ChunkyMunky

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1431824073' post='2775377'] Must be good for stability with the Bongo? Stability-with-the-Bongo... it's a small village in Gloucestershire. [/quote] The Bongo is awesome but standing up, it has a ridiculous amount of neckdive. The Mono strap kind of helps a bit.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1431823653' post='2775375'] Loving the pointy shoes... [/quote] Having size 13 feet don't help much, I can assure you!

http://i893.photobucket.com/albums/ac132/ChunkyMunky92/ScreenShot2014-09-20at204103_zps14ff8e0c.png The Musicman Bongo, of course! Cringey picture but still. At least the Bongo looks sweet as!

This sounds like great fun. Shame I'm stuck down in Sussex.

I had that when I first transcribed 'Rio' by Duran Duran. This was a couple of years back and I had just started properly but I got into it, half an hour on 50% speed and carried on. Got it within an hour after that.

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1431712880' post='2774301'] Most cover band sets have too many songs in them I don't like, which is why I'm not currently in a covers band. And I really can't be bothered with all the pain involved in starting up my own covers band so I can put together a set I like playing. But I suppose if you're joining an already-established covers band you pretty much have to suck it up and play what they want you to play, no matter how crappy. My particular bugbears are 500 Miles, All Right Now and [b][font=comic sans ms,cursive][u]Sex On Fire[/u][/font].[/b] Particularly All Right Now, as I played it in a covers band in the mid-seventies and it was tedious stale buns then, so I'm sure as hell not going to be playing it forty years later! Jesus, there [i]are [/i]limits!! And as for The Proclaimers - well, obviously they must be lashed. Over and over again. Until they drop. [/quote] Hated that one from the first time I played it! I thought I was the only one.

If I'm there, you're welcome to try it on the Bongo of mine.

[quote name='JoeEvans' timestamp='1431717118' post='2774380'] I definitely have experience of musicians who think that they are ridiculously good and wouldn't hesitate to describe themselves as such; however, they don't generally need to go to Gumtree to find a band to play in. I'd be more worried about being irritated than outplayed here... [/quote] He seemed real modest about his playing but I can guess that this guy is going to be a whizz. Just going on my intuition here, but I'm kind of hoping I'm wrong to a lesser degree. [quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1431716123' post='2774361'] There's nothing special about 'Autumn Leaves' [i]et al per se[/i], unless you're expected to improvise a solo spot..! It's just chords, just like any other song. Depending on the 'swing' required, a bit of 'walking' over the chord notes, with subtle 'ghost' notes, half-tone bracketing, chromatic joining runs and such and you're away. Soloing can be done with a bit of homework; improvising (well...) is the difficult bit. If you've the chords to your repertoire, just (slowly, at first...) play them through as simple arpeggios. I'd start off with the 'vanilla' chords at the outset; that's the simple ones without the fancy extensions such as 9ths and 13ths. Not quite top spot at Ronnie Scott's for starters, but not rocket surgery, either, I'd suggest. [/quote] To think, I was going overboard with making sure it was sounding perfect. Could it be truly that easy?

[quote name='Dad3353' timestamp='1431717738' post='2774392'] Download, then change the file extension to 'pdf' or mp3. It's really a pdf or mp3 file (as noted in the text...), but the quaint forum software frigs it up; it's a 'feature' (read 'bug'... ) in the forum software. Hope this helps. [/quote] I'm an advanced player and this guy helped me unravel the complications of Jazz bass. Don't think too difficultly! He's the man to ask.

[quote name='JTUK' timestamp='1431712534' post='2774297'] If he has applied to your advert then something is not quite right with the ridiculously good thing...IMO People generally gravitate to their perceived level as things are just so much easier that way and you have less chance of someone getting peed off...either trying too hard to keep up or the other guys trying too hard to pull you along... By all means meet and see what common ground you have... but novice and ridiculously good don't generally mix, tbh.. Good luck tho.. [/quote] In terms of ridiculously good by my definition, he's well rounded in the realm of Jazz whereas I'm a guy who has come from a contemporary background. I think 'ridiculously' good might be a bit of an exaggeration by me but I'm a Jazz novice and this guy certainly isn't. I've been upfront about it all but I'm curious to see if anyone has had similar experiences. Thanks on the good luck notion. [quote name='Gottastopbuyinggear' timestamp='1431713806' post='2774314'] My questions would be whether your advert, and his response, were clear (and honest) about ability levels? Are you a complete novice, in which case it might be a bit odd that he replied, or are you a Jazz novice, which is a different thing? At the end of the day the honesty thing is important. If they're really good, and happy to play with people who aren't so good (and do so in a "nice" way) then great. My experience is of going for a try out with a band who I thought were probably a bit too good for me. I was honest about my experience and ability, and I think I gave a pretty good account of myself. They went with someone else, but said "no" to me in a pretty positive way, so all round a good experience. But even if they'd been knobs about it, who cares - you move on and find something/someone more appropriate, and they're still the knobs. [/quote] I've been completely honest in the advert and the correspondences, it's just a bit intimidating going from being able to play most pop things with relative ease to being absolutely floored on something like 'Autumn Leaves' as an example. It's a completely different level and ballgame but it's getting there, though!

[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1431709101' post='2774230'] I refuse to play any 12 bar blues - how many times can you play the same riff over and over (and over again). Another hate is "Hey Joe" - was one of the first things I learned to play - done it to death... [/quote] Even the Jazz variety?

[b][size=5]U WOT M8[/size][/b]

I used to utterly detest playing 'Signed, Sealed and Delivered' until I saw a video of James Jamerson Jr. ripping into it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rR9dppCuUBU

I put a GumTree advert out in my area for Jazz musicians as I'm a completely novice but I got a response which suggests this guitarist is ridiculously good. I'm a bit nervous, to say the least. Who else has had some interesting experiences with this sort of thing? Done a gig that was way beyond your reach but still gave it a shot nonetheless?

If I can get up there, I'll bring my Musicman Bongo 5Hs for everyone to have a whirl on.

My old Musicman Bongo 4HH. What a monstrous sound but I had to survive somehow after being made redundant.

Up for grabs are two straps. The Fender one had been used a bit whereas the Levy's has been used a couple of times. Since I'm a Mono convert, I don't have use for them and I'm sure someone else might like them. For the sake of fairness, I'd much rather one person gets a strap each. As I'm broke as heck at the moment, I'd appreciate it if you could cover shipping. Fender Comfort wide strap. One on the left; [url="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_fFXMFUW1g9A/TFg0t0hkXJI/AAAAAAAAAIY/xkdMkXcwmxA/s1600/01.gif"]http://2.bp.blogspot...xA/s1600/01.gif[/url] Levy's suede strap. Again, on the left; [url="http://www.levysleathers.com/img/prod/4cf687a7691b2.jpg"]http://www.levysleat...f687a7691b2.jpg[/url] Let me know!

[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1431109199' post='2767955'] I've been curious about these since I saw this youtube video: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjhGanOoS0Y[/media] It doesn't sound too bad to me. But when I tried out a Kala U-Bass, I was disappointed with both the sound and feel. Not that I'm saying that others might not like them, but I didn't feel any particular GAS. The Tanglewood Traveller is bigger, and I'm hoping that it would have a more impressive acoustic sound. [/quote] MUCH nicer!

Though I have positively no experience running one of these, I had such great fun at the Littlehampton one, I'd love to see what would go on in order to get one running. Is anyone thinking of setting up another bash?

I thoroughly recommend the GenzBenz!