timbass

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1384866485' post='2281567'] The pizz tone on this to me is the holy grail that electric bass players want but will never get, I dare say getting it on DB is probably a lot harder than he is making it look! [/quote] Totally agree, tried to get my Fender P bass to sound like this for years. Then went and bought the real thing, never regretted it for one second.

[quote name='ezbass' timestamp='1384597190' post='2278464'] Lovely groove at the beginning there. For me it will always be Danny Thompson: touch, tone, taste..... http://youtu.be/BMjQpUwGFVI [/quote] EST - great musicians - rock star jazz players and such sadness in an early death.

Aaaw thanks guys, so many new greats for me to listen to. And the advice too. How many more great talents are there? I did miss out Esperanza Spalding because she is an obsession in looks and sound. A dangerous combination. Much respect to all those who responded. What a great chat site this is!

Scott LaFaro = amazing, thanks. I do love Raymond Matthews Brown - such cool. Thanks for sharing folks. Is it just my ignorance, but don't jazz bass solo pieces played above the octave mostly sound like a demented bee caught in a jam jar? Even Niels Henning Orsted-Pedersen brilliance up there leaves me cold.

Nice, thanks Zig Zag, I wouldn't have found this otherwise. I am ignorant of so much talent!

Let's hear applause for Arvell Shaw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzOvJ8wYA1I and Paul Chambers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMkFEeS1wJU

These lessons are really good and helped me check my technique for problems. Thanks very much, I owe you.

[quote name='bassace' timestamp='1383154086' post='2260924'] Am I going crazy? This lot went for £162. [size=2][b]A quantity of various Musical Instruments, sold for the benefit of The Royal Engineers Charitable Trust[/b][/size] [size=2]A Viola of the Fendt School circa 1830, of a aged red brown colour, much use wear and restoration, in case, with; A brassed English Bass Trombone by Boosey and Hawkes, An English Alto Clarinet by Boosey and Hawkes,[b] A four string Chamber Bass, German School, circa 1920, A Czech four string Chamber Bass, circa 1930, A four string Chamber Bass, German School, circa 1930,[/b] Four Contemporary Violins, Three Contemporary German Violas labelled Andrew Schroetter, Bubenreuth/Bayern, Seven nickel mounted octagonal Paesold Violin Bows, Six nickel mounted Paesold Viola Bows, Six Cello Bows, various mounts and brands, and [b]Three nickel mounted Paesold Bass Bows, all used various, as seen.[/b][/size] [/quote] That's appalling! the great charity swindle. Possibly worth 10 times that amount?

Don't buy Bose, because we'll lose our USP! We use 2 x Bose L1 with 4 x b1 behind our 4-piece blues & R&B band with other back-line amplification for Yamaha dig-drums, slide guitar (15W Marshall to produce nice valve harmonic distortion) and bass (250W Phil Jones Suitcase plus Roland Cube). So all the vocals, sax, hammond, piano and a proportion of the back-line go through the Bose. All the band and our audiences think its the best sounding PA on our circuit (up to 300 crowd). It is plenty loud (1500W RMS gives plenty of headroom) and feedback from the 3 Shure vocal and sax condenser mic is not a problem plus it carries clear sound right to the back of the room. Very unlike the focussed searchlight blast you get from usual PA gear. Please listen before you buy, preferably in comparison with other PAs (speakers in front of the band and needing monitors). I also use the same rig for a jazz quartet and we love the quality (rarely need to turn it above about 20% full volume) I spent an hour playing bass, guitar, keyboards and my standard IPod PA test tracks through a demo Bose in NYC before I was converted. We have used it at several weddings with crowds of 200 plus to good effect. At home it is the best HiFi Stereo system I have ever had (and I have had a few). No don't buy Bose, if everyone knows how good they are, we'll lose out!

K&M 141 Mk2 stand has not let me down yet. Reliable, stable, top quality for gigs and at home. I did modify it by lining the edges of its end-pin tray so that the sharp edges don't grind marks into my nicely turned wooden end-pin stopper. I don't like putting my db on the floor at gigs, usually not enough room and I've seen danger of the bridge getting kicked by other band members as they trip past in the dark, avoiding cables and bottles of beer. But I guess that's rock n roll.

Thanks for a rare insight into top quality work, much respect and best wishes.

A really interesting and well-written discourse on contrabass and the variables in attaining a good sound. Lots of good advice too. Many thanks for sharing, I would not have found it otherwise.

Zaz - Dans ma Rue is good too, great singer. We like her here.

I put Thomastik Spirocore mediums on my db, Price: 144.00 Euros from Thomann. I love the sound and feel but haven't tried anything other than the Spirocore lights that were on it when I bought it, so how would I know!

LOvely video of a lovely old guy playing great music very well. Thanks for sharing, I would not have seen this otherwise.

[quote name='adrianlaird' timestamp='1380405501' post='2224977'] Hey all, I got asked to post this thread in this forum too, so here it is... My name is Adrian, and I've just put up all my Scott LaFaro transcriptions online for your viewing pleasure. Follow the link to the website and lemme know what ya think! Cheers! [url="http://adrianlaird.wordpress.com/2013/09/28/scott-lafaro-transcriptions/"]http://adrianlaird.w...transcriptions/[/url] [/quote] Hey Adrian, amazing work, thank you so much! I play Waltz for Debby with my jazz trio and although I have most of the bass part worked out, this is a really big help. I wish I'd known about Bill Evans years ago.

[quote name='bassace' timestamp='1380487578' post='2226135'] That is amazing and will be valued by all of us who have struggled, eg, with Waltz for Debby. Just to go into Mr Boring mode, if I may, a pianist friend of mine wrote to Bill Evans while he was at Scotts and asked for guidance on the chords for WfD which was brand new then and not as familiar to us as it is now. Bill replied with the chords which he had jotted down on a scrap of paper during the interval. [/quote] Great story, love those unique connections.

[quote name='AntLockyer' timestamp='1381690975' post='2242450'] I tried an EUB in Macaris [url="http://www.macaris.co.uk/"]http://www.macaris.co.uk/[/url] [/quote] Thanks, what types of EUB do they have there? Their website does not tell me anything about EUBs.

Where can I try EUBs between Aberystwyth and London please? Cardiff, Bristol, Birmingham, Oxford are within reach. I think I want to try out a NS Design CR4M. I play in jazz trio + vocal and a quite loud blues/R&B/soul/cuban quartet. My lovely German blonde is a bit fragile and large for the latter and I might want to buy a new or S/H EUB. Any ideas please?

[quote name='ChrisF' timestamp='1374174470' post='2146172'] lol ...... now your opening up a whole new can of worms. especially as you interests includes "tuning up for half an hour and pretending its a tune"...oops I mean jazz [/quote] Yes! agreed! - different kinds of jazz too - some good, some bad, some tuneful and some boringly introspective. I tend to like stuff that people want to dance to.

Two kinds of music, Good and Bad. Musical apartheid not a good idea. Mix it up baby.

Thanks geoffbassist and TheRev for your good advice. Great to know that I don't have to budget €144 to replace any time soon.

If pain hits, stop playing and work out how to prevent it, so.... Going back to the original question, here is my experience: I am 60 years old next month. I took up jazz DB/contrabass in November 2011 after too many years of trying to make my Fender P bass sound like a DB (been playing bass since I was 15). I bought my bass from Peter Tyler, along with his excellent book and since then DB has been something of an obsession. I practice most days for about an hour. I have always stopped when I felt pain and worked out how to prevent it. We are all different, but I think posture comes first, then arm position and then fingering. My fingers were already hardened to long gigs playing my P bass. Arm position has to made be in recognition of reducing the bends in the muscle-tendon run to the fingers and stance must reduce the pressure in the back. I find it helps to play in socks or bare feet, even the smallest heels on shoes seem to make it more difficult to bring the shoulders to the right position, resulting in back pain. I don't really know if I'm any good or not, but my daughter asked me to play at her wedding in April 2012 and I played DB for an hour and P-bass for about 6 hours with various bands and musicians at my sister-in-law's and my party last Saturday. No one threw anything, complained or left early = good sign. Age is no barrier and DB is wonderful.

I would find a good music store and try it out. I personally wouldn't go that route but I haven't tried it so don't know.

3/4 contrabass, Thomastik Spirocore medium strings, jazz played for an hour a day on average. What is the recommended interval between string replacement? All the current strings were new in March 2012 and still seem fine, but how would I know?