fatback

Mind you, owning one would probably improve my playing. By about £50.

[quote name='marvin spangles' post='1207594' date='Apr 21 2011, 10:08 PM']please leave feedback here[/quote] Bought an upright bass pickup from Peter. A top guy and an efficient, pleasant transaction. Couldn't ask for more.

I believe that if you go the weedwacker route you might have to widen the nut (and bridge?) slots to take the much thicker string? I think i read that somewhere, so maybe worth checking out.

[quote name='BigRedX' post='1206105' date='Apr 20 2011, 05:04 PM']Actually it's always because my fingers won't do what I can hear in my head. Being able to read is a fantastic skill. But it's only useful if written notation is the method by which the other musicians you work with communicate and you need to be able to play something pretty well at first sight. If you don't need to do that, then I would say that being able to work out a bass part by listening to a recording or to what the other musicians are playing is a far more useful skill.[/quote] I wasn't meaning to make that point about reading, more about theory. imo theory really can help translate what you hear in your head into fingerings, maybe because it can point to the likeliest answer to the q of 'what's going on in that bit.' I find it much easier to remember stuff too if I know what function the chord or note sequence has, rather than just learning it by rote. My crap memory needs all the help it can get. As for fingers, there are lots of things my fingers will never be able to do if I practiced every remaining minute of my life, knew all the theory in the world and could transcribe Beethoven by ear.

Bilbo's point about access to sophisticated music is hugely important. And 'sophisticated' I'm taking to mean too hard to be picked up by ear without a crazy amount of work and time. Years ago, i bought Ray Brown's book, full of great bass parts, but I only ever managed to work through a couple because I couldn't read. I've just gone back to them having picked up reading lately, and it's just great to be able to see what a great player does and try stuff out for myself. Then there's practicing scales. Reading scales and intervals etc is stretching me more than making them up as I go along, just because I don't keep repeating the same old tricks. BUT I do wish that people would distinguish between learning to read and learning theory. You may never in a lifetime of playing miss reading, but you'll surely miss out without some theory, and you don't need reading for that. Ever been so frustrated at your own limitations that you almost (or do) give up? I'll bet it's not because your fingers won't go fast enough. Most likely it's because you can't see how to create interesting lines, you're boring yourself to death and you don't feel you understand what's going on well enough to cope with whatever happens on the night. Theory can help fix all those problems. And you could get to condescend to guitarists. my 10c

Been learning to read this last seven months, but i know I'll never have a use for it in any setting I'm going to play. The biggest plus so far is it opens up a huge amount of written material to learn from. But that's it really. Now some theory is another thing altogether, a must imo.

Sounds painful and a real shame to have to end a hol like that. I prescribe lots of chocolate, a modicum of champers and several DVD box sets. No, not for you

A copyright holder (or claimant) needs to issue a cease and desist letter when a possible infringement comes to their attention, otherwise they are exposed to the defence that the work is in the public domain. In other words, rights have to be claimed or they lapse. Whether anybody is interested in following up with a lawsuit is down to how deep are their pockets and how deep they think yours might be. The bottom line though is that you don't have a right to record without permission, although you do have a right to play the work live (via prs). It doesn't matter whether you're being accused of unlicensed recording or recording a plagiarised version, the recording part is what matters. Write back questioning his rights as copyright owner if you like. Otherwise tell him there are no more copies of the CD in existence, it was never sold, had a limited distribution to promoters and won't be recorded again - end of story or see ya in court.

[quote name='Monckyman' post='1199579' date='Apr 14 2011, 04:35 PM']If anyone has any average prices for fitting of a new bridge please chime in. Ta, MM[/quote] I go t an adjustable bridge from gollihurmusic.com for $78 +pp. Seems fine (to my inexperienced eye), but I can't imagine them selling tat anyhow.

[quote name='JTUK' post='1199489' date='Apr 14 2011, 02:59 PM']Take it off the CD.. as a song you aren't missing much. Tell them that is what you have done and it is covered by PRS. Tell them this in as many little snippets of info as you can..as it will use up quite a few lawyers letters their side.[/quote] +1 The essence seems to be that you're ok for PRS playing live, and perhaps using as a demo (as long as it's very narrowly defined distribution, ie to promoters). But, if you've recorded the song and distributed it, you need mechanical rights via MCPRS, and that you don't have. All you need to do is deny that you ever distributed recorded versions other than for promotional purposes. You have no copies left.

If you use a mag, you might find you don't need an outboard preamp; I don't bother using mine. Mags seem to put out a lot more than a piezzo. Certainly I wouldn't splash out on a preamp until I'd tried the mag alone.

[quote name='bob_pickard' post='1197952' date='Apr 13 2011, 11:32 AM'] have a look at the playing your db loud thread for ideas - I'd go for a cheaper mag pickup and run the slaps through a mic - the slaps are very loud and easily picked up - cheap option anyway ...[/quote] Don't some people use the ultra cheapo radioshack type piezzos for the clicky? I think I remember someone posting on here about cheapy piezzos, but i can't seem to find it. Worth a look? You would need to combine main pup and clicky though, so some type of two-channel mixer would be on the cards I guess.

[quote name='Gareth Hughes' post='1197814' date='Apr 13 2011, 09:26 AM']Mods - can we ban Clarky until he gets back from his holiday? I'm already depressed listening to the rain outside [/quote] +1 A well brought up young, man should have the decency to lie about such things. 'I'm now posting from a sewer deep beneath Battersea' .

[quote name='bob_pickard' post='1196509' date='Apr 12 2011, 08:33 AM']Yes Kent Armstrong pickups are still available: Aaron Armstrong (kent's son) makes them to order for £90 a go - best to send him a template of your string spacing and fingerboard for a perfect fit. Aaron can be contacted at - [email protected] Armstrong pickups Unit 31 Old surrenden manor Bethersden Kent TN26 3DL Tel: 01233 822120 He's an Incredibly helpful chap - highly recommended[/quote] And as mentioned in another thread, make sure you ask him to wire the pickup poles. Also make sure you ask him to supply the necessary phono to female jack lead ready soldered. Otherwise you'll be hunting back of the sofa for a jack socket and spending quality time with your soldering iron.

[quote name='bob_pickard' post='1194787' date='Apr 10 2011, 05:16 PM']Turn down!! Pah! I pour cold custard down the wellingtons of feedback - I can run my Kent Armstrong right in front of my Barefaced Super Twelve with an Ashdown ABM running full tilt and have no problem at all - loud enough to run without a PA if needed in a decent sized hall and shake the plaster from the ceiling. /basspickups[/url][/quote] +1 on the Kent Armstrong. I was surprised how double-bassy it sounds. Best mag I've tried so far. Frankly, I've enough to worry about just playing. Sound problems would leave me a gibbering wreck.

[quote name='endorka' post='1189986' date='Apr 6 2011, 01:32 AM']I still find our difference of opinion on the content puzzling; it's almost as if we are referring to different books :-/ Jennifer[/quote] The strength of my reaction was provoked mainly by the awful picture quality. I find it hard to accept being sold something as bad as that. Is their content so marvelous that they don't have to care? As for the content, we are seeing it in different ways, that's true. As you say, the book is for teachers to use with kids. Vance gives a structured series of exercises, and I understand what you mean about the content in that sense being good. But otherwise you get very little. You said yourself they didn't even give pictures of some positions. I reckon there's a real opportunity here for an advanced player (maybe one of you guys ) to write a book on Rabbath for players of all levels who want to understand and learn the method. What beginners like me need is a good explanation of the approach, some useful pictures, and exercises that use text to help get me over the tricky bits and to explain why some things are the way they are. Above all it should be a book designed or self-tuition; I doubt many teachers use the method, so we're going to be on our own. Any takers?

Just bought a set of nice double bass strings from JLP. A pleasure to deal with. Businesslike and friendly. Thanks m8

I see what you mean there. In content, Simandl and Vance are the comparison. But I was thinking more of the production values in publishing terms, and the care taken with the text and pictures. Also the attention paid to any kind of sound teaching principles in the way the material is organised. Even if the book is for use with a teacher, it's pretty poor stuff at the price.

[quote name='derrenleepoole' post='1188442' date='Apr 4 2011, 10:30 PM']I for one like Moondance, and like many other players on here, learnt how to do basic walking lines to it. It was my first tentative steps into 'jazz' playing. I think the problem with labeling Moondance and for that Fever as jazz tunes is just that, they're not strictly jazz to begin with. Both are really blues tunes that are trumped up to sound jazzy. If you understand this, then the music makes a bit more sense. Pay no heed to those that slag of such music, if you like it good for you, enjoy playing it All music has its place, and these tunes are no exception.[/quote] +1000 Who says jazz owns it? It's a popular song, not a walking competition.

[quote name='endorka' post='1188472' date='Apr 4 2011, 10:55 PM']The quality of the photos is variable in my copy; the photos on pages 6-9 seem too bright, the contrast is borderline, and false contours in the shades of grey are evident. The photos on p15 appear poorer. Nonetheless, they are all sufficient for the purpose of showing what needs to be shown. The print quality of music and text seems very good to me, although if you were referring to the content of the text, that is admittedly sparse. On the other hand, there is no way a beginner could attempt the material in this book without a tutor's guidance, so I am assuming that the text is more for reference and guidance of the tutor than the student. This is commonplace in teaching methods for the double bass. One of my main criticisms of the book is that I think it should have more photos of the other positions; only 1st, 3rd and 4th position are shown in the book, but there is music containing all 6 positions. Jennifer[/quote] I did mean the content, and I understand what you mean about a teacher, but it comes across as just lazy. It's not as if these books are cheap. And if you compare it to, say, Rufus Reid's book, it's awful. It's as if these things are written on a wet afternoon. I know, I'm being grumpy again.