neilp
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Everything posted by neilp
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If you want a real challenge, play them "at pitch". Certainly the first three are doable, (prelude to 3 is tough if not played in thumb position) and your thumb technique will definitely improve. Some of the intervals are actually quite a lot harder if played down an octave, and there are some string crossing issues (arco players) which are much more easily resolved in thumb position. They make great studies for electric bass.
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Is now good time to be buying 'quality' musical instruments
neilp replied to TJ1's topic in General Discussion
It's worth remembering that a lot of folk have spent a great deal of money acquiring large numbers of basses - many more than they actually need to cover every genre of music in existence! That is absolutely fine and a choice that we're all entitled to make, but when hard times come and you find that you don't have savings to fall back on, it's probably worth regarding the dozens of basses you've acquired over the years as your savings. And because they are consumer goods, and subject to the normal rules of supply and demand, you might find you would have been better off stashing the fivers under your bed. You might not, of course, but that's a chance you take when you "invest" in things like basses. -
Picture yourself in a three piece .... what's the guitarist playing?
neilp replied to a topic in General Discussion
The fool, usually -
I'm not saying you shouldn't use it, I'm saying that it's unnecessary in 99% of the situations it's used in, and devalues the efforts of musicians to express themselves. Some (quite a lot) of the expressiveness of musicians is down to being able deliberately to vary tuning, and Autotune is used far too much, in my opinion. It is just my opinion. On the other hand, if it means we don't get another Rod Stewart, wheel it in and set it up!!!!
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To me, notes, rhythms, chords and tunes are the least important parts of music. Granted, they are necessary for something to be called "music", but are they sufficient? Not in my book. Your view may differ, but I want to hear the people, and hear them expressing some joy in what they do. Even if it's angry joy!
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I think the point I'm trying to make is that when I listen to music (and I totally accept that this may not be true for you guys, or indeed anyone else, possibly!), the thing I am most interested in hearing is the individual character of what the people involved are doing. If there are mistakes, that's fine, all musicians make mistakes. If there are so many as to detract from the music, it means the musicians are not good enough. That's true whether live or recorded. Once you autotune and grid the whole thing, you remove a lot of the humanity from it, and I personally lose interest. You may not. Each to his own I guess
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That's the point. It's not even a poorer version, it's just an imitation of a performance. The performance will never be the same twice. Nothing to do with mics or speaker or plug-ins.
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Who is the customer? The listener? Has anyone ever asked what the listener wants, or Has the fact that these tools are available meant that engineers use them , and distributors (I won't call them Record Companies, because they're not any more..) then come to expect the "polished", "perfect" sound on all recorded media? I know what the answer is, by the way. The consumer was never given the choice. A similar discussion was had many years ago when I was at the Royal College of Music. A world renowned pianist and conductor voiced the opinion that recorded music was not in fact music at all, because music (sound) does not persist in the real world, so recorded music is at best a facsimile, and if lots of tools are used to "correct" and "polish" the facsimile, it very rapidly loses all similarity to an actual performance. I'm approaching all this from the point of view of a musician, not an engineer, mathematician or studio rat. Discuss...
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Or beautiful, depending on context.....a bit of subtle sharpening of a leading note, for example, can make the resolution onto the tonic seem like Paradise found, rather than just the obvious last chord of a piece.
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That's exactly right, and is the reason we got the idea that certain keys have certain identifiable characters. In fact, on an equally tempered keyboard, there is no difference in character, only in pitch, whereas in just temperament, for example, there are identifiable differences
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1) I totally agree, but the modern use of autotune (or Melodyne or whatever) is over-corrective and does correct even slight variations. Good musician CHOOSE how to tune each note, and removing that removes the humanity, just as editing to the grid kills the groove 2) True, but again, good musicians make choices, and unless you can play in tune (or sing in tune) to start with, you can't make the choices, because you don't have enough control 3) Same thing applies. When I play Baroque or Classical music, depending on what the conductor or Director wants, certain intervals will be played wider or narrower than you would hear on a piano or a guitar fretboard. Again, this is "in tune". It's about control, and awareness and intention, and the existence of Autotune etc seems to lead some producers and performers to believe that that level of skill is not required any more, when in fact that level of skill is what makes great music so musical. IMHO.... Apologies for the tardiness of my comment, I was busy playing music....
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I work in symphony orchestras, chamber music groups, rock bands, blues bands, soul bands and a folk trio. Out of tune is out of tune. Other technical considerations vary, I grant you, but tuning is not optional
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I agree there is more to being a singer than good intonation, but there is a simple fact: If you can't sing in tune, you can't call yourself a singer. The other issue is the question of the odd slightly "pitchy" note. We accept those in live performances, and before pitch correction was available we accepted it in the studio for the sake of an otherwise gripping performance. Has it made anything "better"? Not in my opinion, any more than perfectly aligned drums and bass, with all the transients bang on the grid has. this stuff may be great for some forms of "music", but the more you remove the human element, the less musical it seems to me. Mind you, I'm one of the idiots who doesn't believe you should copy Ronnie Lane's mistakes, just because they are on the record, so what do I know!?
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Best or favourite? Best at what? My favourite guitarists, in no particular order: Jimmy Page Jeff Beck Robin Trower Peter Green Wilko Johnson Jimi Hendrix Eddie Van Halen What does it mean? Sod all. Enjoy what you like and don't try to establish absolutes
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There were three other musicians in the Beatles, or did that pass you by? McCartney on his own is exposed as the mediocre talent he is, in my opinion
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I'm not sure you need to see how I can love the Beatles. The fact is I do, but I don't love McCartney or particularly value his contribution to the Beatles. I'm pretty sure I'm permitted to express that opinion. I'm certainly not telling you what to think. If you like what he does, fine. I don't like it. I find him insincere and self-obsessed. Hey ho, the world goes on and nobody much cares what either of us thinks....
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You didn't read the rest. I love the Beatles. I was joining in a discussion about whether Paul McCartney was under appreciated. The Beatles I absolutely "get". McCartney? Nope. No contempt involved, but I don't find him a likeable person, and I don't particularly like his musical output. My view, I'm not demanding that you should agree, so why would it upset you that I express my view?
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I must admit, a gobby taxi driver would get little or no tip from me, record time or not, but I have a less transactional view of the world than most. I'm not interested in how popular and lauded McCartney is, but if YOU want to tell me what you find exciting and moving about his music, I'm all ears. This is all totally subjective and entirely a matter of taste. The fact that he made a huge bucketload of money means absolutely nothing to me. The fact that he's a git is more relevant. I've met him several times and observed him consistently being gittish to me and other people he regarded as insignificant.
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See, here's the thing. You say all that as if it were incontrovertible fact. Granted he's been hugely successful over 5 decades, and he's a prolific songwriter. The rest though, I totally disagree with (apart from the arrogance, that is true. I have met him and he's a git). The world would not miss a single one of his songs, in my opinion. He's a good bassist, but no more than that. He bores me, to be honest
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For the record, I don't hate the Beatles. In fact I love the Beatles. I just don't particularly like Paul McCartney as a bass player, singer or songwriter
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Mozart? Flatpack ear candy for the masses. I said I don't like what McCartney produced. I would agree he's a talented musician, but his output strikes me as mostly trite, twee, obvious doggerel. People who don't know stuff will disagree with me, but I'm used to it.
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In my opinion, he's an OK bass player, pianist and guitarist, whose songwriting is at best trite and at worst complete drivel, and who has survived for his entire career on a reputation that he never really deserved. Perhaps this should be part of the Emperor's New Clothes thread?
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I like Paul McCartney's bass playing, but do I love it? No. His song writing is mediocre at best, especially without the rest of the Beatles, and his bass playing is rhythmically quite interesting, but I can't get wildly excited about it
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D'Addario Kaplan Lights For Sale (C Extension)
neilp replied to neilp's topic in EUBs & Double Basses For Sale
Half price at £125, happy to let them go for less. Make me an offer! -
Just to illustrate my point, there was a thread in Another Place discussing the "classic Rickenbacker" tone on a particular record. Now I would think, given how much everyone goes on about different tones of different basses, that everyone could spot a Rickenbacker in a mix, but it turns out we hear what we expect to hear, and the record in question was recorded with a P bass! Play what you enjoy, without apology.
