ZMech

I clicked play with a certain amount of scepticism, but that was pretty awesome! Cheers for sharing WoT

PM'ed with a collection of reading material sent to me ages ago by a fellow BCer.

only of significance if you fall within a narrow age range (which all my friends and I do), the tetris song: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmCCQxVBfyM[/media] this was one of the first things I learnt to play on bass, and one I still rip out occasionally.

[quote name='Linus27' timestamp='1325341858' post='1482306'] I also have two cars which neither will be able to transport a DB which is a slight worry [/quote] I [url="http://basschat.co.uk/topic/117525-transporting-the-damn-thing/page__hl__transporting"]started a thread a while ago[/url] after thinking this. Since then my sis sold her micra before I actually had a reason to test the theories out for myself, but it sounded promising

One thing to prepare yourself for; the difference in reaction you get after saying you play double bass. Instead of a slightly patronising 'ah that's cool', in response to saying bass guitar, you get looks of genuine admiration if you say double bass. A much better reaction, especially when you're talking to a nice violinist in the pub...

Have you had a listen to Portico Quartet? Can but somewhat odd at times, but they're a current favourite of mine: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWeXPCi2Mwk[/media] Am going with the 'I am open minded' part of your taste for this recommendation

Perhaps turning down the treble on your EQ might help a bit?

Well on doubt bass I occasionally spend a 20 min practise session just playing open strings to work on my right hand technique. Don't go to that extent on my bass guitar though, although obviously the right hand is still the master of the tone.

[quote name='la bam' timestamp='1324957515' post='1478753']There's dance music - but i dont hear of any famous dance music bassists inspiring people to take up the bass? [/quote] That's because it rarely uses live bass guitars. On the other hand, loads of my mate's have taken up DJing/producing, which I'd say is a similar kind of effect. Nice post though. I think it partly comes back to the genre being partly defined by the rhythm, which the bass should always have a big hand in.

Firstly, get yourself a copy of the realbook, has loads of jazz standards in: [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Book-Bass-Clef-Books/dp/184609478X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324842124&sr=8-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Real-Book-Bass-Clef-Books/dp/184609478X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324842124&sr=8-1[/url] Secondly the four albums I told a mate to listen to, who hadn't really given jazz a chance were: Miles Davis: Kind of Blue John Coltrane: Giant Steps Charles Mingus: Mingus Ah Um Bill Evans: Waltz for Debby they should be a good starting point for further exploration, although of course everyone will give their own selection Thirdly, check out some youtube lessons about walking basslines. BC resident Scott Devine has a great selection if you search for him on youtube, he's also got a new website. Lastly, find an open jam session if you can. Throw yourself in at the deep end if you're brave enough. Many songs are just a 12-bar blues e.g. All Blues, Mr PC, Watermelon Man. When I did the same, at the jam night I went to in Bristol I always requested songs that were essentially a 12 bar.

I know the feeling, hence my member status thingy under the avatar.

[quote name='Emily Jaguar' timestamp='1324583212' post='1476013'] I can't think of anything else to say, so that's that. [/quote] You forgot to say which is your favourite beatle Welcome to the site.

poll?

I should also mention that the feeling never truly goes away. After every lesson with my bass teacher it slightly upsets me just how ridiculously better than me he his. Just view it as 'motivation'.

I had one of these moments where I realised how much progressed I've made in the last few years recently. Was chatting to my mate, who was the guitarist in my teenage rock band back at school, who is just starting to get into playing jazz. I ended up telling him all about how I like playing 9ths these days, and other assorted goodness, which he'd only vaguely heard of. It only struck me afterwards that the my 18yo self also wouldn't have had a clue, and back then I couldn't even walk over a 12 bar blues. In summary, stick at it, your skills will do nothing but improve.

I think it's partly an evolutionary thing. Our ears/brains have developed to mostly listen to each other talking, so that's the frequency range we're best able to distinguish. In a busy room for example, you can still pick out what your mate is saying, and the same goes for a busy horn section. Once you go into bass territory though, more than one makes things annoying. I'm not sure how this leads to the fact that I love a good bit of solo double bass, but not bass guitar.

I don't really like slap, it's not the 80's, and it doesn't sound that great. Perhaps it's because I also associate it with teenagers trying to sound impressive. [quote name='silddx' timestamp='1321617001' post='1441196'] BTW, Leemarc, you might want to rethink the dimensions of your signature [/quote] Seconded, it takes up my whole screen...

Yeah he's playing in Bristol tonight. Whilst I'm not going to see him, my uni jazz society will be having a jam in the foyer out front for the hour beforehand, which should be good fun.

I'll admit the song bored me after a few minutes, but none the less, that bassline is damn good!

Am currently randomly flicking through my realbook to find tunes to call at the jam night I run, and stumbled upon this gem: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGtq7ytJ1sE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGtq7ytJ1sE[/url] On that note, if anyone has any good suggestions of songs to play over, it would be much appreciated. We try to keep the balance between beginner-friendly but still fun to play (i.e. a good melody, that doesn't have 20 chord changes a second), and nothing that's too close to lounge jazz, funk is definitely allowed and encouraged.

Got no lines or dots at all on my double bass, I get slightly jealous on them if I ever try to jump up the neck, and miss (badly). Well, time to do some scales

Was just about to come and post something along the same lines as Hectors advice, but I think he's phrased it well enough. I remember when I first learnt that I didn't have to start each chord on the root, was just a whole other dimension of freedom. I do love hammering 9ths for a bar these days, possibly I'm just going through a phase

Well, 3rd year of uni went well, and the 4th n final year is off to a good start. The project I was working on over the summer is going well, and I'm now looking to start the patent application, and find a small bit of investment, so that's great. I haven't really forced the whole band issue whilst at uni, due to plenty of stuff to keep me busy, but one now seems to be coming into place nicely. Found myself a drummer who's pretty awesome, and a singing pianist with a voice I love. Haven't really decided what direction we want to go yet, as we've only mucked about together a few times, but I think it's promising To top it off, having started the DB late last year, I'm really happy with my progress. Over the summer I did my regular daily practice, and I'm finally on my way to being happy with my tone and abilities, although to be truly content may take another couple of years, that seems to be the nature of the beast.

Some more info might be useful, e.g. style of music, expected venue size/volueme etc. Not that I know the answer to your question or anything, just thought it might help those who do give you a more helpful answer

[quote name='Gilby' timestamp='1320260258' post='1424569']I do tend to use my thumb over the top to fret the E string. [/quote] I'd seriously recommend against this. If you try to do this when playing standing up your wrist will most likely end up being bent backwards, which is just asking for a world of pain. Your wrist should be as straight as possible, especially if you aim to gig and therefore play for extended amounts of time. On this note, make sure to do at least some of your practise in the position in which you'll actually play live, i.e. standing, as the orientation of the bass is likely to change compared to sitting down.