endorka

[quote name='Bilbo' post='919385' date='Aug 9 2010, 10:56 AM'][i]I hear a lot of noodling at the end of tunes on jazz gigs, with every musician in their own little sonic place playing their own cadenza, with nobody listening to anyone else. 99.999% of the time, the result is a chaotic racket that goes on far too long. [/i] Careful, Jennifer! That's my career you are talking about.[/quote] Ah, so you've also noticed, it isn't always just the end of the tunes this pertains to as well? We must have been on the same gigs or something :-) Jennifer

[quote name='Bilbo' post='919245' date='Aug 9 2010, 07:30 AM']Another couple of good starter books here. [url="http://www.neiltarlton.com/"]http://www.neiltarlton.com/[/url][/quote] How do you find the Sevcik one? Jennifer

All black would probably be a good dress code... it's what most jazz musicians end up in anyway :-) The cynical side of me suggests that succeeding at those auditions is not always purely about your musical abilities. Perhaps the most diplomatic way of exploiting those other networking type aspects would be to get a lesson or two from one of the tutors from the courses you are applying to. Even if we remain completely uncynical, who better to advise you on the best route to success? Jennifer

Doddy describes by far the most common approach, which is Simandl. It is generally believed to be the best way to achieve good intonation. I use it as well, and I would recommend that you do too :-) Using fingers 2 & 3 together I believe is an Italian technique, described in the Nanny (?) book, and is rarely used nowadays. I have tried it out of curiousity and it seems contortionistic and bizzare. Definitely not as intuitive and obvious for accurate intonation as Simandl. Jennifer

I've tried playing arco on someone else's Stagg EUB. From memory, I think the sound was ok, but the strings seemed closer together than on a standard double bass, and the arch of the bridge less pronounced, making bow technique quite a bit trickier than usual. I would advise trying before you buy. Jennifer

My advice is: it should be ok. If they are doing the songs exactly as recorded and you are playing them exactly as recorded, then one rehearsal will be sufficient. All you'll need to do is sort out intros/endings that by their nature cannot be reproduced exactly live as they were recorded, e.g. fade outs. If you are really worried, see if you can arrange to play through the songs with just yourself and a key member or two of the band before you do the rehearsal with the full band. Jennifer

[quote name='OldGit' post='916812' date='Aug 6 2010, 11:00 AM']Paging Sarah, Endorka![/quote] Good call - I have a gig in Edinburgh on the evening of the 22nd, so that ties in nicely with Mr. Pratt's show that afternoon. Ticket bought, looking forward to the show! Jennifer

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, I always assume that no news is good news in these cases. It would appear that for many, regardless of the verbosity of previous communications, there is no need for further communication once the transaction is over - the deal has been done, time to move on. I've sold some items on Amazon, for example, and I'd say that less than 1/3 of my customers gave me feedback of any kind - and that's just a case of clicking a few buttons, a far simpler task than writing an email. Jennifer

[quote name='OldGit' post='912534' date='Aug 2 2010, 09:50 AM']Bilbo?[/quote] Hmmm.... it reminds me of Moondance a bit... I think we are in trouble :-) Jennifer

I'm amazed this discussion is still going on, or indeed that there is any discussion at all... Someone with a receptive and enquiring mind, a decent ear and a good sense of time will be able to learn the nuances of playing funk in the time honoured way - as mentioned by others in this thread, by total immersion, i.e. listening hard and playing along to a great deal of the good stuff. "It's not rocket science, but you have to do it right", as someone once said. End of story. Jennifer

One of my favourite bass solos is by Muzz Skillings on Living Color's "Broken Hearts" - at about 2:10; [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jo253LZwkY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jo253LZwkY[/url] Jennifer

[quote name='The Funk' post='909301' date='Jul 29 2010, 02:45 PM']I love synth bass. Synth bass and bass guitar can be used effectively together too![/quote] Oh yeah! You might like this then: check out "Something Wicked" on Horse's myspace; [url="http://www.myspace.com/horserandan"]http://www.myspace.com/horserandan[/url] Myself playing mostly on the 'B' string of a 6 string bass, with Greg Barnes on synth bass. Nice. Jennifer

I hear what you are saying... But! I often think it is best to keep song endings simple and concise. I hear a lot of noodling at the end of tunes on jazz gigs, with every musician in their own little sonic place playing their own cadenza, with nobody listening to anyone else. 99.999% of the time, the result is a chaotic racket that goes on far too long. I assume a similar thing happens on blues gigs. In my experience, improvised song endings are best executed with one player doing the "lead" part, and the rest coming in with accents/stabs, or even just laying out completely until the final note(s). That one player can be the bass player, but whoever it is, you should have some way of indicating who will be leading the ending, and who will be accompanying. Without doing this, there will be no room for your ending to breathe, and it will likely be buried a sea of noodles. Of course, if you have time to rehearse, more advanced and coordinated endings can be orchestrated. Jennifer

A most wise decision.

[quote name='zero9' post='907023' date='Jul 27 2010, 01:14 PM']You could save money if you were to do it yourself (that's the route I'm thinking off).[/quote] Indeed so, but I would strongly recommend the use of a drill press (or drill stand) to ensure the holes drilled into the bridge for the adjusters are parallel, otherwise all kinds of time consuming problems occur. It is very difficult to get the required accuracy with a handheld drill. Needless to say, I learned this the hard way. There is really no need because even factoring in the cost of a drill stand, it should still be cost effective. As I've receommened before, Chuck Traegar's book contains essential information on the fitting of and shaping of bridges & adjusters. Jennifer

[quote name='JMT3781' post='900298' date='Jul 20 2010, 05:47 PM']I'm kind of interested in anyones stories of how their playing has changed in response to changes in action.. i think we can agree that action is completely personal, and people generally have the action set how it suits them...[/quote] Ok here it is. A couple of weeks ago I did a recording session where I was given time to audition all six of my bass guitars to work out which had the most appropriate sound for the track. There was also time to try various tones and playing techniques, as well as experimenting with different basslines. Luxury! My most played bass guitar at that time was a P-Bass clone, with high action, that I love to play. My default, especially since taking up double bass, was to play pretty hard, which does get a great tone for many kinds of music. However, it turned out that the best sounding guitar for the track was my Peavey Grind 6 (retrofitted with EMG CS pickups). To cut a long story short, I hadn't used this bass in anger for some time, and it was setup with lower action than I was used to. When we recorded the track, the attack on the notes was too aggressive - when examined in Protools, it was exactly as Gary Willis describes in that video. It was suggested that the level of bass in the monitor mix be increased to make it easier for me to play with a softer touch, and I did just that, again the notes were as described by GW - the sustain was pretty much level with the attack. It was a great tone, fat and a bit synth like. We played a couple of concerts a few days after that session, I used the low action Peavey bass on some of the songs by special request of the rest of the band (the rest were played on double bass). Since then I've grown to really enjoy the bass again, and indeed am becoming more convinced by the lighter touch/low action. In retrospect, I think what put me off this approach for years was the tone that advocates of it often have. It's the jazz/fusion elevator musak "muso" tone, you know the one; insipid and sounds like they are playing underwater. But I'm now guessing that it is something else they do that contributes this tone, rather than lighter playing. Jennifer

Love it. Great to hear a different version of Jean Pierre. Jennifer

[quote name='mcgraham' post='889575' date='Jul 8 2010, 02:59 PM']I apologise in advance if you feel I'm putting words in your mouth here... do you think that (in general) musicians who are good, or even exceptional, on at least one instrument cannot develop/acquire similar levels of proficiency with their voice as an instrument?[/quote] I would never say never, but certainly I have known many excellent musicians who do not have good singing voices, even if they can sing in tune. Whether they could develop a good voice by putting in the hours of practice, no-one can really say for sure. My point is really on the here and now, however; why dilute something that sounds good by singing along with it in a not so good way? It only serves to diminish the intially good musical statement. From a band fixing point of view, it is also rather weird. You hire someone to play guitar, and all of a sudden they start singing... Jennifer

[quote name='RhysP' post='889533' date='Jul 8 2010, 02:16 PM']I'm obviously missing something here, but why can't a player just "Think" it, rather than having to do it out loud?[/quote] While I can certainly appreciate its utility as a practice technique, for the vast majority of players I think it is something that should stay in the practice room. Most musicians are not great singers in the way that, say, Ella Fitzgerald is, and in my opinion their "less than optimal" vocalisations detract from the performance on their main instrument. Just say no. Jennifer

Rotosound swing bass strings + Seymour Duncan 1/4 Pounder pickups = a great combination, one I use myself in my P-bass clone. Any other advocates of this setup out there? Jennifer

Although I'd have to hear the tune to be sure, I'd be inclined to go with the F# rather than F natural. Not only because F# is in the key of the tune, as others have suggested, but playing the fourth in a major chord tends to clash with the third - in this case you would have F against an E, a very dissonant sound unless separated by a substantial number of octaves. F natural could work as a passing note in this context, but will generally only function correctly in this case as part of a descending figure, i.e. F going to E works because you are moving chromatically from dissonance to consonance, but going from F to G is not chromatic and therefore the change does not have the same "gravity" and obvious resolution, as it were. A couple of other possibilties: C, E, G, G# (then to A) - G# is the passing note. Or if you could add an extra note: C, E, F, F#, G Jennifer

Some good ones this week, from Jah Wobble :-) God In The Beginning Becoming More Like God I'm An Algerian Amor Take Me To God All most excellent, simple enough to play when you know them, but great note choices, rhythm and feel. I'm sure he plays as much on the deeper strings as possible to get a fatter sound. And also, "It's My Life" from Talk Talk. Great line, I'm still trying to work out a good fingering so I can play the bridge smoothly. Jennifer

I always try to have my middle finger on the beat - it is the longest finger, and therefore seems to make a more pronounced note than the index finger, so it seems logical to me that it should be used to play the strong beats. Jennifer

[quote name='faceman' post='878749' date='Jun 27 2010, 12:00 PM']Cool thanks Rich, now that I can actually read sheet music this makes more sense. If I am right, does the main riff kick in and repeat at 1, and then changes at 2. Before that, is that the introduction?[/quote] That transcription doesn't include the intro as such, if you're referring to the slightly random bass/piano straight eighths bit before the head, which is the "bah-doo-be-da-de-da-da-dum" bit . This is logical as I've yet to encounter any jazz combo that actually plays this part live, the common thing to do is start straight on the head. Outoplayjazz, would you normally play the melody on the head an octave higher? Jennifer

That's great stuff Johnny, in condensed form. Most of mine are similar, so nothing to add at the moment :-) Hope all is going well, Jennifer