leschirons

If they have exposed pole peices, you will see 4 on the 4 string pickups and five on the 5 string pickups. Don't these need to be in line with the strings? (directly under each string) This has always been an issue with guitars when I've had pickups changed in the past. The 5 string pickups may also be longer and you wouldn't want to have to rout out the body. I would look in the marketplace section for some good secondhand 4 stringers.

[quote name='Hutton' post='456104' date='Apr 7 2009, 07:51 AM']Jams are a great way for musicians to enjoy themselves in a social and informal setting. Therefore, it doesn't matter if you are Coltrane or just a beginner. It is also an excellent opportunity for more experienced musicians to share their ideas with beginners, unless of course they are elitist and only want to play with "proficient" musicians.
I wouldn't say songs like Watermelon Man and Cantaloupe Island are not credible jazz no matter who is playing them. Herbie Hancock's reputation speaks for itself, whether you like it or not is subjective.[/quote]

Spot on.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCtGV3yCcXE"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCtGV3yCcXE[/url]

I know this is not what some would call jazz, it's old and there's some big hair about and maybe a bit twee in places but there you go. I love it. It's got a real feel good factor about this sort of music and would kill to play in an outfit like this.

[quote name='warwickhunt' post='456063' date='Apr 7 2009, 07:58 AM']Try and source an electric bass that has piezos in the bridge. You can then mix and match and get a very useable acoustic bass tone but you'd have none of the problems associated with an acoustic bass and all of the benefits of an electric.[/quote]

That's a good idea.

Dive straight in to the 5. No point in going with a four if you think you're likely to use the B. Check out the Hohner 5 string basses. Good build quality, great price and some of the lightest basses I've ever picked up. Having said that, the greater the neck mass, the better the sound.

On my mic stand, taped on with a little strip of gaffa tape. Only use it for one song (Down to the doctors, Dr Feelgood) It's always in view for when you need it and easy to rip off the tape.

Great player, great interview Thanks.

Career wise, his own worst enemy. Maybe that's what makes some great people great, but usually self destructive.

[quote name='YouMa' post='454551' date='Apr 5 2009, 11:03 AM']I had the same problem with my streamer,im going to fit a preamp to my new fender jazz but i am going to try and get something as uncomplicated as possible that just makes the bass more powerful.[/quote]

That'll probably be a J retro East will it? No routing needed so you can stick the old control plate back if you ever sell it on and it's back to original.

Tried one the 6 stringers owned by a mate. Not the greatest finish and a bit low on output but certainly well playable and for the money, you can't complain.

I would imagine that you already have a style of bass in mind ie, a super jazz , really modern pointy thing, headless etc. Maybe you should first look at the luthiers who have in their range, the general type of bass that you're after as the possibility exists that they may do a bass you love the look of generally but would fancy a different top / electrics / fingerboard radius etc. This may give you you're perfect bass and keep the cost down a bit.

Maybe a semi acoustic electric bass would be good compromise so you can go full on electric afterwards if you want without having to change your instrument.

[quote name='chris_b' post='455076' date='Apr 5 2009, 11:56 PM']Did you ever see Ten Years After on Sunday evenings? They had a weekly residency in about 1967. A few years later, about 1972 or 1973, the Average White Band did the Sunday spot with Robbie Macintyre. He was one of the best drummers I've ever seen.[/quote]

Fraid not. Only saw Ten years after once, but not at the Marquee. Messy, but seriously exciting.

Interesting stuff all this. Makes you wonder if Miles Davis wrote a tune in 4/4 time going from A to D to A to E to D to A, would people call it great jazz or just another 12 bar in A.

I don't think I need to understand what people were trying to achieve when composing or playing. If it sounds good to me, then I like it, and therefore, is percieved good music to me. I went to see Andy Summers' trio at Pizza Express about 10 years ago. He played a number, talked about it's composition for 15 minutes, answered questions from a couple of guys in the audience about why he'd chosen to put an Ebm6+13b5+9E=Mc2 in at that point and spoke about how he'd got into Thelonius Monk at the age of 4 months. Some people really enjoyed it, great, but great, is in the eye of the beholder (or ear in this case) I can highly reccommend the four cheeses special.

And, I like David Sanborn. Marcus Miller seemed to as well. Or maybe some think he was just paying the mortgage when working with him as it wasn't proper jazz

Ah the jazz argument. There are always going to be people who tell you "if you don't like THAT, your mad, listen to this , it's great, you like THAT? it's sh*te.

Well at the end of the day it's all only music whether it's got 2 chords or 167 chords and 15 key changes. If you like something, it's good for you, if you don't, then it's not.

Some think that jazz is some kind of deep philosophy. It's just music, some you can tap your foot to and some you can't like anything else. I love loads of jazz that others would call crap but who cares. Get some songs you like and try and learn them. Must be the place to start I would imagine. I don't think "Jazz" needs analyzing. Just my opinion.

I'll now wait for the floodgates to open.

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='454946' date='Apr 5 2009, 09:51 PM']Is that like A#...... only jazzier??[/quote]

[size=6]Aha, so you do know about jazz already.[/size]

[quote name='thepurpleblob' post='454771' date='Apr 5 2009, 03:47 PM']For you jazzers out there I guess. I have read a number of discussions on here about Jazz concepts that, while often over my head, I find really interesting. I also keep reading variations on "learn some jazz concepts and it'll really set you up as a player". So, is the latter true and if so where do I start? I have no clue about Jazz music - never listed to any which is probably a bad start. Any recommendations?[/quote]

[size=6]Bb[/size]

3 hours? I reckon you got the gig. Well, I hope so anyway, especially if you nailed the ones you didn't know you had to play. Nice one.

[quote name='Oscar South' post='454767' date='Apr 5 2009, 03:43 PM']You should put 'The Seeker' on there, good song.[/quote]

Funnily enough, I did fancy a Who number and would like to get Won't get fooled again in the set.

[quote name='geoffbyrne' post='454516' date='Apr 5 2009, 08:45 AM']Yup, I'm 62 and off for an audition for a rock band today, although my other band is middle-of-the-road

G.[/quote]

Good luck, hope you get it.

Cheers all for the "keep on rockin" encouragement. I know I'll enjoy it, just worried that I have enough stamina and brain cells.

[quote name='Delberthot' post='454566' date='Apr 5 2009, 10:22 AM']we used to do that version of Word Up years ago - fantastic. We also currently do a few of the others.


Part of the reason that I have been investing in lightweight gear and easier ways to transport it is so that I'm not completely broken by the time I reach my 50s so i can still keep on playing.


Isn't it every rockers wish right at the end to die on stage in front of hundreds of screaming fans and go down in a blaze of glory as a legend?[/quote]

You got it right there, a blaze of electrocuted or heart failure glory, on stage. Sad thing is, I played a rock gig a few years back and the vocalist said (over the P.A.) "This will definately be the last song as our bassplayer has a Bowls match in the morning" And he wasn't lying.

Smooth jazz sextet finally fell to bits on the starting line last week. What with keyboard players who are too busy (he writes jingles and stuff for radio and TV) and a pro sax player that won't get out of bed for less than €300, I suppose it was doomed. Shame as it was really good doing a bit of Sade', Larry Carlton and Richard Elliot stuff.

Anyway, the point of this is, being a tad down, I decided I needed something to do so, with three others (2 Brits and a French mate) we decided to play some rock. One rehearsal and we have the first set nailed. It's funny that after having heard all these songs over the years, how easy it is to actually play them. Familiarity with the song I suppose.

Highway to Hell
You shook me all night long
Smoke on the water
Don't believe a word
Word up (Gunn version)
Pretty vacant
Hush
Nothing else matters
Enter Sandman
Rosalie
Whiskey in the jar
You really got me (VH version)
It's my life
Dead or alive

Bugger me if we didn't get a gig for June so should be plenty of time to get another hour up and running. It could be fun but I can't help wondering if I'm too old for all this.

Forgot Paradise City, see what I mean? too old.

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='453277' date='Apr 3 2009, 11:43 AM']I've just had a look at the value of my car and its about the same as the price as the Celinder Update J I sold recently (depreciation on the car of about 50% over the 3 years I've owned it). When I compare the two in terms of mechanical sophistication, technology and sheer amenity, there's no comparison. The car should be worth way more.

I know its to do with market forces and all that but still nevertheless, the idea of trading my car (with its ABS, airbags, electric windows, cd player/radio, precision engineering etc.) for a couple of bits of wood bolted together with some hardware, magnets and basic wiring doesn't seem quite right. Any one else feel the same way?[/quote]

Not meaning to sound condescending but I can see straight away where you've gone wrong with your car investment. Yours has "Precision engineering" that's your problem, you should have bought one with "Jazz" engineering. It would have kept it's value better.

[quote name='bumnote' post='454375' date='Apr 4 2009, 08:55 PM']

This is the earliest picture I can find from about 1967 I am playing a danelectro belzouki 12 string [for the birds so you want to be a rock and roll star and eight miles high probably] through a marshall 100 watt stack. I also had a jaguar or a tele

Note the home made trousers from curtain material and shoes which were hand painted.

I was a crap lead guitar but a good rythm player.[/quote]

Great pic and cool strides, vocalist looks like he's going to be asking "Do you want fries with that?" someday. Some gear investment there too, did you have wealthy parents? Pretty ground breaking covers for the time what with 8 miles high and R & R star. You must've been pretty good. Nice one.

Make sure you've got few crowd pleasers in the sets for the old gits like me.

For pubs and clubs, a good starting P.A (economy wise) would be a studiomaster Vision 708. 700 watts powered mixer, built in effects, really robust and cheap on ebay. A pair of 400 - 500 watt passive cabs are next to nothing secondhand.

Biggest problem you're going to have is not finding the band members, but finding reliable ones and keeping them once they know you want to rehearse probably once a week. They'll all say "yes, count me" in until the committment starts.

Other than that, it'll be great fun (and lucrative if you're sh*t hot)

Good luck mate, go for it.