Lowender

That first toon sounds like a parody song. The second one was ha real groove, just no melody.

Nothin' eh? Shoulda done a Jameraqui song. In drag. lol

[quote name='BetaFunk' timestamp='1388165932' post='2319058'] I think this is from around 1978....... [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQL90y3tcfc[/media] [/quote] That's actually a really nice "upright" approach to the electric. Really fine musician. He never soloed anywhere like that with Mahavishnu. One has to wonder if McLaughlin wanted him to purposely as as simple as possible since everyone else was so busy.

lo. I guess that didn't make much sense without the attachment. Maybe this'll work. https://soundcloud.com/nelson-montana/the-way-you-love-bass-re-do

This is in response to the Incognito track. I'm not sure if that's a key bass or a bassplayer. If it's a key bass, I give him credit for making it sound like something a bass guitar would play. If it's real bass, it's a super solid sound. So anyway...I decided to jam along with the track with a MusicMan SUB. lol And a little envelope.

The upright is really his instrument. I felt Rick was a little lost with what to do with the electric. But he's playing his ass off in that trio. Great stuff.

Interesting how most people pick bands with good bass players . Me? If I could play the way I wanted...it's be U2. I'd completely re-invent the band. And my career would be in high gear. Meanwhile, replacing Steve Harris, though it'd be fun to play all his parts, would just make me the most hated guy in metal.

I do too, for several reasons. I feel as if it's not "legit." (Using a P or a J as the standard). Plus, playing a short scale will lessen your stretch and , if it matters, it make it harder to play upright. And shorties tend to play a little out of tune in the upper register. But all in all, these factors are so slight they're barely noticeable.

Much like all stars jams, just having the best players doesn't necessarily equal the best results. Music is more than that. It's chemistry. I don't think the Beatles would have been better with John Lennon being replaced by Yngwie Malmsteen.

Agree about Ward and the Wizard. Wonderful. Though I'm not sure that style would fit a modern context. Agree about Chad Smith. Not the biggest RHCP fan or even Flea, but the guy can groove like a mofo. I don't like death metal but some of the drummers are amazing. I do a lot of recording where I play both bass and drums so that's very satisfying. The only problem is I tend to fill in the same places, so sometimes the bassist and drummer get in each other's way. lol Gotta watch that. : )

I thought it was going to be Joe Jackson's "Steppin' Out!" lol. That one's a workout, though it's a key bass on the record. (Not sure if a bass player played the exact part in concert).

[quote name='Alfie' timestamp='1387629583' post='2313957'] No one has ever come up to me after a gig to say, "I love the height you wear your bass". Either I am doing it wrong, or it really [i]really [/i]doesn't matter. [/quote] So as long as someone doesn't directly SAY something to you, it doesn't matter? Someone may not say, "Hey, you have bad breath." but if you do, it still has the same effect whether it's said or not.

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1387567891' post='2313555'] We have had this discussion before , and some folks got a bit upset when I suggested that there is nothing inherently cool-looking about wearing your bass slung low. The simple fact is that very few bass players who wear their bass below the waist can play very well . That is not a coincidence. You can't play with good technique if you are fighting to be able to spread you fingers and use your hands properly. The bass should be , as Essential Tension rightly says, at approximately the same height standing as when you sit with it resting on your leg , i.e around waist height with the top bout angled under your left breast. Where does the assumption that wearing the bass low looks cool come from , anyway? Who came to that conclusion and why? I don't want to look like a disaffected youth or pretend that I am an American skateboard punk who doesn't get on with his parents. I like watching Antiques Roadshow, I think that most kids nowadays need a clip round the ear and I'm worried about house prices, and the height of my strap reflects that. [/quote] "Cool" can't be justified or explained. You either get it or you don't. And if you don't, you ain't.

Too high looks dorky, too low looks douchy. But if you can pull it off, why worry what other's think? Personally I like it midrange -- going up or down a notch depending on my mood. (I find I play differently with the bass at different heights). But age has nothing to do with it.

One observation -- I equate a lot of this stuff to "street drummers." There's a style of drummers who play in public who are untrained and unschooled but groove their asses off. But it's in a particular style. And they tend to approach everything in a similar manner. That's the only thing about a lot of these tracks. The grooves are great but they tend to be redundant. There's little or no song structure. It's like they find that magical rhythm and settle into it, which make ssense because it's meant to be music to dance to. But it'd be interesting to hear that groove with a little more melody, a hook or a chorus. Then again, I guess that's called "disco." lol

Those are some bad ass bass tracks. Fun to play! Thanks for that!

Understanding the intervals of a scale does not take years of university training. It's very, very basic stuff. A good teacher can explain it to you in 15 minutes.

In general -- the principle is the same. If you try to memorize "songs", it'll take years and you'll never quite get it. You have to understand form and basic theory. Do that, and you can play ANY song. And here's the "secret." When playing standards, there is no bassline. It's not a part. It's simply accompanying the chords. You don't to be able to read music but you have to know what notes are in a chord. Then you simply match the rhythm and notes of your choice to each measure. The most basic example , and best to practise, is a 2/5/1 progression. So, in the key of C, that's Dm7, G7 and C maj 7. Pick a tempo (or several tempos) and just mess around playing the notes in those scales. Then you can do the same thing in any key. After a while, you'll start to recognize chord groupings . I know this isn;t the quick/.easy answer to your question but it'll take no longer than learning one song. And then next time you'll be looking to copy the bassline to another and another and another. This way, you have limitless basslines at your fingertips. Good luck.

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1387039592' post='2307700'] well it is an Earth Wind and Fire song from 1975. maybe thats got something to do with it,? interesting to hear your thoughts. i was more interested in his playing around the chord changes. sounds beautiful. well it sounds good to me. [/quote] Actually, the changes are essentially 1/4/2/5 . So if you if just stay in Fm pentatonic (which is what he does most of the time) it'll fit over all the chords. (There's C#m in the B section but that essentially an Fm7 so the pentatonic scale fits there as well.

I said it was nice. No doubt Victor is a great player. But I think the bigger point is valid. Musicians tend to fall into an indulgent rut -- not necessarily by playing too much, but by playing in a comfortable style. Bass players especially like to play funk -- which is great. So do I. I'm good at it! But if you have the opportunity to reach a lot of people, doing music that is 30 years out of style is probably not the best way to expand your following, PLUS, as good as it is, it does come off a bit tired. That's all I meant. For what it's worth.

[quote name='peteb' timestamp='1386892068' post='2306245'] I think that Malmsteen is supremely musical and I would disagree that his guitar playing lacks soul. However, no matter how good a guitarist is, they need to be put their playing in a musical context and he is a consistently poor song writer and his ego seems to mean that he is unable to collaborate in a meaningful with anyone. To me, his most enjoyable records have been him playing covers or goofing off on tribute albums where he has superior material to work with… [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cev-Sjhab_M[/media] [/quote] That does show that he played far more musically when being forced into (some) restraints.

Nice. Though I think it's indicative to why this stuff will only appeal to musicians and is losing more and more of a general audience. It's not so much that it's instrumental, it's just so damn dated. This could be from a Stanley Clarke album from 1984.

One area where I can say his skill and ability is most certainly inferior is when he tries to play acoustic guitar., He has no sense of it whatsoever. You'd think someone so into classical music would learn some classical technique -- as did Randy Rhodes. Many other guitarists have dabbled as well -- Van Halen, DiMaola, even Kirk Hammet (with mixed results). But Yngwie play acoustic like an electric -- even bending strings and looking like he's trying to get it to sustain. It's astonishingly amateurish. This is a guy who had a great apptitude to facile playing, studied and practiced for many hours and then figured he was the greatest. And that's where it stopped. And that's what you get.

[quote name='icastle' timestamp='1386354854' post='2299289'] Me being happy with my playing isn't important. It's what the other musicians think of it that matters. [/quote] I like what I do. I know my shortcomings but everyone has them. At a certain point it's just about making music.

And I like the bass lick that starts at 1: 55 : )