bass_dinger

Ah, multiple choice. I pick B - "by predisposition won't do it". My final answer, I won't phone a friend, and I won't ask the audience (because that's even worse than smiling at them).

WWJD - what would Jaco do...

Not at all. You have shared the difficulties that are common to all church musicians. Your comments about the amount of time church musicians and the sound team need to invest made me realise how understanding my own leadership team are. It also made me understand why the model of willing amateurs just turning up to play does not always work (vocalists need to change key multiple times during a rehearsal; leader wants extra repeats or new songs in the service which would confuse people who do not know the songs well). Producing music that good worship is a challenge - more so during lock-down. In my own church, we no longer have any real rotation on most of the instruments, and we tend not to change the songs (we play what we are given, including 400 year old German hymns, Hillsong, Rend Collective, Townend, and Kendrick). We have previously been asked to have the young people involved, and did so, for a long time. However, they don't always turn up when booked, can't always play in time, and sometimes need to be taught how to play their instruments during the service. Again, that differs from your own experience of encouraging youngsters to get involved. We used to get the song list on Monday, the sheet music on Friday, and the chord charts when we arrived at church. We worked out the keys 45 minutes prior to the service, for as many as nine songs. We now get the songs over a week in advance and learn them on a Sunday run through and refine them at home throughout the week. For those reasons, we no longer involve children in the service, and the core band has been reduced from three dozen people willing to give it a go (carefully moderated by the sound guy), to perhaps nine hardcore people who are willing to give up their Sunday. When it works (and it very often does), the musical conversation between instruments, congregation and leader is wonderful to behold, and an incredible experience to be part of. It's a wonderful gig, but an odd one. Where else can one play each week, with a great PA, for 250 people, with musicians ranging from learners to professionals, with little warning of the songs?

Our only hope is that the sound engineer forgot to fade up your microphone . . .

Or did oldslapper just think about saying it . . . . ? I like the idea of a church band that requires a knowledge of songs and standards that rival a jazz combo, and a range of talent found in a primary school recorder recital.

It took me a while to get that, but when I did, the idea of a mixer tap piping the music made me smile!

It is interesting to see how some churches reach a "critical mass" of excellence and have a band that keeps on improving, and other churches just have a few musicians and never really develop a music ministry. For me, I like the church because I liked the music - and because I like music I was already playing bass guitar in a band. There are others in the church who likewise had a musical background but were not part of the band - a semi-professional opera singer; worship leading multi-instrumentalists; two competent drummers. My opinion is that, with a pool of talent in the church, it is easier to further refine the musical offering, which in turn attracts other musicians to the congregation. Does that sound feasible, or am I simply wrong!?

A good point! And of course, even I can play rests at 120 bpm.

7th March - and my church band were back after two months in lockdown! I was surprised at how quickly we got back into playing together, and everyone felt that we had improved a little. Great fun. I will share a video later, but for now, who else is back in a live church band?

Agreed. I have taught a teenager how to play the four root notes for a I IV V VIm progression in weeks 1 and 2, and watched her play it in week 3. One note per beat, and she was very pleased to be playing it. It was acceptable - not least because the church audience set the bar of attainment very low! The original question was a good one - it made me think about what "good" looks like to others. I have learnt a lot (and already knew that I not a fast player!).

This, exactly! I just now switched from Magic, when they played Shallow by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga, once too often. However, they often seem to play You're my First, My Last, My Everything by Barry White at the start of a Monday evening, which I like!

But . . . . the bassist does not appear to play ANY notes at all! I guess that's your point - no notes at all, no beats per minute - but such a tasteful interplay of the instruments.

I am more likely to worry about hitting the right notes, locking in with the other musicians, and playing in a sensitive way so as to support the song and the band. I am not sure whose respect I would earn, should I be able to hit an arbitrary number of beats per minute.

Nice . . . . Part of the appeal to me was the grubby shops, and Andy's with the 50p coin stuck on the wooden stairs. The rebooted Denmark Street looks very modern and it is not even clear if there will be shops there: " . . . Outernet’s immersive digital walkway linking Denmark Street to the district’s wider retail and event venues". But then, this is the future of music and I am part of the past. I wish it every success.

Aha! I have the same issue. I plan to buy some Jean Michael Jarre albums on CD that I had on vinyl, and am wondering if I want the original version (to retain the integrity and familiarity of the original release), or the extended version. Or both . . . .

I have a few accidental duplicates - CDs that a purchased twice, having forgotten that I already had a copy . I will keep these, for the fun of proving that my CD player sounds better than my DVD player, in an A-B comparison. However, all my duplicates (CD and vinyl) have now been sold, or given away. My dad has three copies of Dire Straights greatest hits - single album; single album plus live concert; single album plus radio interview (to which a local DJ would add in his questions, and Mark K would reply thanks to the magic of editing). The Radio Edit was a bit of fun for him to have.

I was always bewildered by the slap bass solo in the middle of Paul Simon's Call Me Al. My vote goes to the already-mentioned industrial drum-and-bass section in the middle of An Englishman in New York. As a child, I remember thinking that I really liked Mr Blue Sky, but got annoyed that the DJs always played a silly choir song afterwards - they did not even wait for the ELO song to finish!

Mr Blue Sky ends with the words "Please, turn me over" - maybe that's the wrong message for Coventry City to be sharing with the visiting opposition!

After two months of not playing in church, the band have been asked back for 7th March. Two days later I was offered a vaccine (at-risk group, rather than over 70!). Add to that a forthcoming bass lesson, and some fun listening to new music, and it feels like all systems are go! Congregation are not due back for a long while, however.

For me, any drummer that I would want to play with, would not want to play with me! That said, a good drummer really lifts my game (although it sometimes takes me a while to find something that works with the new drummer). I am very impressed with Gilson Lavis (ex-Squeeze, and now playing with Jools Holland). I admire his ability to play the right rhythm for every track. He was so good on Chic's Good Times, that I had assumed that Nile had bought his own rhythm section with him!

If rap counts as music, then Chris Turner is a very capable performer. From five suggestions, and a random beat, he will improvise a clever, and funny, rap on the subjects given him. He started out as a stand-up comedian, I am told. Hear him rap about mitral valve prolapses and waves, here, from 3'21".

He can dance a bit, too.

Ah - solid-wall reverb, in a 100 foot tall room. It's like singing in the world's biggest bathroom, but it can be difficult to control. However, it makes for some huge sounds! The building that were are in, is an irregular hexagon with no parallel walls. Either the architect was very aware of standing sound waves and acoustics, or he wanted to build something different. Whatever, it certainly works as a meeting space.

Fixed it for you . . ..

I waited for a while, to see what was posted. Two of my three favourites made it... Miley Cyrus' version? Tick The Petersons? Tick Hildergard von Blingin'? No tick, until now. So, here is what sounds like the medieval original version of Jolene, in the genre of Bardcore. I do like me some Bardcore - Pumped Up Kicks, translated and sung in Anglo Saxon, is great!