Doddy

I usually use my index finger for the root,ring finger for the fifth,little finger for the octave. Although I occasionally use my little finger for the fifth and octave but never barring-I play both notes with my fingertip. Obviously,I only do this if I'm playing the notes individually.

[quote name='silddx' post='948890' date='Sep 7 2010, 10:05 PM']I've been remiss in not making it clear in my OP that I mean in a live setting. So if you play in a "popular music" type band, when is a good time to improvise on stage? And what is the reason for your improvisation?[/quote] When is a good time to improvise on stage? Let's take a typical 12 bar rock and roll/blues changes. You may be playing a typical I,III,V,VI walking pattern for the majority of the tune,and then during a solo the soloist might play a lick or pattern that catches your ear,so you play a reacting line to it. Or you may start climbing into a higher register which then causes the soloist to play something that reacts to your playing. In these cases you are improvising in 'popular music' and hopefully taking the music into a slightly different direction,all by reacting to what you have heard and improvising a line. If you have a large enough vocabulary on the instrument,you are more likely to be able to improvise 'musically' and be able to react to the music being played than if you know two or three 'licks' that you churn out all the time.

I've got the MiniAk and it is pretty cool. It's got some good useable sounds and at the moment is a really nice price.Plus it has proper sized keys,not diddy ones which is what really put me off the MicroKorg. I've worked with a couple of guys who have had the MiniAk as part of their set,so that helped sway my decision. Obviously,if you fancy going software based there are loads of good sound programs to choose from.

Keith Horne has got some major chops-he's one of the 'Virginia Bass Pack' along with Victor Wooten and Oteil Burbridge. He's also a very busy Nashville touring player. I have to say though,that I think he sounds way better on the Warrior than on the Stingray.

"Mate,you're band's dead good....You should go on X Factor"

I'm surprised that no one has yet mentioned that the bass you are holding is Victor Wootens Fodera not a Zon. The best bass money can by? Whatever you personally like.

[quote name='Starless' post='943775' date='Sep 2 2010, 06:45 PM']Technical perfection in these genres may be attainable, but I would suggest they are less than desirable. If your students are 'happy to put the work in' then by that I hope you mean they are keen to progress. It sure as hell has never been 'work' to me. ........ As long as bass teachers keep churning out Flea clones and guitar teachers keep churning out Slash clones and the rest, then I fear nothing will ever change again.[/quote] When I say about 'putting the work in' if you want to progress to your fullest extent it's not always about just having fun jamming. It takes time to understand things like chord structures and how to read,that's where the 'work' comes in. My students who are serious about learning the instrument realise this and split their time between the 'work' and the 'fun'. Personally,I find studying music just as much fun as playing along to records,and want to be prepared for anything that may be thrown at me. If a teacher is 'churning out Flea clones' then they aren't doing a good job and are probably just teaching Flea licks,which really defeats the object of 'music' lessons and goes back to my earlier post about teachers who don't know enough to teach.

[quote name='Master blaster' post='943682' date='Sep 2 2010, 05:28 PM']the guy that played bass on Michael Jackson This is It dvd played a keyboard bass to i do believe[/quote] Alex Al. I'd dabbled with synth bass for a while,but hearing Al on 'This Is It' really gave me new inspiration to get improve my synth chops. Most of the guys who are involved in the modern R&B and Hip Hop scene play both electric and synth bass,it's become kind of a pre-requisite. Players who specialise in synth bass? Check out guys like Neil Evans from Soulive, Michael Boddiker who did a lot of synth bass along with the great Greg Phillinganes on a lot of Michael Jacksons stuff,and you have to mention Stevie Wonder if only for 'Boogie on Reggae Woman'. When it comes to synth bass,for me,Greg Phillinganes is the man.

Joe-I totally agree with you about motivating the students to be the best that they can be,but unfortunately(at least around this area) a lot of people don't want to be the best they can,they are happy to settle for mediocrity. You can see the potential in them,but they won't put the work in. Now that I'm teaching privately,the students I have are happy to put the work in and study and become better,and their progress is strikingly obvious. I loved to study and practice and will happily spend hours running through exercises,and am constantly trying to improve. Starless-I don't know what you play like or anything,but I think their is a chunk of sh*t in your post. You mention that a 'less than desirable' bass player wouldn't know the chord shapes. I would prefer player to use a combination of listening and knowledge to identify the chords rather than go by a visual shape. To me it's more important to know the sound and the notes of a G7 chord rather than it's shape. You mention a couple of times about if you can't play something you should look at drums. This is really not cool. My arguments in favour of lessons are equally applicable to any instrument,and to play drums well requires just as much study as bass or guitar. What's the point of paying a teacher who says 'do what feels comfortable to you'? None,because a good teacher will work with you and not just tell you to do whatever you want and take your money. There is nothing wrong with learning from records,in fact it's essential,but there is so much more to learn that will open up many more musical opportunities to you.

All of those three tracks were played on synth.Although there is a bass guitar credit on 'Black or White' the predominant sound is the synth bass. As they were usually played by Greg Phillinganes and/or Michael Boddiker,I'm guessing that they were using a Moog synth of some sort,for the most part.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='942923' date='Sep 2 2010, 02:16 AM']But if we were all studious musical experts, most of us would be unfulfilled and suicidal, surely?[/quote] Why would you be unfulfilled and suicidal? Surely if you really love something you would want to know as much about it as you possibly could? If you are unfulfilled then I guess you are doing something wrong somewhere. You can study as much as you want and still find time to play along to your favourite records and jam with others. The two are not mutually exclusive.

If they haven't found the lessons helpful,then that kind of resorts to my previous post. It could be that either the teacher wasn't good enough,the student was unwilling,or a mixture of both. If the teacher is good and the student wants to learn, improvement is pretty much guaranteed. As far as wanting to do what you want,when you want, lessons should not hinder this-The idea is to work it all together. If you are studying,say,arpeggios with your teacher,that doesn't mean you can't pick up a book of rock transcriptions. You can still play around as long as you dedicate a good portion of your practise time on the arpeggios. If you do it right,you will see how it all helps each other. When I was having regular lessons we did a lot of reading exercises and walking lines,but I still found time to learn some Primus and some Jaco or whatever else I was into. It's a matter of striking a balance between doing your 'homework' and having fun.If you are really into it,like I am,the hard study is just as much fun as the jamming around,and the hours just fly by.

[quote name='the_skezz' post='942900' date='Sep 2 2010, 12:46 AM']I wouldn't say that bass lessons are all that mandatory really, so much as a good ear and a will to better yourself.[/quote] They aren't mandatory,but if you do have 'a will to better yourself' you will improve better and faster with a good teacher than on your own. If you want to improve that much,why wouldn't you seek out a good teacher and learn everything that you can?

[quote name='Colledge' post='942500' date='Sep 1 2010, 07:13 PM']Even though i've been playing about five years and i'm not a bad player,[/quote] The number of people that think this means that they don't need lessons is crazy-at least you're thinking of taking them. I'm making a living from playing,and I still take occasional lessons. Players like Jeff Berlin and Mike Stern are still studying music with a teacher.Back at the school,I once heard the boss say to a lad in a band that was rehearsing there,that he should think about having some lessons from me because it would do him some good. His reply was there's no need because he played guitar for a year before playing bass. Oh!! There are a lot of people taking lessons in all instruments,but there is a definite tendency for players of guitar/bass/drums to go to teachers who will offer them shortcuts. There are loads of teachers out there who's 'curriculum' consists of teaching rock songs and licks week in-week out,using Tab,and copying parrot-fashion. To me,this is a big problem. If a student is learning something like Violin or Trumpet,they learn the scales,they learn the notes on their instrument and on the stave, they learn about music. A lot of guitar/bass/drum teachers don't have this knowledge to begin with,so end up teaching licks that don't really mean all that much.A lot of guitar teachers who teach a bit of bass do this. As far as students are concerned,it's all about instant gratification. It may take a few weeks to understand the notes on the stave,but they can't be bothered to wait that long or work at it. The fact that it will benefit them for life if they choose is irrelevant to them. Learning the minor pentatonic scale(for example) will let them play hundreds of songs and licks,but that doesn't matter,they'd rather learn '...Teen Spirit' [u]now[/u]!!!! There are so many people who think that playing the intro to 'Higher Ground',badly,makes them awesome,and they get offended if you point out any deficiency in their playing. If someone is serious about it,they will listen and practise what you ask them,and they will study the basics and not just learn licks. I don't know if it has anything to do with a lack of bass 'icons' or not. I do think that the combination of (for want of a better word) lazy students and poor teachers has a lot to do with it.

I used to teach at the place that Pete mentioned,and the recurring problem was that people didn't want to put any work into it and actually study-they come in wanting you to say how great they are and that's not going to happen. I had one lad turn up who'd been playing for 2 months and had a Stingray and an Ashdown head and 4x10 who could only play 5 'original' songs that his guitarist wrote and on one string.So,I advised him on his technique and gave him a few exercises,then never heard from him again. This was common at the school. Now I'm doing it privately,My students are more serious and willing to learn.

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='941301' date='Aug 31 2010, 07:52 PM']He bought those Shure earphones from me. Bloody bargain![/quote] And dead good they are too.

[quote name='Mog' post='940412' date='Aug 30 2010, 09:38 PM']E-gearstalking Alert!! Can I ask what IEM system you are using Doddy. I've also started using a Pod Live for some shows after reading a few posts here, (cheers Silddx ) and want to pick up a good system instead of carrying a wedge. I know feck all about IEM's though.[/quote] I don't use anything fancy. I just take a line from the desk into a Rolls personal monitor box and use a good pair of Shure earphones. I've not gone wireless,because I've never needed to,and as I use cables for my bass it's not like I'm roaming for miles anyway. It's nothing expensive or anything but it does a good job.All I have to do is plug the Pod in and take a line to the monitors and job done.

This is the first time I've ever heard of Alpha Tab, and all I can say is 'wow'.It's just as pointless as regular tab. I suppose guitar and bass players will come up with all kinds of ideas to try and avoid the basic musical skill that is reading.

I get all of my shirts from charity shops. I've picked up loads shirts from Ted Baker,YSL,Jaeger and Armani and others for under a tenner. The quality of gear in charity shops has really improved over the last few years.

The gearstalkers are going to have a great time with one of my function bands. We've recently started using Line 6 Pods and in-ear monitors so there are no amps at all on stage. The front of house sound great though,so it'll really confuse them all.

You mention that he didn't speak to anyone wearing a 'band needs a drummer' t shirt- how many of you wore one of them? Yes,he acted like a knob but it's not cool to wear a shirt like that at the gig if you actually do need one.You might have found it amusing,but he probably thought that you were sticking it to him.It's not an excuse for walking out,but it's a decent reason to get pissed off

[quote name='jim_bass' post='939160' date='Aug 29 2010, 07:56 AM']In an attempt to rectify this, I've been working trough my music theory grades and am on grade 2. Although I've not actually sat them exams yet. How important is it to have the grades before I start teaching and what level should I aim to get to. Also is there some kind of body for bass tutors, a friend of mine is registered to teach drums with a website called drumsense. Not sure if there is something for bass that is worth doing.[/quote] I don't know of anything like Drumsense for bass. Basically all Drumsense teachers use the same body of material fairly systematically-it's a decent idea,but not something I'd personally go for as I prefer a more individual approach. As far as Grades and stuff,I don't have any grades at all,but have comfortably taught grade 8 of both Rockschool and RGT. What level should you aim for? I'd never settle for being anything less than better than I am now. If someone wanted to look at grade 5 for example,could you do it with no problems? I'd certainly expect you to. Can you explain how scales and arpeggios are made up? You should be able to. I know a lot of teachers who have very little experience in the gigging world,have no clue about reading,don't understand the basics and generally teach songs in a rock style (with tab)week in,week out.To me,these guys are doing the students a disservice because ultimately the students learn nothing.

[quote name='Johnston' post='937563' date='Aug 26 2010, 09:38 PM']It amazes me the way some folk play song. I have come across some insane position changes rather than just play on a different string and stay in a more confined area on the neck. Or maybe I'm just lazy and we're supposed to whizz up and down to look good [/quote] Sometimes it feels better to shift position. Take a line like 'I'll Take You There'-You can play it comfortably in first position with open strings,but it 'feels' better if you shift and slide out of position. The same with 'I Wish'. Try it. Sometimes it adds that little bit of 'grease' that makes it cooler.

10 + Actually 20+