OliverBlackman

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1322479364' post='1451181'] Ok, I don't think we're talking the same thing here. I understood the OP to be referring to guitars costing upwards of £2k, and these being bespoke/luthier made individuals rather than just very old or fancy versions of mass produced instruments. I hadn't classified anything made by Fender as 'high end' but then neither is it cheap - you can get your own Jaydee made up for you for significantly less than a standard Fender. [/quote] ah ok, in which case yes i think alot of these basses that push 5-6k are made to look like artwork and sound as individual as possible. Good for experimenting in the bedroom or playing at improv jazz nights but not so much for recording a popstars latest hit. Basses such as Overwaters, Ken Smiths and high end yamaha's are designed to fit what a pro musician wants and needs, and are used very commonly by the pro's iv met

[quote name='4 Strings' timestamp='1322474664' post='1451099'] I did say 'largely' and I while you've picked some elitist and solo players (although I wouldn't say Stanley's pretty standard Alembics are the same sort of thing as the others) and you could have named more but you didn't use all those elitist types who play standard or pretty much standard basses, like Pastorius, Miller, Sheehan, Geddy etc. But, anyway, I was talking about the army of professional bass players who you see bands behind singers on, say Jools' show etc, who use standard (or pretty much standard) basses. That's why I used 'largely' as the world is too big for absolutes. In my experience. [/quote] Didnt get a chance to read this before i posted. I think Jooles Holland is an example that doesnt really work. From what I've seen theres new bands that are trying to make it who use expensive gear (saw two 60's p basses used in one episode some time this series) and theres new bands that use cheep gear. Backing up artists, its mostly high end isnt it? cant remember many examples of seeing cheeper basses used.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1322433865' post='1450920'] Who are these "Enthusiastic amateurs" then? Matthew Garrison? Victor Wooten? Anthony Jackson? Janek Gwizdala? Stanley Clarke? Michael Manring? I could go on but you get the general idea - no, you wouldn't be right at all. [/quote] this is a different topic altogether but you cant classify these guys as regular professionals. MOST of them are just virtuosos. The guys you see on TV or in the musical pits or at festivals are still top pro's, their very very very good however, they havn't learnt or innovated techniques or ideas on the bass that the guy you listed have. From my experience a lot of the guys in London are using high end custom or vintage instruments. I know of guys who use "cheeper" instruments but the majority i know dont take them to recordings or big gigs. On the issue of is more expensive better than cheep, i think yes most of the time but not all the time. My Tokai jazz offers me different tones that are very useable compared to my Overwater and i imagine when new the Overwater was 10x what i paid for the tokai. But its good to have both

how good is high end gear? pretty damn good

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1322316975' post='1449312'] Just got an email from Ebay to say it's been removed probably because the whole thing was dodgy as a £3 note. [b][size=2]We're writing to let you know that the listing for the following item you bid on has been removed: 220898188442 - 1960 Fender Jazz Bass Guitar Stacked Pot Knobs If you haven't yet paid for this item, we strongly recommend that you do not complete this purchase. If the seller asks you to continue with the sale after the item has been ended by eBay, the item won't be covered by eBay buyer protection. Purchases completed outside of eBay are extremely risky and highly susceptible to fraud. [/size][/b] [/quote] ebay hopefully saving someone a bad experience then

1. If she's been brought up in a musical background her ears are going to know what sounds good. Therefore even without knowing what the notes are she can probably hear whats right and wrong quicker than people who havnt had the same upbringing. 2. Children learn faster 3. Did your mother have lots of artwork around the house? showed you drawing and painting ect at a young age? If yes that just means you've been shown skills at a younger age than people who havnt had them things. I still am yet to be persuaded to even believe in talent let alone if its genetic

[quote name='EssentialTension' timestamp='1322242133' post='1448580'] Bilbo's post doesn't appear to have a green (or red) button at all. [/quote] were not allowed to criticise the moderators, were not worthy .....

[quote name='Nibody' timestamp='1322211029' post='1447863'] On the other hand, my half brother is as musical as a barrel of cats!! [/quote] I've heard some things referred to as jazz that sound just like a barrel of cats so don't write your half brother off just yet, some nutter might just say "wow thats really outside the box, mannnn" I dont think its necessarily just the home you grow up in though. I was massively influenced by just wanting to be part of a group with mates. Also what country you grow up in. Your more likely to have a better understanding of complicated rhythms if you grew up in cuba compared to growing up in nottingham as thats how the traditional music is there compared to straight eighth stuff we seem to have far too much of here

someone must have decided this was legit as its now over 1k

5-10 minutes is good learning time if she's practicing the right stuff. Thats what made Jaco so good. To kick off the controversy i dont believe in the word "talent" as its commonly used. Many people say it like you were born to do it. No i think you just enjoy it and improved your skills more than someone who doesnt enjoy it. Therefore talent doesn't exist. Instead we should be saying your daughter is very skilled, kinda like at the end of school of rock ;-)

wish i could have been part of that thread. I have an Overwater jazz, sh!!s on all of your MIA and MIM fenders

had a year 2000 american deluxe. Apart from the fact it looked gorgeous the low B was rubbish and it sounded very plain. I think theres lots of decent jazz basses available for that sort of money. I personally really want a custom shop relic. The new US standards also appear to be pretty good

dont know if you've checked out stefan redtenbacher and his funkestra band. They do a similiar thing and the arrangements are amazing. Also Stefans a really easy guy to talk to and will talk all day about his arranging style. Definately worth doing.

advice on for once in my life... learn the chords, key phrases and coolest licks. Then keep it simple, it took me a good week and a bit to learn it note for note and i think it might have sounded more rhythmically powerful if i had made it more simple.

[quote name='warwickhunt' timestamp='1321910003' post='1444405'] Link below? [/quote] whoops, this one! http://www.coda-music.com/product_info.php?products_id=10375

not saying this jazz bass is definately 100% original but check out the finish on this custom shop model in the link below, very similar in terms of colour around the edges

I heard this is how Jaco Pastorius learnt bass! And the bass clef is definately ok

maybe your pick technique is more suited to 4 strings? ie, lots of pick movement on a bass with tight string spacing would be difficult. It might be worth watching players such as anthony jackson use a pick, he has barely any motion in his arm or wrist when he does. Or go back to fingerstyle. Also a good way to get used to 5 string basses, play scales over 3 octaves using every string

are you using floating thumb technique?

What do you do when you practise with it? Its possible that your practice isn't sufficiently allowing you to build knowledge of the lower string, so when it comes to performance time your focusing so much on getting stuff on the B string right that your going to make mistakes because your not relaxed

does the battery still drain if the bass is in passive mode? i seem to be getting through batteries too quickly and i've been thinking about practicing in passive mode only.

since joe pointed this out a couple of months ago, iv had lots of practice with this. At the start it is quite difficult but you can soon get up to 50%. Also make sure you keep at this. I hadnt used it in 2-3 weeks and found i really sucked at it, so regular use is a must! (50 a day is what i would recommend) I've found it has really benefited my ability to hear notes and since iv been much better at improvising with other players and learning tunes. Im currently on 60-70%. Joe did say when he first did this he only got 80% (after being a top pro for some time) and it took a year before he reached 100%

when searching for one i found the ebony boards made a big difference in capturing a much warmer and darker tone. As this is what i wanted i went in search of a warwick for that big woody sound. So i think you need to try out a rosewood and ebony and compare to see what you prefer. A fretless overwater jazz with an ebony board would also be a very good bass to look into

looks like mikes got this covered but i have a crappy chinese stentor if he gets desperate. Would have to picked up from Guildford though