ambient

One of my gigs is with a jazz collective, they have three different vocalists, each sings in a different key, and instrumental we use another key again. Beautiful song though. I think the best version I’ve ever been a part of was at a pub in Wednesbury called the Trumpet. The owner is Algerian, he played drums for us and sang the most beautiful vocal in French.

From my experience; I was a mature student when I got my BMus. They weren’t actually bothered about prior qualifications or grades, I needed A levels; that was for UCAS, I had an assessment to see if I was good enough to audition, then the actual audition which included an aural skills exam, there was a was a harmony and theory exam, a sight-reading exam and a general playing exam where I had to play along to recordings in various styles, then play a prepared piece; that could be to a backing track or solo. It was probably the scariest thing I’ve ever done in my life.

Good idea, it's always best not to complicate things. I did Autumn leaves as a solo bass/chord melody thing for one of my auditions, it's a really beautiful song. Good luck, I sincerely hope it goes well for you. I'm classed as a mature student, very late 30s. You're really never too old. It’s just a new road on the journey of life.

I disagree. Where I studied there were several mature students over 40. I'm doing my masters now and there are again a few over 40, and one of the PhD guys is over 60.

They'd generally play what they need for the gig. Sometimes a band leader might specify a certain instrument. I've never personally had that, but I do know people who have been told they must use a P bass or something. I know someone who did a musical based on the 1950s, the band were visible on stage, it had to 'look' right. Dave Swift is one of the UK’s busiest, his main bass at the moment is a 6 string Ibanez, though he plays others depending I guess on what the gig requires. Anthony Jackson always plays his 6 string Fodera. John Patitucci always plays a 6 string, usually a Yamaha. Jimmy Haslip plays a 6 string Roscoe.

There are loads, I love classical music for instance, and anything by Brian Eno or Harold Budd. Most of what I listen to is sound based, rather than instrument. This piece is very inspirational in my work at the moment:

I’d love to use an iPad, I know lots who do. I have this fear of it either stopping working or falling off and breaking. If my printed paper pad falls off the worst than will happen is I lose my page 😁. Most just swipe with their finger.

That’s brilliant, hope it works out. You’re still playing music which is fantastic. It’ll probably give you a different perspective on playing bass.

That would the adventure of a lifetime. I bet it was amazing. With this kind of thing, if you approach it right, you can come away with ideas that you can keep dipping into whenever you need to. I did a weekend thing with 6 string player Todd Johnson about 8 years ago. He did a lot of chord melody playing and soloing concepts. Things that take ages to assimilate into your playing anyway. There were things that he covered that every now and then I think ah yes!

BIMM? I know they’ve opened one in London, I’m not sure exactly where it is though.

You’ll do plenty of performing. You have lpws and rsw every week. Lpw is live performance workshop, rsw is rhythm section workshop.

Go along to one of their open days, have a look around and chat to the tutors. There’s also BIMM. You won’t regret it, and don’t worry about thinking you’re too old, there were plenty of mature students there when I was there.

Yeah I can read and I do know what retired means. What is it with some people’s attitudes on here recently? The OP is asking about full time courses, a full time course will be expensive, I’m guessing the OP realises that. I’ve replied and told him about the course that I have personal knowledge of. It actually makes no difference if you’re retired, you can get a student loan at any age 😁. There was a guitarist doing the course when I was there who was well past retirement age, plenty of mature students in their 40s too.

It’s eligible for a student loan. Work it out, though; contact time is about 30 hours per week, three 12 week terms, that’s 1,080 hours of tuition. How much would that cost you? Believe me, it’s a fantastic course. The tutors are brilliant. It’s not just bass, it’s a music course, it’ll turn you from a bass player to a musician. There’s obviously lots of bass related tuition from amazing players, but you’ll also do sight reading, aural skills and harmony and theory.

ICMP in Kilburn do a one year full time higher diploma which is excellent. I did my BMus there.

Nope.

I was talking to a friend earlier. He had one gig cancelled last night, and he’s booked to play at a fete this coming Saturday afternoon. I had a similar thing a few years ago, only it was a rugby World Cup match, I have to admit up until then I hadn’t realised any other country played rugby.

Two of the drummers I play with both also play vibes. The one is also an amazing pianist, I think it was his second study at uni. There were more drummers than bassists where I studied. Everyone regardless of their main instrument had to learn piano too, and do all the same H+T and aural studies classes.

Lots, I don’t think I play with any musician that doesn’t read.

The notes just follow the chromatic scale. I’ve had students who’ve found it useful learning the notes by picking random ones, say B, then just play every B on the instrument, then say every E. If you can play scales then play a scale but don’t start on the root, maybe start on an open string; for instance play an A major scale but start with your open E string, so open E but then play the F# somewhere else on the bass, not on the 2nd fret of the E. That was something one of my tutors at uni got us to do.

This is mostly manipulated sound material that I recorded during several recent field-recording trips to Wales, though some of it is synth, I like to use synth in a way that it emulates natural sounds. It's based on the Welsh coastline. I've recently spent days and days walking miles and miles along the coast recording stuff on the cliffs and deserted beaches there. It's also based on a local legend about land that was in ancient times swallowed by the sea. It will eventually, hopefully anyway form part of four pieces that will make up my final composition portfolio for my MA.

I thought he was dead.