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Regarding funk, I like long sections that stay on one vamp, but the art is in keeping the music developing at the same time. It's the same as the montuno section in Latin music. If the band don't know how to change things during the section then it does indeed become boring. It's funny, I've often tried to figure out why I like jazz and funk, but never really got on with prog. I think it's the opposite problem. To me, prog tends to change feel/tempo too often and doesn't stay on one groove long enough. Maybe there's a gene that controls one's groove Vs boredom tolerance...

I've always loved anything with Sly and Robbie, I learned a lot about bass playing from playing along to their stuff It's not strictly reggae, but I discovered this recently:

In terms of recommendation, there's some great Brazilian jazz from the 60s that has some lovely DB playing. The Sambalanço Trio are worth listening to. I'd agree with the comments above about playing DB though - latin bands tend to be less picky about DB vs BG so it makes sense to use the BG at first in the new band until you're up to speed on the upright.

This video is good: There's a lot of discussion about the difference between authentic Brazilian bass and the bossa styles that have been incorporated into mainstream jazz.

Interesting. I'd always had it as Ron Carter because he's officially credited on the album sleeve, but it looks like there's disagreement... http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/35065-albums-with-ron-carter-on-electric-bass/&page=2

I'm pretty sure it's Ron - Wikipedia says so as well, but both Wikipedia and my memory are not flawless so I'm prepared to be corrected....

Excellent choice, with the added bonus of the great Ron Carter on bass.

I recently came across a great Android app that seems to work pretty well - "Complete Rhythm Trainer". It has exercises where you tap along to rhythms and it scores you accordingly. I'm sure there are other out there but this one works well for me.

Pedant alert - LA Woman (album) has bass guitar and I think that quite a few of their other tracks have bass as well (you can't get rid of us that easily )

That's the thing - no one cares once they've seen you play - the Elbow wikipedia page says that they chose the name because it was described as a "lovely word". So to straddle that tricky line between pretentious and wacky, I reckon it's best to pick a random word that you like the sound of, but otherwise has no special meaning.

I'm really old-school - I'm a bit suspicious of any bass with more than 4 strings and big slabby natural wood custom basses with loads of strings and funny horns really make me uncomfortable. They sound great, mind, so I know I'm being very shallow

Thanks @TheRev - I might get one, but I'd heard that the mounting was a bit flaky alright. Cheers!

While it's never going to do any harm to be in good physical shape, if your technique is good you shouldn't need anything more than normal strength / fitness to play the bass, so I'd take @Duckyincarnate's advice and get a teacher, even for a couple of lessons. I know you say that you've tried different endpin heights and it hasn't made any difference but I think it's worth persevering with this. I had mine a few centimetres too low and I was stooping ever so slightly and ended up in pain. A small adjustment and it went away. In general I've found that the endpin needs to be higher than you might think, especially if you lean the bass into yourself a bit as you play. If you feel that turning your neck is partially responsible, it might be because you're holding the bass too much to your side, rather than angled in a bit towards your body, which means that you're twisting your neck more than you need to. If you haven't seen this video then it's well worth a watch - @geoffbassist does a much better job of explaining it than I could:

Does anyone here have experience with the t.bone Ovid CC 100 ? Obviously I wouldn't expect it to perform as well as some of the more expensive mics out there, but on paper it looks like it could be worth trying, especially for cheapskates like me.

I know it's a joke, that's why I posted it 😀 The bass is "wrong", just not as obviously wrong as the horns. The bassline has a lot of subtle errors that are exactly the kind made by players who are either learning or faking it (myself included)

I think the most important thing with walking is to set things up so that you 'land' correctly on the first beat of the next chord - in my experience, getting this right is probably the most important because if you don't, it can throw the rest of the band because it obscures the chord changes. The bass playing on this shred video is a great example of 'wrong' walking - it's really well done and it sounds like the bass player knew exactly what they were doing:

What @skidder652003 just said! I realise that it can be annoying to ask "what's the best X?" on the internet and be met with answers telling you to get Y instead when you've already ruled it out, but just in case, the Zoom / Tascam recorders are small, cheap, easy to use and will give you much better sound quality than any phone (and they won't have all the problems of battery life, incoming calls etc).

Up to a point, but people who don't like jazz are usually pretty definite about it. Almost anyone can 'learn' to appreciate jazz, but there's no reason why anyone should do so if they're not bothered. If you don't like Kind of Blue, chances are that you're not going to like most music that's played at jazz jams or gigs.

That's one way to look at it, but as a bass player you get to choose what to play over the chord changes and to work with the other rhythm section players to keep things interesting.

Another vote for double bass. I personally find it much more satisfying when played solo than bass guitar. The sound of each note, and the effort to make them not sound crap, makes it more rewarding somehow. Also, you'll find that the economy needed to play DB will probably help your BG playing. Finally, once you reach a certain level you'll probably find yourself playing different kinds of music and maybe getting gigs in those genres.

I've been using a J-Tone for a couple of years now and I like it - it gives a good, even, usable tone and it's far less sensitive to placement than the Rev Solo II that I was using before. It sounds more refined IMO than the BassMax as well. I'd agree with @Beer of the Bass that it lacks a bit of definition, although I actually spent some time working with the EQ on my amp and it's a lot better in this regard. I'm thinking of getting a KNA DB-1 to see if it has a touch more 'refinement' than the J-Tone but either way, I'd recommend the J-Tone as a good reliable (and inexpensive) piece of gear.

I use it to tune up a couple of times per week and the battery lasts months. It takes those metal lithium batteries but they're easy enough to get hold of.

Yep, I have it permanently clipped onto the bridge facing up at me. I did a bit of research at the time and this one was recommended as good for DB (i.e. able to find the fundamentals quickly) and it's been that way for me.

I've had one of these for years and it works well on my DB https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intellitouch-PT10C-PT10-Mini-Tuner/dp/B002KDHBRU