wombatboter

Have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the sort of music which was featured (I'm not really into r 'n b ) but really enjoyed the documentary. That Rick Hall is one intriguing person....

Heard Hot Stuff on the radio this week and I remembered playing it on the first rehearsal and how I had the same problems as you...Not an easy tune to play. Something which fought with all my wrong manierisms...

I bought the DVD too...still find it hard to believe that they didn't notice that Rainey was playing slap. Becker and Fagen never missed anything so I doubt that something prominent like that would pass their attention.

The Weakness in Me- Joan Armatrading (nice fretless by Tony Levin)

Ok... thanks for the feedback !

Tastes differ.. why didn't you like it ?

I knew they were good but hadn't expected them to be that good....the pure energy, the compositions and the joy they showed. Beller was just phenomenal...great sound on his Lull-basses, nice chordal work and use of effects. One of the best players I have ever seen (didn't expect him to be in my list of favourites with Wooten, Karn, etc.)

Went to see the show of The Aristocrats here in Belgium and I was blown away....I noticed that they are on tour now in the UK so I would advice to check them out. Bryan Beller on bass, Guthrie Govan on guitar and Marco Minneman on drums. Beller was just amazing and I couldn't touch my bass the next day because I was so impressed.. Haven't seen anything like this since Jeff Beck with Tal Wilkenfeld. Best instrumental stuff I have seen in ages.. really tight playing, unpretentious ànd funny. February 17th – London, England, UK – The Garage February 18th – Bristol, England, UK – The Fleece February 19th – Leamington, England, UK – The Assembly February 20th – Manchester, England, UK – Band on the Wall February 21st – Newcastle, England, UK – The Cluny February 23rd – Edinburgh, Scotland, UK – Liquid Room February 24th – Dublin, IE – The Grand Social [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPLGKL34AJw"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPLGKL34AJw[/url]

I think it wouldn't be a bad idea to check if what you are looking for is still available.....saves you standing still in traffic on the ring :-)

Steve Greetham... first name that pops up in my head every time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtfnVuO02V0

Loved the voices.. wow ! Just great...

One of my favourites http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rec3DCKy7Y

The situations in which I can play fretless are all created by myself... I bring a fretless to gigs or studio-sessions without being asked for because otherwise no one would ask. As it is said above : everything which is sometimes adventurous like slap or fretless has been banned and I miss the spirit of the eighties, the best time ever for electric bass.

Oh but I totally understand why a lot of people really dig this sort of playing and the man can play bass, no doubt about that... I just missed some harmonic content to make the bass playing really stand out.. I love the way Wooten and Miller can make lines interesting by reharmonising and I had the feeling Nelson didn't have that sort of grasp. You can get caught in certain manierisms and licks easily when that happens. I know my own weaknesses whenever I play and I sometimes think I notice them when I see other people play. The element of surprise wasn't there but again : nice solid bassplaying, nothing wrong with that.

Listened to a couple of tracks and it struck me how he has his own style... that's a thing every musician should be proud of (the hardest thing to achieve). Just listened to "My own way".. what a great line. http://youtu.be/rCn10depXPY

Not really convinced.... after watching some clips I just had an overload of clichés in funk (but perhaps that's part of the whole thing). Harmonically not really inspiring (how many octaves can you play) and had the impression that I heard more gimmicks and chops than a truely inspired bass-line. Looked like he played the same thing every night and that the element of surprise and daring improvisation wasn't really there. I listened more to the drummer than the bass. NIce playing but I missed "something special". Tastes differ.

It's not ELO which you have to amplify...it's just a bass, a guitar and drums (not even keyboards). Seems to be an impossible job apparently.....

I always thought that when you've made a lot of money it gives you the freedom to refuse to do this kind of playback-stuff.. unless they give you even more money. I don't think that RHCP are poor (they got paid 500.000 euros to do a festival here in Belgium) so I guess they have a choice.

When I hear him play it sounds like Mark King who didn't stop practising after the first Level 42 album....That's not a bad thing. That advice isn't too bad either.. some people try to run when they can hardly walk. Years ago I gave a bassplayer some advice (he could hardly play) but he sighed and only wanted to learn the "fancy" stuff. You should go through a couple of stages before you open the rest of the doors.. Met Wojtek at a bass fair in Germany and he was a very funny and openminded person.. he gave his clinic which sounded fresh when I compared it to other bass heroes I saw over there.

He's got some stuff which I don't like because the technique rules but this blew me away... great sound and energy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esODDfuN3lg

I always wanted to sound like John Giblin on the "Grace and Danger" album by John Martyn.... can't get much better imo.

A local builder made it fretless and put some epoxy on it... bought it on ebay.uk for 1300 £ (he didn't want to ship to Belgium but I could convince him) and really pleased with it. [url="http://s162.photobucket.com/user/wombatboter/media/WALPROFRETLESS001.jpg.html"][/url] It used to be like this... I do think the epoxy makes a difference (I had fretless Wal basses before but the epoxy changes the sound in a good way for me) [url="http://s162.photobucket.com/user/wombatboter/media/walpro021-1.jpg.html"][/url]