urb

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1356641902' post='1912017'] VERY nice, Mike. Superb playing as ever, and the vocal is quite simply [i]lush[/i]. Good production too. Sounds great through my cans - I particularly like the glitchy drum work and break beats. Most of all it actually captures the festive spirit - in a positive way! Another cracking entry [/quote] Thanks man - much appreciated dude - the nice thing is the music (backing) was put together in Ableton, the fretless bass was a single (first and only take) and it was all mixed/mastered in Logic... so there you go. ...but I'm loving yours as well - if I have one bit 'homework' it's getting my head round making some proper dubstep sounds - love the sh*t on your one - sounds just like the stuff I want to do, with a jazzy twist of course.... Anyway - the talent around here really is impressive - I'll make a point of listening to as many entries as I can before voting this time - once again people, great work...

OK this is super obvious but if I'm tuning by ear when I change my strings - meaning the whole bass is out of tune - I can usually approximate the pitch of the G string to within a semi-tone or two - but one useful "song interval" is "Here Comes The Bride" - the first two notes of which are a perfect 4th - which is exactly how the bass is tuned - so get one string in tune and follow that as your guide to get the others. I obviously use a tuner (as I don't have perfect pitch - some folks do) and I always use the harmonics on the 5/7th frets to tune the strings - the 'Here Comes The Bride' thing is just for rough r tuning from scratch... Just a little something I thought might be worth adding - the Simpsons theme tune has a very pronounced raised 4th or sharp 11th in it (based around a Lydian scale/mode) - giving it that unresolved sound - just another example of a strong sounding interval that's easy to spot... for some. Hope that helps

OK this is a bit more of a 'sentimental Christmas journey' than a dirty old Santa collapsing in an alleyway, though it gets a bit groovy in the middle and Vic lays down the bass vibes... in a spoken word type way - I'll let you guys decide if it works or not [url="http://soundcloud.com/munkio/bass-makes-no-music-featuring"]http://soundcloud.co...music-featuring[/url] Good luck to everyone this month - and Happy Christmas and here's to a bass-heavy new year M

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1356537299' post='1910881'] Nice one Mike. It tells a little story, you should just put it up into the comp - It would get my vote. Garry [/quote] Thanks Garry - OK I will Cheers and glad you dug it M

Love to know what you guys thnk of it - this is my first recording using my new RME Babyface interface - and I'm over the moon about the sound of the bass through it - it's sick! Cheers all M

Dominique DiPiazza developed a special bridge system that can make a fretted bass sound fretless by using wooden saddles on the bridge: http://youtu.be/bYPHZlwLP3s More info here http://www.neuserbasses.com/nfs.html Cool thing is there are no electrics involved...

Hey folks Here's a little mashup of a lovely Meshell Ndegeocello track called 'Oysters' that I used as the basis for a dancey remix - with a rather cool quote from Vic Wooten from an interview I did with him a couple of years ago - with some fretless stuff on top from me - hope you dig the vibe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbNiHFgi7H8 Happy Christmas chaps Cheers Mike

Really nice story Rob - I had a similarly nice feeling after that recent London Jazz Fest gig I did - the feeling being that 'things really came together tonight' - and yes it took months of planning just for that gig, but also years of diligent dedication to hit a decent level of playing. I feel doubly chuffed for you though as getting 'the call' then nailing it - and to be among such great company - is exactly 'what it's all about' - which is sharing those magical spontaneous moments of musical creativity on a stage with like-minded (and great) musicians - it's pretty much 'it' in musical terms - great work sir.

The guy is super groovy - and he can play great solos too without resorting to obvious chops - I saw him with Scott Henderson at Ronnie Scott's and he was so deep in the pocket he really held the gig together - very musical and solid too - plus he has a couple of great pedals... which is all in this clip in his wicked solo at the end. And as a man I know said... never trust a skinny bass player...

Sounds cool Bill - effective little pedal that... might have to investigate one myself

A vid from the woodshed.... http://youtu.be/Lok6Sy12DpA

Another thing from the shed - for those that are interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lok6Sy12DpA

[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1355102287' post='1894184'] Holy cow Mike. Your playing always smacks me sideways, but dare I say it sounds as though you've [i]somehow[/i] managed to improve recently? (not that you had much headroom for improvememnt before!). Really fluid playing. You make it look effortless. Which makes me slightly sick Seriously though, [i]very[/i] impressive playing mate. Paul [/quote] Very kind of you Paul - I actually feel like I have made some improvements lately and the ideas I've been working on for the last couple of years are actually manifesting themselves when I want to use them... saying that this is a little rough around the edges - I'm planning a better-produced couple of vids soon just to get some more ideas out there - but I play a few standards every day to keep my ideas flowing and it's all about linking your ideas - that's been my goal really is making all my ideas connect and build closer musical relations with them all - thanks for noticing. Cheers Mike

Got a mad prog funk Christmas song in mind for this - just wondering if I'll actually have time to start/finish it in time - what's the closing date?

Thanks a lot Rob - I don't expect compliments from discerning jazz heads like you but I'll certainly take that one Re the Sei it is a joy to play and any frustrations I get with my sound are often rooted in my technique - hence I'm working on the basics again like timing, muting and clarity - and for the little of that I've managed in the last month I've felt some improvements already I still want to play more melodically though - that's next on the list

[quote name='Roger2611' timestamp='1354739712' post='1889944'] I used to be an avid buyer of the old bassist magazine and still have quite a few copies which I dig out and re-read from time to time, for the last few years I have been playing guitar in a band and was buying both Guitar and Bass and the now defunct Guitar Buyer magazines, I have to admit that towards the end I got increasingly fed up with the "metal" direction Guitar buyer seemed to be going and I stopped buying it. I decided to give BGM a try and have brought 3 or 4 issues but I have really struggled to engage with them. I think the bass world is really lacking some of the big personalities of old and I also think that mainstream music is missing those equally big basslines of old (the likes of Stevie Wonder, Pino with both Paul Young and Gary Numan, the whole new romantic scene with the likes of Heaven 17 and Duran Duran etc) I maybe wrong but the bass doesn't seem to be as cool as it once was. I had commented to my wife whilst looking at a recent issue that nearly every bass reviewed was a 5 or 6 string monster offering it's future well heeled owner little change from 3 grand, something that after 20 plus years of playing to a good standard I still cannot ever envisage paying for a guitar, especially a brand new instrument! I am not afraid of spending decent money on a bass but find the high end exotica often reviewed of little or no interest and judging by the bands I am seeing they are not finding their way on to many stages. Ok so to me you have limited perzazz to work with at the moment and sometimes it feels like there is a wealth of really low budget starter (and give up quickly) basses and lots of ultra high end (if only I could get a mortgage) basses and not a lot of exciting ones in between, so what would I like to see...you cant beat a good old shootout....how does a standard stingray compare against a similar priced Ibanez or Fender, what else fits the bill, what barges it's way into the shootout and says "I might not have the badge image but I can beat you all for quality and sound" I would like to see back to back comparisons between digital amps, transistor amps and good old heavy valve amps...I would like to see recommendations about used bases and guides as to their values and finally I would like to see recommendations as to where to find those great basslines that people must still be writing. Whilst writing this I was racking my brain to think about what I really liked about the BGM's that I brought and one series of articles stood head and shoulders above everything else for me and that was what other musicians look for in a bass player, having just gone back from guitar to full time bass I found those articles really informative. I would like to fall in love with your magazine and I will keeppicking up issues and see where it goes [/quote] Yes really great post - I may write for the mag in a limited capacity these days (I'm a busy bastard with life and work etc) but I think you've highlighted lots of the issues around making the whole 'bass' scene exciting today and or some very constructive suggestions for some great review-led content for future issues. I think there are the big name players today but perhaps they lack some of the characterful fire - much like some of the music around today - of old... I guess that's where we're at now - and to be honest having listened far and wide to much of the music that's happening now a lot of really exciting players are more on the fringes of stuff now and therefore much less well known than say messers Entwistle, King and McCartney et al... 'bass' is a very broad subject in fact - and yes it is a way of life for some people - while most players out there fall into the semi-pro and weekend warrior categories, and obviously myriad novice or enthusiastic beginners - so appealing to everyone is almost impossible. I guess it comes down to underlining the excitement of playing, listening and learning about music from a bass perspective - not an easy thing to achieve - but all these suggestions are certainly food for thought. Thanks again Mike

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1354797325' post='1890454'] Niiiice Is that the Maxon on the second track? Killer sounding filter! [/quote] Yes mon... sounding phat... it really does the job, so glad you hipped me to it - and yes the guy who recorded the gig turned up and miked everything etc and got a great recording - got a couple more tunes I want to mix from the gig - only problem was he spent so much time setting up the levels etc he barely had time to get our monitor levels etc so we started the gig without having soundchecked with the PA full on - and then I get told my bass is too loud... dude, I mean... never mind

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1354193292' post='1883325'] Just catching up with recent posts. Looks and sounds like a nice gig Mike, and lots of fun. Look forward to the rest [when you get time] Garry [/quote] Thanks a lot Garry - this was just the first gig so hopefully we'll get tighter and expand on the material in the coming year... [quote name='waldemar' timestamp='1354750655' post='1890117'] Hey Mike, Great vids, great band - I thought I recognised one of your sax players, turns out it's none other than Matt Telfer - say hi to him - we used to go out riding our motorbikes together when we both lived in Stratford upon Avon twenty or so years ago... He never let on how big a jazzer he was back then, one time we checked out what he had playing on his walkman during one particular ride... Bat Out of Hell... Hehe. Warmest regards. Wal. [/quote] I will indeed pass on your name to Matt - he's a top bloke and a great player - love working with the guy Cheers for watching Mike

Hey dudes I've been shedding a fair bit over the last few months and haven't documented any of it really (with good reason!!!) anyway this isn't amazing but it has some of things I've been trying out here - I tweaked the audio from a very dry 'through the mic' sound so I hope it translates OK: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9L-fDi2kHJg Hope you enjoy some of it! Cheers for watching Mike

Well looks like this is happening now [b][i]Monday 22nd April - Wednesday 24th April [/i][/b] [b]http://ronniescotts.co.uk/performances/view/1246-meshell-ndegeocello[/b] Should be pretty stupendous I think - and apologies for the self-promo but I spoke to great lady herself for a piece in the latest BGM: http://www.bassguitarmagazine.com/current-issue She was wonderful to talk to - just super cool and switched on - like you would hope she would be Hope to see some of you at these gigs Mike

[quote name='silddx' timestamp='1354199630' post='1883456'] In just over a year's time, 4th December 2013, it will be the 20th anniversary of Frank Zappa's death. Mike (urb) did a cracking interview for BGM last year with my bass hero Scott Thunes, and I had a thought that wouldn't it be amazing to get some interviews with Zappa's most notable bassists as a Zappa Bassists Special for this anniversary. Maybe get some insights and anecdotes about what it was like to audition, record, rehearse, and play live with Zappa, what technical and aural skills were needed, how they triumphed or f***ed up, what tips they might have for learning tricky material quickly, did they get nervous, did they care about getting everything perfect, how they improvised or stuck to the exact notes, the hardest thing they remember having to do, etc etc etc. I know some of this is already available in various places so it would be good to get a new angle for interviews, but I reckon it would be damn interesting and useful. I'd love to hear the opinions and stories from Jim Pons, Tom Fowler, Patrick O'Hearn, Arthur Barrow, Scott Thunes .. I'm afraid Roy Estrada got banged up for 25 years earlier this year for molesting a 14 year old girl, so we won't be hearing from him! What do you think? [/quote] Funnily enough Nige Universal have done a deal (which I;m sure you're aware of) with the Zappa family and have been re-releasing a ton of the FZ back catalog which I'm happy to say is sitting on various shelves in my house - While I'm not sure it'd be feasible (without going on a massive time consuming mission) to track down all of Frank's top bass men I do think a review focusing on their different styles and the albums on which they appear would be a cracker well worth writing... I'll drop the Ed a line soon on that. Mx