Bilbo

I do one covers gig as much as a social thing as a professional one. I like the people. The pad is very basic charts with chords and no detail. I invariably don't know half the songs and may never even have heard the original version so I busk it. To date, nobody has died or complained. I did one gig once where I knew none of the tunes and hadn't played with the drummer or singer before. As we were walking to the stage, I was listening to the first tune on Spotify. The 'new' players looked at the guitarist who said 'it will be fine'. We knocked it out of the park and had one of the best gigs I can remember. Most pop songs are based on limited song forms that an educated player can find their way around without too much difficulty. It's a bit reckless if you don't know what you are doing but, if you do, it's fine.

Key synth. Its the way his sound integrates into the ensemble sound. It's perfect.

I always think of his synth playing as some of the most organic and satisfying I have ever heard. It sounds 'real' not synthesised, if you see what I mean.

I have just seen that Pat Metheny 's wing man, Lyle Mays, has passed away due to a 'reoccurring illness'. 66. No age. A massively underrated talent whose work I have enjoyed for decades.

PS. I have a ticket for the Steve Hackett Seconds Out gig in Cardiff in November. My first tribute band gig.

You'll be accusing me of having integrity next.

I would play in a Gloria Estefan tribute band tomorrow.

My proposed website will be called Bilbo's Bass Bites. It is being worked on as we speak and will open with all of the above transcriptions. Still working on the format but it's all good

This is a transcription of Jeff Berlin's beautiful bass playing on the track 'Palewell Park' from the Bruford album 'Gradually Going Tornado'. This one took me three days and I am still not entirely convinced about the chords. Palewell Park.pdf

I just got hold of one of these (£94 new) and used it for the first time at a gig on Sunday. I didn't have time to look at it properly and, when I switched it on, it sounded 'kin terrible so I ditched it for the night. Last night I got the pedal out at home and tried it as a DI into my audio interface. After a little time spent tweaking it, it sounded 'kin fantastic. The knobs are really sensitive so you don't have to move them very far to make a difference but, after a few minutes of adjusting things, my Wal sounded really rich and even and lost that overly transparent sound you often get when you plug into a audio interface. Think valves instead of transistors Happy bunny.

Piggin' 'ell. I am losing it. I didn't think I had posted that. 😲 To be fair, it was posted yesterday 😣😞😞

Did one with a Brazilian singer guitarist last night. Got my Latin derrière kicked. His syncopated guitar playing was a revelation and, while I know Brazilian grooves, I struggled to keep up. A real buzz in spite of the clinkers!

I have decided that this is not the best way to make these transcriptions available to the world so I am in the process of setting up a dedicated website for them, much like the other people on here have done. I am in discussions with a web designer as we speak as my web based IT skills don't go as far as they should so watch out for The Return of Bilbo's Bass Transcription Archive. I envisage uploading the above 57 transcriptions and then adding to it from there.

Jeff Berlin again: 'Feels Good To Me' from the Bill Bruford album of the same name. Full bass part. Dots but no chords. Feels Good To Me.pdf

Says more about the mindset of those that use tab than anything else.

Gigged with a Brazilian singer guitarist called Mario Bakuna today. I know Brazilian music but he ripped me a new one 😄

It helps if you think of fast passages as just slow passages speeded up. 😎

Make sure you are properly hydrated and drink a lot of water (not alcohol which dehydrate). It's a well known issue amongst double bass players.

Jeff Berlin's bass parts to Bill Bruford's 'Either End Of August' off his 'Feels Good To Me' album. It is in 5:4, 6:4 and 4:4 😎 I was a massive Jeff Berlin fan in those days, right up until his Champions and Pump It albums but he lost me after that as his sound lost it's guts. He always strikes me as the kind of artist that really needs a strong producer to temper his worst excesses. This on is not hard to read or to play and has nothing 'chopsy' about it. Just a beautiful tune with a lovely bass part. I always think it sounds fretless but he always said he never played fretless so I don't know. Either End Of August - Jeff Berlin Bass Part.pdf

Yes, the Nazis had a downer on Jazz because, from their ideological perspective, it was created by an inferior Race. Dumbass wuckfits.

Jon Poole with Lifesigns again. This one is called 'Voice In My Head' from their 'Live In London' dvd'. A couple of inaccurate bars but it's mostly there. I cannot find a video of this one so you will have to look it up elsewhere. Voice In My Head.pdf

https://youtu.be/2rURkkkfv8o

That's always been my intention. I always thought that there was not enough interesting source material for developing readers so decided to post stuff I had already done. Now I am transcribing specifically to post as a means of encouraging people to learn to read.

Three decades in the making. I have been promising myself I would do this since the 1990s. Geddy Lee's part for YYZ. Most of it is mine but I did cross refer to a few other transcriptions for 'those' licks. We were mostly in agreement (Geddy double tracked the parts and dropped in for the solo licks and so there are odd things happening when you slow things down). YYZ - Rush.pdf