Rob MacKillop

I think you've chosen well. Take Five will show your competence in playing and soloing in an "odd" time signature. Autumn Leaves is a tired old warhorse, but an essential one to be absolutely competent in. And All Blues will demonstrate groove playing and blues soloing. Good luck. Can you bring a backing track, or will someone there comp on a keyboard during the interview?

@petebassist - Pete, it's a book for fingerstyle bass guitar, as you know. When it comes to playing on an upright, you create your own rules. The Bottesini are all single-note studies, no chords, so could be played bowed or pizz. The Isbin - I can imagine them either way too, but am not 100% sure. Best wishes.

And for completion's sake, here's a video compilation of the sound files for the 19th-century studies by Giovanni Bottesini:

Cheers, Pete. Well, Bottesini was an upright player, though apparently his bass only had three strings. You should also try these on the upright. I'd love to know if the Isbin pieces would also work on an upright.

Well, you don't need to have an iPad. Any computer would do, even a phone. As long as you can send it to a printer.

I'll do that. It usually takes about a month to get into the UK Amazon. There's always the eBook from the Mel Bay website, which you can get straight away, and printout. Ah, I see Robbie has just mentioned that. Glad you like it!

Here's a video of the contemporary sound files from the book.

Cheers, Robbie. Being a multi-instrumentalist, and this being my first bass book, there might be questions over my sincerity, so it's good to getting backing from those who know my work. I've played bass since the late 70s, and have had many students over the years. But it was in an effort to improve my bass playing that I set out on the path that led me to this book. I'm sure many will benefit from it. The classical studies are fun, but the Isbin works are outstanding, I think, and can be used as a basis for improv, or as stand-alone solos. Cheers, Rob

Please let's not make this a debate about the pros and cons of tab. Thank you 🙂

Thanks, guys. I don't think Mel Bay would entertain that at all, Ralph. They know what sells, I guess. I'm just happy to get the music published by such a big company. Sorry. You can only please some of the people some of the time, as they say.

Hi folks. I just want to mention my Classical and Contemporary Studies for Bass Guitar has just been published by Mel Bay HERE - which can be downloaded straight away as an eBook, or hard copies are available from the publisher, or one of their sellers. It will take a month or so to reach Amazon UK, I imagine. So, what is it? Half the book is given over to 21 studies by "the Paganini of the bass", Giovanni Bottesini (1821-1889), very classical in style, and progressive, from fairly simple to complex. For the second half of the book I commissioned 12 Studies for Bass Guitar by Gilbert Isbin, whose influences run from contemporary classical to jazz, world musics, etc. If you like Charlie Haden, Steve Swallow, etc, you might well like these solo repertoire pieces. Isbin loves yearning, often haunting melodies, and the 12 pieces are generally in two-part counterpoint, or a melody and accompaniment. Every item in the book has a sound file recorded on a fretless 4-string bass by me, but all the pieces could just as well have been played on a fretted 4-string bass. You can see videos and hear soundfiles of every piece from THIS PAGE of my website. Any questions, just ask. Cheers, Rob MacKillop

Well, I went to the Sennheiser refurb site - http://en-uk.sennheiser.com/outlet - and bagged a pair of HD 599's which were half price. They're on their way from Ireland. Very much looking forward to trying them out. I'll be using them for a mixture of recording and general listening. Thanks for the comments! Appreciated.

Good post, Cameron. I'll give that some thought, and look around. I never thought of refurbished headphones.

Budget: up to £150 I listen mostly to jazz and classical, not pop or rock. Looking for headphones that don't colour the sound, but still have a warm, clear bass register. Any ideas?

It dawned on me that all I need to do is go straight from the bass into the Fostex using the split jack cable. Problem solved. Glad no one lost any sleep over that

Last minute reprieve. It lives on, after £135m investment.

Thanks, "Dad"!

I've just realised I could put headphones into the amp while recording, which would cut the sound from the speaker, allowing me to turn the Master up full without breaking any windows....

I'm playing my bass through a Phil Jones Double 4, using a mono line out, the cable split into two mono lines going into a Fostex FR2LE hard disk sound recorder. It works, and the sound is not bad, however it is very quiet. There isn't any way to up the output volume from the amp, other than turn the Master up and play loud. I'd rather not do that. I upload the sound file to my laptop, and in Wavelab bring up the volume to an acceptable level, and add a little reverb. But I think it would be better if the Line Out volume was higher in the first instance. I also have a Phil Jones Bass Buddy somewhere in the house. I wonder if that could be utilised in some way? Another solution would be to use the mic I have, a Rode NT4 stereo mic, in front of the amp speaker. I've never recorded the bass before, and wonder how to get the best out of the equipment I have? Any thoughts will be appreciated.

My Danelectro Black Longhorn Dead On 58 (what a name!) is short sale, 30.5, but has extra frets, which somehow give the impression you are playing standard scale. I love playing this bass, though the controls don't seem to do much...

After a couple of days playing, I've come to appreciate the low action, and the strings are beginning to feel better under my fingers - they seem to need to be played in for a while before giving their best. I'm still impressed with the quality for the price, and recommend this bass.

Well, it arrived safely half an hour ago, and I've been playing it through my only bass amp, a Phil Jones Double Four. First impressions are favourable. For the price point it is very well made, no rough work anywhere, everything works. It's very light, which to this 58-year old is no bad thing. The strings are flatwound Chromes, I think - a little on the thin side for me. I've been playing with Rotosound tapewound strings on my Danelectro, and might purchase a set for the Ibanez. The sound is good, closer to acoustic bass than to Jaco, which I'm happy about (l love Jaco, but don't want to go there). It has some mwah, but only if you let it. So, my initial impressions of the sound and playability are positive. What I'm a bit perplexed about are the dark lines - when I'm playing I can't see them. Also, apart from the side dots, which align with the black fret lines, there are onboard position markers, which do not align with anything useful. I can't see them either, when I'm playing! Even when I push my neck out and take a look at the fretboard, the E string hides them. Now, I'm not too bothered, as the side dots are all I require, but it does make me think that all the work that has gone into the lines and dots are a waste of time and money. What's the point of visual aids if you can't see them?! I'll change the strings and raise the action a millimetre, then I think I will be very happy. Again, for the price point it is a bargain. It's certainly a gigable instrument. My intention is to use in a generally-acoustic jazz setting, and I think it will do that job very nicely.

Well, I've made my choice for the present. We shall see. It arrives Friday.

More than I was willing to pay. Looks good though...when I need an upgrade.

Will do.