oldbass

Recently started playing with a lighter touch....light and day to how i used to play....its very calming and I now know that I cant live without my daily practise.

[quote name='Burrito' timestamp='1475229408' post='3144155']
30yrs in and I'm still always learning - so never stop learning and listening. For me it's a mixture of everything already said but trying to play with musicians who are better than me usually helps raise my game.
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This all day long plus, in the last couple yrs my playing has improved more than it did in over 30 yrs of constant gigging through slowing everything down and analysing the whole kaboodle. Reckon I'd picked up some very bad habits over that time which now Im trying to rectify and its proving to be a real eye opener and huge fun.

I think the problem with all this is P's are way more demanding of finger tip control than near any other bass.....get it right and they can sound amazing......get it wrong and they sound like mud..indistinct and awful.
I play old dead, heavy flats with a light touch, couldnt be happier, fantastic hefty, middly tone which oddly enough seems to cover just about everything bar slap of course.

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Longer ago than I care to remember it was 3 to five nights a week doing the camps throughout the summer...maybe two a week in the winter and loving every minute of it.[/font][/color]

[color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Last time on stage was for two numbers with guest band in the local comm centre at my partners birthday bash....that was enough, even with ear plugs in my battered old ears cant take it anymore..so things have gone full circle in a way and I now get a huge kick out of sitting in a quiet room in the house either just studying Jamerson.....or theory, love it and very satisfying.[/font][/color]

[quote name='mikel' timestamp='1475661543' post='3147675']
You could try ditching the music and the tab sheets and listen to songs you would like to play. Listen to the music and what the bass is playing and use trial and error to work out yourself what the guy is playing. This will improve your ear, and ability to change things on the fly. Your ears are the most important tool you have when it comes to jamming with others and making up your own bass lines.
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This. Plus, for inspiration listen to the bass line on any Motown tune. James Jamerson is the greatest exponent of note placement and note quality there is.

Up until a month ago I wouldnt have given a Jap anything a second look now I have a Jap Squier and it feels/sounds better than my vintage P...worlds gone mad?

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1475840080' post='3149099']
Seems that Alan Kendall and Dennis Byron both auditioned at the same time.
[url="http://www.guitarplayer.com/artists/1013/web-exclusive-bee-gees-guitarist-alan-kendall-recalls-his-audition/13594"]http://www.guitarpla...-audition/13594[/url]
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Fascinating..love this stuff.

And not everyones cuppa T but the smooth groove he plays in the chorus on brother Andys Everlasting Love is sublime.

Well I never knew that he played on Jive Talkin, U shld B dancing..and a lot of their other funky tunes...its all Maurice and Ive spent my life thinking It was a groovy old session player, learn something new evry day.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1475750624' post='3148407']
You have totally misunderstood what I said. Sorry, I maybe didn't explain it, though the first part of what you've quoted says 'without understanding what they're actually playing'. A competent musician would know what they're playing.

I was referring to my previous posting, where I said that there are many people who don't actually learn to play their instrument, they use youtube videos, and TAB, and just learn where to put their fingers, they just copy what they're seeing and hearing, without having any knowledge of what they're actually playing, and how it works with what the rest of the band is playing.

You've also misquoted me, where do I say that it had no worth ?
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Ok lets say you decide to have a go at bass and you learn to play simple two time from say C to G country style which simple as it is one would more than likely 'understand'....is that not playing an instrument irrespective of how you went about learning the piece.

[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1475706324' post='3148196']
By painting by numbers, I mean someone learning a song/cover without really having any understanding of what they're actually playing. Getting a piece of TAB off a website, sitting down and watching someone play it on Youtube, or listening to it on Spotify and just copying it, isn't playing a musical instrument, at least to me. It's like painting all the number 2s red, all the 5s brown and ending up with the Mona Lisa or something.
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Hello. Its funny I rarely ever get rattled by much but your post has hit the button. What a load of nonsense. So when I and thousands of other competent musicians sit down and have a go at a bit of Chopin at the keyboard or whatever were just.... "COPYING"..... something that has no worth????.
Thanks. I'd forgotten what its like to let of a bit of steam...feels good, but no hard feelings yes.

Taught myself as a kid with a junk shop Columbus jazz bass and went on to do a whole ton of stuff over the yrs .. but and its hard to explain but it never felt comfortable....fast forward 30 odd yrs and in the past couple of years my technique has suddenly taken off...weird, maybe because its because I now have more time to practise etc....but I now find myself playing tunes that for yrs I simply could not play very well...feels good, very good.

Parents not at all musical but great-grand mother played upright in the pubs apparently and Sunday school...work that one out!..but to be fair they were dead keen on my "free" school music lessons in the 70's.

My busiest working days were mid/late 70's early 80's...and his presence seemed to be everywhere....amazing songwriter....simple hooks, great arrangements...clever stuff.

Ha... not really weird but, and it must be nearly thirty yrs ago. We were doing our regular Friday nighter in a nice little place out in the sticks when the lead vox who had a niggly relationship with the landlord suddenly started berrating the landlord through a full pa for what he percieved was a paultry payment for the gig.

Imagine it, the band still playing through something like Rosanna and over the top is the lead vox f ing and blinding at the landlord in full view of a packed house!...it was hilarious and just a tad embarrassing for all to say the least. Poor old Nev he was always on a short fuse..brilliant vocalist though.

I've often wondered if this might be the answer.
You know how Barry White gets the ladies going with his huge deep voice..well back in pre history I think the guy across the valley with the deepest voice which incidentally would have travelled the farthest, would get the girls cause a big deep voice could suggest vitality, virility etc etc....

Maybe bass in its simplest terms just says...sex.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1474709795' post='3139956']
The wonderful voice of Melba Moore, with the great Van MaCoy Orchestration and arrangement.
Sadly he didn't see out the 70's, he was a terrific talent and right in the thick of the golden days of this style of music.
Has all the ingredients, even some Clavinet, with a dollop of Xylo, Glock and Pizz strings hidden away.

[media]http://youtu.be/Ag8-rVxE5tc[/media]
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Those strings, the separations, damn, everything bout this tune is the way it should be ....a lesson in studio engineering and pop tune arranging at its very best.

These are the only RI's that got the tuner posts and the body curves dead right ..they are the most correct RI's ever made....lovely, glwts.

[quote name='JimboJim' timestamp='1474041020' post='3135240']
Sorry are his talking about your bass that you just sold ? I didn't understand what exactly you meant, please explain.



I bought mine from an online shop collector . By the way , mine also has the original hard case .
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Yes Iam talking about my bass which I sold recently

Just sold my old one....thunderous sounding bass, very strong mid range.

9.5 lbs
Bridge in wrong place (factory correct due to worn out jigs)
Wonky router edge on lower neck pocket (factory correct due to worn out machinery)
Fine grained Alder body.

Never seen one like yours with that strong grain pattern..looks rather unusual.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1473588348' post='3131352']
Yes.
Even the time signature changes in that tune seem natural.
Barry didn't want the beautiful young ladies on the Disco dance floor tripping over their hand bags.
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Its a funny one all right. You've got a two note country bass line underneath flowing strings then that two note guitar trill on the third beat, brilliant!....its musical skill plus those little embellishments that make some music so great.

[quote name='lowdown' timestamp='1473587037' post='3131329']
It's really hard to find original Barry White tunes on 'Da Tube', that are not some Rapper and his 'beats' destroying the vibe.
I didn't realise how much stuff he had written.
He also produced, arranged and conducted on a lot of the MFSB material with his 'Love Unlimited' Orchestra.
Some talented character, that's for sure.


[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3eOuK_-c34[/media]

[media]http://youtu.be/sDgbBjeMy90[/media]
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Its all in the writing...just love the way the arrangement flows in the second tune. Rare to hear P soup on the hi hat so loud against flowing strings..fantastic arrangement, guy was very talented indeed.

[quote name='Mykesbass' timestamp='1473580353' post='3131264']
Had a quick search and am surprised this hasn't been posted already - bass intro, cowbell, horns, cracking arrangement, OK, slightly dubious quality vocals, but this was HUGE! (oops, sorry, forgot handclaps in my disco essentials listing)

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za1mCTWQo3A[/media]
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Silly vocals..BUT... fantastic tune. Would love to hear it re-recorded with a sax or piano lead part...and to any young engineers reading this..THAT is how you record an ensemble...crisp and clear..brilliant!

Agree with the above post re current song writing. and to add.

0 or little understanding of key changes to add movement and dynamcis to a tune.

Same old sounding chord progressions

Melody lines that eerm arent at all melodic but which just seem to wander around the stave without any sense of originality or musical interest.

Probably need a tin helmet now..but Ill argue those three points till the cows come home and cite in my defence any number of tunes from the 60's through to the early 90's which when listened to now seem unbeleivably interesting and listenable.

Slightly off topic but the red mist has descended.
Parked up next to a town pub last week...nice sounding band playing so I thought...nice drummer so I thought etc...go inside....guys singing and playing tiered keyboards with a backing track, his mate is strumming a squire strat...I couldn't beleive it...drums sounded live as hell...BUT the punters were loving it....