Alun

Very nice, especially the Scofield tune. Cheers, Alun

Have a look at the close ups on [url="http://www.freewebs.com/sbguitars/"]http://www.freewebs.com/sbguitars/[/url] - the finish is quite something, especially on the headstock. Nothing against 13 string basses but the string guages are laughable - I'm guessing the luthier isn't a bassist. Alun

Thanks for the link. Worth visiting for the freebie radius templates even if you don't need a pickguard. Cheers, Alun

[quote name='umcoo' post='37030' date='Jul 25 2007, 09:54 PM']Hey guys and gals, now that I've got a bit of spare time I feel like I want to improve my playing and tidy things up a bit. Can anyone suggest a book or cd type thing with exercises to improve my playing? I've been playing for over 8 years, but feel im stuck in a bit of a rut with my playing. I don't do slap or tapping and all that lot, just things to help me improvise and 'know' what's going on with my basslines. Was thinking about the 'bass bible', but I don't want some really basic stuff. Any help is appreciated. Merci[/quote] The Bass Bible is a good book but has a number of typos between the tab and notation so it pays to listen carefully to the CDs (and not every example is on the CD). The world music stuff is very good, plenty of new styles to discover. Cheers, Alun

Hi. I don't have the tab/transcription to hand but know the line ( and can double check the track for bits I've forgotten!). Is there a particular bit you're stuck on? It'd probably be quicker for me to just post that bit than transcribe the lot. Cheers, Alun

Predominantly fingers, but some songs just sound better with a plectrum so I will use one when the music suits it.

[quote name='Mikey D' post='35326' date='Jul 21 2007, 06:53 PM']Eb is much harder and I am not so fluid at it.[/quote] Oddly enough, I find Eb easier than Bb. The way I do it is to just think of the treble clef as bass clef and change the key signature. Eg, to get a concert C, an Eb instrument plays an Eb - the third space in treble clef is C, in bass clef it's E. So by changing the key signature and clef ( in my head), it all becomes much clearer. To my odd way of thinking anyway Cheers, Alun

I can sight read bass clef unless it's something really ridiculous, in which case I can usually still bluff my way through, and treble clef to a reasonable level. I need to practice sight transposition more but can do it a bit. I've found it invaluable in doing big band and function gigs, and it allows me to do gigs at very short notice with no rehearal. I've just finished 3 gigs with a German jazz funk band where I had to transcribe two CDs worth of material in a couple of days and then read the parts on the gigs. Being able to interpret chord charts, and mentally revise them as you go if it turns out that the band don't paly them exactly as it first appears, is really important too from my point of view. As to whether or not it's essential, it depends on what you want to do. If you're playing original music or have a good ear then their may be no need but it's essential for big band and function/cabaret type work. I know at least one very busy session guitarist who can barely read at all but can play insanely complex music by ear after one or two listens. My personal opinion is that it opens up more opportunities to learn and play and that can't be a bad thing. Imagine being unable to read or write English - yes, you could get through life verbally but miss out on so much. Regarding metronomes - I practice some things with one, especially grooves and walking lines with it on 2 & 4 ( or just on one beat of the 4/4 bar - which beat depends on how adventurous I'm feeling!) as Mike mentions above, but don't use it every day. Cheers, Alun

Very nice Mike. Possibly a daft question but I couldn't see the answer - how many strings will this lovely beastie have? Cheers, Alun

Hi Richard, I have an original RC20 and an RC20XL which I picked up recently on eBay quite cheaply. Both are great, the XL is a better unit and has plenty of extra features not on the original, but you'd probably be able to pick up an original one quite cheaply. I've also tried the single pedal RC2, but found it a bit too convoluted trying to do everything with one switch - far too much double tapping, holding down for x amount of time, etc. I've used mine in a band context a few times and the only issue you may come across is making sure everyone can hear it and stay in time with it. Even a tiny time drift will become extremely noticeable against a loop :-) Cheers, Alun

Hi Jen, for some reason I can't quote your post soo... Backing for bass solos - I know what you mean. The "walking bass" guitar wasn't too bad with a 7 string as he had a low A and I was using a 6 string so we could stay out of each others ways. I have had to play with keyboard players who feel the need to play bass at all times which can be hard going. I agree with the light accompaniment theory. There's nothing worse than the whole band stopping - I always end up playing too much to fill in the space in those cases. The 12 string guitar - can't find the tuning but found the player's website - www.brycejacobs.com Looking it at, it looks like it could be two sets of "normal" tunings, not sure. The quoted range is only 5 octaves ( with two POGS to extend it to 7), which is only one more than a regular 24 fret six string. I assume the advantage is that you'd be able to play closer voiced chords. Cheers, Alun

I've not used this combo, but I believe the input stage is the same ( or at least very similar) to a Little Mark II. If so, I've used actives and very loud passives with the Gain on 3 o' clock and not experienced any distortion or unpleasantness. These amps are really clean. Cheers, Alun

[quote name='endorka' post='31019' date='Jul 13 2007, 12:08 AM']I did a gig once with a 7 string guitar guy - we were tearing up funk and jazz standards like "Have You Met Miss Jones" and "Nardis", total shred style. It were great. Jennifer[/quote] I've done a jazz gig with a 7 string guitarist - very weird having walking bass suddenly appear under your bass solo Speaking of extended range guitarists, there is a 12 string ( all single strings, no double courses) in Guitar Player this month. Mad! Cheers, Alun

The blue Tortex ones ( 1mm I think?)

Hello folks. Just a quick plug for a short tour I'll be doing with a German fusion band, Solid Airbag, next week as their bass player was unable to get a visa.. Wed 18 - Swansea Jazzland, Swansea ( I'll also be playing in the support band with vocalist Amy Sinha) Thurs 19 - Cafe Jazz, Cardiff Fri 20 - Lanmill House, Lanmill (apparently it's about a mile from Narberth. The gig was originally in Narberth but has had to be moved) Right, back to learning the music! Cheers, Alun

[quote name='BassBod' post='29641' date='Jul 10 2007, 11:09 AM']Interesting - when I got my Mo Clifton EUB there was a lot of "what's that" - but ten years later people listen to it and pretty much accept it as a viable alternative to an acoustic (even the Bluegrass crowd). A lot of that is the sound of the Realist pickup - it does a very good job of translating the "thump". I had a magnetic on mine and took it off - yes, it sounded like a giant fretless Pbass. Only good for really loud situations. BB[/quote] I didn't make it very clear sorry - I like the Cliftons and they do indeed sound quite acoustic-y. The bass this player used wasn't A Clifton, not even an EUB, it was a standard upright which made it even more daft Cheers, Alun

Rickenbackers and Stingrays - both look and sound fantastic but I just can't get comfortable on either. Alun

[quote name='chris_b' post='8589' date='May 29 2007, 01:32 PM']All the above comments are true........ but in certain (jazz) circles there is snobbery about double bass. Laurence Cottle is a fantastic electric jazz bass player, but Martin Drew (ex Ronnie Scott drummer, who runs his own jazz group) said that he couldn't use Laurence on some gigs because he didn't play double bass and the promoters and audience wouldn't accept electric bass. This isn't about the sound or the logic, it's about prejudice and you can't do much about that. Jazzers can be very bigoted.[/quote] This is very true, and is a sad fact of the jazz scene at the moment. I do a lot of jazz work on bass guitar and it is looked upon as "second best" no matter how well you play. You always think of jazz as less image conscious than pop, but when it comes to bass it can be just as bad. I recently did a gig with a singer who'd contacted me via my Myspace page (which has tracks played on bass guitar and pictures of bass guitar). We discussed tunes, etc including some bass and vocal only tunes which I prepared in advance. When they got to the gig, they said they thought I played upright and weren't sure if they wanted to do the duets with bass guitar As it turned out, we did them with vocals and fretless and they went down really well. I use an Ashbory for simulating upright on recordings, but it just doesn't suit the look of a sultry jazz gig. Another example - I was chatting to a well known UK upright player before a gig and mentioned I was considering an NS Wav. He then lectured me for five minutes on how "stick basses" and pointless and I should get a Mo Clifton bass as they have a more realistic tone. He then went on and played an upright with a magnetic pick up that sounded like a fretless Precision - no upright character at all. But it looked right. Cheers, Alun

A lot of 80s metal bands used to do that, even Ozzy whose music featured quite a bit of keys. The reason they went on late was down to a problem with the keyboards according to the BBC presenters.

As far as I can make out, he was holding his thumb and finger together as if he had a pick and strumming near the end of the neck. The bassline in "Everybody Dance" is a pretty good example of how this technique can sound. Cheers, Alun

Aaargh! Would it be easier for me to just set up a Direct Debit with you? First the Stu Hamm book, now this! Seriously, it sounds great, I shall add it to my "things to buy off Stuart" list. Am just on my way gigwards so haven't looked at the score yet, but will do on the weekend when I have a more time. Cheers, Alun

Cool, well done. I've been with Elixir for a few years and they've been great, really helpful and friendly. Cheers, Alun

I've got a few applications on my laptop including Sonar 5 and Cubase LE but generally use.. Tracktion 2 for most midi/VST things and mixing Adobe Audition 1.5 for audio editting, audio file format conversion and sometimes audio only mixing (the noise reduction plug in that comes with Audition is one of the best I've ever found) Sibelius 4 for scores and usually for creating midi files as the midi editor in Tracktion isn't that great Cheers, Alun

Sounds very nice On a mildly related note, I hear you know Lewis Clement. Great pianist and bassist. Cheers, Alun

Andy McKee is great. I'm also listening to a lot of Antoine Dufour at the moment.. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRvRBQTqUKI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRvRBQTqUKI[/url] Cheers, Alun