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[quote name='Skol303' timestamp='1381782101' post='2243795'] Nice one bud! You make it look deceptively easy, as always Great tone in your fretless. Super dexterous playing and some nice chords thrown in towards the end. Lovely stuff. See you up in Manc later this week! [/quote] Thanks Paul... now back to the dubstep Sorry again about postponing the Dojo band session... soon come! Cheers Mike

[quote name='BassBus' timestamp='1381771633' post='2243529'] Great playing as always, Mike. What is your fretless tuned to? [/quote] Thanks dude - it's tuned B to G - but has 26 fret positions so I can play a high A if I like... Cheers Mike

Getting back into the recording saddle again after a few weeks off - just fancied trying to put a better take of Giant Steps up - I'm always shedding it - hopefully you'll enjoy some of this [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEX65F1tdFU[/media] More music with Skol coming and I will try and get into doing the damn comp comp again... thanks for listening Cheers Mike

Been so busy with life, work and other music stuff to get anything this month but will do my best to listen to this lot - hopefully before the cut off...! Jeez - must get back on the wagon soon!

Well done on the blog... really well put together and considering how much was going on it's great you captured virtually all of it - and I always give my talks cross-legged and making 'oooo' faces...

[quote name='bluejay' timestamp='1380023771' post='2219616'] Do as I say, not as I do... Alternatively, like me, don't learn to slap in the first place, so you can't be tempted to break into a fit at any point, and have no consequent loss of street cred etc. Edit: the name of the Junkyard Dogs drummer is Paul. [/quote] Thanks yes - Paul - lovely chap and good drummer too - it was vaguely musical and nice to jam some random funk stuff...

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1380023409' post='2219605'] True, I think we were more about how hard it outputs a low filter sweep... Cant say it wasnt thoroughly obnoxious of us though I think it was mainly me slapping (badly) though it - largely due to the unbelievable trouser flappage it produced! [/quote] *Like*

[quote name='51m0n' timestamp='1380016208' post='2219434'] I imagine URB and I didnt help playing with the new Alex monster cab. That thing is insane! Apologies, sorry! Mind you when I was helping Billy Apple later with his compressor I couldn't talk to him over someone battering a Status next door, for hours and hours and hours (it felt like). Got a reasonable result in the end, but it wasnt easy, and I couldnt explain what I was doing or listening for at the time at all. [/quote] To be fair I didn't slap a note through that cab and as far as I can remember was playing for all of about 5 minutes all finger style (OK maybe maybe one or two slapped notes on the B-string - but there were no 'machine gun' triplets) - the cab was too much for me to be honest but it was fun witnessing such insane power - re any slapping I actually stayed away from the main room after about 1pm as it was getting very loud and retreated to the jam room for some actual bass playing - had a good little play with Kiwi and Nige and our friendly drummer whose name escapes me - but after that the only slapping I did was at my talk - but it was all at a very civilised volume

Morning All, I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who came to hear my talk - I know I covered a lot of ground and as such felt I was perhaps rushing along which is just how it is if you have 45mins to explain stuff that I've developed over many years - so if you have any further questions etc please ping me a message and I'll be happy to try and explain things further. Next year I'm open to suggestions for what I might be able to cover - personally I'd love to bring my laptop electro-jazz thing to the bash - maybe with either a drummer of trumpeter friend of mine - got some work to do on that but hey I've got a year... Thanks again for listening to me and hopefully it was useful-ish Mike

[quote name='molan' timestamp='1379795404' post='2216913'] Always nice to see lots of familiar faces and to catch up and to meet some new ones too Would have liked to hear Dave Swift but go caught having to look after his basses for him instead, lol. Some nice instruments and amps around and some really cool monster cabs that reminded me that I have a bad back and need to stop looking at them! Plus I came home with some new, super light gauge, strings courtesy of Mick, fitted them immediately and had great fun zooming around on my Sei Big thanks to Gareth for minding the basses I bought along for people to have a go on! [/quote] What Sei bass you got?

Good day chaps - really nice to see you all - well done on organising it and the general good vibes

Hello peeps, Really looking forward to this Saturday - looks like it's going to be really busy, hopefully we can keep the noise levels (relatively) under control I just wanted to say my little workshop thing is really for those who wanted to know about specific playing techniques but were afraid to ask etc - I will have to leave by around 4.30pm so it'll be short and sweet and by that time I suspect most of your brains/ears will be completely bassed-out - so if you see me during the day and want to talk technique, or harmony, theory (I know a little about that stuff) or slappy/4-finger picking things then please do so - I'll be very happy to chat. It's just a bit of fun and hopefully I can enlighten a few of you to the ways of the force... I mean bass... whatever Looking forward to it Cheers Mike

[quote name='SpaceChick' timestamp='1377153456' post='2183940'] Mike, you just ooze quality mate Spectacular! [/quote] Now now, you're making me blush - thank you Glad you enjoyed the stuff Mx

Hola peeps - I've agreed to do a technique workshop but rather than me doing lots of noodly playing - which I'm happy to do I want it to be more open ended with anyone who has a question on technique basically asking 'how do you do that?' and hopefully me supplying an answer - my specialty is finger picking techniques and some slap stuff but we can look at fingerboard / scale stuff too and maybe a little bit of theory etc - but like I say I'd much rather get you guys to ask the question and see if I can provide a solution - I can tap but I don't do sweep arpeggios Hope that sounds good Mike

Still loving my SHTL9 - had it since 2009 and it's still my favourite sounding amp I've ever owned, I've recently acquired a TC BH250 which is great for a back up/practice/small gig thing - but the Genz ST9 is so warm by comparison - as it has a tube in it as well. Sounds awesome with all of my basses... light as hell and wonderful for gigging...

I'm currently loving my [url="http://jsonicsmusic.co.uk/"]band[/url] - pretty much the same situation but as we're all jazzers it's more about getting a pad of tunes together - which we've done, and now have about 20 we can dip into - although we're sticking with around 10 for our set. But working with a). pros and . nice guys - means we can be ultra efficient and organised - and because I've done other bands where stuff wasn't how I've wanted it, myself along with a couple of others are bringing in tunes we've written or cool covers of stuff we like - so the whole thing is just much more pleasurable and as a result we making good music!

Still love my Sei Series 1 single cut - really lightweight bass with a great tone - the single cut design definitely increases the punch of the tone and doesn't restrict its playability - admittedly reaching the highest frets on the B string is quite tricky but I rarely go there when I'm playing: Sounds good too - will be bringing it to the SE bass bash in September - anyone there is welcome to try it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOIPDpAEzuE

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1377613867' post='2189398'] You mean because I should know already? It's certainly not obvious to me what makes him 'great'. [/quote] This might give you a better idea of why he's not just considered 'great' by bassists, his contribution to music goes way beyond whatever he can do (and he can do a hell of a lot) on the bass - he really is one of [i]the greats[/i] - full stop. Biog: [url="http://www.allmusic.com/artist/marcus-miller-mn0000673114/biography"]http://www.allmusic....73114/biography[/url] He's made a few records too: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/marcus-miller-mn0000673114/credits

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1377605548' post='2189269'] There's a bit of Stanley Clarke in his sound - I can hear that, however I don't think playing with a scooped sound on a jazz bass means he invented a genre, surely? There were always people doing that.. including Stan Clarke. [/quote] I didn't mean he invented a 'genre', I'm not sure you could attribute a bass sound to being an entire genre in itself - and yes I agree that Clarke was around before Miller and no doubt had an influence, same for Jaco - but my point was that his particular sound and approach, i.e. playing melodic lines and more involved/complex slap parts - rather than Mark King style triplets in E-minor - was massively influential. But in the case of his new album he's slapping less, playing some great melodic bass parts, and fretless too and getting away from his obvious / trademark slap sound. I'll also add that as a reviewer of many a bass-led album I can't tell how many times a 'new' bass talent would send me their latest solo album and as soon as they'd finished doing their Jaco impression they'd go straight into their Marcus Miller one Anyway if you don't like it it's cool - I don't think everyone has to like Marcus Miller because he's a great bass player etc - it's obviously not your bag which is totally fine with me - it's all a matter of taste innit.

I definitely love my looper - great for writing and getting ideas flowing - good to try out specific soloing ideas over a specific chord - great too for layering effects with chords and bass lines - they're only as limited as your imagination - and yes I love playing with and listening to a live band but sometimes it's good to explore new ground and new sounds - loops + live playing and realtime looping/improv/interaction can be great - it can also be dull as sh** - it all depends on the gig and the player I guess... a great tool for working up ideas though

[quote name='paul_5' timestamp='1377601827' post='2189185'] Plus, you can combine your meatspace trash basket with your virtual one. [/quote] I expect it to make me breakfast in bed too...

[quote name='MiltyG565' timestamp='1377600826' post='2189167'] While we're on the topic, have any of you seen the promo page for the new Mac Pro? Provisionally, it looks like an utter beast of a machine. I might sell this MBP and get the Mac Pro when it comes out, if I can afford it. My guess is that the base model will be about £2,000, but it's really well specced, and at the moment, I'm considering getting a PC to run games on anyway. Getting the Mac Pro would mean I didn't need to, just partition the HD and run Windows for games. [/quote] Hell yes... http://www.apple.com/uk/mac-pro/ Like I said - it's an investment - i.e. buy this and you'll never need another computer... looks utterly sick.

[quote name='xilddx' timestamp='1377263011' post='2185515'] I switched to Apple a couple of years ago and I adore it. Lady xilddx was after a new laptop and me and a friend both said Mac, she said she didn't want to spend that amount. Then another female non techy friend said she got a MacBook Air and loves it, Lady xilddx duly got a MB Air, and she adores it. She was amazed at how easy it was to use, and how pleasant. My MacBook Pro has never let me down, and although it cost a grand over two years ago, I could probably get £500 for it right now. They hold value really well. Lovely to use too. [/quote] Exactly why I switched to Macs - but it was actually my misses who was using them for graphic design who switched me on to them. Re the 'price' of things - even my PC-only techie mate who is a very knowledgeable programmer etc had to admit that Macs tend to be a better long term purchase - he's been through at least a dozen laptops in the last ten years I've been through three Macbooks, and two of those were second hand - my current 13" MBP is a little trooper and it's now 5 years old and still rocking. I installed a 500GB SSD harddrive and that speeded it up no end. So - Macs are an investment - I think - and ARE more reliable than PCs... based on my 15+ years of experience using both PCs and Macs. Re cost (again) a good way to buy a Mac is Apple's certified refurbished stock - I got a 27" Core i7 desktop for £1500 - added 16GB of ram (for way less than it would cost to have Apple do it for you) and I have a monster machine... loads of bargains here: [url="http://store.apple.com/uk/browse/home/specialdeals/mac"]http://store.apple.c...pecialdeals/mac[/url] All tested by Apple and come with a year's warranty plus you know they will have serviced the machine and replaced any parts that needed replacing etc - often they are ex-display models or are 6-months to a year from release and get sold on - well worth a look... well not for me as I really would like a 15" MBP but can't afford the thing right now. All this doesn't mean I still don't shout in frustration at my Macs sometimes - but hey that's computers for you... Macs must be good as even my mum uses them and won't use PCs now - she loves her white macbook - and is trying to convince her brother to but a Mac as they are so hassle free and work beautifully straight out the box. I saved about £500 for the equivalent machine - mine's the 2011 version - this one has the sexy new back design... [url="http://store.apple.com/uk/product/G0MS4B/A/refurbished-imac-32ghz-quad-core-intel-core-i5"]http://store.apple.c...e-intel-core-i5[/url]

[quote name='Spoombung' timestamp='1377594248' post='2189047'] Well I've had a good listen but it doesn't appeal to me, personally. its all well played I suppose but he has a generic slap sound and writes rather ordinary jazz funk compositions. Is there something he does that stands out from other bass players that I've missed? [/quote] Er... he [b]invented[/b] that[i] generic[/i] slap sound... it became generic because every f*cker out there copied him - perhaps his music isn't your thing - no biggie.

This is the best album he's made in years - the title pretty much sums it up - the man is having a 'renaissance' and is totally back on form, soloing less but writing and playing like a demon... still great live too.