Bilbo

Jimmy Page couldn't complain about being plagurised. He was Rock's greatest tea leaf.

Masons Arms, Pantygasseg, 1980. Aged 17. 39 years ago.

Anything with Paul Chambers on will give you endless examples of walking bass lines.

It's great, isn't it?

I have been spending a lot of time with acoustic guitar lately as I find I am getting fewer and fewer calls and want to get involved with something that is self contained. The players I like are Ralph Towner, acoustic Al Dimeola and guys like Yamandu Costa and Jose Luis Monton. I am not interested in playing 'Jazz guitar' just in playing beautiful music. I am exploring a lot of solo guitar arrangements of Astor Piazzolla stuff like this.

Absolutely agree. Much fusion is a pissing contest driven by the need to impress rather than the desire to move (emotionally). Juggling athletes rather than artists. I think JB can be guilty of this.

I saw JB and KW with a drummer at a bass clinic at the Bass Centre in Wapping many years ago. KW is a great player.

In my experience, JB's tone always sounds better when he has a producer and he is not the leader. Which is now, apparently, rare. Which is a shame. I believe his concept as a composer/performer, which revolves around his bass and choral playing, is flawed and his material actually quite weak, despite its bass heavy content (or maybe because of it). I feel that it is when other people are in charge that he is at his best.

I guess it depends on what you mean by Jazz. A lot of stuff listed here is fusion, Jazz rock or Jazz funk which is one thing whilst more purist forms of Jazz may be what is needed in terms of the op's need for exposure. In a nutshell, at this early stage, more is more!!

Nothing wrong with that list, Frank.

I am intending to wait for proper medical advice but I just wanted to hear what other people's experiences have been. Have depped out the first couple already.

I played one of these when they came out. It was very easy to play.

Tragically (or not), I was a MAHOOSIVE Berlin fan in the 1980s and spent hours with the Bruford lps, Berlin's own albums, the Players stuff and Road Games. Couldn't get enough of it. At some point, however, his obsession with choral playing changed his sound and, for me, it got thinner and thinner to the point where I actually hate it and can no longer listen to him. I think it all started going wrong for me when he ditched his Fender Jazz hybrid. My advice is to find your own sound. A decent professional quality bass and amp set up and a few decades of experimentation and you should be fine. By all means listen to and learn from JB but find your own voice.

Bless you, Pete.

Makes sense. I have a cardio rehab assessment next week so will start to work with the information I get there. I got away with angioplasty so minimal fallout in terms of physical invasive procedures but not sure how much damage was done. The physical thing about the bass is linked to how I feel at the end of a gig. On electric, I can play for hours without a problem but, on double bass, I struggle by the end of two sets. Recent adjustments to the bass have helped but gaps between gigs are impeding the development of gig ready stamina. Reverting to electric is certainly an option. PS cardiologists don't play bass.

I got that particular kick in the nadjers on 13th December and have not played the double bass since. I have always found the instrument a physical challenge so am wary of the fact that I have gigs in about three weeks that I need to consider depping out or not. In short, has anyone been in this position and returned to the double bass successfully and without aggravating their general health? I would welcome your thoughts.

Lots of people who know me know that I used to be in a band called No Quarter, named after the Led Zeppelin track. I just realised that I have never heard the albums Led Zeppelin 1, Led Zeppelin 3, In Through the Out Door, Presence or Physical Graffiti. I have never heard a Rolling Stones album, a Bob Dylan album or a David Bowie album. I have missed most of Pink Floyd's back catalogue, everything by Neil Young, Kiss, Aerosmith... The list is endless. What so called classics completely passed you by?

Wouldn't music be interesting if that were the case.

That would defeat the object.

Reading guitar dots.

I also think that Rutherford's role in the multi-12 string guitar thing that Genesis made their own was a massive factor in their freshness and originality.

Just to show willing....

I have something coming today. Bear with.

I think Rutherford is underrated as a bass player because his parts are generally so musical and never in your face. Catch some of his playing on this from 1984.