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[quote name='JPAC' post='538852' date='Jul 12 2009, 09:46 PM']Yes, in the UK we use the PAL system and region 2 coding - not compatible. I'm not keen on that DVD so I'll keep looking, thanks.[/quote] OK sorry - I assumed (wrongly) that you'd be sent a compatible DVD to the country you are purchasing it in... my mistake - this is a good DVD but if you want something more cut and dried there are dozens to choose from - what do you want to learn? There's something for practically every style and theoretical avenue out there - do you ever get to London? Denmark street has a couple of big sheet music shops that also carry hundreds of DVD titles - sometimes it's easier to choose one like that than online. Just trying to help M

Personally I'mjust looking forward to hearing this track - I dig Muse (they are a guilty pleasure for me ) no harm in a little bit of slap well played in the right place - it's a standard technique of modern bass playing so get over it people M

[quote name='JPAC' post='537123' date='Jul 10 2009, 11:30 AM']Looks interesting. How do you get to see it with the region coding and needing a NTSC TV?[/quote] Um, if you live in the UK and you buy from Amazon.co.uk you will be sent a Region 1 DVD to the best of my knowledge... would that be problem for you and your DVD setup? There's atrailer on youtube here:

[quote name='chris_b' post='538379' date='Jul 12 2009, 11:45 AM']I guess he's the dep? Roger plays with many people including John O'Leary's band. Darby, PTB's drummer knows John so I guess that's the connection.[/quote] As far as I know Winston is PTB's main bassist - I keep hearing great things about him - but try and see them live sometime - Gareth Lockrane the flautist who leads the band is a badass - he's also on the last James Taylor Quartet album 'New World', and rather excellent it is too. M

[quote name='Buzz' post='538450' date='Jul 12 2009, 01:02 PM']I tell you what I'd do, I find the topic that was only started earlier on this year with the exact same question by using the search: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=39076"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=39076[/url][/quote] Calm down fella - not everyone searches a topic before posting... thanks Mike

Right - finally got a few more pics of the new Jazz - still not 100% happy with them but it's the first sunny day when I've not had anything better to do (or tons of work to get through) so I hope these keep you guys going for a bit - ideally I'd like to get both of my Seis into a proper studio and take some really good shots but hey another day. I'm still loving the jazz, it's just extremely playable and besides looking amazing the range and quality of tone is just stunning. Anyway enough waffle... [attachment=28729:sj_full_front.jpg][attachment=28737:single_cut.jpg] [attachment=28730:sj_body.jpg] [attachment=28731:spalt_pups.jpg] [attachment=28732:sj_headstock_close.jpg] [attachment=28733:headstock_down.jpg] [attachment=28734:headstock_back.jpg] [attachment=28735:sj_bass_back.jpg] [attachment=28736:sj_back_close.jpg] Hope you dig the pics M

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='537027' date='Jul 10 2009, 09:07 AM']Anyone heard anything about David Sanborn coming over at some point with Marcus? Also heard Sanborn was at death's door with pneumonia.[/quote] Sanborn played in London last week and according to the Guardian it was a kick ass gig; [url="http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jul/05/david-sanborn-barbican-jazz-review"]http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jul/0...can-jazz-review[/url] [b]Marcus Miller is playing at the London Jazz Festival with a set recreating his great album with Miles Davis 'Tutu' in November ths year[/b] Mike

This is great - I know it's Wooten and he does play some pretty amazing solo bass stuff on it - but the majority of it looks at how to approach the very fundamentals of MUSIC (not just bass playing) and is full of great, practical and useful/insightful ways of getting the most out of playing music - on the bass: [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Victor-Wooten-Groove-Workshop-Region/dp/B001DPC4I2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1247220896&sr=8-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Victor-Wooten-Groo...0896&sr=8-1[/url] While there are some technical demos on there it's way more about putting all the different elements of playing into the context of actually making music, and even looks at the motivations for actually using a certain technique and its use as a musical device and its impact or otherwise on what someone listening to you play music (rather than just focusing on the bass). It really is good and with 5 hours of material included you really get your money's worth. Mike

That's great news and a great job, I saw this bass first hand when it came in and was shocked how bad it was, but Martin and John are massively talented, and it's reassuring to know that they are also capable of stunning repair work Glad to hear the bass sounds and plays better than ever too. M

[quote name='4000' post='535968' date='Jul 8 2009, 08:01 PM']The first point is doubtless true (Sei were the same). I suspect Alan doesn't pay as much in rent as Fodera though, or any of the big-city-based luthiers. Please correct me if I'm wrong Alan, and I'll buy you a pint in October. [/quote] Re Fodera's rent, I believe the term is 'eye wateringly high'... and when I interviewed Vinnie two years ago for BGM he said storing and aging his incredible wood stocks is often the equivalent of putting $15,000 on a shelf and leaving it there for three or four years... and then paying rent for the privilege, that's just one of the reasons they charge the prices they do. And to be blunt, because they can. M

[quote name='andy67' post='535593' date='Jul 8 2009, 12:25 PM']Totally see that, but why the huge difference? materials aside the cost of 4 - 10 times the difference is just not excusable in my view. andy ps Dood, yours is the only boutique bass that has ever appealed to me - I'll away and talk to the priest! [/quote] Well it's that old chestnut of supply and demand that also affects the price... hence the big hoo ha over Fodera basses and the fact that the waiting list is three years and up and even the most basic design of their basses - i.e. a Wooten Monarch with a bolt on neck and very plain looks, will set you back £4K. You can obviously get basses made to a very high standard all over the place now, so it boils down to whether you perceive all the time and money involved in owning one is worth it - I know some people who do and that's absolutely fine. I also know that Dave Swift (Jools Holland's bassist) has been waiting about 4 years for his Anthony Jackson Fodera and he's a big name player... I'll also add that - to restate my original point - that after years of trying dozens of different types of bass, looking around at all the different manufacturers and luthiers and playing a great off the peg Warwick Thumb for 18 years I had a VERY good idea of what I wanted from my custom basses - I feel like I've now achieved that. Paying - in my view - a reasonable price for this is like paying for anything of quality in life, be it a coffee, sandwich, car, TV, computer, whatever - these are instruments that are built to last a lifetime, that actually improve with age and the thousands of hours of hugely enjoyable music making they allow is priceless. I think that's more than 'excusable' Mike

[quote name='andy67' post='535465' date='Jul 8 2009, 10:08 AM']These threads always pose great questions and give some great opinions. What would make a £10,000 instrument worth more than a £1000 instrument? considering tonally these two players sound similar and are both highly thought of and sought after - put the names in if you know who they are - just what makes or what are you getting more of in the higher cost bass? andy[/quote] In short better quality materials equal better sound... just like fresh top grade ingredients make a tastier meal - and the skill to combine various woods/elements via a top end design and hand tooling skills of the highest order - it all depends on how much YOU value this person's skill. I reached a point after playing for 24 years that I really wanted to play basses that feel 100% right for ME, not some off the shelf plank that is designed for a mass market - that may well be made to a very high standard but isn't built the way I want it. I'm very lucky to own three basses who've been made with extreme skill, love and attention to detail and the resulting playing experience is just one of the best, most enjoyable things in life.

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='535336' date='Jul 8 2009, 01:10 AM']Are boutique instruments a particularly 'bass player' thing? I don't seem to be seeing quite as many people playing boutique guitars these days. (Though I wouldn't mind a Trussart T-type) Or boutique drumkits, keyboards or vocal mikes.[/quote] I think there have always been custom instruments made for different musicians - mainly because the more advanced players found the more bog standard designs limited them or didn't have the sonic qualities they were looking for - check out Pat Metheny's Picasso guitar with 42 strings, to him it makes perfect sense and he makes beautiful music on it. Likewise John McLaughlin has a $10000 Wechter guitar with gold tuning pegs etc... I think even James Hetfield from Metallica plays some kind of custom axe. Bass players are just catching up IMO - and remember the price of a decent double bass starts at £20,000 and goes up... and forget thinking about a rare/vintage violin which can run to £250K and upwards - so £2000 or £3000 for a beautifully made custom bass is pretty resonable in the scheme of things. M

[quote name='sshorepunk' post='533504' date='Jul 6 2009, 07:51 AM']Still wanting a new pre, can't decide if I wanna keep the coil taps, may just have the bridge p/up tapable and eventually would like to sample the delights of Nordstrand[/quote] Nice pic Tony - no idea if this is helpful but I'm really happy with the way the Glokenklang pre in my new Sei Jazz sounds in combo with a pair of Nordy jazz pups - have a look/listen here: I've been getting some really sweet bridge pup tones too, I think I've found the sweet spot, so I'll try and record those soon as well - but I think this vid gives you a decent idea of the range of tones. Mike

[quote name='cheddatom' post='533604' date='Jul 6 2009, 10:51 AM']IMHO BGM should get someone on here who ACTUALLY represents them, because at the moment all I can see is one of the magazine's contributors being defensive of the status quo, and nothing else. I suggest it would be beneficial if the chosen representative can ignore anything but the issues at hand.[/quote] With all due/total respect to you and everyone else who've been critical of BGM in this thread - there are plenty of BGM contributors who have read all the critical comments on here and they DO take them seriously. I write for BGM as a freelance contributor and I too obviously want the mag to improve and under Nick's editorship it has seriously improved from what it was in just three issues. I can't and won't make any comments on behalf of Nick or anyone else from the mag as it's up to them whether they want to come on here and spend hours debating the issues raised, it takes a hell of a lot of work just to get a mag out the door each month - I should know I've worked on one for 6 years and the work never stops. If we replied to every critical letter/email/internet thread we'd never actually get the mag out on time. I know Nick really wants to sharpen up the proofing but typos happen all the time in most publications - I spotted one in the Guardian (no news there then ) yesterday, I also watched a Richard Bona DVD as well where Victor Wooten's surname was spelt WOTTEN throughout the entire DVD. I think the mag is heading in the right direction it can obviously still improve, like crap telly (which you can choose not to watch) you can choose not to buy BGM or support it by buying it - I wasn't happy with how it looked or read until Nick took over - it's vastly improved and with his and others continued efforts it WILL keep on improving - if you don't like the way the reviews read or are conducted email him directly - I'm sure he'll take your opinion seriously and listen to what you have to say. [email protected] Please take this post in the way it is intended - to reassure some of the doubters and give you some perspective on the actual way it is - not to sound defensive or oblivious to the issues raised. The fact this stimulates such debate is encouraging and with some patience and perseverance things will keep improving - in the meantime it's up to you if you still want to buy the mag or not. Cheers Mike

Hey - I'll give you a quick idea of how I do it - or used to do it, basically I got a half decent handycam - an old Sony one with a good built in mic and then when I decided I wanted to film something I filmed it. Very straight forward but remember a couple of basic things, firstly get the camera angle right - unless you have someone helping out you'll need to work on positioning a camera, one a tripod, and then finding an angle that captures your performance best. Think what you want to show in the video - more from a finger picking point of view or with more emphasis on the finger board? Or do you want your head to be in shot or not? The next most important thing is the sound quality, and this is the really tricky part - if you are using the built in mic on the camera then do some tests to see if your levels are good enough, bass too loud backing music/beat too quiet or vice versa? Then adjust the levels before you film anything. I finally upgraded my camera to a Sony HD handycam that also films things in widescreen too as my old Sony was starting play up (but then again it is 8 years old and served me very well) and I've also recently started recording the sound to my videos separately and it's made a vast improvement on my earlier vids. So I now have HD images and high quality sound. But unless you can take a direct feed from your amp and send it straight into the camera (I'm not even sure most video camcorders will allow this, pro ones will but they cost £1000++) then you'll need to run the audio signal into something like Garageband/Logic/Cubase etc. I use Logic Studio Pro which has a great function that allows you to import a movie and then bounce the sound from the audio clip onto the movie - but the hard bit here is syncing the sound and picture, hence I use a four bar count in on a metronome to line the two up. I also edit the movie footage in iMovie on the Mac, but I guess you could get just as good results with Windows media player - though iMovie is so simple it really is a killer app (as they say!). I also love the way you can now export from iMovie 9 straight to Youtube, it lets you log in to your account and 10 minutes later the movie is online and encoded properly. Let me know if you have any more questions - I've started learning how to use Final Cut pro but that's a whole other world of pain... it's all a bit trial and error but if you can get it all working together the end result can ber very satisfying - [url="http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=ijazzmunki"]you can see some of vids here.[/url] Cheers Mike

I waited around three years before I ordered my first Sei, though I'd just got my custom fretless and was very happy with it, and during that time I tried loads of amazing basses both boutique and stock models, and this gave me loads of info on the different qualities I wanted from my Single Cut. The whole process of deciding what I wanted and the subsiquent wait time and my increased knowledge of wood combinations, different pups and circuit all helped me decide alot faster and with increased confidence how I wanted my Sei Jazz to be, I also trusted Martin's decisions and creative instincts more and I couldn't be happier with the result. Patience is the key, it also helps you save up for these things which I did for both Seis, no worries. M

[quote name='jakesbass' post='530763' date='Jul 2 2009, 04:13 PM']Personally I don't really want to do more than a couple of solos per gig.[/quote] Definitely... duo gigs with a pianist or guitarist (which I've done lots of in the past) can be really exhausting... walking bass for hours and a solo almost every tune, fun but quite intense, I'm much happier holding it down with one or two solos per gig, I am the bass player after all. M

[quote name='ped' post='531454' date='Jul 3 2009, 10:28 AM']This topic comes up all the time when I visit watch forums. So many people say 'why spend a few grand on an automatic watch when a £10 quartz keeps better time?' Half the time you can't even see my watch because it is under a cuff or something. I don't care if nobody notices, I didn't buy it for anyone else - but it is something I can be proud of, something that serves as a reminder of a milestone in my life and a piece of engineering which I am fascinated by, but 99% of the people I meet would be getting a straight jacket ready. With 'custom' basses the same sort of thing is true - the pleasure comes from playing and owning a comfortable, quality instrument made often specifically for you, the way you like by someone you feel understands your approach and unique style - you are more than a customer.[/quote] exactly.... nuff said really (though obviously there will be another "are they worth it thread started in a couple of months, ) M

[quote name='BigRedX' post='530558' date='Jul 2 2009, 01:11 PM']I don't know of any "off-the-peg" bass that ticks all the boxes for looks, playability and tone for me. Most will be lucky to tick one.[/quote] That's exactly why I play boutique basses, and the only ones that have matched my Sei's playabilty and tone were... other boutique basses. I use the "great chef" analogy, it's not the ingredients you use it's what you do with them, and each chef has their own special recipes from simple, but great, ingredients. Therefore paying for one of these world class chefs (luthiers) to cook up a personlised meal for you is pretty special, and the taste (tone, looks + playability) will last a lifetime. You dig? Mike

This has happened to me, I.e. on a jam where even the drummer stopped so I actually sang and played my solo to reinforce the melodic quality and keep some kind of a groove going... It worked well that time. My prefernce is for sensitve interaction from the other musicians, but the most recent gigs I've taken solos on have been funk ones, so the drummer is very much there with me, while the keyboardist and guitarist just lay down some spacey chords, thankfully they're all great players, who play jazz as well, and most importantly they know how to LISTEN! The one quality all musicians should have and use beyond all others, the music is a whole lot better for it that's for sure. M

That's very sad news my thoughts are with his wife and family, so sorry for their loss at such a young age My sincere condolences Mike

I'm back to 3, and it's a magic number and all that so that's what I'm sticking with... so 1668

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='528385' date='Jun 30 2009, 09:59 AM']Working my way through the new one in little chunks when I have time. Three things have hit me so far: [list=1] [*][b]Overwater giveaway![/b] [*]In the article about Janek, it mentions influences from Debussy and "Foray". I can only assume it means Gabriel [b]Fauré[/b], and not, for example, the French economist Dominique Foray. Just a tiny bit of musical background knowledge required on the part of the writer... Enforced GCSE Music for all BGM writers? [*]In the article about Christian McBride, there's a box titled "Duffy's Gear". Why? There's no mention that I can find of the name Duffy in the rest of the article, so it doesn't seem to be a nickname for McBride. Has he played for Duffy, everyone's least favourite cat-wailing Welsh songstress? Doesn't get mentioned. Copy & paste error? [/list] Anyhoo, nit-picking aside, I think it's pretty good so far. The interview with Janek's really interesting. Only thing is, I've had a quick glance ahead to the reviews, and yet again it's basses way out of my price-league. Aspirational, maybe; relevant to most, no. At least one sub-£500 bass per issue would be great. Like Rich says, keep it up. [/quote] I haven't seen the issue yet (I'm on holiday) but I have no idea why there's any mention of Duffy on the gear box on the McBride feature, I'll try and find out... M

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='526468' date='Jun 28 2009, 02:39 AM']That's not the topic though. I was asking if the virtuoso bass players who approach the instrument in new ways actually advance the instrument at all, or if their efforts are basically sideshow (well, trade show) attractions and practically irrelevant. We have seen some respondents saying that some of these guys are journeyman session sidemen, which wouldn't surprise me because they're clearly great musicians, but did Marcus Miller get asked to play the melody with his thumb on those sessions? Or did Michael Manring play mostly harmonics on the sessions he did, using the switches on his bass to cope with the changes like he does on his solo stuff? Or did they both (and do they continue to) play more typical bass parts? And did either of them contribute iconic bass parts to anything in the way guys like Pino did? If someone wants to cop what they're doing in order to advance their knowledge or technique then that's great, but comparing what they do to what other skilled bass players did with fewer pyrotechnics and less fanfare (Carol Kaye, Jamerson, Herbie Flowers, Paul McCartney, Bernard Edwards, Flea, etc.) have they had much of an impact on what we do day-to-day, really? I think it's a fair question to ask, but I'm not surprised that some respondents have got immediately defensive about it.[/quote] FWIW Manring is a very skilled "regular" bassist too and has a wonderful two finger picking technique he plays great in the pocket bass when required, there are some vids on YouTube of him playing with a jazz band and he doesn't tap or slap a single note and he can swing hard as well, he takes Giant Steps apart in pretty impressive style as well. The point is the best players know when to play a lot and when not to, but then again some sound awful when playing a song and use excessive technique...