silverfoxnik

[quote name='cheddatom' post='117979' date='Jan 10 2008, 04:51 PM']You should get him to autograph your balls![/quote]

Currently learning 'Rasberry Beret (live version) by Prince. And 'Ray of Light' but a great version by Natasha Bedingfield, not Madge's original.. Am also re-learning 'Love's Foolosophy' by Jamiroquoi, with a little help from mr-russ!

[quote name='bnt' post='117530' date='Jan 9 2008, 11:20 PM']A couple of other names I like from this era are Barry Adamson (Magazine, Visage), Curt Smith (Tears For Fears), and Andy McCluskey of OMD (when he actually played the bass).[/quote] +1 definitely for Barry Adamson - Magazine were a great band by the way! Barry has had a lot of solo stuff out over the years too - check out 'The Murky World of Barry Adamson'. Very experimental and not at all what you'd expect from a bass player perhaps.. The bass player in fashion was a guy called Mulligan; I did some gigs in my band at the time with them in 1979 and 1980.. Their first singer Luke was 6ft 10".. Fashion were another really interesting British band from that post-punk period... One of the bass players on some of the Gary Numan stuff was a guy called Andy Coughlan who's a terrific fretless player... I think Gary Tibbs did some good stuff with Roxy Music and also, Sir Norm from the Blockheads needs a mention too! Along with Elvis Costello's bassist who's name escapes me... And was it Colin Moulder of XTC; another good player... Strictly speaking, some of these names I've mentioned aren't from the New Romantic era but if you want to talk about that phase specifically, then Leroy Gorman of Bow Wow Wow really deserves a mention.. A very unique style and sound and very underrated IMHO.

[quote name='bass_ferret' post='116927' date='Jan 9 2008, 12:22 PM']My bum notes are much more audiable now I have got better gear [/quote] Mind you, when you came and saw my band in Worthing last September John, the bum notes and speaker distortion from my blown GK cab were equally noticable I seem to recall...

[quote name='Geddys nose' post='116816' date='Jan 9 2008, 09:59 AM']A crap band with good gear will always sound crap and a good band with crap gear will always sound good- My Dad always told me that [/quote] +1 A friend of mine once bet his band that he could play a whole gig with his bass detuned a semitone and that no one in the audience would notice. He won his bet - the RAF audience thought the gig was great even though the bass was horribly out of key all night. (Maybe he was out of key every gig? ) If audiences don't notice that, then the chances that they'd notice some of the more subtle differences in the sound quality of the gear/room etc, are probably pretty unlikely. Isn't it a 'trueism' that the General Public only notice when things are really bad and hardly ever notice when things are really good?

Hi Folks, Just want to post some positive words about Russ, who's a great chap and a brilliant bassist! Brief story is that Russ used to play bass in the band I now play in, so when I called him up recently to get some help with a Jamiroquoi track in the set that I've been struggling with massively - not helped by the fact that I don't particularly like JK or the song - Russ kindly came over and helped me through it this week. We had a good few hours discussing & comparing basses and amps (...fabulous SR5 HH you've got there by the way), talking about music generally and of course, doing some playing and working through the JK song. I wish I had even a fraction of the talent and knowledge about bass that Russ has when I was his age (which is a long time ago) but what's really great is that he's got his feet on the ground about it all and is totally into his band, bass and music generally.. Russ has got some gear for sale at the moment so for anyone interested in that, I'd highly recommend Russ as someone to deal with as he's very upfront and honest... Other than that; cheers Russ and I'm looking forward to seeing you gig with The Doppler Shift at some point soon! Nik

As Homer said, Peter is an absolute gentleman. A pleasure to deal with - honest and sincere and looks after his equipment really well. So if you buy from him, you know that what you get will be top notch! Not only that, Peter has great taste in basses, is very knowledgeable on all sorts of stuff that gets discussed here on the forum and is someone who brings real thought and a sense of conscience to the debate.. Good sense of humour too!

[quote name='Davemarks' post='116640' date='Jan 8 2008, 10:28 PM']I'd love to get Jeff Berlin in on this thread. I remember him saying something along the lines of: 'most people who want to teach themselves don't know what they need to learn.' it's like trying to use a map that you are drawing as you drive the route. It's much easier to have someone with you who knows the way and can direct you to your goal, whatever that may be. (whether that be a private tutor, a friend or a school) To imply that we'd all be better off just locking ourselves away in a practice room bashing away at Brown eyed girl and mustang sally (possibly at the wrong tempo, with bass fills in the wrong key and a few notes in the groove the wrong length) is madness to me. Often, one's goals in an artform are determined by their understanding of the art. i.e - when we start playing, if we can play something that sounds remotely like a bassline we love, it creates a feeling of incredible uplifting success. For some, that concept progresses, for others... it doesn't really change. I also find it strange that some of us seem to have a predetermined notion of what it means to 'succeed' as a musician. Personally I feel that if you truly love music, studying it would only make you more objective about your playing, help you to really 'hear' what you sound like, give you more heartfelt experiences and bring you a greater understanding of the art. Regardless of the gigs you play and whether you're a 'big name' in the music world, to play music well in an honest and heartfelt way is a beautiful thing in itself. Art is an outward expression of an inner emotion and some people are more tied up with the feeling it gives them than the feeling it gives others. I can't teach someone how to emote but I can be honest with them when they are not giving me anything and try to help them get past that lack of objectivity. Explain to them that they don't have to slap so fast or play all those fills, that their tone is important, that every note has a purpose with in a riff and that slapping in a ballad or soloing bebop in a reggae tune is inappropriate and selfish. The sad fact is, most people aren't honest enough with themselves. That's why being taught is a beautiful thing. P.S. Every week I have a wing chun instructor who's 4 inches shorter than me and 2 stone lighter teach me that being bigger or stronger doesn't win a fight. That's a fact that I'm happy to now realise. I'm not as tough as I thought I was. But I'm getting a little better every week....[/quote] Some very well expressed and quite profound thoughts that I have to agree with you on Dave and it's obvious you believe strongly in teaching as a good thing and, I definitely agree with you on that. I also agree with you that having guidance and help is good too - doesn't matter whether you're Mozart or McCartney; you had to be guided and inspired from someone or somewhere in the beginning. And certainly one of the most recurring and depressing scenarios I used to encounter when I was an artist manager for 7 years, was that many very talented musicians/artists just weren't honest with themselves or willing to listen to other talented/experienced/supportive people in order to develop themselves and their talent. Usually, that led to them not fulfilling their potential, which was such a waste of talent.. But equally, as Jebo1 says: [i]"The idea of musical tuition is something everyone here agrees with, I certainly benefited from being taught, and I'm sure everyone on here has had positive, illuminating and downright life-changing (in a musical sense) revelations from lessons. No-one denies this. The problem is when music colleges try and sell to influential youngsters the idea that they can obtain all of the musical experience and skills they require to become a well paid (or at least financially solvent) professional musician from a college course taught by (in some cases at least) unsuccessful musicians. I think this is disingenous."[/i] And maybe that Jebos1's point has hit the nail on the head because I suspect that neither the majority of musicians attending these courses nor the people who run them are really interested in the 'art' of it all - what they are really more interested in is the 'business' and the 'means to an end' of it all??

[quote name='alexclaber' post='116348' date='Jan 8 2008, 05:03 PM']Alex P.S. And don't even attempt to do the D'Angelo/?uestlove/Pino/Saadiq thing unless you want your brain to melt or you're such a bad mofo that you can't help yourself! Go here for elucidation - actually this is so badass I shall embed it:[/quote] That's fabulous! Thanks for the link.... !

[quote name='Beedster' post='116373' date='Jan 8 2008, 05:45 PM']There's too many people in education who are there because they didn't make it in the specific domain themselves ("those who can't do teach"). Consequently, many of these educators have no first-hand experience of the mechanisms required to succeed in the real World. This doesn't matter in many academic disciplines which are knowledge-based. However, I don't believe that this is true of music. Some of what I consider the most powerful and emotive music I've ever heard is played by musicians who are very poor technicians, whilst other music I consider equally powerful and emotive is played by brilliant technicians. Logically therefore, technique is not a requisite for creativity (IMHO that is). What I believe IS common to both the technically naive and the technically gifted creators of such music is their emotional connection with the material (lyrically and musically), with their fellow musicians and with their audience. Show me a lecturer who can teach that? I suspect that in the fullness of time we'll start to see that the only viable career path for the majority of graduates of such music schools - at least those who want to pursue their chosen profession - is to take up teaching posts in such music schools Chris[/quote] Have to agree with all that you say there Chris, but it's a scary thought what you've said in the last sentence!!

[quote name='alexclaber' post='116276' date='Jan 8 2008, 03:20 PM']Last year we playing on the same bill as a BIMM band. They were insanely tight, grooved well and generally did all the right things on a technical basis. Unfortuately they were also totally hopeless at writing songs, particularly on the lyrical front, deeply uncool, totally emotionless and one of the least rock and roll things I have ever encountered. Music by numbers. A bit like Dream Theater actually... Alex[/quote] That sounds very much in line with another Basschat member who I was talking to yesterday who attended BIMM for 1 year but he left feeling it wasn't taking him where he wanted to go. One thing he said really surprised me, which was that BIMM often encourage their students to be in as many bands as possible which he described as having 'killed the live music scene in Brighton' because people were in loads of bands which they didn't really have their heart in at all!! To me, that's just crazy advice

Great collection - the Sabre is especially nice!

[quote name='Beedster' post='115386' date='Jan 7 2008, 01:03 PM']Education is big money, and very few in education examine the rationale for, or even the ethics of, what they teach. I have been teaching (graduate, postgraduate and doctoral) a very specific area of psychology for years and have just resigned my post because I am fed up with what education has become in the UK, i.e., mass market, exploitative and in many cases, pretty much worthless to the student. My view of the music schools in question are informed by the extremely poor quality teaching materials I've seen from a few, so I agree with Nik's comments. Whether there is a place for full-time, systematic and high-level education in popular music performance akin to that in orchestral performance is a question that perhaps requires more thought than I suspect many of the institutions, and even the students, give it. As somneone said above, it ain't rock and roll really is it Chris Note: All opinions are those of the author and no animals were hurt in the making of this rant [/quote] Hi Folks, Thanks for taking time to post your thoughts here, some of which have got me thinking about my original post. I kind of agree with Chris's point about this idea of education in the UK becoming ,[i] "..mass market, exploitative and in many cases, pretty much worthless to the student."[/i] and as a teacher, he should know. One of the things that I find so mystifying about this in an 'Alice in Wonderland' kind of way is that the recent massive growth in music schools/colleges has come at a time when the industry has shrunk to the point where it cannot possibly support all these new competent or brilliant musicians, no matter how much they've been taught how to be 'professional in their playing, their attitude, keep to a diary, learn how to network etc! My guess is that because there's no real money left in the music biz from record sales that all the new schools/college are and have been created and run by the people who used to be able to eke out a living through being in a signed band situation? On the other point about creativity, someone said that the really gifted 10% or so will always come shining through and I think that's fair to say.. As it is about how if you love something you're studying, then you'll do well at it. So, I have definitely taken those positive comments about the music schools on board.. My gut reaction though is that Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon, Elvis, Jaco, The Ox even Mark King for example , would never have even considered going through these type of music schools.. Rather, they would have been too busy getting out there doing it for real each in their own unique way.. Nik

I have a DJ5 in LPB that I bought last year from P-T-P and it's a lovely bass.. One of the best and most authentic 5 string Jazz basses around!

[quote name='99ster' post='115741' date='Jan 7 2008, 08:23 PM']Oh what the hell - George deserves another pic - he's earned it! [/quote] He is amazingly cool Definitely agree about the atmosphere of black & white photos....

Ultra-cool collection Chris - congratulations on all the hard work! Definitely up there with WoT's collection of Fenders.... You do realise that it was very foolish to say "I'm never going to buy another bass" to us lot of jealous, diary-keeping bass maniacs who'll only be too pleased to remind you of the date & time you said it when the next bass arrives at Chez Beedster??

Hi, I've sent you a PM with my friends contact details.. He'd be interested to meet up with you, Cheers Nik

I've never used a Hartke cab but I do have the Peavey 410 TVX and it's been absolutely great for me. I use it with a Gallien Krueger 700 RB head and play 5 string basses through it and it delivers a really good sound - very punchy, extended bottom end that delivers on the low 'B' and good tops.. Excellent value for money! I'm sure the Hartke is good too but have yet to try one personally.

Hi Folks, The son of a dear family friend has been coming to see me for a bit of help & advice for 18 months or so, ever since he started at Brighton Institute of Modern Music (BIMM), where's he's studying bass. When he comes round, he plays me an MP3 of a dreadfull, dull, uninspiring piece of music that sounds like the awful offspring of a composition by the keyboard player from Rockschool and Cliff Richard's team of pop writers - it is just f*****g awful! The poor lad then spends a few hours learning to play along to this drivel whilst I sit and offer words of encoutragement and make tea... Trouble is, this kid is really, really talented - a total natural musician and a very gifted bass player. But this stupid course is going to suck all the imagination, excitement and talent out of him if he stays there any longer!! The thing is, all the great bass players that people talk about on this forum (and others) like James Jamerson, Jaco, John Entwhistle etc, etc, all approached bass playing in a unique way that would never be taught on courses like the ones that are run at these so called 'schools of music'. These pioneering bassists broke all the rules yet have managed to make great music and inspire thousands of bass players the world over. So, shouldn't we be teaching and/or encouraging individuality and freedom of expression over and above everything else in the hope that we let the next generation of young creative bass players come shining through? Any thoughts on this really welcome as I'd like to discuss it with this young lad and see what he thinks about his future before it's too late... Cheers Nik

Nice basses... This made me chuckle though: [i]"Beedster Sig. P Mk. I"[/i] but then again, the Beedster does have a way of working his basses.....

[quote name='dabootsy' post='114652' date='Jan 6 2008, 01:12 PM']it is a wesley bass off ebay for £52.00 new, sounds and plays better than basses 10 times the price[/quote] Fantastic!