Count Bassie

Thanks- cheers!

That dude would be gone in a day... Also sometimes making one move to fix a problem opens up opportunity for other problems to repair- you create the opportunity for adjustments within the structure... For instance, the intimidating lead guitar player is gone, so now the timid rhythm player sees it's safe to turn up. Now he can hear himself, and he can begin to enjoy playing, etc... (I don't know the guy, just saying)

Thanks mang!

We are new at it, but we're practicing a lot! 😁 Thanks!

That is one good-looking short-scale bass. I wouldn't have thought I'd like it, but it's very cool.

Ok...

Did we go too far?...

Ay!

Getting head. Please...

I don't remember if I've done this yet, but it's been a couple years, so what the hey... I live in Rhode Island, in a part of the US called "New England". No offense. 🙂 I've been playing a bass since 1979, learned on Tull, Zeppelin, Lizzy, and a lot of funk styled bands of the day. Reggae, classic rock, old school hippie rockers like Mountain and Vanilla Fudge, prog types like Zappa and Crimson are among influences. I'm just here for the stories, wisdom, and the fun of cultural exchange. I love learning new languages. 😁 Nice to be here...

For an extension cab? I don't recall if you could do that or not...

I think we're doing alright here.

I pulled the head and saved the sleeve section of the enclosure, put the head back in, cut the grille to fit and put the logo back on it. It's a pretty cool gag now, sounds fine. I loaned it to a guy, I have to get it back at some point.

Got an old Mk-III refurbished a couple months ago. Two mixable channels, it's a beautiful thing- the sound I've been after for years. Seriously. I'll stop derailing now!

My old Combo 300 looked like one, but it weighed about 100 lbs (sorry...).

It's ok to get along.

We had a trio that would do 2 or 3 hour sets, with a loose list of tunes we'd cull from. We'd end up playing a tune and jamming on it, then either me or the guitar player would introduce a modally friendly riff from another tune. Maybe we'd segue with it, or remain in the same tune with the new riff running with it. This kind of thing invited all sorts of permutations and grooves. It was a fun party band, and had that DJ gig thing of not stopping- you could dance until you felt like quitting, no standing around waiting for the band to get it together and play the next tune. Once we had the rule laid down we could run around in it and whomever wanted to could break it- it was a blast! You had to know the tune, and listen. Doesn't sound like that's what's happening here. Disorder is discouraging at best... I hope you're moving on.

Because this is fun.

I had a girlfriend at rehearsal once. She was something of a singer, so she went around the room and critiqued everyone. That was her last time at one of my rehearsals. Lol, and yes, I heard all about it!

It's nice to be considerate of your other band mates... Taking care of business without bloodshed is always the better way to go.

There are politics to think about- if you're interested in being taken seriously at all as a player, well, sounds like your move... No pressure. 😁

Yeah, improvisation can blur it up good, but the old school ethic was you played over/within a form. Modality and a sense of adventure can pull at the boundaries. When Miles and Sun Ra came along things started to break *all* the rules... And that was bound to happen of course. Still, those guys could count and play melodies. (Edited typos)

Yes. "Jazz" isn't shorthand for "Chaos". You're playing over/around a melody that's contained within a form. It is (in it's more 'classic' form anyway) orderly at it's core. In other words, you're going to need to be able to count...

You're dealing with things here that a lot of us got done with years ago. That's not to sell you short- just some perspective. It sounds like you've grown out of needing to deal with that kind of frustration

A band I was in had a drummer who from time to time would go off on a tantrum. Once during a disagreement he sat at his kit, sticks in hand, and folded his arms in protest, eyes straight ahead. Like a six year-old at the dinner table. His girlfriend was in the band- she looked at him through dim slits for eyes and seethed, she had seen a lot of this, we were all getting sick of it... Of course we knew he was sleeping on the couch that night, lol. We got through a lot of little scenes in that band, but we also had a ton of fun. We functioned and it was rewarding. You deal if you can deal.