Doddy

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1356533111' post='1910822'] David Hofstra is your man , Tracy did not join until 82 which is when the song became a hit but it was recorded and released in 81 a year before Hofstra left. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Waitresses [/quote] According to the interview/transcription in the Holiday '09 issue of Bass Player, Wormworth had replaced Hofstra in '81 and recorded 'Christmas Wrapping' (on a '78 Precision given to her by Marcus Miller) in August of that year.

It was transcribed in Bass Player magazine a couple of years ago.

Very cool line by Tracy Wormworth...she later played with Sting for a bit. My favourite Xmas line is probably Donny Hathaway's keyboard bass part on 'This Christmas'.

You don't need an SUV or an estate to transport your gear. Quite frankly you could put your basses in decent gig bags and put them in the back of the Mini. I get all of my stuff in my Hyundai Coupe without dropping the back seats-bass on the seats,everything else in the boot.

I've got a couple of aluminium boxes-One for instrument and mic cables,4 way,2 way,tuner,volume pedal, DI box,patch cables and picks-The other for In-ear's,strings,another DI,mic's(vocal and bass),power supply, batteries and other small things.

[quote name='scalpy' timestamp='1356371247' post='1909661'] Safe From Harm- Massive Attack (I believe a sample of Billy Cobham playing bass) [/quote] Nearly,it's sampled from the Billy Cobham track 'Stratus' which had Leland Sklar on Bass.

[quote name='Marvin' timestamp='1356359379' post='1909478'] For the Janek aficionados. If I were to download just one, which should it be? [/quote] Out of his studio albums 'The Space in Between' is my favourite. 'Mystery to Me' is cool,and 'It Only Happens Once' is more electronic/experimental. For live albums I'd get 'Live at the 55 Bar',which was his only live album released on CD.

[quote name='bass_ennyday' timestamp='1356354875' post='1909434'] DON´T go for the EHX Bass Big Muff ... worst pedal ever. [/quote] There are quite a few people who will disagree with you there.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1356345548' post='1909291'] I don't think of what JG plays as Jazz [/quote] He doesn't call his music 'Jazz' either. I've already got all his albums and I dig them-especially 'Live at the 55 Bar' and 'The Space in Between'.

[quote name='OliverBlackman' timestamp='1356292387' post='1908921'] From what I was told the orchestra is usually a different band to the party band but I guess you might sometimes will need to dep in. [/quote] Yeah they are two different bands. I've been going on with a party band,but there have been times,like I said earlier,where we have covered some sets for the orchestra.It's not common to dep for the orchestra guys,but it's an option if you can read and it's necessary.My band has a lot of charts,so we've even had the guys from the orchestra dep with us at times...We've also had the horn section sit in with us,because we've got full horn charts too.

The first tune I thought of was 'Little Ghetto Boy'-it helps that I've just had it on in the car. I don't think I can name just 4. Marcus on 'The Nightfly' is great. Anthony Jackson on 'Slip,Sliding Away' and 'For the Love of Money' is fantastic. Jaco on 'A Remark You Made' is beautiful. Jamerson on 'What's Going On' and 'Bernadette' is great. Bob Babbitt on 'Midnight Train to Georgia'.Pino on 'Chicken Grease' is too funky. Larry Graham on 'Hair' and 'Everyday People'.Bryan Beller on 'Why Am I Your Guy?' is crazy. Scott Thunes on 'Valley Girl'. Les Claypool on 'Tommy The Cat'. Me'Shell on 'If That's Your Boyfriend'. There are just far too many to choose from.

[quote name='OliverBlackman' timestamp='1356221649' post='1908216'] Firstly you don't seem to need any "chops" to play cruises, its mostly reading or just playing old songs so shedding is not necessary. On that point apparently because of the ships cliental, I have been told most of the music is 30's and 40's swing, sometimes venturing into 60's and 70's. [/quote] On the first part,on the cruises that I've done,the repertoir is much wider than that. The Orchestra will be playing mainly whatever the shows require (Standards,Motown,Pop..whatever) and whatever the guest acts bring on,which could be just about anything. The Party band will be playing anything.You might play a set of dances (waltz,quickstep etc) to old standards,or you might play a set of really modern stuff (Lady Gaga,Taylor Swift,Justin Timberlake etc) and anything in between. You need a big variety of material to choose from. The cliental differs depending on the cruise and the time of year so you need to cater for everyone-American passengers like different things to the Brits,so you need to be aware of that and play songs that you'd never dream of playing here. With regards to not needing chops,you probably won't be soloing much,but you need enough chops to be able to read and play what is required of you correctly,first time. I'm off to the Caribbean in February.

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1356260219' post='1908416'] This was my point. It involves a lot of thinking time if you have to decide what mode you use if chords change once or twice in every bar. [/quote] It does involve a lot of thinking time,but that is why you need to spend time in the practice room. The whole idea,not just with walking lines,is that you don't want to be thinking about things too much when you are on a gig.You can,and probably should,spend hours working through changes by using chord tones in different inversions and scales and whatever so that when you get on stage you can see/hear a chord and just know what you can play over it. It takes time,but it's immensely beneficial.

[quote name='Lord Sausage' timestamp='1356196347' post='1907879'] Is this how a lot of people approach it? Constant thinking thru modes etc on every change? Just wondering. [/quote] I don't. I generally think about the chords when I'm walking. More accurately,I've spent a lot of time studying and practicing chord tones that I'm don't have to think about them when I'm on the bandstand.

[quote name='iconic' timestamp='1356106033' post='1906973'] [b]But after the above my 'theory' of modes over chords seems to run into a brick wall, if there is more?[/b] [b]Q/ So after all this, if you are still with me, are there common chords that interact well with the remaining modes of phrygian, dorian, lydian? Are there any other rules of thumb, no pun intended [/b] [b]Q/ What mode would one play over a sus chord (sus4) for example, it's not major or minor as it's 3rd is sharp?[/b] [b]Q/ What mode would one play over an aug chord (augmented 5th) ....I would play lydian over a diminished as I said before.[/b] [/quote] 1...Try these for starters-Phrygian will generally work over a minor chord (it's minor with a b2).Dorian can also be played over a minor chord,it's just a minor scale with a natural 6(I use this more than Aeolian).Lydian can work over a major chord because it's major with a #4. Locrian works over half diminished (m7b5) rather than diminished (which has a bb7) 2...A sus4 chord doesn't have a #3-it has the 4 in place of the 3,so the triad would be 1,4,5. They are usually used in place of a major chord. 3...Over an augmented chord I'd be looking at something like the lydian augmented which has both a #4 and #5. I wouldn't play lydian over a diminished chord though.Lydian is a major scale with a #4-whereas a diminished chord has a b3,b5,bb7. It might be worth having a look at the diminished scale instead. Personally for a lot of walking lines,I think that having a strong knowledge of chord tones is generally more important than relating them to the modes.

Loving the Alan Jackson tunes there. I love playing Chattahoochie-really fun.

I also met my girlfriend on a ship. If you are going on as a band there are basically two situations you'll be in (at least on the ships I've done). One is basically playing a lot of ballroom stuff for dancers and some easy listening pop and jazz. The other is as the main party band,where you will have to play pretty much everything. You'll be expected to be able to play for the various theme nights (country,'70's, '50's/60's etc),sailaway deck sets,early evening ballroom set,and depending on the time of year you may have to do big themed parties (New Year,Jubilee,etc). We have even covered for the orchestra at some of the Captains Parties where we had to read the orchestra's pad (I even depped one show for the orchestra's bass player once). It sound's like a lot,and it is really,but you won't be doing all of that in a day.Our contract's say we can be made to play up to 5 hours a day,but it's normally about 2 and half-3,sometimes more,sometimes less. You will have to know a lot of songs (because you'll see the same faces every night of a cruise) and you will have to play songs that you wouldn't in a regular UK function band (Jimmy Buffet anyone?). You pretty much only play at night,unless you do an afternoon deck set or sailaway,so you have all day to go around the ports and do whatever as long as you're back for your set. With regards to the constant supply of drugs,I've seen guys get thrown off if they are found to have taken anything-we've even had drug dogs come aboard in port. You get used to the sea sickness quickly,although it can still get to you if it's particularly rough. The worst bit for me is that depending on the company you may be expected to do emergency drills.It's not really a big deal,but it's a bit of a pain in the arse.

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1355871715' post='1903994'] You're right about the battery thing, I ALWAYS forget though With everything else.. I dunno, passive basses have always just worked out great for me [/quote] Passive basses work great for me too,I just prefer the extra control I get from an active preamp (even though most of the time I run it flat).

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1355843459' post='1903530'] Ah right, sounds good. Does the fender not have a 17mm string spacing? what's the warwick? I played a warwick one time... neck like a cricket bat. very chunky. [/quote] Honestly,I don't know. The Fender definitely has a wider spacing than the Warwick and it's neck is wider but has a flatter profile.

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1355842557' post='1903496'] Thanks for that. So you use a fender jazz 5 regularly? what would you say about build quality and playability of it? [/quote] I use the Jazz V a lot. Build quality wise,it's really solid like most Fenders.It can take a beating.It's easy to play too-at the moment I prefer the narrower string spacing of the Warwick though. I generally feel really comfortable playing Fender basses anyway so playability has never been an issue.In fact,when I tried it in the shop I wanted to not like it,but it felt comfortable and familiar so I bought it.

[quote name='chrismuzz' timestamp='1355529907' post='1899770'] I only own passive basses. Sold all of my actives, and I actively avoid anything which has active electronics. I find that I don't need the amount of tonal versatility that some can offer. A pickup selector, volume and tone is all I need, and all my other sounds are at my feet. In my experience, my aggressive picking technique has caused problems with the majority of active basses I've played. I end up clipping the preamp, or just getting WAY too much attack (Especially with Warwicks!). Passive pickups tend to be more... forgiving? In fact the tone in general tends to be either over trebly, or completely devoid of mids. Also, the battery and the preamp are just extra things which could go wrong. At least if my pedalboard breaks down I can bypass it and go straight to the amp! [/quote] If you are clipping the preamp,just back off the gain so that it doesn't clip or only does so on your loudest of notes.I've got a really aggressive plucking technique,and only clip the preamp when I seriously hit the strings. The battery problem that a few people have mentioned I think is a non argument.It doesn't take long to change a battery and it makes sense to change them fairly regularly.If it is going to die on you,you'll hear the drop in output or the crackle long before it actually goes.

Personally,I wouldn't be looking at that kind of money if I wasn't sure about playing a 5 string.You can get a great instrument for well under that. My first 5 (back in '98) was a Warwick Corvette that I got for about £450. I later got rid of it,but since then all my 5 strings have cost me less than that Fender- My Roscoe LG3500,Shuker Singlecut,Warwick Streamer and pre Nashville Tobias all cost me well under a grand. I also picked up a Mexican Fender Jazz Deluxe V for under £350 and I've used it on so many gigs.I've never had a problem with the B string or the neck joint (it's not hard to play over the entire range), or the EQ or whatever-it always plays and sounds great.At the minute,I mainly use the Warwick but I also carry the Fender as well. Don't dismiss the Yamaha basses either.They make great,very consistent,instruments. The BB East and the TRB range are particularly good.

[quote name='risingson' timestamp='1355784760' post='1902822'] That would be Damien Erskine (Peter's son!). [/quote] He's actually Peter's nephew. Awesome player....one of my favourites at the minute.

I'm playing at the Grosvenor on Saturday.