risingson

Technique is a redundant thing if you're not contributing anything to the music you perform, in fact it will make your music sound thoroughly conceited. I don't especially enjoy Victor's music but he is always on the money with these kinds of comments and clearly understands music to a very high level.

[quote name='Lfalex v1.1' post='1351596' date='Aug 25 2011, 06:07 PM']The "Bring back Graffiti Yellow" campaign starts here![/quote] I'm entirely with you on this one, vastly underrated finish! As for the OP, I completely agree, Fender lacks a lot of thinking in terms of what they offer as options nowadays. More of a choice of colours would be wonderful.

I laugh it off, usually drop out for a bar or two then carry on when I regain my composure!

I don't subscribe to the quest for tone type of thinking. Vibrating G String put it so perfectly in a thread the other day that I put it in my sig because it's what I'm all about I like gear, and if I had money I'd buy a lot of things but give me one bass for the rest of my life and I wouldn't complain. There's more important things to fuss over. It's generally why I rarely discuss gear on this forum and like to talk more about music because the latter is more important to me.

[quote name='lojo' post='1348301' date='Aug 22 2011, 07:35 PM']Strange how this can work both ways, Obviously there are those who know all the theory and use it in jaw dropping ways, improvising around any theme. However I've also played with a few piano players who can play anything in front of them, but cant do anything off page. Is that down to the core of them or has this been the way they've been taught ?[/quote] Without straying into an argument that I've seen many times before on this forum, you need everything to be the best musician you can possibly be. Great theoretical knowledge, great feel and instinct, and great reading skills as well. However, depending on what area of music your personal tastes lie, maybe only a few of these skills will be applicable to you and therefore you'll choose to develop these skills more than the rest. The kinds of players you describe generally come from a classical background, if I was to generalise in a massive way. For a violinist in an orchestra playing a big concerto, it would be seriously frowned upon if you started to play what wasn't written down in front of you, and that's fine because the music is written in that way and doesn't call for improvisation. Classical music is about controlling orchestras and freedom of expression comes from the composer, not the players.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1348149' date='Aug 22 2011, 05:04 PM']Noone said it would be easy! THe statement was it cannot be taught, not it cannot be taught quickly. Your argument shows only that it can't be taught in a couple of lessons. THAT I would agree with. But that does not mean it cannot be taught. Took me 17 lessons to learn to drive. I reckon I could get Blademan up to speed in 17 hours [/quote] Learning scales and theory is like learning to drive. The stuff you get taught by an instructor will help you meet the needs of any given situation... in theory. However, most people will tell new drivers that when the time comes and you've passed your test and are let loose on the road, that's when you'll actually realise that all the lessons were a very small part of the bigger picture, and that the real learning curve starts when you rack up the miles solo. Experience and familiarity with the demands of the road. Music is exactly the same, you just can't teach people how to groove, it's got to be instinctive. You won't get that instinct through lessons.

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1348072' date='Aug 22 2011, 03:29 PM']My point is simply that what determines your strengths and weaknesses is what you have and have not practised, not some illisive 'it' that you have ot haven't got. If a player can't move forward in some area, it is usually a lack of application and of investment. I have never got beyond the basics of tapping and slapping but it is not because I can't do it (I once was able to play Motherlode and 5G by Jeff Berlin and a couple if Stu Hamm pieces etc). I fail to get good at those areas because I actually don't really value those elements in music and saw no real purpose in investing the time it would take to get to a Manring or Wooten level. Now when we are talking about playing funk, we are not talking about techniques that take thousands of hours to learn like Manring's stuff, we are often talking about relatively minimal lines played in a certain way. To suggest that playing something like 'Cissy Strut' or 'Good Times' can't be taught is, in my mind, a nonsense.[/quote] I still disagree. Teaching can only strengthen and broaden the foundations of an existing talent and develop a better understanding of this talent... but unless you have a passion for a certain kind of music and have submerged yourself for years at playing and listening to it then it cannot be taught. You would agree then for example that a person who has never listened to jazz in their life can be taught over a few hours how to play like Charlie Parker from scratch? It's an extreme example but I don't see much of a difference. Teaching is fine up to a point, but there's just no way you're going to be able to play like these guys without the personal investment of your own time and passion for that music. It's not a framework that teachers can suddenly offer to a student over a couple of teaching hours. The best the teacher will do is offer them the means to explore a certain style of music through introduction and example.

[quote name='Kaasa' post='1347915' date='Aug 22 2011, 12:38 PM']Awesome! Well I'll be staying there for 3 years. BA not the Foundation stuff.[/quote] Good luck with it all, I'm still around Liverpool quite regularly playing so chances are I'll bump into you sooner or later!

[quote name='Kaasa' post='1347803' date='Aug 22 2011, 10:05 AM']Hehe, well its fortunate that i just bought the TC RH450, just because its small and portable then. Kickback amps is that amp+cab or a combo? Gonna live at Agnes Jones House, which is pretty close I've heard. Yeah, Tim was the one judgeing on the audtion in Norway. Seemed like an allright guy! So the drummers on LIPA doesnt have a place to have their drumkits? How is the schedule on LIPA, what subjects and stuff do you have the first year?[/quote] Agnes Jones House is so close that you won't have to worry at all. The Hartkes are combos. They're fine for rehearsals etc. and for live performances in the Sennheiser and the PMA they have Orange amps as far as I'm aware. You'll be able to use your own gear as well. The drummers at LIPA have hardware and drums in each rehearsal room. Yamahas if I remember correctly. All that will be required is that the drummer brings is cymbals I think, but you'll get briefed about all of this in your first week. First year comprises of loads of different things: aural work (getting your ear together and transcribing), improvisation with either Steve Berry, Mike Walker or another outside lecturer... pray you get one of those guys though because they'll blow your mind! Business as well, music production and a few other bits and pieces. It's brilliant, you'll have the best year of your life, trust me!

[quote name='Fat Rich' post='1347812' date='Aug 22 2011, 10:16 AM']In my experience most of the funk comes from the drummer, and [b]very[/b] broadly speaking funk drummers fall into two categories: 1: Drummers with great feel whose beats make you want to jump about, sometimes not the most technical of drummers but can groove really hard. They seem to have looser influences people like Stevie Wonder, the New Orleans drummers, John Bonham... whatever the genre, they play grooves I can't sit still to. Some put a small amount of swing to almost everything they play which makes them fun and inspiring to play bass to. For me this is where the funk is. 2: Drummers with great time but lacking that certain something, often technically excellent but their timing is a little too regimented. Their influences seem to be the more produced stuff like Donald Fagan, EWF and super tight drummers like Dave Weckl (although he seems to have loosened up a bit recently). Playing bass along to some of these guys is about as inspiring as playing to a metronome, most are happy for me to push and pull the groove a little to try and bring some life to it, but a few just don't get it.[/quote] I agree with the sentiment of what you're saying, but whilst the guys that have played with Donald Fagan are all excellent drummers with incredible feels, they were all being told to play as cleanly as possible because that's what Fagan and Becker wanted for the tracks they performed on. Bernard Purdie and Steve Jordan for example are two of the most hardcore funk drummers I've ever heard and can get as low down and dirty as any of James Brown's drummers. It's hard when the boundaries of the categories get blurred like this, but I understand what you're saying. [quote name='Doddy' post='1347851' date='Aug 22 2011, 11:11 AM']I've never found Bonham (or Zeppelin in general) to be funky or groovy or whatever.[/quote] With respect Doddy, you can't have listened to very much Zeppelin then! I remember watching Paul Turner from Jamiroquai telling a few of us that he loved playing along to AC/DC tracks like Back In Black because they were so 'funky'. And he's right, it does have an undeniably funky feel to it.

[quote name='Grand Wazoo' post='1347698' date='Aug 22 2011, 01:33 AM']Well when applied to bass, according to this famous italian bassist / teacher it can be taught. In this video he demonstrates 7 different level of funk technique from beginner to advanced (also check out his other videos) I warn you this guy is a monter! I know what you are all saying now, and yeah that's exactly what I said after watching that video, "f*** me!" do you still wanna play bass now? [/quote] That's not funk. That's another happy-go-slap youtube'er who thinks he's go something going on, but there's no space, there is no rhythmic interest and it's far too conceited. Simplicity seems to be the hardest thing for most bass players to get to grips with when talking about this kind of music. Funk isn't some kind of magic formula that you plug into and suddenly play. There's also no prerequisite to suddenly start slapping either. This is funk. Not super tight, not super polished, but this is what people should be aiming for:

No, you've got to grow up and be listening to that kind of music, it's got to be in your blood. You can't teach a 'feel', which is what funk is.

[quote name='Kaasa' post='1347379' date='Aug 21 2011, 07:00 PM']Cheers! How is the LIPA bar, is that like common meetup place for the students? And risingsun, do the drummers get their own rehearsal room on the school? To put their gear and stuff in? Which can work like a bandroom, which you can use after school? And how is a typical schoolday on LIPA ?[/quote] Not quite, 3rd and 4rd floor of LIPA have rehearsal rooms where you'll have seminars in and you can book these rooms out for big band practices. The 5th floor they have what are known as 'pods', which are small, noise reduction style rooms that a few people can fit in. A few of these rooms have Yamaha upright pianos in them, and a few of them have Hartke kickback amps that do their job just fine but aren't amazingly special. There's no real space for storage in LIPA, something I always found difficult but it's not a massive problem, especially if you're living close by (my guess is you're in Cambridge Court or Lennon Studios?). You'll have a great time. Make sure you ask Tim (your bass tutor) about the Eden Metro combo he's got lying around and whether or not he's had it fixed yet. And tell him Liam said hello too! Any other questions just let me know, I can probably help you out.

Hey Kaasa, welcome to Liverpool. You'll enjoy LIPA, I went there too. Nice Jazz as well.

[quote name='steve-soar' post='1346242' date='Aug 20 2011, 12:02 PM']He nearly ran me and my friends over in London, in 1979. He was in a white Ford Escort. He wound the window down and shouted "f***ing little bastards" A true honour.[/quote] That is utterly brilliant!

He's always been a big inspiration to me as well, strange seeing as Thin Lizzy's kind of rock would never usually have been my thing. There's something about his bass playing that always gets me. Still a very sad loss.

Disney are notoriously bad at listing their musical personnel, and yes the bass playing is always top notch. Probably a well known L.A guy like Neil Stubenhaus but I wouldn't like to second guess!

3 hours is insane, as quite a few people have pointed out! We've got a bigger setup to do with our band and we're pretty much always done within half an hour to 45 minutes, leaving 10 minutes to soundcheck. You need to get priorities in order and stop with the egos, you're not being paid to take that long to set up either so it's not at all in your interest to take that long! Be the one who gets things done and inspire the rest of them.

Life goes on eh. I've got the WT800 and no option to swap channels so I suppose having two lots of choices is a plus in some way.

Not my thing, the first video was typical YT slap and the second he slapped all over one of my favourite tunes of 2007. On the Chrome Streamer front, I've played a few of them and they look and sound outrageous! Very special and unique sounding instruments are Warwicks, but I'll just never completely agree with them.

[quote name='oldslapper' post='1343849' date='Aug 17 2011, 11:36 PM']I love the fact that Guy Pratt's "arsenal" consists of a couple of MM's, Fenders and a Spector. Just ordinary fare. Think what you like of him, but he's done a couple of paid gigs I believe. Whenever I've seen him he's got a fender jazz in his hands (his wedding present aside).[/quote] And Pino Palladino. He's got [i]some[/i] fancy basses but he's got a few Squiers in his collection as well and actually, his set up isn't exactly awe-inspiring. His playing however is some of the best, if not [u]the[/u] best session playing in the world right now. I like expensive basses, but they don't make the world of difference to me or the kind of player I am and I could easily get the work done I need to with a bass that costs less that £200. People tend to put too much stock into paying for pricey instruments and not enough time working out what will make them better players, so whilst expensive hand-crafted basses like Fodera, Sei etc. are nice, I don't see why you'd technically have to spend anymore than £200-300 on a bass if you're a 'pro' getting a job done. Like VGS said, I'd be willing to bet that a large percentage of customers of many high-end brands are not full time professional working musicians but more hobbyists.

They look really interesting and would be very keen to try one out. Still got more of an itch for a Sadowsky though now