bassace

[quote name='jakesbass' post='327244' date='Nov 12 2008, 01:58 AM']Ultimately your ears should be the judge of whether you are in tune as your eyes are nowhere near sensitive enough to judge from spatial awareness alone whether or not you are in tune. So IMO don't waste time training your eyes to marks, train your ears to sound.[/quote] Quite right, of course. But an occcasional reality check doesn't harm. I got one of my basses upstairs recently and carefully put three dots on the side of the fingerboard using an electronic tuner. It told me that I had been playing C on the G string about a quarter tone flat. It was a case of 'so that's where it should be!'. I got into an argument with a recording engineer some time ago who insisted that I was playing a bit out of tune. I disagreed with him until I heard the playback. So our (elderly) ears can be fallible sometimes.

Jazz, like any other art form has its individual limits of understanding. Take art itself - we can all understand a Constable and most old portraits; for some, the Impressionists may be a bit challenging. Plenty of people just about get Picasso and Dali etc. Rothko? - fewer still, and so it goes. There are several examples of modern art that I just can't begin to understand but I concede that there are people out there who do understand and enjoy those works. So it is with jazz. What's not to like about some of the early stuff, Louis Armstrong for example? Then we get into 'modern jazz' (actually 50 years old at least) much of which is readily understandable, although some of the extended solos were a bit tedious. Thelonious, Ornette, Coltrane - bit more challenging; and so it goes. There is so much in jazz and so much to learn and enjoy. There's something for everyone.

It's difficult (and a bit futile?) to try and analyse. I've been playing, mainly jazz, for 40plus years now and have never come across the expression. I'm more familiar with the expression 'swing', as in 'does it swing?'. And I'm not talking Glenn Miller here. If the music moves effortlessly along, with a momentum of its own, it's probably swinging. The pulse comes from the bass with the drums providing the ride and embellishment to the front instrument's phrasing. In jazz it helps if the pulse is slightly in front of the beat - after immersing myself in Paul Chambers and others I can't seem to play any other way. Sometimes you will get a drummer who is sympathetic, sometimes unfortunately not. There have been times when I have worked with a good drummer and I've felt a shiver up my spine. There are lots of good examples in jazz (sorry i'm not so au fait with rock, and respect to you guys). Try to catch a recording of 'Dat 'Dere by the Adderly Brothers. Just listen to pianist Bobby Timmons's solo, 'specially the second chorus. That's really swinging! PS it doesn't have to be played fast to be able to swing.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='322784' date='Nov 5 2008, 04:43 PM']Like a great swing groove, its indefinable but, when you find it, its the BEST feeling. Its the 'magic' bit, the bit you can't buy, the bit that all the lessons you can every have and all the gear you can ever acquire won't make happen. Its the thing that some people have naturally, on the day they are born, and others spend their life making futile efforts trying to find. Its why Jeff Berlin isn't Aston 'Family Man' Barrett. Its why Steve Bailey isn't Steve Swallow. Its why Neils Henning Orsted Pederson isn't Ray Brown. Its soul. Its groove. Its the point where man and machine are operating in perfect harmony. Its why Michael Brecker and Bob Berg aren't Stan Getz and Paul Desmond. Its why Simon PHillips isn't John Bonham. Its why most people don't like jazz and why most jazz doesn't move most people. Its why Louis Armstrong is greater than Wynton Marsalis and why Slash is better than Yngwie J. Malmsteen. As Louis Armstrong once said 'if you have to ask..., you'll never know'[/quote] Ho ho ho. Don't get them started, Bilbo!

His interplay with Bill Evans, particularly on Waltz for Debby, took bass playing to a new level. Do I prefer him to the more conventional masters, such as Ray Brown? - probably not. But we don't have to judge musicians on whether they are better of worse, rather we should celebrate the diversity of playing styles that the instrument offers.

PMT in Oxford. Nice people and a short run up the M40

[quote name='Kirky' post='315179' date='Oct 26 2008, 04:44 PM']Good point - it always takes me a few seconds to adjust if I switch from bass or guitar to mandolin, for example, because of the tuning.[/quote] Respect. It would take me a lot more than a few seconds - hours, more like.

There are some bass/violin doublers out there but it doesn't come naturally simply because they are both the same, only different sizes. (double bass, I mean). Basses are tuned in fourths and violins/cellos in fifths. Ray Brown did a great LP taking the lead on pizzicato cello. I wonder whether he retuned it in fourths.

I have the greatest respect (and a small measure of envy) of any player who is a pro. Yes, sure, there may be a few who couldn't play their way out of a paper bag but the vast majority, by the number of playing hours they do and the discipline imposed by having to get it right, will be able to outplay the likes of us part-timers. As a youngster, I was playing at Butlins in '62 and we were offered a 'contract' by the MD at the place. I said at the time that I felt that music was a great hobby but a poor career. Was I right? I did well enough in building and civil engineering and I still enjoy doing two/three well-paid gigs per week, but what of the others in the band? Drummer and guitarist became big players in music electronics, Drummer also doing sessions. Trumpet player wrote songs some for Cliff, Hollies, Franki Valli; oh, and Elvis Singer did some sigtunes on TV And the singer's baby went on to join Roxy and Straits They all have happy family lives, so in this instance I was probably wrong.

I was doing some building work for an American car hire firm some time ago. Looking down their mission statement (or whatever) I saw the line 'Nobody ever won an argument with a customer' That says it all, really.

+1 for the Underwood. You can get involved in all sorts of discussions as to which is the best transducer/mic setup but at the end of the day (or the start of the gig), and as a new convert you need something that'll get you reliably started and get good instant results. Only after a few years' of gigs will you need to start considering other options. You may want to use your bass guitar amp initially to save you the cost of a more DB-oriented amp ( Gallien Krueger 150MBS is a very good place to start). If you use your bass guitar amp you will probably experience a mismatch in impedence (transducer is much higher than bass guitar pickup). So get a Fishman Pro eq, or better still a Platinum Pro eq, preamp. This will not only buffer the impedence but will shape the tone, reduce feedback by a phase inverter and in the case of the Platinum act as a DI and more besides. Good luck.

[quote name='timloudon' post='310678' date='Oct 20 2008, 06:28 PM']I'm not usually one for these types of post, and I'm not really that much of an active user on this here forum, but here goes... I've been playing electric for about 6 years and have been dabbling in the old Double for a while, but today I had my first proper lesson on Double Bass and I have to say I'm hooked! Just thought I'd let you all know.[/quote] Great news! Stay hooked and enjoy the double bass. Send a post whenever you may have a query. You'll find some knowlegeble, helpful and friendly guys on this side of the fence.

Just come back from two weeks in Gran Canaria with the seven piece I work with. Chicago jazz (an upmarket trad, if you will). We did 150 tunes, unrepeated, in the first week and then did them again the second week. Many of them we hadn't played before so we were a bit outside our comfort zone but it all went very well and we sold lots of CDs. We had the usual 'I don't like jazz, but I like your band' thing. When pressed more than one person said it was the Laine/Dankworth thing that turned them off - sorry to be controversial. All the gear lives over there - PA, drums, keyboard and a stick bass without a name that played quite well, so travelling over was quite easy.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='292494' date='Sep 26 2008, 10:00 AM']I imagine your best bet would be to stick a wantd ad on TalkBass. Does it have to be an SA? You could always look out for a Focus. It's not much bigger.[/quote] I've posted on Talkbass today. Yes, a Focus would do, even a Clarus but I'd hope to get a simple power amp cheaper. I've already got a Clarus with two preamp channels. I want to split the second channel with its own power output, hence the SA.

I've put a post in the Wanteds for an Acoustic Image SA amp. This is a stand alone power amplifier that AI no longer make, probably due to lack of demand. My chances of success are rather slim because even the UK AI importer says he's never seen one. So has anyone some suggestions for an easily obtained small power amp, rated at around 300-500 watts? I'd like to run a microphone channel through it, after a suitable preamp, of course.

Mrs Bassace says that wedding rings are for women only. She hates to see them on men. The only jewelry a man wears should be a watch, preferably a Cartier. Rolexes are definitely out. What's worn on stage is different, though. I wear a diamante butterfly broach, just to wind her up. What do you guys wear? , or should this be moved to Off Topic?

The bp-100 is probably the least successful of the pickups soundwise, although easy to install. And there is no doubt that miking a bass will produce the truest sound. It's not quite as straightforward as that, however. Unless you plug the mic into the front of house PA you will get feedback problems that are difficult to manage. You will be reliant on someone else to set your levels and will have little control over the sound. What you hear in your backline will be the signal coming from your pickup. If you play in a band that has a good PA rig and soundman I may have exagerated the problem but at most of my gigs I have to rely on my backline. So although a mic is quite do-able it is not simple. I'm sure that some of our posters may disagree but IMO unless you have a good two channel backline amp with phantom power and notch filters (Acoustic Image would do nicely) I would concentrate on upgrading the pickup. As I said, the BP-100 is the least successful, it was one of the earliest pickups and progress has left it behind a bit. There are some players who actually get a reasonable sound from it but the generally held view is that it works better on a solid wood bass rather than a lami one. A bp-100 will generally have impedance matching problems with the amp so a buffering preamp would improve its sound. Fishman Pro-eq would do, or more expensively the Platinum Pro-eq which is a fine piece of kit. A good pu upgrade would be to use an Underwood which has been around for a while and is favoured by lots of players. I still like it a lot although I now use the more expensive Fishman Full Circle. This will, however, entail skilled fitting by a luthier if you don't already have an adjustable bridge. Do you know what I'd recommend? Get ahead of the curve and buy the latest hot ticket, the Planet Wing. The guys in USA are raving about it and it is so easy to fit, sliding between the bridge wings on the E side. It costs about £150 and you can get it direct from the makers in Denmark. Just google 'Planet Wing' and you'll find their address. I've just had one delivered but I'm too damn busy to fit it right now. As soon as I get in installed I'll do another post. This is not to rule out a microphone solution but I really think your energies will be best spent on first getting a good pickup sound, and then progressing in a while to try a mic. That way, if the mic doesn't work out you'll have the pu to fall back on.

So, Phil the Bassist, you come and see my band at Newbury last Sunday and the Mrs gets to see Madonna, VIP. No contest is it really?!!

Last night I was booked on DB for a pick up gig with a sax player, his son (16yrs old) on drums and a keyboard. I met the sax player at the gig and he said we were in for a good time because the host (a solicitor celebrating his 50th birthday) was one of his students - and there may be more. So at 6.00pm we settled down in a small marquee in the garden and did some straight ahead modern standards, some from the books, some from the head. Sax player was awsome, son on drums equally so and I had a big smile on my face all the way through. I noticed several people walking in with sax cases and in the second set we had no less than eight saxes lined up in the front. They had all rehearsed (more or less) Mood Indigo and Summertime and got through those, just. Then the sax player called C jam blues, which none of them had ever heard of. It's OK he said, It's only two notes. So they all joined in a made a terrible racket with some of the soloists(?) told to swap fours with the drums, which was an alien concept to most. A lot of fun and after three tunes order was restored and we did a funk set before the light went and we packed up at 9.00. Good food, booze and a good fee. Wonderful.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='279599' date='Sep 8 2008, 12:10 PM']I HATE IT!! I HATE IT!! I HATE IT!!! It should never be played again by anyone ever. If you have a chart, burn it. Now.[/quote] Too late! I've sent it to Kendo.

I played this behind a singer recently, on DB. Be carefull, it seems simple but each bass break is subtlly different. Best to listen to Peggy's recording and it'll all make sense. Kendo, I have a bass part in Am. If you would like to PM me your address I'll put it on the copier and send it to you.

For a minute I thought The Grauniad had taken over BC. Just two comments:- 1. Strange that whenever a discussion of 'who's the best bass player?' starts up, by the end everyone gets a mention including the guy down at the pub. Some appear more often than others of course. 2. No one ever considers the great contribution made by the upright players, probably because their knowledge is, er, finite? limited? tunelled? - fill in as appropriate. This'll be dismissed as the wingeing of an old dinosour and no disrespect to the BG players, many of whom I'm in awe. But if you have a chance listen to some of the great lines and harmonies played by the likes of James Blanton, Paul Chambers, Ray Brown, Leroy Vinegar, Scott Lafaro (mispelt?) et al. They started it all. I'll go and lie down now.

I do quite a lot of (jazz) gigs without drums. I don't particularly enjoy it because on bass you have to be a lot tighter with the rhythm than pulse along with the ride cymbal. I have to do this mainly for economic reasons and I just get on with it. If you've got a good rhythm guitarist you should be OK. Take the overall volume right down and do a sort of unplugged set. You'll enjoy it and you may make a few musical discoveries on the way. But do it, and good luck.

My three uprights are:- The German Blonde, Ginger and The Prof. Oh, and the Stig. That way my wife knows what I'm talking about.