peteb

[quote name='bassbluestew' post='1271038' date='Jun 16 2011, 09:22 AM']Hey Pete, just missed you guys in Scotland, but next time your in Glasgow with Paddy - or anyone else for that matter - look me up and we'll hook up. S[/quote] Hey Stew Have you met Paddy then?? We haven’t got Glasgow in the book at the moment, but funnily enough we will be up in Scotland for the Dundee Blues Bonanza on Saturday 2 July. Also got a gig the night before in Edinburgh Dunno who you play for or if you ever get to the big festivals but we’re also playing the Maryport Blues Festival on 30 and 31 July. I understand that we’re also the house band for a late night jam session on the Saturday If you’re likely to be around for any of those drop me a PM and I will confirm venues & times and exchange mobile numbers and we can arrange to meet up for a beer…! Cheers – Pete

[quote name='bassbluestew' post='1270831' date='Jun 15 2011, 11:21 PM']And you would love it dearly...........................have never played a Burner so no idea what they are like, but my BSR is the poodles plums. S[/quote] I got the Burner for just over £500 about 20 years ago - really nice bass for the money, wish that I had come across it 10 years before! Bumpted into a guy I used to know at a jam session a while ago and got to play his really nice (American) Fodera - he wanted to know if I still had the bright red KS Burner and was talking about what a great bass it was! Would definitely like to try out one of the top of the range KS basses..........

[quote name='waynepunkdude' post='1267837' date='Jun 13 2011, 08:31 PM']He was rude and arrogant in places.[/quote] He's from New York - Whadaya gonna do about it?? After wading thru this (very entertaining) thread I do find myself taking a shine to Mr Smith. This is something that pleases me greatly as I bought a s/h KS Burner many years ago (still have it) and out of all the basses that I have ever owned, it is certainly one of my favourites! If I was ever going to buy a boutique bass I always thought that it might be a Fodera, but after reading this thread I would definitely consider a Ken Smith…!

[quote name='LawrenceH' post='1263444' date='Jun 9 2011, 11:35 PM']That is one talent. But producing incredibly complicated music that's original and distinctive is also a talent! [/quote] Actually I agree, just that simplicity tends to mean that the music can be accessible to more people and is sometimes more difficult - just how do you produce something fresh with the same four chords? Not arguing about Jaco thru, one of the all time greats.....

[quote name='4000' post='1263166' date='Jun 9 2011, 07:55 PM']Funny, because that's kind of the opposite journey to mine. I was listening to (not just hearing) bebop when I was 6, 7 or 8 years old. I knew who Ray Brown, Charlie Parker, Dizzy etc were earlier than that. I wanted to be Buddy Rich at the age of six or seven. Other than the Beatles (obviously) I couldn't have named a single musician in any rock or pop band. And yet strangely I happily enjoy "predictable" music, and as I grew older I grew to love it more and more. I remember hearing Deep Purple aged around 14 and thinking "damn that's simple....but it's fantastic!". I rate AC/DC or ABBA as high as any jazz artist I've ever heard; higher, probably. There's a tiny hint of the superior about your post. Ultimately your interesting can be another person's anything but and vice versa. At the point where someone feels that only more supposedly "sophisticated" music is better or more worthy, they really don't understand the beauty of music anymore IMO.[/quote] Great post - real talent is in producing simple music that is also original and distinctive!

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1261339' date='Jun 8 2011, 03:37 PM']Say what you like about Jaco but he was a total one-off, he had an original sound, he dropped jaws without resorting to gimmicks, novelty techniques and party pieces, he had a musicality that very few players ever get near. He really carved his own niche and I have massive respect for him for that. I don't dig everything he did but even the stuff I don't like is often compelling because he puts so much of himself into it.[/quote] What he said - spot on

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1260093' date='Jun 7 2011, 06:58 PM']I don't care if some don't like it. Its beautifully executed. No rhythm? Yeah. Like a train A lot of popular music is based around a definitive and explixit beat. Boom, Whack, boom, whack, boom whack. All beat and no grove. Listen to Bach. No beat there either.[/quote] Nothing wrong with a backbeat - it forms the foundation of 90% of the music that I love and to say that Chic, AC/DC, etc have no goove is just plain wrong! However there has to be room for the other 10%........

I don’t understand the problem that some people seem to have with Jaco I’m no jazz fan but to me it is obvious that he was one of the greats who transcended his instrument and his genre, just like Hendrix, just like Louis Armstrong and a very few others……

If you really want to set up a bass properly yourself then these videos show you how in a pretty easy to follow way: [url="http://www.bassplayer.com/Video.aspx?bctid=54295050001&bclid=27964998001&section=lessons"]http://www.bassplayer.com/Video.aspx?bctid...section=lessons[/url] (video 1 of 4 – just start the next one when you’re ready)

For anyone who may be interested, yours truly jamming with Jon Amor (ex The Hoax) and the awesome Texan guitarist Lance Lopez at the Hebden Bridge Blues Festival Midnight Jam Sessions last Friday night [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bEd1T0zRg4"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bEd1T0zRg4[/url] The house band for the Friday night session was me on bass, Mick Cluderay on drums & Kev Fitzpatrick on keys (all from the Paddy Maguire Band)

[quote name='JTUK' post='1251971' date='May 31 2011, 08:09 PM']But Queen in 1975 were competing with Led Zep, Deep Purple etc..and they were never in that league either. IIRC, they were regarded as very lightweight by comparison...and it wasn't until those types of bands died, that Queen came to the fore...plus they were a pop band I am not sure in what period Queen started selling out everywhere, but I doubt it was in the 70's[/quote] To be fair, Queen were massive in this country in the 70s! But they were never as big as Led Zep, etc especially in the States......

[quote name='Sparky' post='1245388' date='May 26 2011, 11:28 AM']Thanks Merton & Pete for your input on the G.K.. What cab(s) are you both using?[/quote] I'm using a Bergantino HS410, which is a pretty loud cab I think that the little GK sounded great (bit of a marmite thing - keys player loved it, drummer hated it) and if you like that sound and you can get a MB500 for £300 like Jakester, I would consider that to be a good alternative If your budget is going to be tighter you will need to shop around the secondhand forum / eBay but do be careful and make sure that you get an amp with sufficient headroom if you are going to gig it – as I said before, as good as it sounds, I have doubts that a MB200 will be loud enough! And please don’t get a Behringer!!

[quote name='Merton' post='1245027' date='May 25 2011, 11:50 PM']The GK MB200 is a loud 200W (whatever that means ), I love mine and it's gigged with a loud band with no problem.[/quote] Funnily enough, I was just about to say that as much as I like my MB200 I found that it struggled in a rehearsal with a loud(ish) band - not sure that I would risk gigging it! Personally I would be tempted to save the extra and get a s/h LMII for live work.....

I really like the J East preamp but you do have to be careful what you do with it - less is definitely more...!

[quote name='molan' post='1243602' date='May 24 2011, 10:39 PM']All of Phil's basses are the newer models - I've had a go on all three of them Was the one you tried the red 4 or the natural 5? Your theory about strings and set up is really interesting. Most Foderas come with 40-100 nickels and a vaguely medium height set up. I helped Phil at the London bass show this year and we literally had two people in a row that tried one of the NYC's and one said the action needed drastically lowering and that he was surprised that Foderas weren't set up with a super low action. The very next person said he couldn't get a proper feel for it with the light gauge strings and such a low, 'unplayable', action! Just goes to show you can't please all of the people all of the time, lol. I know that I've seen basses 'transformed' with a different set of strings and a set up that suits me. Just changing something as simple as this makes them feel totally different and this improved playability makes them actually 'sound' better to me as well - all totally subjective of course! Speaking of which - I once ran a little test at my place with three different people and a Sadowsky Will Lee NYC, a Celinder J Update and a Fodera NYC. Each person chose a different one as their favourite![/quote] It could well have made all the difference if it had a set of steel 45-105s on and I could have got the action down a fair bit (it was the red 4 BTW) Would love to have tried out those three basses when I was looking for a jazz bass - I would imagine that there wouldn't be much between them and you would pick the one that just clicked with you for some unidentifiable reason I really liked the look of the Will Lee Sadowsky but it was way over my budget…. BTW have you ever tried a John East active circuit? A phenomenal piece of kit that really gives you a great active jazz sound with loads of clout

[quote name='molan' post='1242500' date='May 24 2011, 12:20 AM']How old was the one you tried? They've really improved over the last 18 months or so. I'd definitely rate them up with an NYC Sadowsky now.[/quote] It was quite recently (in Bass Gear in Harrogate) so I assume that it was quite a recent model It was a stunning looking instrument (probably the prettiest looking jazz bass that I have ever seen) and I am a big Fodera fan so I really wanted to like it, but it didn't really do it for me! Perhaps if I had 30 minutes with an allen key and a heavier gauge set of strings it might have been different Unfortunately I have never played a US Sadowsky, so I can’t compare it directly. Would definitely love to try one out properly as I imagine it is probably what I had in mind when I was looking for a ‘super jazz’ (which ended up being the Mayones with the East preamp)!

This old chestnut again – obviously a hot topic on this forum! As far as I am concerned, you need to learn to play and the best way to do that is to listen to your favourite players (not just one, the more the better) and learn everything that they do backwards. Then all you need to do is to merge it all together and hopefully find your own style somewhere in the there! This is not just my opinion, but is one shared by many top players including the likes of Steve Lukather, Paul Gilbert & Bryan Beller (all of whom happen to be sight reading ‘taught’ musicians) To be able to do this to any standard at all you need to be able to understand the mechanics of how music is put together, which is another way of saying that you need to have some working knowledge of music theory (whether you know what the correct terms for musical concepts or not) - how you apply that theory is of course up to you Whether you need to be able to read or not is another thing altogether. In over 30 years of playing in gigging bands, including playing with guys who have toured the world in pro bands, I have never seen anyone produce a written score! However, if you want to be able to do the type of work that people like Doddy do, then reading is essential……

[quote name='molan' post='1242359' date='May 23 2011, 10:08 PM']By the way - as I'm here and talking about NYC's - has anyone tried the Fodera NYC range?[/quote] Yes I have and TBH was a little disappointed! Truly beautiful looking bass but nothing special to me in both tone and playability – I recently bought a passive Mayones jazz and dropped a John East preamp in it and the Mayones is a nicer instrument to play and sounds much better IME and costs more than £1.5k less! Honestly, I really wanted to like it – especially as by far the best bass I have ever played is a top of the range Fodera!

If you can, try & get one of the top of the range models secondhand (steamer stage 1 / 2, thumb, etc) rather than some of the mid priced ones – they are going for silly money and are brilliant basses if you are not bothered about the fashion angle! I got a mint stage one from eBay a few years ago at a ridiculously low price – almost given away! Superb bass and the prices have dropped even further since then!!

[quote name='ern500evo' post='1241656' date='May 23 2011, 02:33 PM']I have to agree with Yorks5stringer that the writer may has slighly missed the point. Out of curiosity, i wonder if the writer is the same Geoff Livermore that plays in a Foo Fighters tribute band, and if it is, would he be so outraged if Nate Mendel gave the same answers! [/quote] I live around the corner from Geoff - will check next time I see him (possibly in the pub tomorrow night)...!

[quote name='chris_b' post='1234552' date='May 17 2011, 04:50 PM']Have a good memory. As long as you get the second verse right they'll usually forgive you the first verse.[/quote] That is my guiding principle when doing deps playing material that I don't know

Isn't this line-up just a power trio really - one lead instrument, one bass instrument and drums?? Does it really matter if it is a lead guitar or a saxophone playing (mainly) single note solos? There is still that space to be filled out, the freedom to play more without encroaching on the other players and the need to get bigger tones than you would get away with if there were more instruments? A different genre of music but basically the same thing as Cream of Van Halen playing instrumental passages!!

[quote name='Dad3353' post='1226897' date='May 10 2011, 11:03 PM']Good evening, Pete... Something to try..? Divide the 32 into 4 8-bar sections. Go easy (simple and solid...) for the first section, add a bit more for the second, and so on. The last couple of bars can be 'firework' time; anyway, aim to end on a climax. If you're following the 'hot' key player, you could try something really jarring to bring attention to your spot. A nice hefty silence, or a low 'pedal' note', should go down well (and allows for applause to die down...), then start building up the pressure. A solo spot is much better when constructed, rather than totally improvised, and relies more on form than virtuosity in order to be efficient. The 'hot licks' are extra (and fun...),but the form makes it all work. Please excuse my butting in; just my tuppence worth, hope this helps...[/quote] Thanks for that – feel free to butt in all you like! I did originally try to construct a solo much in line with what both you & Scott have suggested, but unfortunately it didn’t really work when I tried to play it live (sounded fine at home though), hence t5he reason for the original post! Even though I have been playing a long time and am very comfortable on stage, I have never really had to play a solo as part of a song as such and don’t really feel as at ease as I do playing a song or runs in endings, etc. I think that I will go back to your idea and break it down into sections but start it off relatively low key and build it up to allow me to get the feel right. It doesn’t help that this is a very simple song at the end of the night to allow for all sorts of tomfoolery and general interaction with the audience and therefore can go off in all sorts of different directions and is never the same twice! Any other suggestions welcome of course…………..

[quote name='Doddy' post='1228550' date='May 12 2011, 11:00 AM']I know,but for me it just doesn't 'feel' right. It's one of those tunes that I never think works when played by a guitar band.It sounds so much better with keys.[/quote] My own recollections of playing this tune with guitar bands is that audiences want to like the song but get bored of it quickly, so you get a good reaction to the initial riff but you need to do something with the arrangement (or seague into another tune) after the second chorus as they start to get restless! Of course with keys you have a lot more options to take the song somewhere else.....

[quote name='Doddy' post='1228326' date='May 12 2011, 01:31 AM']...And in the wrong key. Loads of people (read:Guitarists) play it in E minor,but for me,it just feels so much better in Eb minor.[/quote] Unfortunately that makes it impossible to play on a guitar / 4 string bass in standard tuning Get the feel right and E sounds just fine!