ianrunci

I have been playing lead guitar for about 35 years. I have done all kinds of genres from Jazz stuff through fusion Blues and heavy metal. As a guitarist I have always prefered to play Rock of one kind or another, I just find it more dynamic. Not much feels better in your twenties than standing on a stage and pounding out a blistering solo. In fact a friend of mine is a famous jazz and fusion session player and even he prefers to play rock guitar, even though he has earned his living from jazz and fusion However as soon as I pick up my bass I find myself wanting to play Jazz, Funk and soul. and playing rock and metal on the bass just bores me to tears I think it depends on what level your at. The more advanced you become technically the more you want to do on the bass rather than play root notes. you get the urge to become more melodic and play more frills and other genres as opposed to rock and metal often provide more opportunity to do that. Although of course there are exceptions such as players like Niel Murray etc who make rock playing a melodic art in itself

[quote name='ashevans09' post='239689' date='Jul 15 2008, 12:40 AM']Meh he sounds like a bit of a prat trying to lecture you but in the end, musical instruments don't have to be bought to be performed. They're bought for enjoyment, of which performing is an offshoot (for most people)... While he might be an idiot for lecturing don't knock him for having a load of nice basses and not performing. If he's loaded he probably has a pretty high stress job and if buying basses is his hobby then power to him. All strictly IMO of course. Or have I missed the point of some of the posts... If I have, no offence meant [/quote] I think you did lol, the whole point of the topic I suppose was not only don't teach your granny to suck eggs but also don't verbally bore people to death while they are enjoying a nice drink

[quote name='Jase' post='239691' date='Jul 15 2008, 12:41 AM']Whatever you do, 3 good offers there!....I know what you mean about 5 strings........madness [/quote] I also know where there is a 5 string USA Jazz deluxe for sale for 450, shame I can't do the 5 string thing

[quote name='Jase' post='239683' date='Jul 15 2008, 12:27 AM']Take the Jazz [/quote] I'm hmming and ahhing about it, I'll wait for him to reply, I would only really want it if its got a maple board otherwise I will probably take the money and get a stingray. I'm not sure about the G&L as its a 5 ver and I can't really get my head round them

[quote name='doctor_of_the_bass' post='239675' date='Jul 15 2008, 12:15 AM']Buy all of 'em! Ask the know it all down the pub, he will I'm sure wax lyrically about what you should/should not do! The S-1 switch lets you change between parallel, series combinations I think! Normally, one of the vol knobs has a switch built into the top of it, you press it in etc[/quote] Heh heh, the only thing he is likely to tell me is how to polish it. I think he only takes em out to clean em, he's a regular Mr Sheen

I have had my warwick up on Gumtree and have had an offer of £550 for it which I think isnt bad for a streamer LX 4. However I have also been offered a virtually brand new US fender Jazz with S-1 switch in mint condition (I have no idea what an S-1 switch is??????) inc full flight case and another offer of a virtually brand new G& L tribute L2500 plush cash what do you think my best option would be. I only have one bass being the warwick so I will need another one anyway. What d'ya think? and whats an s-1 switch?

Collected the amp tonight. Its like new. Lovely bloke very easy to deal with, I would reccomend him highly +++++ Ian

[quote name='MananaMan' post='238669' date='Jul 13 2008, 06:23 PM']Hi OldGit et al, Thanks for the welcome. Been floating around on the forum for a while, never really bothered to get involved... not sure why, just lazy I guess. In response to the (somewhat patronising, if you'll beg my pardon) suggestion of running the WMCs for 2 years minimum, been there, done that - although I've always played originals. When I was 16 I was playing most weekends on the pub & club circuit pk it playing a 50/50 mix of covers and originals, we built several sets for various gigs and were earning £250 a show minimum. Did that for a couple of years, then everyone went off to Uni. When I was at Uni I did the whole student rock band thing for two years, playing mostly originals with the odd super-cheesy cover thrown in for "crowd pleasing" effect (Video Killed The Radio Star.... yuck!) Eventually I got sick of playing music that had no meaning, it was making me feel totally at a loss musically (similar to ARGH's current dilemma, see other thread about that...). As I'd trained as a sound engineer I started doing sound full time and quit the band stuff. I worked at a local music venue, original music only 5 nights a week. In the early days there were some pretty ropey acts on, but it got better as they built up a reputation with the booking agents. Three years on from that, I worked out I'd seen something like 1500-2000 bands play, and I had developed a keen desire to play again... just as my mate's band folded, I knew he was a great frontman, we started the band the same week and never looked back. (for those interested, www.myspace.com/mrmanana) What I've found is that it takes great songs to get a crowd going. Nothing more, nothing less. We don't have a "show" to be precise, we are all into the music and kind of bop along at the appropriate moments, but the set is powered by the songs, the sound of the band and the quality of performance. It always makes me cringe when a band that is light on quality songs tries to make up for it with some rock posturing they've learnt from watching DVDs... I have total faith in the band I'm playing in, we're great and nd slowly but surely we'll show the rest of the country that, even though at the moment it seems like we're doing it one person at a time! What is annoying though is that people that play in covers bands that probably don't have to put half the work in that we do are going out and getting 300 quid a night. Having worked the pubs and clubs as a sound engineer for a local PA company I've also seen a lot of cover / tribute bands some of them have been pretty good and most of them are lovely people. I just don't see any real artistic merit in it. I don't think you can really count the Stax / Motwon bands as they were formed to play music written for them to play backing for whichever "face" they were promoting at the time. As for the Stones and Presley etc., they were bringing "black:" music of America to the white masses at a very different time in the world. I doubt any band playing a cover of Welcome To The Jungle can be said to be bringing a new and unique musical style to the WMC! Its a very very different kettle of m musical fish.[/quote] I think what your missing here is that most successful function bands and pub rock cover bands tend to be manned by people in their 30s and 40s. Many of whom did the whole original band thing when they were younger. I myself was on the verge of taking off several times in my youth with bands. However if you havent made it by the time your in your mid 30s then it is fairly certain that the horse has bolted. Unfortunately I am a musician, music has been my whole life and I don't see why I should retire just because I am in my 40s. As far as I am concerned I would rather go out and play functions and weddings than sit in my bedroom playing. And personally I think good cover bands are worth the money they are paid. people pay to see people display the skills tey have spent many years perfecting. Would you rather they paid 300 to a DJ to play CD's? There is room for both cover bands and originals, I also think your well wide of the mark when you say cover bands and tribute bands don't have to put the same amount of work in as original bands. I think they often put in much more

really nice guy and a pleasure to do business with. Not tried the amp yet but Im sure it will be great and if not I can always cut his hands off Cheers Josh Ian

I was acosted by an old aquaintance of mine last night in my local. This guy is a serious bass collector, he has about 30 basses ranging from 60's precissions and jazzes to alembics, statuses, Jaydees and god know what else. He's loaded as you would expect and he spent the night explaining to me the benefits of each of his instruments and how this one was better than that one for getting certain sounds etc. He has all the latest amps and speakers. Eden and EBS stacks etc, his neighbours must be in torment Eventually I had to retreat outside with the rest of the smokers under our present aparthied system and managed to sneak off home. I couldn't belive this bloke was giving me advice about getting the right tone. He's never done a gig outside his bedroom but is an expert on the subject apparently Thinking back this morning I just thought what a waste of money, might as well buy an X box 360 for my dog

Its all a bit too simplified for me. Modern music stems from lots of sources Jazz included. It also envelopes Earlier black music forms and European classical and folk music. You can hear lots of early European folk and classical music in some of the prog rock bands like Yes and Genesis and obviously in rock bands like Rainbow and even Sabbath to some extent. There are obviously elements of all these styles in todays music. Take something simple for instance like the early Oasis tunes. Its all in there blues, Jazz and classical (lots of classical Cello lines) You can't pin it down to one area of the world nor one Genre

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='235510' date='Jul 9 2008, 09:22 AM']Hey Prosebase - your brother is showing his ignorance, I am afraid. Some bad jazz is bad but thats bad jazz - its like judging classical music on the basis of Bond or Myleene Klass. Classical musicians are trained in exactly the opposite way to jazz musicians and many classical musicians can't play jazz (I had to call the Principal Bassist from the BBC Welsh Symphony orchestra in as a dep once and he was shocking - the bands view not mine). More to the point, they don't [i]understand [/i] it and are critical of it until they do. Then they realise that it is as demanding as anything they achieve as musicians. There is a great book called 'Music of the Common Tounge' by Christopher Small that explains it very well - I really recommend you and your brother read it. Brand X are probably not jazz per se; jazz rock? fusion? Prog. rock even? Not sure but there is a significant body of critics and musicians that would balk at the suggestion that Brand X and Duke Ellington played in the same genre.[/quote] Our old Keyboard player who was probably the best pianist Ive ever seen and had a doctorate in music from the RCM. He used to be a big jazz piss taker, even though he was guilty of playing it for a living. His most common saying was "is in tune"? "its good enough for Jazz"