Soliloquy

[quote name='artisan' post='277840' date='Sep 5 2008, 02:13 PM']hey i'd never knock anyone for studying their instrument (the musical one not the pink one ) but as WOT said such comments as Bilbo made rub people up the wrong way & are totally uncalled for. + just because someone is self taught does not mean they don't know any theory.i started playing when i was 12 years old, i'm 41 years old now & reckon i know my way around the fretboard as well as any player here. infact a very good freind of mine,who happens to be a very good jazz bass player (mind he's in his 60's & has been playing since he was a kid) told me he thought i was a very good technician & one of the best bass players he knows-'nough said. now i'm not being big headed, as i'm a very modest person,those were his exact words-praise indeed from such a bass & jazz master. so to sum up my inane rambling (sorry i'm bored shi7less at work) just because a player has never had any formal tuition does not make him a crap player or in fact a "one trick pony" i thank you. art'[/quote] I think the point is that people were saying that you don't need to know any theory, I totally agree with you about the formal teaching, it isn't necessarily important where the study comes from.

[quote name='Shaun' post='277807' date='Sep 5 2008, 01:44 PM']I've never had a music lesson in my life and have been playing for over 13 years. I’m going to Study at The Institute of Contemporary Music in London this October. I am really keen. I think it will be really beneficial. I’ve learnt to play by myself, but learning music on an academic level will definitely benefit my playing.[/quote] That's a fantastic place, the head of bass studies there is a guy called Terry Gregory, he's a friend of mine, and an excellent player and teacher...........he does play upside down and back to front though, like Jimmy Haslip.

[quote name='wateroftyne' post='277784' date='Sep 5 2008, 01:21 PM']Wow... strong opinions here. Some of them are just plain insulting. Here's summat to ponder. You don't have to go to school to learn how to talk.[/quote] True, your parents teach you...........otherwise you'd perhaps go through life saying goo goo ga ga, which might not get you very far.

I'm new to this forum, though I've been a regular browser. I only actually joined because there's a bass for sale that I'd like to buy. I studied at music college for a couple of years, I have had loads of hours of private tuition from various players, Steve Lawson and Todd Johnson to name but two of them. I alos put in countless hours of personal study from books (I have dozens), and the internet, I love music, and love learning about it. I play funk and jazz mostly, and can play pretty much any style of music if needed.....and I mean play, not just plod along playing the correct root notes (or what I hope are the correct root notes!). I can't work out how you can play with other musicians if you don't know what notes you're playing, it to me sounds like buying a Swedish phrase book, tearing off the side of the page with the English words on, and then going to Sweden for a holiday, sure you're coming out with Swedish words, but are they the right ones lol!. You go to a jam or audition, someone gives you a chart with a few chord symbols on it, say Eb maj, Bb min, F7, how do you get on if you don't know where those notes are, and what notes you can play over those chords. What will the other musicians think if you're stood there plonking away trying to hit a right note, or do you only ever play in one key ?. And as for people telling Bilbo that he's talking b****cks, sorry but he's not, you are. He's giving someone advice about learning some basic theory, basic theory can be learned in a few weeks, with the minimum of effort, and will give a lifetime of rewards. Staying ignorant and only playing in a limited comfort zone is fine, but believe me, having a bit of knowledge and being able to step out of that zone is a magical thing, don't knock until you've tried it. Some of the worlds greatest players couldn't read music, but that doesn't mean that they didn't know any theory, they're two different things.

This was my Stanley bass, I sold it a few years ago now, what a mistake. I wasn't playing it too often though, I was concentrating on my 6 string playing, and a bass like this needs to be played. I will get another someday though, for definite !.

The power stages are different too, one's a switch mode and the other's a class D, not too sure exactly what that means. I found the PS that I tried lacked the depth and sparkle that the 502 has. I actually bought the UL902. The PS range looks a bit odd, not that that's necessarily that important.