jamaladeen Tacuma, Jeff Andrews with Vital Information, Branford Marsalis, Joe Lovano, Gerry Mulligan, Paul Motian (w. Steve Swallow!!!!!)! It was heaven. Now I am in the jazz Sahara - nothing EVER gets up here. In the last 4 years I have seen Avishai Cohen and John Etheridge. That's it. It's like the last two decades never happened!!

Cool - where was that, Mikey? We don't get much up here in Felixstowe/Suffolk more radical than Stacy Kent. I'm off to see John Scofield with horns on Saturday tho'(Jazz Cafe). Steve Swallow isn't with them this time, which is a great shame as he is one of my favourites but the event should be special enough anyway.

I (and many others like me) do gigs cold and trust their ears to get them through. I have seen guys transcribing charts off a cd ON THE WAY to a gig! Write some charts out - its a no brainer!!

To put this in perspective, Pat Metheny had to write, arrange and record ALL of the music for the movie 'Map Of The World' in two weeks. And what he came up with is stunning. Doing a film soundtrack in two or three weeks is not that unusual. Learning 30 pretty basic songs like those in your list should be a breeze by comparison. Most of these songs are 16 bars on music repeated over and over again. Sweet Home Alabama is a three chord job, Comfortably Numb is a no brainer as is Paranoid and so on. If you can't nail this in three weeks, you ain't trying! Just do it.

Some nice new stuff on my cd player: Robert Glasper Trio - My Element Jason Robello - Next Time Around Iain Ballamy - More Jazz Taylor Eigsti - Lucky To Be Me Troy Miller - 40 Days I asked some jazz fans around me what they were into and these came up - all quality acts with first class work. Anybody else listening to any new jazz? Also downloaded Janek Gwizdala's 'Mystery To Me' off CD Baby - some nice creative stuff in there, particularly nice horn arrangements. Nice to hear a bass player's record that is defined by the music and not by the bass playing. S'cool.

[quote name='chris_b' post='164351' date='Mar 27 2008, 10:37 AM']If I went fretless I'd have to start with a LINED fretboard.[/quote] Don't talk yourself into it being harder than it is. Fretlines are an unnecessary crutch and, unless I am sorely mistaken, you can't see them from where you are anyway (especially if its dark at the back of the stage!!) As someone said above, there are usually dots on the side of the neck to keep you in the ballpark; after that its just your ears. If you can tell if your bass is out of tune, you can't go wrong! IMO, bearing in mind I have played fretless for 22 years (last Tuesday - literally!! I still have thre recipt for my Wal ), if you can play fretted, you can play fretless. Trust me, I am a Probation Officer...

Jamey Aebersold's 'Autum Leaves' selection - you can isolate the piano & drums from the bass. It's real people not MIDI. £6.29 on Amazon Marketplace. [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aebersold-Volume-44-Autumn-Leaves/dp/B00005YAZE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1206613695&sr=8-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Aebersold-Volume-4...3695&sr=8-1[/url]

Perfectly. My point is only that there are songs that NEED a fretless (Whereever I Lay My Hat by Paul Young would sink without it, Weather Report's 'A Remark You Made' etc) and some that sound (IMO) BETTER on a fretless (every jazz tune ever, for example) but there are VERY few songs that NEED a fretted bass and couldn't be played completely satisfactorily on a fretless. I guess its the opposite of what your saying. Nevertheless, if you are happy with a fretted, just go for it. I can play fretted anytime I need to but prefer to play fretless. So I do and very few people complain!

Oh and another thing! I think fretless six string basses lose something as you go up the neck. Past a certain point, all of the beauty goes out of the tone and it just sounds icky! Some of Steve Bailey's stuff is weakened dramatically by this, but this is subjective opinion (I've got a lot of them!).

Have played fretless :wub: since 1986 and rarely play fretted (I have one gig where the MD insists - I have to acquiese to keep the gig but I think he's wrong)! I play Latin, Jazz, Funk and have played Rock on fretless and, to my ears, it sounds better in almost every setting, the obvious exception being slapping (which I rarely do as a result). You can slap on a fretless (see Pino Palladino) but I accept that it sounds better on a fretted bass. Other than that, I find the fretless warmer, more soulful, more expressive and more versatile. I know a lot of people are anxious about the intonation thing but I see it differently (10, 000, 000 orchestral string players can't all be wrong). Bass Players are part of a fraternity that has been spoled by frets - trombone players don't have notches on their slides that tell them they are in tune - they use their ears. It's just something you need to work on. But it is something that you work on whilst working on everything else you practice so its an 'as well as' not an 'instead of'. It just requires you to listen to your own playing more effectively and actively in the context of the music being performed, a skill that is very useful anyway. ONe of my band's MySpace page (Albino Cubana) has three tracks on it that have my fretless on it and none of them sound like Jaco going 'mwwwwah'; the Mick Karn thing is SO stylised it is interesting but too personal to 'cop' from. Jaco plays beautifully on fretted or fretless but his fretless sound is idiomatically defintive. It is not, however, in any way the only way forward - Percy Jones is iconic, John Giblin was in his shadow but is a formidable player in his own right, Pino Palladino had his own octave dividing chorus thing, the list goes on. Other people have mentioned rock/metal players who play fretless - if you are looking for a 'bass' sound (as opposed to a quasi-guitar thing), a fretless can do pretty much anything a fretted can and a whole lot more. Jeff Berlin said he would never play a fretless because he didn't want to sound like Jaco. I am sorry but I always found that to be crass, even when I thought the sun shone out of his ..... That's like saying John Scofield sounds like Larry Carlton because they both play a semi-hollow body jazz guitar (for those who don't know, they are completely different and immediately identifiable). I find the fretless easier to get a personal sound on. Your intonation is like your accent, its part of what defines your playing, just like your time. To my ears, and I accept this is a personal thing, I do think there is something missing in a fretted sound, some element of humanity. Perfect intonation is not all its cracked up to be!! I could talk about this for hours and would prefer to but I can see you are all nodding off so I'll get my coat....

I was just reading this and laughing to myself thinking of someone videoing themselves playing the bass lines to an AC/DC track solo, by themselves, without any backing. 6.04 of 'A'... A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A ..... etc It may have been 'musical' but it wouldn't make a great video would it? I watched this video ages ago and enjoyed it for what it was - I have never gone back to look at it again, haven't spent a second trying to cop any of it - its a party trick and, like all party tricks, is for special occasions, for a laugh, in the moment. What this kind of thing does do, however, and I think this is irrefutable, is tell us all that there are not really any boundaries to our chosen instrument, only those that we set ourselves. I don't buy Manring, Wooten or Baudin cds, I wouldn't listen to them, but, once in a while, I will admit that I go back for another look just because I think that these guys have to exist to remind us that the sky is the limit. Nigel Clutterbuck, I salute you. Now where is my copy of 'If You Want Blood....'

Someone there will be collecting names of people who want to play and what tunes they want to play. Talk to them, ask them what the deal is - they will usually help you to find some like minded people you can sit in with. Bass players tend to play more than most because there are usually less of them so expect to play some stuff you don't know with some people you have never met Something like a 'funk jam in E' or just a riff between two chords - you'd be surprised how much fun something that simple can be (and how great the bass player can sound on those open Es!!) Remember, its not the end of the world if a piece goes t*ts up, even if it's your fault. Its a jam and sometimes things go wrong - use your ears and eyes and don't panic. And try not to try too hard to be 'cool' because trying to be cool is the uncoolest thing of all. If its your fault it goes wrong, say so, apologise and have another go! A smile or a laugh will get you farther than a scowl! Trust me, some people at these jams are astonishingly bad but its ok, thats what they are there for, for people who are starting out to have a go. Most of all - have fun!!!! Let us know how you got on.

9. Its not the number of bands that matters but the expectations of each. I play in about 9 different bands (not including free-lance work) but, because I read music and know how to function with an adequate chord chart, the rehearsal issue is less intrusive - I mostly only go out to gig. The bands that rehearse have to wait until I am free or until there is an imminent reason to rehearse (i.e. a gig or recording - some of these bands only do 4 gigs a year). All those hours learning to cope with dots and scales and theory are paying off. I am out 12 nights in April. I also have a day job and, yes, the gigging does get in the way but when the gigs are bringing in as much as some people earn in a month, the complaints are more measured. I also think that rehearsals can be used in a more creative way than everybody attending all of the time - I find that, as a bass player, a lot of rehearsal time is spent playing back ground noise for other people to learn tunes to - i.e. I don't need the rehearsals but the rest of the band do. So why do I have to give up one evening a week to play over and over again a two bar riff I learned three years ago? Also, learning parts takes a lot longer of people haven't got their basic skills sorted e.g. limited technique, weak harmonic knowledge etc. So those of us that can nail stuff in two or three runs are standing around while the weaker members of the band learn parts they should have nailed long before the rehearsal started. As I said, t's more complicated than how many.

AJ is one of the most musical bass players out there - and almost no solos. His concept is unique and his sound and note choices entirely his own. He is a man of integrity in an industry where such things are not valued. His technique is first class and worthy of study. His work with Michel Camilo is nothing short of astonishing.

Kermot Driscoll with Bill Frissel - an true orignal (try Frissel's 'Have A Little faith' first!)

Cachao has left us. Rest in Peace, Senor. [url="http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_dade/story/466437.html>"]http://www.miamiherald.com/news/breaking_d...466437.html>[/url]

44 year old jazzer. Took up bass in 1980, went fretless in '86 and not really played fretted basses since. I have a fretted 6-string status I don't really use (except when I gig with Bridget Metcalfe - her MD insists on the low D). Started in a Metal band in '81. Then a bit of prog rock & pop before the jazz kicked in. Played in a band with Grant Nicholas from Feeder in 1986-88 (ish) but my jazz interests got teh better of me and I was on teh Cardiff jazz scene from 88 - 94 before moving ot SUrrey. Surrey was a jazz only part of my life but a move to East Anglia in 2001 mean that I have to try some alternative options or not play. So did som eheavy duty funk and some Latin whilst waiting for the jazz to kick in. Problem is I play jazz on and electric bass and most bandleaders want an upright. I have played with some great people over the years: Jim Mullen, Iain Ballamy, Stan Sultzman, Janusz Carmello, Roy Williams, Nick Page, Osian Roberts, Nigel Price (James Taylor guitarist) but usually only once each!!! I love to play creatively and love that real time organic blowing that jazz allows you to engage in. The jazz playing is opening up here in Suffolk and I am now playing mostly jazz again (some Latin still in there). I kind of don't know what I am like to listen to as I lack the ability to be that objective. I hate my playing mostly although I can usually nail most things I am asked to play. I do, however, like my sound as it sounds like me and noone else, a fact that is important for a jazzer. I only play my fretless Wal 4-string finger style (although I can slap at a rudimentary level - I just don't really like the music that slapping is involved in so I rarely use it). I crave a great creative jazz gig and have only every had that once when I played in the Julian Martin Trio in Cardiff in the late 80s early 90s - we really had something genuinely interesting. Cardiff based Ian Williams on drums; mad as a fish but a real original. That's me.

Phwoar! You know how to turn a man's head. If my Metro didn't already have wheels, I would be off down Maplin's like a fast thing from Fast City. As it does, I'll spend the money on something ELSE!!!

You're the bass player. No-one is listening to you. Forget it and enjoy yourself. I did a jazz gig once and myself and the pianist were a little frustrated that the audience weren't listening so, to prove a point, we did a fast be-bop 12-bar blues. He played it in Bb and I did it in B. After a chorus, he swapped to B and I swapped to Bb and so on throughout the whole piece. Yes, you've guessed it. No-one in the 120 strong audience noticed. Not even the drummer! The BiBeefChief will love that one!