lownote

Eight years ago I went to a jazz club to try out on bass. What I found was mostly middle-to-old -age stiffos playing very well but very seriously to rules set in stone. Where’s the joy gone, I asked myself? Answer: jazz died in 1959, according to trumpetist Nic Payton. Anyway, fast forward to last year and I stumble across a YouTube vid with crowds of yoof enthralled by a black girl saxist called Nubya Garcia. Turns out the cats are back, only this time multicultural, grass roots, experimental, young and real. Fast forward again to this Thursday and I’m taking pictures at a funk jam in Norwich and red hair invites me to take pix at the Cactus Jam this coming Thursday. Wot? Apparently, The Scene has even got to Norwich and I didn’t know. So cool, so looking forward. Might even take my bass as well as my camera – and swop my hearing aid for an earring.

Sax jazzist Nubya Garcia. I was like wot TF when I first heard her. Now in lerv and gonna go to her concerts whenever possible. Plus her double bassist Daniel Casimir is the only upright player I ever found remotely listenable to. And he's a lot more than remotely...

Q1: Not sure how many turns you get at full range but you should aim to make adjustments of no more than 1/8-1/4 full turn of the Allen key at each tweak. Let the bass adjust, measure relief and tweak again if needed. Don't forget to slacken the strings for the tweak and then retune before measuring the relief. 1b: an Allen key is the correct truss rod adjuster TMK - that's what bass makers issue with them. Q2: Thousandths of an inch don't come into it, that's far too precise. People have different ways. Mine is to press down on the E string at the first fret and again at the last fret and then measure the clearance of the string from the 8th fret. This should be around 0.3mm-ish measured with automotive feeler gauges, or simply a business card or plectrum. Place feeler/car/pick twixt string and fret (or fingerboard if fretless) and wiggle it. If the relief is too slight your measurer will lift the string, if the relief is too much the measurer will flap about. Just right is when the measurer slips smoothly and firmly between string and fret/fiingerboard. Unless I have a friend to help I use a guitar capo to hold the string down at the 1st fret, my elbow to hold it down at the last fret and my fingers to do the measuring.

I bought a saxophone

Thanks y'all, my search is over

My band found the perfect compromise. We played other people's stuff, but always with our own take - and I have to dimple prettily and say actually that take (driven by our talented BL) was usually pretty good. So the audience got to listen to familiar pieces, while we didn't have to write stuff while getting some satisfaction from being innovative.

Now obv a lot depends on the EQ, but just wondered if any funk players especially loved the underlying sound of their head in this genre. Looking for 300-500w playing into a Markbass 121H cab with the option of an Ashdown 115 underneath. Yes I know you shouldn't mix cabs but they're all I've got at the moment.

Unfortunately it does in extreme doses, but in pedestrian ways. I was in a band where I was the youngest by eight years. We lost loads of time due to one member or another having hearts attacks,. knee ops, ear ops, etc etc. And we never rehearsed anything the same way twice because none of us could remember how we'd done it 1/2 hour before. Musically, we all tend to reference the music that was hip when when we were about 14. So a big age difference shows in music choice. And while my last band leader's choice of music was awesome for me, I've also played with older people who quite naturally prefer music that was around when I was however much younger I was than them. My taste now is very much younger than my age group, but you're not going to persuade the average 25 year old funk or jazz influencer let a 65 year old in the band, even though I like what they do.

I'd go further and say that on the rare occasion I've bought new I've got rid shortly after - no personality, and they just seemed 'dead' in my hands. This is the only factor that lies between me and the commissioning of a new £12000 Fodera.

Maybe try a d/ putting the onus on him: ask him if he think's he's good enough, and/or if your type of music is really his bag. If his reponse is that it's all fine and he'll tidy up any rough corners then move to a more nuclear option. I'm afraid being mildy Aspergic I'm not sensitive to the need to be sensitive. We had a guy audition for our blues band. From the moment he came through the door he was banging on negatively about his weight (massive) and state of health (pouring with sweat) and how he was ploppy (this saves BC's primbot bowdlerising my use of the sh1te word) and couldn't understand why we were even considering him. With the best will in the will we couldn't imagine working with him so we gently declined his services. He went to another band and has since become a popular and sought after blues singer /leader in the region.

That is pretty! Now if it didn't have stabilisers it'd be perfect

D'Addarios, or La Bella RX nickels. I haven't had a set of stainless stell since my very first purchase for my very first bass. Or flats of course.

I had one from a little later than that. Best P style bass I've ever had by a long chalk, whatever people say about clones being just as good. They're not.

Most people advise lined fretless. Having tried both I very much disagree. So long as you have side dots on the note, not where they'd be on a fretted you'll be fine with unlined. As G says let your ears do the playing. Far from being scary and restricting I found unlined liberating and very satisfying. I now regard frets as like stabilisers on a kid's bike, and lined fretless as not much better.

Ah quote directly from their Facetube pages: "We’re currently filling our last few slots for bands over the summer. If you’re interested in playing at The Locks, get in touch at [email protected]; include a little bit about who you are, weekend availability April-September and a link to a video/recording." This very eve they host a touch of the Oirish, musically speaking. More than that I cannot say. My impression of music there was soured by an early encounter with a rock band setting up inside with 4x12s, 2x15s and Marshall amps in a bar space the size of my spare bedroom. Ludicrous. For the un-anointed, the Geldeston Locks is collectible because it's easier reached by water (the Broads) than by road. On a side note, I do find Grain's beer extremely acceptable, a good deal more so than Adnams, the usual local brew.

Can't be, else it would be called Realingham

Not least because most of the pubs, cafes and bars in Dereham host a band at some point. It's not called the 12 bar blues for nothing. The fest ends with an open jam on the Sunday if you fancy taking your bass.

Yus, you was right, but last I heard the blues element had been ejected, and now infests a place called the Louis Marchesi in Tombland.

It's patchy. Mostly its only in the urban centres, the rest is a bit of a desert - hey, music is where people are. Norwich in particular has a number of great venues. The Reindeer especially seems to have music almost every night, the Walnut Shades is another, and there a handful of others. The regional standard is quite high. The Dereham Blues Fest features A/B list national acts and lot of pretty good local bands. The same people (Stewart and Doreen Aitkin) are behind the very good Norfolk Blues Society jams at the aforementioned Walnuts Shades. Out in the sticks there's not a lot. An exception is the Burston Crown, which attracts high quality acts from Norwich, Cambridge and even London. Which is odd because its bleeding miles from anywhere. One of the best blues acts in the country, Charlie Harper, plays there if he's in the mood. There is a jazz club of quality in Norwich, and a great funk jam at the Reindeer. I have less knowledge of further west and east. Being stuck behind a tractor may be taken more than one way, as you will find if you take your news from the sometimes quite funny spoof news magazine, the Suffolk Gazette. The usual greeting is a high six.

I am sure a grownup will be along shortly. In the interim, I have also pursued this dream in the past, only to be told variations on : "It cannot be done. Additionally, it is pointless because even if your amp doubled it's wattage output going from 8 ohms to 4 ohms it would only get you an increase of +3db." Never quite got that but there you go. PS love the colour and cuteness of these little guys. You just want to pinch their chubby little cheeks.

I'm on the verge of buying a Markbass F1 to replace my old LM2, simply because its local and a good price. I'm reading good things about this head, but I also gather its default sound is neutral and quite bright (aggressive?). I mostly play fretless/flats/ P bass- as-faux-upright with a 12" MB cab, although I have been known to turn the tone knob up vvvveeerrryy occasionally. Obv, I can twiddle knobs - I had to on my LM2. I s'pose what I'm asking is, am I trying a flat racer over the jumps here? Is the F1 more suited to slap or funk or something quite bright, played on an appropriate jazz bass or something with rounds, rather my wuffly old school sound.

Never hit them the same way twice