WishICouldWalk

What I forgot to mention is the Warwick head weighs a ton and there are only so many journeys up 3 flights of stairs whilst carrying heavy gear that a back will take. Power amps can be easily half the weight. I appreciate I could get something like a Mark Bass head, but there's the expense and again, the duplication - paying for a preamp when I really like the EBS. Power amps are relatively cheap as well. I guess I could sell the EBS and get a lightweight head, but like I say, I really like the sound and I can get the sound I want without a lot of buggering about.

Cheers for that. I've tried playing through PA's and you're at the mercy of the PA's monitoring setup (often crap) and the neuroses of the sound man (often diverse). I'd really like to have a bit of control over my headroom. I'll check out what a BFM Omni is! [quote name='clauster' post='120640' date='Jan 15 2008, 10:15 AM']It should work - one option I've was considering was once considering was the EBS into PA for gigs and into a BFM Omni 10.5 with a power amp built in for practice and rehearsals and any small gigs.[/quote]

Thanks for the response. In terms of the scales, I know enough to know how to play them - can you suggest the best way to contextualise them? I do attempt transcribing solos - would you say that the approach should be to look for scale fragments within the solos and try to work out what chords they're being played over and then to play different patterns of the scale over the chord that chord(s)? Unfortunately I don't find it too easy to identify the harmony. I did think that maybe what I should do is loop progressions like 2-5-1 or whatever and sing over them and transcribe my own melodies but what I'm realising is that at my level, it's really difficult to even sing the phrase in my mind. [quote name='bilbo230763' post='120616' date='Jan 15 2008, 09:32 AM']You need to work on a vocabulary of scales: Major, minor, melodic minor, diminished, augmented and chromatic scales. You'll also need to look at all of the modes for each scale (your brother will help but come back to me via PM if he can't/won't). And, of course, there are the pentatonic scales (which are variations on the above) and the blues scale. You should look at transcribing other people's solos (NOT bass solos because they are relatively clumpy compared to horns/guitars - watch for the responses to THAT comment!) or, if you can't transcribe, just learn them by rote at the speed at which they are played by the original soloist. Start with 'easier' solos; more melodic etc rather than Joe Lovano stuff which is all but impossible to execute on the bass. Trombone solos, Baristone Sax solos etc are a good place to start (Gerry Mulligan's 'Song For Strayhorn' was my first transcription). Gradually, over a period of months and years, your ears will develop and you will 'hear' things more readily. There is no quick fix here. Anyone who tells you any different is lying. Of course, you can practice simply playing along with the radio and try to catch licks and lines. The more you do it, the more you will improve. But I do advocate the more academic approach outlined above as it is a tried and tested route to learning.[/quote]

I currently have the following equipment. G & K MB150S Combo, a Warwick Profet IV Head and 2x10 cab, and and EBS Microbass preamp. When I practice, I run the Microbass straight into my pc sound card and monitor through hi fi speakers. The way I see it, there's too much duplication. The MB150S is not needed for practice and I have the head/cab for gigs (hence why the 150S is on the for sale forum). However, when I sell the MB150S, I'm left with 2 preamps - the Microbass and the one built into the Warwick head. My intention is the run the Microbass through a PA type power amp and drive the cabinet that way for gigs. This should give me all the options I need and I'll be able to sell the bass head. Has anyone tried this? That is: bass preamp/general purpose power amp/bass cabinet. If anyone could let me know before I buy a power amp that would be great. Thanks for reading.

I'm looking for advice on improvising. My brother plays saxophone and if we're listening to a piece of music he can play a phrase immediately after hearing it (within reason) whereas I don't have a clue! I realise the physical limitations of the bass and saxophone are quite different and he's been playing 20 years whereas I've been playing 5 but how do you get to the point where you can play what you hear? Is it a question of patience and after working away long enough, it just starts to happen or are there specific exercises that people have found have made a real difference in ability to improvise? If someone has reached this sort of level on the bass, could you think back and see if you can remember practice approaches that have made a difference. Thanks in advance.