TKenrick

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1480368170' post='3183843'] Listen to a shitload of Paul Chambers, Ray Brown and Milt Hinton. Then practice for the rest of your life [/quote] This. Transcription, although much more strenuous than getting lines and concepts from books, is much more beneficial. As well as giving you insight into what the masters of walking bass played on various tunes it teaches you the [i]feel[/i] of walking bass, which is a vital ingredient that you can't get from the page. Part of the problem is the bass is difficult to hear accurately on many recordings - it might be worth searching for records that don't have drums on (there's a great duo album by Jim Hall and Ron Carter called 'Alone Together' which is worth a listen). Another option is to seek out the Jamey Aebersold Jazz books that had decent players on the recordings (such as Ron Carter) as these allow you to isolate the bass part. Also... if you're not comfortable with chord tones then the whole process will be much more difficult. Good luck!

[quote name='paul_c2' timestamp='1479762892' post='3179135'] The fact that the time signature is 4/4 but the first bar has 1 quaver in it, isn't right unless the last bar has 7 quavers - but then it's incomplete. [/quote] Pedantry alert: this, I believe, is part of the joy of the modern anacrusis - any pickups into the first bar of a piece are generally notated without any rests preceding them and don't have to be 'balanced' by subtracting notes from bars at the end of the line. This is definitely a case of conventions having evolved over time from the 'rules' of classical notation. That Espana part is HORRIBLE to read, A.Carter needs a slap for awful chart writing.

[quote name='paul_c2' timestamp='1479296736' post='3175383'] Scales are - and always will be - a bit abstract compared to actual pieces, but there is a vague link so they are vaguely useful. It does seem that the classical training (of other instruments) seem to like them though, maybe too much so? For bass, probably just as important/more important is arpeggios. A lot of the time in pieces, arpeggios of a certain chord come up again and again. [/quote] I totally agree with this - I find that placing too much emphasis on practising scales leads to vague, noodly scale-based playing. Once you understand how a scale is constructed and have the sound of it in your ear then I don't really see the point in playing it to death for technique's sake. Much better to play some music that stretches your technique [i]and[/i] gives you context for the scale/arpeggio that you're working on.

[quote name='moonbass' timestamp='1479325938' post='3175707'] Any gigs coming up? [/quote] They're playing at Pizza Express in Soho on December 15th (sadly I'm up north doing a function that night so not on the gig). https://www.pizzaexpresslive.com/whats-on/mr-littles-nosiy-band

[quote name='moonbass' timestamp='1479157843' post='3174444'] Dang! Where are you guys based? [/quote] London(ish) - the recording was done at a studio near Guildford.

Another video from the same session: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLIEZuRcoZc[/media]

Used Chandlers many times for repairs and always found the work (and the service) top notch. I recently moved closer to Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience and thought I'd give it a try, not impressed at all - terrible communication, surly attitude from staff and pickups wired incorrectly. Lovely setup, but the overall 'experience' was less than delightful.

Thanks for that, I remembered someone mentioning it on a gig the other week and forgot to follow it up - could do with some better earplugs!

New stuff added: Charts Bon Jovi - Livin' On A Prayer Robbie Williams - Angels Maroon 5 - Harder To Breathe Blog Groove of The Week #36: Joe Dart on Vulfpeck's 'The Birdwatcher'

Thank you all for the kind words! I'll start pestering the bandleader to release another video...

I've heard lots of good things about Transcribe but never used it, my default is to use Quicktime 7 (which is free) as it allows for looping, slowing down and changing the key - it also has a rudimentary EQ that lets you boost the bass. My advice is to start by doing little and often - 10-15 minutes at a stretch is plenty as ears tend to get fatigued quickly. Try to hum or sing the bass notes from the track and match them on your instrument (a good singing voice is definitely not necessary!). Being able to work out the key of a song can cut down dramatically on guesswork. As country/southern rock mostly sticks to conventional major scale harmony, having a half-decent grasp of how chords work in a key will save you lots of time as most of the songs will stick to the rules. On the ear training side of things, the first thing is to get really comfortable with the sound of the intervals that make up the major scale. There's a great iphone app called 'Functional Ear Trainer' that I've found very beneficial to my own ear training efforts. Again, little and often is the key to this - your ears will take time to develop but it's definitely worth the investment.

Here's a video from a recording session I did this summer with Mr. Little's Noisy Band. Serious reading faces throughout... (for those who are interested, my p-bass was DI'd using a Noble preamp straight into Pro Tools) [media]http://youtu.be/WW6_XDJTME8[/media]

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1476528385' post='3154972'] Because she's got a huge discography of work I'm never sure where to start with M'shell's work - any recommendations? [/quote] For me her first two albums (Plantation Lullabies and Peace Beyond Passion) are a good place to start. Incredible groove regardless of how sparse or busy the parts are, and some nice synth playing too. Her time feel on this always knocks me out: [media]http://youtu.be/nVoNlGyPAGw[/media]

[quote name='solo4652' timestamp='1475830633' post='3148997'] And what's wrong with my shirt? [/quote] I should've included this for clarification. Maybe I'd get better gigs if I copied this guy's wardrobe: [attachment=229454:Screen Shot 2016-10-07 at 10.24.09.png] If you happen to have the same shirt then I'd LOVE to know where one buys such a thing.

That shirt, though...

It's a major 7 built on the flattened 7th degree of the major scale soI'd call it 'flat 7 major 7', pretty common non-diatonic chord that crops up frequently in Bowie and other stuff - often is preceded by flat 6 major (Ab major in the key of C) as an alternative turnaround. Bowie's 'Suffragette City' also has a lot of this, in the key of A but has lots of F major and G major. The outro of Queen's 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' has the same thing, but in the key of D.

Definitely one of my favourite players and (IMHO) one who doesn't nearly enough time in the bass world's spotlight. The fill at 1'10" in this always makes me smile: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-EJYMxW_tI Couldn't find the original on YouTube but 'Everything is Changing' is another superb JM effort with Groove Collective. Love the Maxwell stuff too but the liner notes on 'Urban Hang Suite' don't say which of the 3 bassists on the album played on which tracks