musicbassman

I'm 'blessed' with having a resting face that always looks slightly grumpy or annoyed, but this has absolutely nothing to do with my actual mood.

Not a lot I can do about this, and I don't think it's done me any favours over the years.........

This pic was taken at a gig a few weeks ago and is about as close as I can manage to get to a smile!  😬 👍

For anyone needing a quick breakdown of exactly what an IR is, here's a useful video from Adam Steel:

     😊😊😊😊 👍👍

Mastery, and also a little sorcery at work here, surely. 😊 👍

And then there's a few comments below from people who simply don't understand ebb and flow, and nuanced syncopation.......

..."minor timing errors in the bass"...........

......"completely lacking in any pocket".............. 😳

and look out for a lovely bit of bass nonsense at 3.05, even Fagen must have cracked a little smile at that.

31 minutes ago, Boodang said:

Stratus - Billy Cobham

 

Once you start playing the groove you just don't want to stop!

.....until you have to 'cos you've got severe cramp 🥺........but it's certainly a great riff. I can manage about 4 minutes of it before my fingers admit defeat !  😳

Oh, what a great song! -  and Anthony Jackson on bass. Always happy to play this, it never gets stale.

1970, and this is embarrassing.

I’ve possibly done a couple of thousand gigs by now, and pretty well all are forgotten, but you always remember the first, don’t you ?

This was in Exeter, and my first proper gig at 18. I was playing a Danelectro Longhorn bass through a Linear Concord amp and an old Selmer 2x15 cabinet.

The band had rehearsed in the local church hall since forever, but I don’t think the songs were getting any better. I can remember playing Taste’s ‘What’s Going On’, Hendrix’s ‘Cross Town Traffic’ and Cream’s ‘White Room’ amongst others.

We got a gig in a local youth club about a mile from the church hall where we’d been rehearsing and also kept our gear, but as we had no means of transport we were seriously planning on CARRYING the gear the mile long walk to the club. Then realised at the last minute this was a completely daft idea, so managed to persuade a reluctant builder neighbour to take us there in his van.

The club was full of bovver boys/skinheads and their girls, who were all wearing identical short coats which I seem to think were called Crombies or something like that.  They scowled at us as we set up and things didn’t get any better.

We’d only played four or five numbers (which had been completely ignored by the audience) when the doors burst open and a rival gang of skinheads from another club turned up and a full scale brawl quickly ensued, chairs and tables flying everywhere. To try and continue playing would have been pointless.

After a short while the local police turned up and cleared the place.

We were paid £8. £5 went to the builder for the van, and as this was pre-decimal times we were left with 15 shillings each. 

In case you were wondering, this is from the Youtube comments re the mute fitted on his P bass:

It is a standard fender Jaguar mute, that belongs under the rocking offset bridge originally. It does not belong on a p-bass at all, but fits the need perfectly. There's mute kit sets available for about 30-40 dollars (original Fender) plenty of videos Out there how to drill the necessary holes. Same for the precision as on the jaguars. Check out this site on how it gets set up and was originally used: https://www.google.com/amp/s/mmguitarbar.wordpress.com/2017/04/17/demystifying-part-5-the-fender-mute/amp/

I was a big fan of their very fresh sound when they first surfaced, which I think was around 1980, and I saw them live a couple of times. Leigh Gorman was a monster player and a master at pick playing which suited their 'tribal beats' (as I think their sound was described at the time)

Malcolm McClaren was a canny promoter and made much of Annabellas jailbait image, and also the band's references to home taping, which was a hot issue at the time.

All seems a long time ago now, but Leigh Gorman's bass style really suited the music and still sounds absolutely on point today  👍

I'm on the fence about this. 

Tredici Bacci do some odd arrangements of songs but this one's so way outside the field that some may think it's edging towards a send up.

I thought some of you might like a listen to draw your own conclusions.  It was a great song, after all.  🙂

26 minutes ago, Reggaebass said:

note lengths and articulation

For those still slightly bemused by Jamerson's abilities, those words are exactly what he's all about. 

I've been playing bass since forever, but I didn't really 'get' Jamerson until I was in my 40's............ 🙂

As some of you may have noticed, I'm a massive fan of Cardiacs music.

Tim Smith (RIP) was the driving force and composer extraordinaire behind the band, but never overlook the complex and cleverly crafted basslines played by his brother Jim.

So, here's a guy who only describes himself as 'G' doing a pretty well note perfect cover of the acrobatic bass line to 'Dog Like Sparky'

B****y genius in my opinion, both the original and this cover. 🙂

What a clear and honest advertisement, @Clarky, you are a credit to the BC community.  🙂👍

I'm surprised no one's mentioned strap weight ?

I bought a very nice wide padded leather strap a couple of years ago - very comfortable, but it weighed 1 kg on it's own !

Not much point in searching for a nice light bass if you're then going to put a 1kg strap on it............

36 minutes ago, Bassfinger said:

So what if I do Jazz now and again?  I can control it. I can give up any time I want.

You're missing a trick there, @Bassfinger

I use P for my regular hit (See right, below) but then some weekends I combine P and J for that little bit of extra (See left, below)  😁👍

8 hours ago, Hellzero said:

If you want to hear a lefty 12 strings (no octave) fretless bass player in tune and having something to say, better watch this:

 

Blimey, he's a bit good, isn't he ? A new name to me. Not a big fan of fretless myself, but well worth watching.

A lot of intelligent commentary throughout the video, and he does play a standard Jazz bass on a couple of tracks (fretless, of course)

Well, @Strawbs664, suggest you could start by watching this brief video from Tantacrul which gives you a potted explanation and history of the band.

By the way, this video was put up 5 years ago when frontman Tim Smith was very ill, but as you may know, he has now moved on to the great gig in the sky 😥

I'm a massive Cardiacs fan, so this appeared in my YouTube feed.

Not to be taken seriously, but a great mashup of various people 'playing' Fiery Gun Hand. There is some footage of the actual band playing in there as well.

And extra bonus points for the girl being thrown a Flying V at the start of the epic guitar solo. 😉👍

8 hours ago, fleabag said:

Also means i can check the gitards volume 

Well, @fleabag, we bass players can 'check' a gitards volume, but that doesn't mean we can do anything about it.

We are about as powerless over gitards as any other regulatory authority, like those that control the energy or water industries.

So, instead of Ofwat, maybe could be called Offvol.

We could send the gitard a strongly worded letter about excessive volume after the soundcheck, that'll show 'em ..........

43 minutes ago, TimR said:

Benevolent dictatorship.

I'm with @TimR on this. Back in the day I was rather more idealistic and thought bands should be democratic, but with the benefit of rather too many years of playing I can see that this is how bands end up directionless and with confusing set lists that don't really appeal to the band's target audience, or anybody, come to that.

But I'm talking about cover bands here, where the usual aim is to get a regular stream of reasonably well paid gigs and hopefully enjoy playing as well.

However, for bands doing all original material maybe a more democratic approach makes sense ?  Discuss.......... 

Ah - It now turns out the actual gig is near St Albans in Hertfordshire, so maybe someone based in that area might also be interested in this. There is possibly a permanent gig going there also. They've put this up on Join My Band:

Hi all

I'm posting this in General Discussion as it's more likely to be noticed than the 'Bassists Wanted' section.

I've been offered a dep on 28th Jan but the band want to do a couple of rehearsals in the Farnborough area prior to the gig as they're running in a new guitarist as well, and this is a bit outside my usual area.

Material is mostly 80's post punk and the usual - Oasis, Blur, Undertones etc. Definiitely not soul or funk.

Drop me a PM if you're interested. Their current regular bass player is unwell.

Thanks  🙂

There's a link to a Youtube clip showing him 'playing' the guitar fitted with this.

Sounds like an 8 year old who's got hold of his big brothers electric guitar and is trying to impress his Mum.

Utterly deluded. I really don't think other opinions are available.

3 hours ago, Marky L said:

Can excessive heft result in unfortunate exhibition of cleft?

Oh please God no, I've seen too many examples of roadies hairy clefts over the years when they bend over to pick up a PA bin.......... 😳