Hector

Sounds like it's from his DVD "Groove Workshop". Worth buying.

I've been getting a bit of hayfever recently (occupational hazard of living in the thames valley apparently!), and have been a little bunged up recently in the nose and sinuses. Strangely, I've noticed this can have an effect on my intonation. Sometimes when playing scales I notice I'm a bit out, so i just cover my nose and blow (like you do on a plane), which equalises the pressure. Suddenly I can hear more clearly, and my intonation immediately improves! Has anyone noticed anything similar?

I guess it doesn't make sense given that traffic is so low. I have this ideal forum in mind: the attitude of Basschat with the traffic of Talkbass!

http://youtu.be/YKUOB8MN4Kc

To be honest, I'd much rather two separate DB sections - one for talk of instruments/equipment, and one for talk of technique/playing. EDIT - I know there's a general technique/theory part of the forum as a whole, but 95% of it is irrelevant to playing upright - I'm not looking for conversations about tabs.

[quote name='timbass' timestamp='1372318038' post='2124106'] 3/4 contrabass, Thomastik Spirocore medium strings, jazz played for an hour a day on average. What is the recommended interval between string replacement? All the current strings were new in March 2012 and still seem fine, but how would I know? [/quote] Change them? Spiros take at least a year to really get good!

I kid you guys not, it was pretty transcendent. I was a couple of licks away from seeing my spirit animal.

My amplification vibe is so brilliant at the moment - trumpet player on a gig a few days ago said he loved my sound, and he loved even more how I was able to keep it when amplified. So pleased to hear that Even better, I found out that my head, 1x10 and clothes etc. fit into a small wheely suitcase so no more carrying a cab on my back! Life is good.

On the topic of playing by ear: I haven't had time to transcribe much in the last fortnight. I had a gig on Tuesday where I was really struggling to hear what I wanted to play clearly. Today, I had a gig where my soloing and walking lines came directly out of my head and through the bass with little effort and no 'conscious' thinking - almost as if playing by pure instinct or as if singing. This is the first time that has happened, and the feeling was indescribably wonderful. I expect I'll be chasing that for years to come. What made the difference? Two hour transcribing on Wednesday evening. Really opens up the ears.....

Edited - seems to work now. If not, it's Three Note Voicings and Beyond by Randy Vincent

Speaking of 10ths etc., Chris Fitzgerald over at TalkBass posted a really great little one-page article on two-note shell voicings and using them on bass to comp chord changes, which I've attached. It's basically either root + 7th or root +10th (although I find for some chords, root + 13 is a really nice alternative). Those sorts of larger intervals sound great on bass, see this video for an example, Janek is all about 10ths: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNVOgihBbig[/media]) If you want to get into three-note voicings (which I see as the practical maximum on a bass), you can start with R37 (which is the same as the type II voicing in the attached file, I call it a closed voicing) or R73 (which is type I, or open voicing). These tend to work above the 12th fret on the top 3 strings. If you want to try to walk + comp (as in this video: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIE9YlmAPNU[/media]) you can just use any of those voicings and drop the root an octave. Obviously, this is a bit easier on a 6 or a 5 with a high C, as you have more upper register to play with. These shell voicings get a [b]lot[/b] of mileage - there's so many possibilities based in chord substitution e.g. playing a Db7 voicing where a G7 ought to be etc. This ties in a lot with the Barry Harris method of thinking about harmony. I would recommend working out all your 7th chord types (maj min dom dim) in closed and open - not a lot of work as it's all geometry so you know every key straight away! From those basic shells, you can start playing rootless voicings to comp through changes like a guitar player. Typically, take off the root and add a tension note on top e.g. a 9 or 13, or even an 11 if you want. You can get some lush sounding voicings with altered tensions on dominant chords, b13 b9 and #11 are all quite delicious. If there's any interest, I could whip up a little lesson on these rootless voicings and some basic shapes, although all my material is basically from the first few of this amazing book, which I highly recommend: [url="http://www.shermusic.com/new/9781883217662.shtml"]http://www.shermusic...883217662.shtml[/url] That book gets really deep, and since I'm more an upright player these days I've only started scratching the surface. For all the voicings mentioned so far, Chris' rule of Type I leading to Type II and vice versa applies for really smooth voice leading.

[quote name='Coilte' timestamp='1371037873' post='2108896'] My knowledge of theory is fairly basic, so I am not really in a position to argue the point either way. All I know is what works for me. Carol Kaye's views on scales are well known, and are not always agreed with. In fairness, the "Study Bass" site does not say that learning scales stops you learning chord tones. It is geared towards beginners and emphasises the fact that while scales are very important to learn ( it would be silly to argue otherwise IMO), chord tones are equally important. Often, beginners claim to "know" their scales. This usually consists of being able to play them backwards, forwards, up, down, around and all over the neck, and this is good. However, ask them how chords are derived from scales, why some chords are major, some minor etc., or can they harmonise the major scale, and their eyes glaze over. IMO, this is the point being made on the "Study Bass" site. [/quote] Yeah, exactly. Chords [b]and[/b] scales. Chord tones are a really quick and powerful way to clearly outline the harmony, and much mileage can be gotten out of the idea of hitting prominent chord tones (3 and 7 primarily) on strong beats. In particular, guide tone lines are really useful for outlining harmony when changes go by at a gallop (google it, there's some good info out there). I would recommend this page for excellent practice material (from a very respected educator) based on chord tones and approaches to them: http://www.simonpurcell.com/Learning/index.htm However, scales are every bit as useful, especially when thinking of the material to connect chord tones over longer passages or when a collection of chords implies a common scale over a larger section of a tune. Scale tones not in contained within chord tones act as a source of tension, and can create some very beautiful sound. Every mature improvisor should be able to consider and use these tones. So yes, Fatback and Bilbo are spot on - a composite approach with an understanding of the relationship between chords and scales is the way forward. Practice your scales in: 2nds, 3rds, 4ths etc., in triads and 7th chords (loads of ways to do this, ascending or descending only, or asc then desc, or desc then asc, just for starters). This will help you understand scales as containing chords. Both will help you in terms of getting the music in your head and in your hands, as well as linking those two. As an aside, I think it's important to be aware that using chord tones well takes about as much effort as using a more scale-based approach - there are no shortcuts here. Quite a lot of music education out there (e.g. total saturation of the market with different method books) is based on the idea that somehow we can work out a quick or easy way to become a great musician. It doesn't happen that way, it takes a metric ton of effort and then some. If you want to debate the nitty gritty about how to go about practising, you will get good at doing just that. If you want to be good at playing the bass, you should spend your time on that.

Coilte, both posts make excellent points but are based on the (false) assumption that learning scales somehow stops you learning your chord tones?!

I hear you R man, it's been quite a learning insight (particularly the stuff about motivic development) which will feed into my playing over the coming months for sure with what I hope will be great benefits to the listenability of my soloing. It's also hammered home many things I suspected about what I need to crack down on in my own playing. Still, bloody hard work getting time to hand it all in!

Masochistic tendencies.

Do it, if you're having a rough time with strings, you could find a cheapish and decent set second hand on here or elsewhere on the net.

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1369139849' post='2085258'] Ps:I couldn't do that run on a double bass [/quote] [url="http://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/6beb96cde2be9818a00ebf0224aa97777767691a"]http://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/6beb96cde2be9818a00ebf0224aa97777767691a[/url] That's my best effort at taking it down - timings approximate, and tempo arbitrary!

Very true, taken on board. I think I can iron that sort of thing out by working on spots in tunes where I see the harmony less clearly on the fingerboard. Out of interest, why aren't you doing the course on DB? Will take that line down and try to work up to it - here's hoping

Nice take Bilbo, thought that had some really lovely moments and was well-constructed. Really dug that double time line, need to get my DB chops up a la Christian McBridge so I can drop in a few of those! Thanks for the feedback. I see what you mean (I think, tell me if I've misinterpreted!) about the confidence issue, sometimes I'm not completely certain of the note I'm wanting to hit. I guess intonation is a lot to do with how clearly you hear in your head what you want to play - duff notes tended to be in places in the harmony where I was less comfortable (e.g. that B7alt at the end, haven't shed my altered vocabulary that much, or that F#m7b5 to F-7 change). I certainly feel less secure at points like that, so it's interesting to hear that it filters into my intonation....

Would love some feedback from you chaps - not sure which version of Assignment 3 take to submit for grading! Was thinking of using this: [url="https://soundcloud.com/albert_street/assignment-3-500-miles-high"]https://soundcloud.c...-500-miles-high[/url] But I also quite liked this one: https://soundcloud.com/albert_street/500-miles-alt-take Both have a couple of dodgy points with the intonation, but hey ho.

[quote name='lobematt' timestamp='1368723589' post='2080760'] Nice work guys! I'm finding 500 Miles High much more of a challenge to connect ideas between the chords. How are you guys getting on with it? [/quote] Quite enjoying it, although haven't had much of a chance to play around with it. Will probably, as I do with most modal/non-functional tunes, focus my approach on which notes remain the same and which change between modes. Hope that'll help me outline the harmony a bit better! Agree with Bilbo, think a slightly more rigorous process of scale selection will be really helpful (especially for tunes which don't necessarily stick to functional harmony), but will take a little while to filter into my playing fully. Looking forward to next week....

[quote name='Bilbo' timestamp='1368638760' post='2079610'] Ha! I was one of the folk who assessed your solo, Hector. I recognised the voices at the end. You have my feedback already! [/quote] Hah, small world! Which one were you? Did you call me by name? Thanks for the feedback anyway - all of the stuff I got back was really pleasant and, more importantly, had some thought put into it to make it constructive. It's nice to get a chance to say thank you It's either a really really good or really really bad thing, but all my feedback was just a much less harsh version of my self-evaluation - couple of botched changes, and a lack of development over the course of the solo. I'm not used to taking such long solos, usually a 1 chorus guy, but that is a bit of an excuse. Anyway, lots of food for thought from the peer-review which will undoubtedly help to improve my playing. Might do a bit more recording of myself and listening back/criticising.

I find it quite difficult to listen to myself, tend to hone in on the mistakes, but here is my effort. Please go easy on me https://soundcloud.com/albert_street/l01_solo-hp

Not sure many people would!? I assume, given the level the course is pitched at and the length of time we're given to complete our peer-reviews, that we're not supposed to go into that nuch depth about harmonic devices. I spoke a little about harmony (e.g. were there any notes that sounded out of tune or off, and did I like the lines), but the majority of my comments were on rhythm - whether they had a good swing feel, whether they had a confidence and rhythmic accuracy to their playing. I was mostly looking to couch my analysis in similar terms to those Gary suggested. I looked for things such as whether their solo had much rhythmic/intervallic variety and whether there was a logical structure to the solo that told a story. I figured those were the sorts of general solo construction ideas Gary was trying to convey to us, especially at this stage of the course.

[quote name='thisnameistaken' timestamp='1367076083' post='2061035'] Although I jam a lot with a vegan singer/guitarist which is why I've resisted guts for so long! [/quote] Just don't say anything about it. If he tries to bring it up, loudly start talking about the weather.