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Bilbo

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Posts posted by Bilbo

  1. I would love to be able to execute material that is way in excess of my existing capabilities but slapping, popping and tapping are things that don't hold my attention as a listener so I cannot see the point in exploring them as a player (also bearing in mind that they are never called for on a gig).

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  2. Not read the whole thread but saw the OP's original video.

     

    I call these guys 'jugglers' and 'acrobats'. It is interesting to note that all of these guys (and girls) are presenting videos that they have recorded in their home studios/bedrooms etc and never on a gig. That's because most of this stuff is party pieces. An awful lot of work to impress other bass players. I can't say I ever actually get to the end of one of these videos. I remember spending time on these techniques many moons ago but quickly realised that, whilst progress is evident and it is perfectly possible to get the chops together, I just didn't like the noise very much. It's great that these things are out there but I am not going to invest any time in learning how to make sounds I don't like until I have mastered those that I do (which will likely be never).

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  3. Just realised the first and second time bars at the start are incorrectly labelled. The 'first time' bar at the end of the first section is actually played three times and the 'second' time ending is actually the 4th. Will re-do later and re-post. It makes no difference to the bass part which doesn't start until bar 24 but it will disorientate you if you are trying to pick up where you come in. 

  4. Sorry guys, I have been away at the Winter's End Prog festival in Chepstow and wasn't able to transcribe whilst away. The highlight of the festival for me was the introduction of a Norwegian band called 'Meer' which features some stunning compositions and arrangements by an eight piece band featuring two lead vocals, guitar, bass, drums, keys, viola and violin. At one point, all eight were singing - incredibly creative stuff. This is the Morten Strypet bass part for the tune 'Child' from the band's 2021 album 'Playing House'. It is a complete bastard to write out, not because it requires monster chops but because, despite running the tune 100 times, I cannot confidently identify the 'one'!!!

     

    Just to note, the first pizzicato violin passages are written out to give you some bearings but the part is not played. Bass comes in at bar 24.

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/child-meer/

  5. Today I received word that both Charnett Moffett and Peter Warren have passed away. Moffett was one of the stalwarts of the scene around the 1980s Marsalis thing (Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Donald Brown, Kevin Eubanks, Mulgrew Miller etc  whilst Peter Warren performed and recorded with Jack De Johnette, David Izenson, Chick Corea, John Surman and a host of others. Their Wikipedia pages are linked below. Moffett died of a heart attack aged 54 whilst I am unaware of Warren's cause of death (he was in his later 80s) 

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charnett_Moffett

     

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Warren_(musician)

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  6. Every gig I do is with different people 😃 but that's Jazz for you. I remember my first gig. We were playing to an empty room, we started the first tune, the roadie was screaming at me 'you are out of tune', the barman was screaming at us 'it's too loud' and the guitarist said 'f*** this' and stopped the gig about 2 minutes in. I was devastated. Fortunately, the second gig was only two days later and went very well. I envy you having all the excitement of a career of gigging in front of you. There are lots of musicians who don't gig; I just don't get it. 'The gig' is the whole point of the thing for me. Welcome on board, TR.

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  7. I was driving around recently and this tune came up on the radio and left me with a big grin at the fact that about half of the bass part is G quarter notes played on the beat. Absolutely brilliant writing and playing. I always used to think that this was easy when I was a kid learning how to play and never gave these kinds of parts the attention they deserved. My mantra now is, if you aren't enjoying playing root notes on the beat, you aren't doing it right :)

     

    This is the Phil Curtis bass part for the tune 'I've Got The Music In Me' from the 1974 Kiki Dee Band album of the same name.

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/ive-got-the-music-in-me-kiki-dee/

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  8. And another. The bass part to 'The Twlight Zone'.

     

    For the record, I did all three last night. Took me about two hours in total. I can read all of these cold (relatively slow tempos and repetitive lines helps). I remember when I first started listening to Rush and thought that Geddy Lee was the man! I love the fact that I can now play pretty much all of his lines from the dots without having to 'learn' them (I didn't really learn these properly at the time I was listening to them in earnest as doing so was that much more difficult in those days before computers and Transcribe software). It is easy to think you aren't improving when you are looking at your playing on a day to day basis but, looking back on these tunes, I am playing things cold that the 17 year old me thought were absolutely exceptional at the time. 

     

    https://bilbosbassbites.co.uk/the-twilight-zone-rush/

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