bassace

The drums make you tap your feet, the bass makes you swing your hips. Thumb for show, nut for dough. More relevant to double bass.

More from my era. When Humphrey Lyttelton recorded Bad Penny Blues Joe Meek was the recording engineer. By the time the record was released JM had worked his ‘magic’, with max compression etc, particularly on the piano, and the band hated the sound. The disc became one of a few jazzers to get into the top ten charts. Me? It opened a whole new palette of sounds and Joe’s sound went on put a lot of tunes into the charts. We played support to the Tornadoes at the Cheltenham Arts Ball 1965. Clem Cattini, what a nice bloke.

No, unfortunately not that one. Over the last few days there have been a couple of rock docs about Stevie Wonder and Elvis on TV. Steve’s music was particularly good. But, for me, both progs were spoiled by a procession of grotty, ugl - well, aesthetically challenged people talking to camera after each excerpt. And not really having any connection with the artist or anything helpful to say apart from remembering this and that from their own younger days. And not much else. As though they were the ultimate authority on the particular artist. When the Count Basie doc was on a few days ago, Quincy Jones did the chat. And that was very good.

And I’m sure he can afford a decent pair of trousers here and there.

Au contraire. Heaven is a jazz musician is playing a blues. Hell is a guitarist playing ‘The Blues’.

Fair ‘nuff. Didn’t wish to offend.

W And that’s the point. So when a bass player steps outside that zone and is ‘rated’ he’s got to be bloody good. If he isn’t, he’s overrated. Pino comes to mind. It’s all in that chorus pedal, nothing else. I saw him with the Who and he didn’t contribute much at all. Sorry.

QED?

I’ve always played this in F.

Thanks for the heads up, Quilly, but I don’t do home. It’s got to be a gig.

Looking at the amp ads, sales seem to be quite slow right now, and hardly surprising. I’d really like to try going valve but with no gigs in prospect and little opportunity to sell some of my stuff that’ll have to be a dream for now.

‘There’s no love song finer But how strange the change from major to minor Ev’ry time we say goodbye’ Cole Porter

Some PA cabs work very well for double bass, such as QSC. Some are even an improvement on an out and out bass cab in that they offer a wider tonal range.

The amp has been 100% trouble free. The CD player had a problem with the drawer but Quad did a speedy repair for not a lot of money, as I recall.

I bought a Quad amp in 1971 and still have it. I also had a pair of Tannoy Chatsworths at the same time but sold them ten years ago for £1k, replacing them with a smaller, but not quite as good, pair of Tannoys. I originally had a good collection of vinyl kept in mint condition but unwisely threw them all out when we moved two houses ago. The CD player came along a bit later. So the amp has been with me for nearly fifty years and is still going strong. Edit: And thank you to all those kind people who reacted so favourably towards this post. I should add that in all those 50 years the amp/preamp haven't been revalved. I presume they’ve got valves.

In the fifties he was the only bass guitarist with a recognisable name.

Puma 500 doesn’t have a fan.

That was good! Thanks Jack.

From Horace Hawkins, Choirmaster at Chichester Cathedral........ ’His mind is not on this earth, let alone his music’. It improved but I still have the attention span of a gnat. Probably why I don’t practise.

A great thread, this, and just goes to show the various things that formed our music/ musicianship in later life. I suppose there were not too many formal music lessons that made a difference to me but certainly a lot of music all around that had a lasting influence and shaped much of my life. As I said, music was all around, from mum and dad singing round the house, the church choir and primary school where there were at least three pianos and a lot of time spent singing. Or that was my impression. Then at age 10 I went off to the Chichester Cathedral choir school, very much aided by the choral scholarship which remitted half the school fees back to dad. We’d sing eight full services in the Cathedral a week, each one preceded by quite intensive practice. So by age 11 going on 12 I could read and sing quite busy four part harmonies. We used to stay on over Christmas and much of the summer holidays so it was all quite full on. If very enjoyable. While there we had to take up a musical instrument and I studied the violin, getting a few early grades. Then leaving to join the posh boys school I encountered a musical desert. No music lessons, no nothing except a tired old codger coming in every morning to play organ for the morning assembly. Such a useless school that tuition didn’t progress after the fifth form. So I was sent to the local grammar school for sixth form. It had a good football team but what excited me was it had a jazz band. (Rock bands hadn’t yet started). And it had an excellent slightly eccentric music master. And when I arrived on the first day of term I spotted a double bass on the stage. I fell in with the crowd who surrounded the jazz band . I was soon in and while still at school we were playing support to a lot of the headliners that came to Reading Town Hall. So not too many formal lessons but surrounded by music and finally a some good friends who shaped my musical life.

But did you learn anything from it?

Quick to set up is very important. A big band can make a very long queue at the bar. You wouldn’t want to be left behind and nobody buys the bass player a drink. Only the drummer and he’ll still be setting up.

Good stuff, Steve. Just one thing I’d like to add: a while ago I saw a young big band in Portsmouth and they had a bass guitar. And, yes, it didn’t have the sustain of the upright and sounded a bit thin. But no matter, they guy was playing all the right notes and was obviously a good reader. But he had no propulsion at all, it was all a bit lifeless. All big band bass players should realise that their equal function is to give drive to the rhythm section. Put some excitement into the music.

Wishing you great joy with the big band. Lucky you, those gigs are not easy to come by. Placement: if at all possible I try to get myself between the piano - hear the chords - and the drums. Usually the drummer will like to hear the bass and you can work the rhythm together. It won’t hurt at all if you ask him if he is happy with your volume, or tell him to feel free to say whether you are too quiet/too loud. That way you’ll get your volume about right after a few rehearsals. I’ve spent a lifetime sucking up to the drummer and mostly it works very well. Otherwise, yes, bring out the mids, tame the bottom end and elevate the cab, but not too much. Enjoy!

Get some surgical spirit, leave the blisters alone and soak them three time a day. Good luck!