BottomEndian

Call it what you will (I don't call it perfect pitch), but I can identify a note/chord/key/whatever by ear, without reference to an instrument at hand. I also [i]used to[/i] be able to produce any pitch I was asked to (within my vocal range, obviously ), which often resulted in me giving the choir's starting note/chord back in my days of [i]a capella[/i] choral singing. It all stemmed from years of playing the violin as a kid. Hours and hours of checking intonation against open strings (and against a piano) led to the notes becoming completely embedded in my memory -- I knew what the note would need to sound like before I got to it. I've been able to sight-sing pretty much every choral piece that's ever been plonked in front of me. It's a useful skill to have, especially now I'm getting into fretless bass. [b]However[/b] -- and this is a pretty big however in my book -- transposition on-the-fly is beyond a headf**k for me. Just looking at the Wikipedia page for absolute pitch (the other term for "perfect pitch"), this sums me up perfectly: [quote]People who have absolute pitch may feel irritated when a piece is transposed to a different key or played at a nonstandard pitch. Musicians with absolute pitch may fail to develop relative pitch skills when following standard curricula, conceptualizing music as a sequence of absolute tones instead; it thus becomes difficult for them to transpose or play a transposing instrument. They may also not be able to continue playing or singing with a group when the pitch drops, or with an orchestra that is not tuned to standard concert pitch A4 = 440 hertz (variable); this may be due to a perception of pitch which is categorical rather than freely adjustable.[/quote] It's been my undoing many a time, especially "they may also not be able to continue playing or singing with a group when the pitch drops". Anyone who's sung with an unaccompanied choir will tell you that the pitch dropping is a very common occurrence, which results in me having to mentally transpose everything down by a quarter-tone... or singing loudly and slightly sharp in an attempt to drag it back up again. With my band, we're quite often just riffing away merrily, usually in drop-C (C-G-C-F), drop-Bb (Bb-F-Bb-Eb) or drop-A (A-E-A-D). Sometimes, for the sake of the singer, we switch something that we've been working on from the drop-C-tuned instruments to (say) the drop-A-tuned ones. Even though we're playing the same patterns on the same frets on the same strings, it takes me ages to adjust mentally. And if we ever did a cover, I'd struggle to play it in a different key from the original. Obviously, if making music was my job I'd work on improving this area, but it's just my little cross to bear for now.

The fella in the bottom-right corner of the "Bassically Speaking" pages might be a little miffed that someone just copied and pasted last month's text into the space, without changing a single word apart from the name and band-name at the top.

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='692305' date='Dec 23 2009, 01:16 PM']Maybe a lot of the underground Black metal bands were just ahead of their time.[/quote] This is, of course, separate from Black Metal, which is largely played by white guys in Scandinavia.

[quote name='JTUK' post='691054' date='Dec 21 2009, 09:58 PM']OT..what is the deal with Finnbass here...... it is just another bass chat site isn't it...??[/quote] Yes, with added knob gags.

[quote name='alexclaber' post='690720' date='Dec 21 2009, 03:40 PM']Once they're back they will be updated to the new look[/quote] Sorry if this has been stated elsewhere, but... what does that entail? Is it just metal corners and gloss in the ports?

Yeah, that's oddly attractive, even though something about the proportions make the headstock look mahoooosive. EDIT: I'm referring to the Jolana, not the bizarro P-Hof.

[quote name='SteveO' post='689785' date='Dec 20 2009, 02:44 PM']There was a thread a while back that mentioned these... cant find it though [/quote] [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=50439"]Here.[/url]

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='689719' date='Dec 20 2009, 01:28 PM']I rather thought it was a bullet truss rod you had stripped in which case it would be part number 099-4945-000 which is in the Fender part of Allparts catalogue.[/quote] The terrifying thing is... I bet The Bass Doc didn't even need to look up that part number.

[quote name='umph' post='689168' date='Dec 19 2009, 04:19 PM']is that an attempt at a yorkshire accent? ;o i'm not sure i've ever actually heard anyone say T in front of anything even in deepest darkest barnsley[/quote] That's cos you're a Southerner. I heard it a fair bit growing up in North Yorkshire, and it's apparently quite common out Lancashire way too (so my sister-in-law-in-law tells me, and she's from Preston).

[quote name='The Bass Doc' post='688896' date='Dec 19 2009, 09:51 AM']You may be thinking of Gypsy Dave - he's still around as far as I know. The other Dave from McKay's was the spit of Neil from the Young Ones.[/quote] Ah, yes, Gypsy Dave. Really enjoyed his sets. He'd play pretty much anything you requested and make it sound class. And now you mention the Young Ones... that rings bells from the few times I went in McKay's.

[quote name='hillbilly deluxe' post='688860' date='Dec 19 2009, 07:52 AM']what happened to Dave the hippy ?[/quote] Wasn't there a "Dave the Hippy" who used to do some awesome little bluesy guitar sets down at the Jazz Cafe? Same Hippy?

[quote name='mushroomcloudwarrior' post='688477' date='Dec 18 2009, 03:49 PM']erm, Link's right I think.. The question was, if the bass is in good condition, would it be worth 140 quid?[/quote] The item in the link's got the right description, but the picture's a different bass. No J pickup. I guess [url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/squier-p-bass-special-bass-guitar-antique-burst-rosewood--10702"]this is the one[/url]. As for value... sorry, no idea.

[quote name='Rich' post='688164' date='Dec 18 2009, 10:58 AM']Some of the more seasoned people here will remember how a certain Mr. P. Jones (he of the dalek cabs) reacted to criticism a few years back... [/quote] Not very seasoned here. Link? Or summary if it's from a site no longer in operation? Or PM if it's contentious?

[quote name='Pete Academy' post='687776' date='Dec 17 2009, 09:36 PM']Simon Cowell should have his face rubbed in this![/quote] When you say "this"... is that an anagram?

[quote name='bilbo230763' post='687372' date='Dec 17 2009, 02:49 PM']Band in a Box may be useful. Its not great but as a sketch pad, it can be quite effective in allowing you to put in chord sequences and hearing them with different feels. The samples are weak and the rock stuff particularly poor but, as I said, as a sketch pad, it has merit.[/quote] I was just about to post pretty much exactly the same thing, so... er... +1!

I think part of the problem we're seeing in this thread is that Alex seems to rub some people up the wrong way. He suffers slightly from this old chestnut: That (combined with a slightly brusque manner) seems to have got some people's goats. Then, once the goat has been got, once the feathers have been ruffled, once the gloves are off, grudges are held. And then when Alex has a production problem, those with no gloves, messy feathers and some misappropriated goats seem to (like Paul H has said) enjoy the fact that he's had a production problem. This whole mess has been a big sh*tter for Rob and a big sh*tter for Alex. That's not enjoyable or amusing for anyone with a hint of human empathy. FWIW, I have no problem with what Alex says or how he says it, but then again I'm a massive nerd. See the above cartoon for my nightly routine.

Bought three pedals from Pablo. Speedy delivery via courier, [b]incredibly[/b] well packed, and a pleasure to deal with throughout -- kept me informed every step of the way and provided a tracking number. Highly recommended.

I just thought of another situation where slash chords are very useful. I've come across this sort of chord progression quite a lot (it's kind of Stairway-to-Heaven-meets-Oasis) when doing singer/songwritery acousticy/piano stuff: Am Am/G# // Am/G Am/F# // Am/F Am/D // Gsus G // (or replace the last bar with // Esus E // -- it works equally well) To me, that makes the intention of the first three bars pretty obvious -- thinking in terms of the piano, you can create the desired sound by keeping an A-minor chord in the right hand and just having the left hand descend chromatically (until the jump to D). Like the Major said, "chord symbols are just abbreviations", so it makes sense to choose the abbreviation that best suits the result you're trying to achieve. If you chose to rewrite the chords in terms of "root note and structure plus extensions", you'd end up with some absolute monstrosities that completely obfuscate the simplicity of the progression. Something like: Am G#augb9 // [b]???[/b] F#m7b5 // Fmaj7 Dm9 // Gsus G // I don't even know of a way to write Am/G as a non-slash chord. (BTW, I know that although Am/D doesn't include the F-natural expressed by Dm9, I chose Dm9 to continue the F-natural feeling through the bar. Also BTW, if I were writing out that progression as a reference to use while playing, I'd probably write the third bar as I have in the second version, but that's entirely personal preference.)

And the Major pips me while I tap out my reply on my phone... Good stuff as ever.

[quote name='fingeringAm' post='686011' date='Dec 16 2009, 06:57 AM']I thought the "/" between two chord names meant an inversion? Like C/F would be a C in first inversion and C/G would be second inversion ect... Am I mistaken?[/quote] A slash can certainly be used as a useful shorthand for an inversion, like you say (although first inversion would be C/E, not C/F, but you got it right in your follow-up post so that's presumably a typo!). However, slash chords are also a useful shorthand for some more exotic chords. Try them on a keyboard and see! For example, I find C/F particularly lovely, and it's a lot simpler to read at speed than its standard equivalent, which would be something like Fmaj9(no 3rd). Same with the notorious C/D (discussed above).

[quote name='BottomEndian' post='685625' date='Dec 15 2009, 07:54 PM']A/Bd my Vintage against WoT's Bergs and warwickhunt's Aguilars a few months back. Not a gig situation or anything, so maybe not the ideal test, but neither the Bergs nor the Aggies really did it for me. A little "thin". But I have to agree totally with the point that it's horses for courses. I mean, personally, I can't grasp why someone would want a tweeter in a bass cab, but people do. It's their choice.[/quote] I'll point out too that it wasn't a like-for-like comparison. Bergantino 10s vs Aguilar 12s vs Barefaced 15s (vs The Bass Doc's Fender 2x15). I'd still be very interested in hearing Berg and Aguilar 15s!