Chris2112

Billy kicked ass, which is more than can be said for some of the plodders on stage that night!

[quote name='OutToPlayJazz' post='926279' date='Aug 16 2010, 11:17 AM']I had a feeling this thread would degenerate into yet another "Let's all show how jealous of the virtuoso players we are and give anything we don't understand a good ignorant kicking!" Perhaps those knocking Tal Wilkenfeld, Mark King, et al, should look a little closer to home for the bad bassist first...[/quote] Mark King is the boy, I couldn't and wouldn't argue otherwise. I'm the first to defend virtuoso players, the reason why Tal pops up here is because she is [i]not[/i] a virtuoso and yet inexplicably gets gigs that are top level. I expect to see a incredible bassists alongside Chick Corea, for instance - imagine going to see Chick and expecting Garrison, Wooten, Feraud etc etc and getting Tal plodding along instead. Her playing is IMO far below par for the people she plays with and it is to the detriment of the music as a whole! It'd be like going to see the John Mclaughlin trio in the late 80's and finding Adam Clayton standing in for Kai Eckhardt!

Terribly sad news.

Yeah, for a while there he was really, really skinny!

Stan'y my favourite upright player, but I still find the instrument horrendously dull and even when Stan's playing it, I can rarely listen for long.

During the nu metal age the standard of the average bassist in the genre was so shockingly poor it would be hard to name one in favour of the other! There were a few with great tone and great groove skills though (Tobin's playing on Pap Roach's "Infest" record, for starters) but usually they were pap root noters.

[quote name='Bassassin' post='924549' date='Aug 14 2010, 12:10 AM']a guitarist mate forced a copy of Images & Words on me because "if you like Rush - you'll [i]love [/i]these guys!". Wrong. [/quote] Oh so wrong! RUSH to me are the definition of a rock band with soul, skill and class. They're incredible. DT leave me cold. I used to listen to a lot of DT but then I realised it just didn't click with me. They occasionally get it right (the crushing riff at the start of A Change Of Seasons) but usually get it terribly wrong. They are incredible players, particularly Petrucci. However, they so often sound dire. Myung has IMO some of the worst tone of any bassist recording today. It should be amazing, it is infact wooly, dead and dull. He can play some ridiculously accurate lines and has incredible stamina, but musically he is just characterless. It feels to me like his playing could be a synth! I think back to some of the inspiring stuff which is DT related ("Universal Mind" by Petrucci for one), but then I think of the hours and hours of toss they've recorded. Maybe one day I'll give it another go! However, Ruddess and LaBrie could ruin any record they go near.

[quote name='Sonic_Groove' post='924876' date='Aug 14 2010, 01:53 PM']Oooh I see Tom Cruise sty-lye -- Same as Stanley's mate Chick Corea!? Now where's me spaceship [/quote] The old RTF stuff is laced with Scientology referencs - "Where have I known you before", "Hymn of the Sevent Galaxy". Even the name of the band! I still love the band though, even though Chick has arguably lost his touch (IMO) these days. I have the RTF reunion dvd and it's generally pretty good, but Chick needs reigning back throughout and uses some truely dire sound patches and solo excessively and seemingly without listening to anyone else. One key moment that highlights where it goes wrong for me, at the start of "Vulcan Princess" or something. Al gets this awesome little groove going with his guitar and locks in with Lenny. Stan echoes the line but quickly starts slapping out "Lopsy Lu", which blows it a bit. Chick then begins to noodle aimlessly over the line and before long all the power and momentum Al had built were crushed as four incredibly talented players inexplicably fail to gel and meander, doing their own thing! I'm also deeply saddened by the fact that Stan seems to be keen to hang up the electric bass for a while. "The Toys Of Men" is IMO the best solo record he has made and he seems to have hit his stride again after a long period of slightly lacklustre stuff. Shame he's loving the upright so much these days.

It's such a shame. I've emailed Phil Kubicki and Rob at Status in the past with queries about instruments I had bought used, and they were always spot on and prompt to reply to my emails. I asked Phil for advice on changing the strings when I first had a Kubicki Ex Factor and he emailed me a step by step guide and gave me his phone number incase I needed step by step advice on the phone! Incredible customer service! Whereas I fear if you went onto the EBMM forum and said "I want to tongue BP's rim" you'd still get flamed and knocked back because there are people with 5 or 6 MM basses there who haven't yet got to do that!

[quote name='skej21' post='924450' date='Aug 13 2010, 10:25 PM']I also think it's disgraceful to play a Stanley Clarke gig and show NO respect.[/quote] I love it how you just seem to have arrived at the decision that this is Billy's mindset. I think you're actually quite far wrong. Billy is certainly a very supportive musician with a great deal of respect for the song. He is certainly not an egotist, he just knows how to have fun. I've seen him live with Vai enough times to know that he is incredibly talented, and can groove with great finesse if the situation calls for it. This is merely an opportunity for bassists to get on stage and sling a few chops about over a well known tune, Stan's tune no less. Given that the majority of people in the audience were bassists and likely fusion fans at that they've pitched it well I think. There are a few duff bits, like Alex Al, but it's all just good fun. I particularly enjoyed Stu Hamm's bit. Marcus Miller lost me a bit. However, the overall show is very good, apart from Stevie Wonder's awful redition of "Giant Steps". Seeing Stewart Copeland with Stan on stage was great, just like Animal Logic from back in the day!

The way people revere Sterling, you'd think he designed the original Ray! That forum is full of terrible sycophants, there is no way to have a reasoned discussion there. Brand loyalty taken to the extreme!

[quote name='Doddy' post='923932' date='Aug 13 2010, 02:34 PM']Although I'd never place her as an awful player,this is pretty much my opinion of her. She can play but there are many players who can blow her away,but aren't getting slipped a custard by Vinnie Colaiuta.[/quote] I think it's funny, because at the same time as Tal was new to scene, Hadrien Feraud was just getting about. However, he was making a name for himself as the most bombastic and outrageously talented player since Wooten arrived in the mainstream, whereas Tal just seemed to be a rising star based on the connections she got from piping off Vinnie Colaiuta!

I remember reading an interview that Scott did a few years ago and man, was he saying some controversial stuff! I think most of it related to falling out with band mates on Zappa tours and waging war across the stage every night!

Another vote for Tal Wilkenfield. Not the most dire of the lot (perhaps), but so ridiculously overrated you'd think the greats like Jaco, Wooten, Hamm [i]et al[/i] had never been around! I contend that if she was a bloke, she'd have been written off as a lacklustre wannabe! Nothing personal against her, she's just uninspired and uninspiring!

I had a Warwick Thumb BO 1999 with a beautiful wenge neck. It really was an awesome bass, with perhaps one fault. If the strings on it were anything less than fresh it sounded awful, and I owned it at a time when I wasn't playing out a great deal. If you're getting enough use of use of it to justify puttng new strings on every week then you're in luck! Overall, I still love Warwick basses and I'll own a Streamer at some point!

I think Ibanez had the best marketing of any guitar company, during the 1980's. Everyone who was someone had or would have an Ibanez...Vai, Satch, Gambale, Holdsworth, Lane etc etc... they are the guitars of the 1980's and beyond!

FWIW, I'd have to say the fact you've got sentimental value attached to one bass, much the same as the one you're wanting to buy, is a good case for not selling it and buying the other one. Sentimental value only means more as the years go on.

You only live once, and the stuff you have, you can't take it with you in the end...!

After selling my first Kubicki Ex Factor, I realised it was my dream bass. Everything about them, the sound, the look, the design, the feel - perfect for me. To get myself one for a second time, I traded a brilliant, mint condition Warwick Thumb BO with a slim wenge neck. Never looked back either, but I did have to drive to Lancashire M6 services to trade for it, and to get there for like 11 in the morning after finishing work at 1200 the previous night! That was an early morning and a half! I'll never be as daft as to let it go again!