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Hey Peeps I just added a couple of live tunes recorded with my lovely little funky fusion quartet Big Fan - Push is one of mine and even though the recording is pretty rough there's a nice vibe to it - and we manage to keep the thing rocking for about 12mins - the trumpet player had never played with us before and just sat in on this tune... his solo is wicked - mine is towards the end of the tune - I love the way the horns come in and we all riff off each other - all unplanned and in the heat of the moment... Second tune is a Latin/samba version of Giant Steps - which was done in one take at a rehearsal - again everyone plays their ass off - Jack Beeche is the alto sax guy (he's wcked) and Christian Miller is a smoking hot guitar player I know - Sophie Alloway on drums plays with Roots Manuva now, but she's also in another band I'm doing - great drummer to play with. Hope you dig em anyway... first two tunes here: [url="http://www.myspace.com/flynnbass"]http://www.myspace.com/flynnbass[/url] Mike

[quote name='Beedster' post='474865' date='Apr 29 2009, 10:39 AM']Hi Mike Probably the most effective 15 words I've ever heard about bass playing ...and given that it was written using non-technical language using few words (and none of more than two syllables), and that it delivered a powerful message, the sentence itself stands as a metaphor for its subject matter Nice one Chris[/quote] Cheers Chris - simplicity - now that's complicated...! Just found this little clip of Wooten and Carter Beauford laying down some blues... it's sounds wicked: Another thing to try is let the music tell YOU what to play, so instead of trying to cram all your stock licks/bass lines into a song/jam - let the feel of the drums, guitar, keys whatever decide what notes you play - if this is too much to try on a full on jam session why not get together with some mates, plug in and see what happens - and don't talk about it beforehand - just listen to each other play... Mike

Mmmm, I had an 'interesting' experience last weekend when by virtue of using three amps provided at two rehearsals and a gig was surprised that the two 'crappy' ones IMO beat the boutique 'quality' amp. It was a classic case of using a small Peavy 1x10 practice amp at rehearsal and getting a lovely warm, even tone and plenty of room to get a variety of sounds from my Sei bass, all a nice surprise considering it was a beaten up old amp used by the drummer to play his metronome click through...! I get to the gig and see there's a nearly new looking 'Jeff Berlin' sig 1x15 combo, yay! I thought a decent amp not some old beer soaked old beast, a shiny new amp! But I struggled to get a nice warm sound that was balanced, somewhere between mid and bass, with a smidge of top end. Instead the bass frequencies kept booming, the amp completely dictating what my bass sounded like, rarther than being able to dip into various tones from my bass with the amp there to compliment my tone, whether it was punchy finger style or a fatter bass heavy dub tone... the clarity of notes down the low end was muddy and undefined and when I took a solo the highs were paper thin... not good at all. I left most of the controls flat by the way. Lastly I used one of the newish Richter made Laney 1x15 combos at my regular rehearsal room on Sunday and again I got a really good balanced tone that was perfect for either jacoesque honk or some heavy slap, or bridge pup funk... Neither the Laney or the Peavy had the power of the MB but the tone was sooo much better, like they were blank canvases to do what I wanted with, rather than a join the dots 'ready made' sound. I'm a very happy Epifani user, but have tried my bass through a multitude of different amps, and it (generally) sounds great, even straight into the PA, so I was just really surprised how bad it sounded through the Mark Bass, I've always had a high opinion of them, this sadly has dented that. Anyone had a similar experience with other famous brands and preferred something cheap and 'nasty'? Just curious, and if you are a happy Mark Bass user that's totally cool, you might also hate Epifani... Cheers Mike

[quote name='Beedster' post='473958' date='Apr 28 2009, 08:22 AM']And that might be the key Homer. I get more positive comments about my bass playing now (mostly root notes TBH) than I ever did when I was trying to be Flea or Jaco. Like I said above, it's not about being a good technician of the bass (all those dudes on YouTube), but about playing notes that fit the music. Think of your notes as being words; we all hate those guys who use five words when one would suffice (politicians & scientists), or who use long and overly complex words when a short simple word would be just as effective (politicians and scientists. In fact, think any Bowie interview). However, it's not as easy as you'd think, simplicity is a skill. It takes a lot of skill to express an idea simply, whether it's a verbal idea or a sonic idea, and it's perhaps not technical skills you need to learn, but the skill of knowing what you want to say (musically speaking) and being able to say it in the simplest terms (as you say above "it was so understated but so right"). One of my all time favourite tracks is everyday people by Sly and the Family Stone. How many bass notes? ONE! How good a groove? AWESOME. The points above about covers bands are also spot on, get yourself in an originals band mate, or at least, have some fun creating some original lines for the covers. It's music, there's no rule that says "If we're playing Need Your Love So Bad, you've gotta play the bassline McVie played". Or if your band do have that rule, challenge it Chris[/quote] Hey Chris, many good points well made in this thread, and in particular your one about thinking too much before you do something... In a nutshell this translates as 'trust your instincts' and in musical terms, especially with improvising, it's all about that and listening to what's going on with the music your are playing. The wonderful thing about the bass (guitar or upright) is that its role in the band can influence so much of what's going on, in any genre, not just jazz or funk, or blues or whatever. The smallest change in pulse, doubling up quarter notes to eighths, or leaving notes out, playing louder, softer, octaves, emphasising the minor or major tonality of the key, playing chromatic notes... the list of possibilities are endless, and it's nothing to do with playing fast or flashy, it's about fully engaging with the MUSIC, not the bass. There's tons of great advice in this thread on how to expand your vocabulary and look in the theory and technique forum as there are a load of great threads about getting more MUSIC into you bass playing, and not more bass playing into your music Hope that makes sense and don't, whatever you do stop trying to learn new stuff... Mike

[quote name='Pookus' post='474419' date='Apr 28 2009, 05:54 PM']Thanks for the feedback - The guys who are putting the project together have asked my opinion. I think its a bit one dimensional and needs a dynamic change of some sort.[/quote] Yes, the bass sounds great, but the track itself needs to go somewhere, it's a good atmospheric groove and all the sounds are good but a melody or vocal line would make a huge difference to the overall impact of the music, but it's a good starting point, hopefully it can be developed further. M

sounds funky - in a dirty dubby sort of way - good work M

[quote name='Thunderthumbs' post='470831' date='Apr 23 2009, 03:23 PM']What sickens me most is that someone can have a [b]spare[/b] Fodera behind them!![/quote] Yeah Tony has four of them, which is kind of a lot, the irony is the two in the video are tuned E to C, and B to G, but deciding he liked the full range of both B and C he got his ebony 6 string...! And he also has a fretless, and a rather nice 6 string signature Yamaha, alright for some eh? M

[quote name='The Funk' post='470513' date='Apr 23 2009, 11:31 AM']Video or transcription request please. [/quote] Nice audio version here: [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcNDp8JoJFM"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcNDp8JoJFM[/url] Really tacky early 90s fusion video - I am a HUGE Alain Caron fan but this is a bit dated - though he does SLAP the entire head perfectly - and the ponytail is long gone now! M

I've been a Hiromi fan for a long time now - Tony's a great bassist and very cool guy (from Newcastle as it happens) her albums are very good the best for me being Spiral and the second from last Sonic Bloom on with The Fuze on guitar - her debut Brain like Mark said is very good as well. Live it's a lot more exciting than on CD, they tend to sound a but over produced - but there are two cracking new live DVDs coming out soon that are well worth checking out too. M

Recently anything I've decided to learn - i.e. by ear/transcribe - has been to improve certain aspects of my playing - be it the head to Freedom Jazz Dance - or an odd-metered Wooten line or a particularly tricky riff from a Garaj Mahal song... these are all things that I don't want to learn to perform some bass-stunts to impress people - these are challenging bits of music that are hard to master for a variety of reasons. I still play Teen Town, Donna Lee, Inner Urge etc as part of a whole bunch of tunes I know - but always try and find something fresh in them. If I do look at certain aspects of another bassist.guitarist/trumpeter's playing I'm more interested in the musical ideas they use rather than coping their licks - or if I learn a particular lick I like to know why it works and how to apply it in every key etc. I don't think it's a waste of time to learn the odd flashy bass thing but I do think it's sometimes a bit crap when certain players I've seen have just learnt a ton of Vic Wooten or Jaco tunes and not actually managed to write anything original... coming up with your own ideas and applying various techniques and musical ideas within that context is a better use of your time I think. M

[quote name='JackLondon' post='464085' date='Apr 16 2009, 04:27 PM']Another update : Pickups have now been routed and the neck blank has been glued up [attachment=23874:pickupjack.jpg] [attachment=23875:jackneck1.jpg] Cheers[/quote] Beautiful man - nice to see a different/new name of bass around these parts - the curves are rather lovely and the top wood is scrummy... I look forward to seeing the end result. M

Well I spent 18 years playing pretty much one bass - my 1990 Thumb - ans when I first got it I definitely felt like I had boought something way out of my league. Likewise when I finally traded up from my humble Trace Elliot 715 combo to one of the original Nemesis combos I felt like I had steped into a new world of sonic quality, that immediately highlighted any short fall in my technique.... But in both cases I reached the point where I got frustrated with the sound and with the bass in particular it stopped being inspiring and turned into an almost literal millstone around my neck - it was so damn heavy it might as well have been! Plus recording with it was nightmare, as I could never get a tone I liked, and I started hearing a different tone that I was desperate to achieve - so I've fially graduated to top of the line kit and think after 25 years of devotion to bass I have earned myself some good kit. M PS I'll never forget the my Warwick arrived - I'd sent a cheque for the bass plus a Trace 715 combo and told them what I wanted in a little note (I'd called up first to check both were in stock). It arrived about two weeks later in a van from the old Bass Cenre in Wapping - and boy did they pick me a beauty - it was really cool and very exciting. But what is shocking to me today is that I didn't choose the bass (maybe it chose me? ) - I just said "Send me a Thumb bass, though neck please..." I guess I was pretty naïve about how to go about things and it all seems really quaint in those pre-internet days. My (hippy-ish) dad summed up the bass when he saw it, he said "wow, that's totally total..." - I think my Sei bass is kind of "totally total" now.

[quote name='The Funk' post='459005' date='Apr 10 2009, 02:10 AM']My friend works at her label. Apparently she's unreliable as f*ck. You're right to skip it. She routinely doesn't show up for things. And then there's the music! Butchering a Lenny Kravitz tune and a Ronettes classic. Incidentally, I was sworn at by a different Sugababe once.[/quote] Man I am so glad to hear you say that - it was actually the covers put me off the most - I think her original stuff is quite cool actually - but the record label seems to be - very imaginatively - marketing her as a soul-ed up Amy Winehouse... and having witnessed her various mood swings etc on CBB I know I made the right choice. Playing music with people I like and get on with is very important to me - short term fame etc can go **** itself M

Funny thing is I just got asked if I'd do a gig/tour with ahem - an ex-Sugerbabe/Big Brother contestant - but sadly I'm a. not into the music and b. too damn busy with other stuff - not that the bloke who asked me seemed to give a sh*t - according to him I would really regret it... we'll see M

[quote name='ARGH' post='451745' date='Apr 1 2009, 05:26 PM']Hense my point about an interview about a proper WMC,wedding,Camp working stiff.... Hell an article on self employed Tax form fillout,accountants and such would be a good idea! Insurance......is it what its cracked up to be?...same with the MU..Im not looking for the mag to be bloody 'Which',but its a BIG thing,both commitmentwise and financially speaking..I reckon theres a TON of horror/love stories. Gigging in other countries,ship gigs.....you rarely hear from those guys![/quote] I like your angle man, it's stuff I think matters and as someone who plays a bit and writes a bit has often crossed my mind as good feature ideas.... I can't promise anything but I'll certainly think about ways some of these could be turned into interesting and helpful features. Re the posts on luthiers I think there are plans afoot for some kind of regular spotlight on UK luthiers, considering the UK is known throughout the world as the home of the inventor in the garden shed (you know what I mean, I hope), we have an embarrasment of riches when it comes to homegrown bass building talent. So yes, I think this is going to happen... soonish. Anyway, thanks for all the interest/concern about the mag, it's not gone unnoticed and as I've said before we all want it to improve, the next issue will be along in a week or so as the bi monthly cycle comes to an end, I'm as keen to see it as the rest of you! Cheers Mike

[quote name='Hutton' post='456104' date='Apr 7 2009, 08:51 AM']Jams are a great way for musicians to enjoy themselves in a social and informal setting. Therefore, it doesn't matter if you are Coltrane or just a beginner. It is also an excellent opportunity for more experienced musicians to share their ideas with beginners, unless of course they are elitist and only want to play with "proficient" musicians. I wouldn't say songs like Watermelon Man and Cantaloupe Island are not credible jazz no matter who is playing them. Herbie Hancock's reputation speaks for itself, whether you like it or not is subjective.[/quote] Anoher +1 on this - in spite of some ropey stuff on occassion I've been to quite a few jams here in London where you generally get some very good players (not necessarily pros) who are happy to play with whoever and if there's any one sure fie way to improve your playing it's by playing with better musicians than yourself. As it happens I wne to my local jam on Sunday, that was celebrating its 10th birthday, and guess what? The regular bassist hadn't turned up... the place was rammed to the gills and the gig wasn't happening. I was asked to step in at the last minute and do the first 40mins - playing tunes I'd mostly never played before in front of a packed venue. Not easy but a lot of fun and if I'd not bothered to go and heard afterwards that the regular bassist was half and hour late then I'd have been gutted I didn't go. Jams are very hit and miss, but if you can find a good one it can be a great place to network and throw yourself in at the deep end - it's always a good learning experience though the musical results can vary! M

[quote name='The Funk' post='455061' date='Apr 6 2009, 12:21 AM']He [i]is[/i] boring. Great bandleader, composer and innovator but I think his trumpet playing sucks. And don't bother with Mike Stern. The guy's exactly what's wrong with jazz today IMO. Check out some Louis Armstrong, Django Reinhardt, Duke Ellington, Dizzie Gillespie, Miles Davis (his records are brilliant even if I don't like his trumpet playing), Oscar Peterson, Stan Getz, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul. Between them they have most things covered![/quote] Well obviously you're entitled to your opinion, but Miles, unlike a lot of people in MOST genres of music, managed to reinvent himself every ten years or so, so to call Bitches Brew 'boring' is only really valid when comparing it to his all acoustic stuff from the 50s and 60s. And 'On the Corner' is some of the baddest funk you'll ever hear, and as for his trumpet playing, each to their own, while he wasn't a moster chops guy, the whole point with how he played (aside from his latter years when he was out of it), was to place a note perfectly in a bar, doing a lot more with a lot less. I'm surprised you don't likr Stern, I know he can be a bit repetitive but he always has a great rhythm section, but again it don't matter if you don't dig it, one man's jazz funk fusion is one man's nightmare elevator music from hell! I understand Like Alun says, if you dig rock and funk there are plenty of bands out there playing stuff that takes elements of rock and just add a few more notes... like a lot more notes! M

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='454793' date='Apr 5 2009, 05:37 PM']Mmm... seems Jazz hasn't made it to Scotland!! Just "Mathias Eick Quartet" in Edinburgh. Who? [/quote] He's a really amazing trumpet player signed to big European jazz label ECM - he's a top notch player but I have to say he's a bit formal coampared to some. Do you like near Edinbugh? This venue has loads of good local jazzers on: [url="http://www.thejazzbar.co.uk/"]http://www.thejazzbar.co.uk/[/url] Google jazz in Glasgow etc and you should come up with some more venue putting on regular jazz gigs. M

Hey there good to hear you are thinking of branching out with your listening and playing - while I'll leave it to Bilbo and Alun and other knowledgeable pro jazzers around here to fill in the nuts and bolts of playing jazz on bass (and on any instrument for that matter) I guess you could sum the 'genre' up by saying it's about improvising. To do this you need to learn the whole vocabulary of music and be able to play some very technical stuff but at the same time find your way through myriad chord changes (i.e. key changes), keep the pulse of the groove going, and lock in with the drummer. You might/could also be asked to take a solo - all of which should be improvised. It's a huge amount to take in at first but if you can loacate some classic albums by Miles Davis, Kind Of Blue (obv), Dave Brubeck 'Take Five', Horace Silver (any of his early Blue Note ones), Herbie Hancock's 'Maiden Voyage' - this will give you a really good overview of the building blocks of modern jazz. While I also recommend listening to every and any type of jazz to see what you actually like the best thing to do to actually 'get' jazz is go to a gig and see how it's played live. Jazz is about live performance, it's where it all happens so while I enjoy hearing stuff on record I much prefer to see and hear it live. You might want to check out [url="http://www.jazzwisemagazine.com/"]this website[/url] for an idea of the current UK scene and find a gig near you Cheers Mike

Yeah that was really cool - and er, quite moving - nice to see/hear some musicians playing without their egos getting in the way etc. - really well put together video/audio too.

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='451213' date='Apr 1 2009, 09:35 AM']Hi Mike - are you covering Frankfurt? Or is it going to be another scan of Harmony Central before attaching a few graphics robbed from vendor's websites? I hope not... as there is just no point in covering Frankfurt at all. For those on here that may be interested, I may do a quick sweep with my camera and post my findings up here. Share the wealth and all that. Just a thought on marks when it comes to the reviews - maybe a leaf should be taken out of BPs book... scrap the marks because they are meaningless when it comes to comparing basses. Does a bass with 4*s that cost £200 equate to a bass with 4*s with £2000? Does it really mean 4*s compared to other basses worth £200...? I reckon better review text would be negate the need for a mark.[/quote] Yes I'm on my way now, Nick will be there as well. M

[quote name='BigRedX' post='450870' date='Mar 31 2009, 09:03 PM']If the BGM Powers That Be are following this thread (maybe some of the 36 guests currently in this part of the forum) then what I'd like to see is a round up of British bass manufacturers/luthiers. Not a 'shoot out' because I don't regard picking a luthier to build your bass as a competition, but an in-depth article that would help people looking for something that suits them better than an off-the-peg instrument narrow down their choice. There are people in the UK building world-class instruments and some of them at prices that are surprising affordable and a UK magazine should be celebrating this fact.[/quote] +1 All I can say is, watch this space... M

[quote name='silddx' post='450764' date='Mar 31 2009, 06:39 PM']The others haven't bothered have they? It's in their interests to get involved. They don't. They don't even have a readers letters element. Are they really interested in what you think?[/quote] OK, as a regular BGM contributor for the last few years I have obviously been reading this thread with a lot of interest, but I feel it both unwise and unprofessional for me to address any specific points as there ARE a lot of changes on the way with BGM but you and everyone else, including me, are going to have to wait to see the next issue to find out exactly what they are. All I will say is that I had a meeting with Nick Wells a few weeks ago, he's the new fulltime editor. He has read this thread and is very open to ALL opinions and suggestions on the mag; the bottom line is he, like all of us here, want a better UK bass mag than the BGM of old, and is actively taking steps to achieve this. Obviously this is going to take a little while, i.e. a couple of issues, to really work through, and funny you should mention how much you love the bass reviews in Guitar Buyer...Nick wrote those. Anyway like I said there are just too many things to address here that ultimately I have no knowledge of what the plan is, but rest assured your opinions are being listened to and are pretty much spot on, so here's to a better future for BGM. I hope you can understand my position as a freelance writer as well, and Stuart's too, we're equally dissapointed when the design or proof reading issues crop up! Cheers Mike

[quote name='Faithless' post='448915' date='Mar 29 2009, 08:11 PM']I've just bought 'Berklee Method Electric Bass Studies' book. It attracted me, cuz (it looks) it is more about music, not technique, or other, not actually music-related stuff.. Anyone's into it, maybe [i]graduated [/i]it?[/quote] Cool man - I just bought the Chord method one from Amazon - looks good and I need to work on my extended chord thingamys... [url="http://www.berkleepress.com/catalog/product?product_id=11172"]http://www.berkleepress.com/catalog/product?product_id=11172[/url] Cheers Mike

Hi Zoe Really nice bass playing - and everything else as well - I know what it's like recording stuff yourself, after a few hours you think you are going mad, have forgotten the time, or to eat something, the phone rings are you can't even remember your name... (or is that just me ) - it's like a very addictive drug, but thankfully the more you do it the better you get at recording, and playing music (hopefully). In other words keep it up - really good work. Cheers Mike