knirirr

This reminds me of a local double bass player whose licence was revoked this year due to dementia. A friend bought him a Yamaha silent bass so he can more easily get a lift and still do gigs.

It does currently appear to be difficult to get gigs as a jazz quartet, except at certain specialist venues (usually in Oxford) and then there's a long waiting list to get in. Where other pubs might want jazz it's usually only as background music during meals etc. and telling them we play this sort of thing (apologies, don't have a good recording of our interpretation) puts them off. Outside Oxford the pubs do indeed seem to prefer duos. I have noticed a particular local duo being booked for "jazz matinees" etc. in local pubs even though they are really folk-type performers.

Here's a nice jazz example - makes a change from the many notes we usually have to play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5bq_vRMskM&list=RDj5bq_vRMskM&start_radio=1 There's a faster version with violins &c. which is better known, but I think I prefer the one above: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER8Q504Vro8&list=RDER8Q504Vro8&start_radio=1&pp=oAcB

Today's gig was at the street fair in Charlbury, doing the usual jazz-ish originals. A strange gig as our sets were between those of singers/acoustic guitarists doing covers in the beer garden of the pub on the other side of the street. We could hear but not see them, so we had to be ready to go at the appointed time as soon as applause was heard, just in case they slipped another song in. They were similarly ready when we were playing. A video of some of our performance is available, though the intro was missed as the person filming was trying to move out of the rain. As the video shows, some kitchen sink/shelf units were out in the yard where we were performing - apparently the venue was undergoing some refurbishment. These turned out to be a convenient place to stash my bass bag and amp cover when not playing.

A fictional character, but the actor was a musician.

Indeed; the "woke jokes" in this case, as far as I can tell, remarks about the woke things this chap doesn't like rather than jokes that are woke.

When I wrote that I was paraphrasing something someone said to me at a recent jam: "I was at so-and-so's gig during the week and he made another of his unfunny woke jokes [eyeroll]". I should perhaps have quoted the phrase, as you have done. What I heard was an announcement between tunes which was something like (from memory): "There's this bloke I know who says he's a woman now! What's anyone supposed to do about that sort of thing, then, eh? What am I even supposed to call him? Him? Her? It?" I got the impression this was supposed to be amusing, but didn't find it so.

There have been some interesting answers here. One thing that keeps cropping up (or so it seemed to me) is the difference between whether you're meeting friends to do a thing, or going to do a thing which happens to need other people (e.g. work). If it's like work then I can work with unpleasant sorts if they can manage to behave in a cordial manner when at any work related event. As it happens, I recall a colleague who did once make some dodgy remarks to another colleague about racial purity when he'd had a free drink too many in during the social at a conference, but he had the good sense to keep his mouth shut about that sort of thing. He only let it slip that once and I heard about it second hand. Luckily he found a better opportunity elsewhere. So far I have avoided any of this in bands (fingers crossed), though it has cropped up from time to time when running a martial arts club. Normally having "the talk" with anyone who says anything naughty and explaining to them what's required of them whilst they're training (or having a quick pint with colleagues afterwards) does the trick. That sort often move on when they realise that they won't be accepted if they speak divisively. I do know of a chap who was chucked out of a club run by a friend of mine in another city, but that was because the ejected member turned out to be one of the leaders of an extremely dodgy neo-nazi organisation. He was unmasked when he agreed to be interviewed by a journalist and gave them his mobile number. This was on his work website, and the journalist simply searched for the number on Google... One other thing - there's a player on the scene here who is notorious for making unfunny woke jokes* during gigs. I saw him play in the theatre near where I live; he made such a "joke", and was heckled from the balcony until he shut up and played the next tune. * i.e. comments about silly woke people which are meant to amuse the punters.

Yesterday I took a trip to the physiotherapist with both DB and BG. This revealed that part of the problem is when playing BG (or guitar) seated; the position of my right shoulder is drawn backwards such that it causes pain to go down the arm after a few minutes. For the moment, practicing standing up will be required until I can work out a good seated position, perhaps with a proper stool (something that can fold to go to jams & gigs).

Thanks for the replies. For some reason I didn't get any notifications and only spotted them whilst browsing. This could well be something other than bass (I certainly spend plenty of time on a computer) but it's currently not clear what.

Indeed, I am currently in the queue to see a specialist at some unknown time in the future. I might drop in to the local physio again, just in case. Good to hear that the gym worked for you!

I hope this is a suitable place to post the following; I think it is probably related to DB playing, though there may be other factors. Currently, I'm having a bit of trouble with both elbows; pain in particular when having the elbows bent for a few minutes, e.g. the right elbow when playing a bass guitar, and also some general fatigue and loss of grip strength in both arms making it harder to play upright for longer periods. The local physiotherapist thought this was all in the forearm causing referred pain to the elbow. Unfortunately, the exercises they recommended have not helped. I contacted my GP but there will be a wait for any further assistance, and it's unclear how long. Perhaps the DB is the cause, given that it's a repetitive activity that will give the hands and forearms a lot of work. I've already got light strings (Evah Pirazzi) and I'm not sure what else could work. A week or so ago the local luthier had a look and told me that what was needed to reduce the tension was shooting the fingerboard so they could improve the action. This made the instrument a little easier to play but produced unpleasant buzzes and rattles. Reducing these requires raising the action again... In any case, whatever it is is making double bass more tiring to play and guitar (bass or otherwise) painful. When I had lessons I don't recall any issue with my technique, though I might book another lesson just to check on that. Perhaps it needs someone with relevant medical knowledge to take a look at my posture, though. Has anyone else experience elbow issues like this? Do you have any thoughts if so?

A couple of 45 minute sets to an audience who appreciate some hard bop, ideally in the afternoon so I can get away for a decent dinner and a few beers afterwards (no drinking and playing!). Some pay is nice but the top requirement is that the venue staff appreciate the musicians and we don't have any hassle about load in/out, some refreshments etc. etc. Playing at the Rose & Crown in Oxford is good, but they don't have many openings.

What made you pick up that first bass at the start of this long and winding road? At the time I had been playing guitar in a big band; this sort of thing, though nowhere near as well, of course. I noticed the following things: 1. Playing jazz was what I wanted to do. 2. Bass looked more and more tempting. 3. I sucked at guitar and would never sound like my then favourite players. When I moved away and could no longer play with that band it was a good opportunity to switch. I could not afford a DB or lessons, but saw an advert in a magazine for Encore's fretless P-bass (E83), which was something I could afford. I'd not heard of fretless bass guitars at the time and assumed they must be for jazz.

I have done that from time to time. These days I usually use a TC Electronics BAM 200 and it's 50/50 if I'll plug my bass into the headphone socket and wonder why there's no sound.

Another tier 2 fail - new tailpiece for the guitar shown, plus a new guitar pickup. Still no new bass purchases, though.

If you would like a horror story then there's one horn player I recall who emailed 15 minutes before we were due to start the set (he lived over 30 minutes' away) to say that he had been feeling a little unwell all day and had now decided that he wasn't up to dong the gig. As we were heavily reliant on said horn player to pad things out with lots of soloing, this was a bit of a pain. "They all tend to arrive 5 minutes before downbeat and leave 5 minutes after" seems right to me. I wonder if I'd do the same if I had an easy instrument to carry (probably not). Reading ability amongst the ones I know varies; most are better than me at reading and most (usually saxophonists) are good at improvisation. I recall seeing a discussion on a trombone forum where a trombonist asked why saxophonists were always so much better at improvising. One answer appeared to be than when it came to a practice session the saxophonists were ready to start noodling away after 5 minutes of adjusting their reed, and so got more practice at it than trombonists, who would have to spend 30 minutes warming up with long tones etc. to get the best out of their instrument (I don't know if this is true). If they've played any jazz then they should be happy with taking a break when they're not soloing.

I use nothing but flats myself, for both the tone and the feel. From what I hear in a jazz context an electric bass with rounds doesn't sound right and gets in the way (though others may disagree), but it's probably quite different in other genres. To answer the question - pedals. Over the years I have tried various ones, e.g. reverb, wah, fuzz because I thought I ought to but always end up discarding them and plugging straight into the amp.

Some from Oxford: Blackwell's, which used to be a good place to go for sheet music. Later, it became a discount bookshop and then a restaurant. Now it's part of Wadham college. ABC, where I got my first decent bass amp (Trace Eliot BLX130) in 1994. Later a Threshers, then Sainsbury's, now to be demolished. Russell Acott, old location shown here when they had moved out of the centre and the site had been taken over by All Bar One. I never got around to visiting after they moved and it's too late now.

Sound Control in Dundee; I bought a Gibson Flying V there in the early 90s (worn out and so "cheap") and it was a source for tutorial books, accessories etc. when I was an undergraduate there. They closed fairly recently after spending years under another name: https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/money/14363301/music-store-to-shut-after-20-years-dundee/

My other half (brass bands) informs me that bandsmen consider anyone whose brass instrument (inc. saxophones) isn't silver or brass lacquer to be a coxcomb. The pro jazz players I know use them and they play very well, though I realise that this issue isn't going away. Eventually, there will be complaints about those performers who have iReal project chord charts into their peripheral vision via smart glasses or ocular implants. An irrational prejudice of mine is against acoustic guitarists who confuse their preference for performances where the audience sit in silence listening to Dylan covers for a universal truth that the acoustic guitar has a pure, clean and true sound, unlike nasty electric guitars which sound bad and are always too loud (so if your genre uses them you should switch genre). Though I generally avoid them they end up living rent free in my head.

Amongst the jazz pianists some I know take pains to practice rootless chord voicings, given that the roots are the bassist's job, as well as playing more sparsely. Playing with these pianists is great. Others play as if they are playing for themselves and/or a singer, and leave all the roots in, which is less fun and muddies things up. I recall one at a jam telling me that he hadn't got any charts, but I could just watch his left hand to find out what all the roots of the chords were...

Some developers near where I live have had a planning application to build houses accepted where the directly adjacent neighbour is the shooting club. Next to the chaps firing rifles (and not just .22) there are the Rugby and football clubs. I suspect there will be a few noise complaints once those houses are built. Before moving I took a few late walks through the area and asked locals; the conclusion was that it was a quiet area. What I didn't discover was the plans to build a hotel nearby, with my street being on the quickest route back for hotel guests who've been trying the local pubs. New windows have dealt with most of the nuisance from that.

Never had a strap fail (yet) though I did once enjoy something like this on stage at a jam:

At present I've only got this: I'd quite like another fretless but I almost always end up playing double bass these days so it seems a bit of an extravagance (and I will be knocked out of the gear abstention challenge). This one (with Villex pickups) also crosses over with the fake Fender decals thread... Taking the neck off reveals a "Fender" stamp due to it being licensed (the body's from the same source). The decal (easily removable) is only there for the "well, you didn't bring a proper bass but at least that electric one's a Fender" crowd.