Hector

Cool! I went to the Fondation Cartier recently, and they have an exhibition of congolese art. They also had listening stations where you hear obscure cobgolese music from the 70s. I think some of that is on their soundcloud: https://m.soundcloud.com/fondation-cartier

Jamaero Artis is a great player who is well-rooted in tradition. Playing with Bruno Mars at the moment. A little dash of chops here and there but mostly a solid groover (all whilst singing and dancing!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsnChs_9IDc Solomon Dorsey I also predict big things for, he's a fantastic player and complete musician: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jZa9AdPPmM

She's called Magda! For electrics, my blue P is called Ben (after Benjamin Button) but my Jazz 5er is just called "The De Gier Bass" for the time being. I like to think the name comes to me, sometimes after several years of owning the instrument.

My favourite christmas song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5K3UgrPdbQ

This has served me very well: http://www.thomann.de/gb/concord_pv502_kontrabasstasche_34.htm (Bonus if your name is Christopher)

Lucky to be so close man, I was back on the second tier! Did get to meet Hiromi afterwards for an autograph and a photo though. Saw Jose James at Ronnie's this evening - absolutely incredible gig (just like the last time I saw him at Ronnie's in fact). Solomon Dorsey is a great bass player to watch, very musical player.

[quote name='toneknob' timestamp='1447929683' post='2911495'] Hiromi with Anthony Jackson and Simon Phillips last night at the RFH. Pretty hot stuff. [/quote] Yeah, I was there too! Pretty full on gig. I actually just really love hearing Hiromi chill out sometimes and play straightahead. That blues section with just her and Anthony was lovely - she's got great touch.

I can recommend Helicore Hybrid Mediums, (and Zyex mediums on the G/D if you want to get fancy). I'm very happy with that setup both pizz and arco.

Hahaha I'm sorry guys that was a properly useless reply from me!

I was over there this morning - 2 mins walk from the station.

Guys just to let you know that Laurence Dixon has moved shop out to Herne Hill (very close to the station). New address is 123 Dulwich Road, Herne Hill. Excitingly, he also has a number of lovely medium-range (£5000-£7000 ish) hungarian basses for sale which, in my opinion, are rather underpriced compared to some other places!

I think there are two factors: playability and sound. You need a tension that makes your bass speak well, but you also need to not be fighting the bass. That's based on string tension and action. [b]However [/b]playability is also intimately related to your technique (of course). In terms of set up: you could try fiddling with different heights (adjuster wheels are the route to go down), check that the shape of your fingerboard and bridge is decent. You could vary the strings, though I think I remember you're on eva pirazzi weichs, right? Already pretty playable. TPJ is dead on about lighter strings and higher action being a possibility too. You could also try playing around with the height of the bass, which can change how you engage your upper body through to your core and legs to stop the string. I do think though, Rob, that you could check your technique, even if you're going to lower your action (do let us know what you're at for now). A lot of a feeling of fighting the bass is psychological and as Jay said, the pressure between left and right hands is hard to dissociate. Try this bass-mindfulness exercise to check you're using your body well: Set your metronome to 40bpm. Holding the bass, close your eyes and take 10 deep breaths in and out. Focus only on your breath. Now, play an open G, and then, letting it ring, play G on the E string [i]as lightly as you can[/i]. Stop the note with 4. Play minims You can keep your eyes closed if it helps, I find it allows me to listen more closely to my body. Play the quietest notes you can get from your bass. Think soft with your left and right hands. You should be able to feel how gentle your left hand can be whilst still stopping a good note. Whilst staying quiet, try to get a good firm tone with no buzzing. Keep repeating this, whilst playing with the parameters of your left hand. Where is your thumb most comfortable? Try moving it back and forth. Are you able to take your left thumb off the neck whilst still stopping a note? Do you need to roll your left hand slightly towards the floor? What about raising or dropping your elbow? Now zoom out a bit and focus more on your body as a whole. Is your breathing relaxed and in time with the metronome? Is your weight evenly distributed between your two legs? Are your knees slightly bent, not locked? Is your back straight? Are your shoulders relaxed and not hunched? Is your head straight on your neck? Look for any tension and seek to eliminate it. You're most comfortable in a natural standing pose with the bass coming to you, rather than contorting yourself around the instrument. Do this for a good 20-30 minutes. Once you start to find a relaxed left hand, try to start increasing the volume by putting more in via the right hand. Whatever you do, keep that feeling of relaxation in your left hand. Don't tense up. Try to keep your right hand set at a given force and keep the sound absolutely consistent until you decide to change it. You want this feeling of relaxation present in whatever you do, whatever tempo you walk at, and wherever you play on the bass. You can move on from focusing on your left hand, if it's comfortable, to your right. Otherwise, you can just focus on right hand in the same way playing open strings. Maybe that's a topic for another post, but broadly think the same - relaxation is key. You want to be making contact with as much of the finger as possible, and trying to pull through the string. Your hand does a motion a bit like turning a doorknob. Keep your right thumb anchored on the back (or side as you play the upper strings) of the fingerboard, right at the end. Your right arm should be relaxed and loose, and the pizz motion should come through your shoulder and back. I like to think of my elbow coming towards the body of the bass Gently does it. Aim for consistency of attack and relaxation. You can do this as often as you feel helpful. I like to do this, with either focus or both, for 5-10 mins as a little warm up every time I pick up the bass.

Food for thought, Rob: http://doublebassguide.com/?p=573 I think the moral of the story is that you have to be true to yourself on this one. Your guiding light should be the sound you hear in your head, so keep chasing it! You gotta be relaxed on the bass too - if you're fighting the instrument, you'll be able to hear it to some extent in your playing. You could easily try lowering your strings a bit, and see how that changes things for you. If you got some bridge adjusters put in, you could always fiddle about a bit until you find something that works. What are they set at now?

Have been thinking about getting a wooden endpin from Ben since they were first mentioned on the site. Sadly, I'm really experimental about endpin height, and am still fiddling around with it. I've actually replaced my pin recently with something that goes a bit longer - feels like beating around the bush, but I want to find a height I can settle on for more than 6 months before getting it set in wood.

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1446296230' post='2898415'] That wasn't the intention, and I apologise if it came across that way. [/quote] Very kind of you to apologise (and a measure of what a nice community bc is!). I also apologise for being terse about it and taking it the wrong way - long week at work... Now, a return to our scheduled programming

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1446288173' post='2898331'] Absolutely, but a lot of people go off on the wrong tangent when they first hear about modes and try to apply it to everything when just thinking about keys and chord tones is far more appropriate. [/quote] You've come across as really dismissive of my contribution so far, perhaps you don't realise. I was polite enough to say it's fine for you to basically tell the op to ignore my input, no need to bludgeon your point home.

It's all good man. I'm not a teacher by any means, just answering the questions in the best way I can. There's a huge gulf between theory and practise in playing the bass - it's a combination of the two that makes for the best players.

[quote name='Deerhunter1331' timestamp='1446232487' post='2898034'] Thanks for explaining modes to me, its just a lot to take in. So, if I'm playing in the key of C minor, and decide to play the 5th mode of the C natural minor scale, then I can use any minor scale in the key of G? Or the relative major scale if I choose to? Does mean that in playing the C natural minor scale from G to G? Also, if I'm playing in the key of C minor, how do I know which minor scale to I use? Thanks [/quote] No problem man, if I can get it then you definitely can We can just keep chatting until you feel your questions are answered! The 5th mode of C natural minor is C minor played G to G - G Ab Bb C D Eb F. (Note: Natural minors have a systematic relationship to majors - C natural minor is the 6th mode of Eb major). Typically though, you would take the V chord from harmonic or melodic minor, as these both contain a leading tone to the root of the parent minor scale. E.g. G7 contains a B, which moves up a semitone to C, when resolving to C minor. This creates a strong sense of V-i resolution. G-7, the V chord of C natural minor has a Bb which doesn't create the same sense of resolution. The scale you use is informed by the chords. Typically, you don't choose a scale which has a note that clashes with one of the notes in the current chord*. You have three options in minor: natural minor, harmonic minor, or melodic minor. This makes minor key progressions a bit fiddly sometimes, as they can include a broader variety of chords than major harmony. Lots of harmony that you will encounter is diatonic, meaning that all the chords are contained within the parent scale of the key. For example, the progression Dmin7 G7 Cmaj is all from C major. It's just that for minor, you have a few different options because of there being three different scales. G natural minor: G A Bb C D Eb F G G harmonic minor: G A Bb C D Eb F# G G melodic minor: G A Bb C D E F# G Only the latter two have the F# that is present in the D7 chord. So over a D7 chord in the key of G minor, you could play a G harmonic minor from D to D, or a G melodic minor from D to D. *This option is a good rule of thumb for playing bass lines and accompaniment - play the chord tones to strongly outline the harmony. It also works for playing melodies but as an improviser, you can be more or less literal with the changes. Playing melodies is a bit less constrained really, but that's a different topic for another time perhaps.

Let me know if that makes things a bit clearer Can explain in more detail or in a different way if you need.

No problem. The overall key is G minor. So for each chord, you're playing G minor from a different root. E.g. C-7 is really G natural minor from C to C. Have a read about modes, which might help. For each chord you play a mode of G minor. That's probably what they're talking about in the book (I've not read it) Chords can be related back to a parent scale. So the chord of D7 is drawn from the parent scale of G harmonic minor. If you take the same scale starting from a different root note, you have a mode. For example, C major running from D to D is D dorian. Or from E to E it is E phrygian. In this case, you would play D7 as the fifth mode of G harmonic minor. Really, you can still use all your G harmonic minor shapes etc, you're just emphasising the notes D F# A C (a D7 chord) and this gives the "flavour" of the fifth mode of G harmonic minor. You want to minimise position shifting, and make those shifts you do make be governed by musical considerations. Shifting every bar isn't that useful, and it's a good exercise and efficient use of the fingerboard to shift only when you need to.

It's G minor. There are multiple minor scales: Natural, Harmonic, and Melodic. You need to learn them all, and what chords are drawn from them (it's not so hard, I promise). G natural minor: G A Bb C D Eb F G - they key signature for a minor key will always tell you the notes of the natural minor scale. This is the relative minor of Bb major. The only note out of any of those chords that doesn't fit in withe the G natural minor scale is the F# in the D7. That's either drawn from the ascending melodic minor (the jazz melodic minor), or from the harmonic minor. Only the latter has an Eb in, so that's more likely to be the choice. G harmonic minor: G A Bb C D Eb F# G In a major key, you know what the I ii iii IV V vi vii chords are, because they're always drawn from the same pool of notes. In minor keys, you can make chords using the notes of any of those three minor scales. Often the V chord (D in the key of G minor) uses the harmonic minor as a basis, because it contains the F#, which generates a strong sense of resolution between the D7 and G. Otherwise, D-7 to G-7 isn't much of a sense of harmonic motion. Hope that explains! Let me know if you have any more questions.

First I'm going to need some new trousers, as I've gotten all overexcited. Second, I'm going to need a couple of grand to order one of my own!

For storage solutions, you could think about leaning your bass into a corner, with the bridge facing inwards. Tends to keep it quite out of the way, and there's little danger of it falling.