WOW! Just WOW.

[scubaduba]

Michael Manring and this custom Zon...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkkzz...=ML&playnext=1

[brettson]

DAMN!

[Infidelity]

I like the "Adhan" better and I don't know why.

[thudstaff23]

Mesmerizing!

[willg95]

if i spent like, forever on that i could probably learn it. but retuning during playing? hell no! that was freaking awesome. thanks for sharing!

[mellowgerman]

Wow is right! That's crazy technical stuff there.
But in all honesty, to my ears, it got boring after about a minute and a half...

[BritPicker]

It's very annoying!

[4StringTheorist]

Originally Posted by Infidelity

I like the "Adhan" better and I don't know why.

Adhan is more emotionally evocative to me, so I like it better. Helios is certainly a brain-melter technique-wise though.

My wife the cellist/vocalist helps me gut-check when I'm listening to "bass player music." Is it something that's genuinely musical, or am I just going slack-jawed at the technical end of things?

Vic Wooten has a couple licks that he'll pull out that make me roll my eyes and wait for him to get back to doing something interesting. The funniest part to me was on the Bass Day '98 performance, he stepped up to the front of the stage when he went into one of those licks.. got a big applause from the audience of bass players, but he looked bored. It was a "here you go.." sort of moment, interestingly enough; the pyrotechnics served the audience expectation, not the artistic statement.

On the balance, I think that Wooten and Manring both do what they do in the service of amazing music. Hearing them early in my bass playing life certainly helped me realize that I could produce anything with the instrument that I wanted.

Oh, speaking of emotionally evocative music from Manring: The Book of Living and Dying

[kesslari]

Michael is an amazing bass player with phenomenal technique.
Sometimes I like him better when he plays more simply - I've heard him do some wonderful accompaniment with John Gorka, and I love it.

[Stick_Player]

But in all honesty, to my ears, it got boring after about a minute and a half...

You lasted a minute longer than me.

I guess if Jiffy-Pop bass is yo' thang...

[otis_thick]

Lookee here...go in to the 2:19 mark for Earl Scruggs "Flint Hill Special" although not bass, you will see a master play while detuning his strings and back...in time and in tune. I first saw this on the Beverly Hillbillies and am still blown away and I play funk! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25GUf55zzQE

[heb9_28]

I like "The Enormous Room" better.

[jcampbell]

That is strait up disgusting. I do like some of his other works better, but his ability to write songs is incredible and very hypnotic.

[zephyr_words]

I watched the whole thing to see if he was going to masturbate on that groove for 8 minutes.

I liked the tuning trick though.

[Big B.]

I agree. A great example of using amazing technique and musical expression together.

[5sicks]

D-Tuna

[Mojo-Man]

Originally Posted by kesslari

Michael is an amazing bass player with phenomenal technique.
Sometimes I like him better when he plays more simply - I've heard him do some wonderful accompaniment with John Gorka, and I love it.

Big +1.
The video does nothing for me. TJM.

[garmenteros]

I like the album version better... but again this is ridiculous how much technique is involved into pulling one of those songs together...

[dannster]

Originally Posted by heb9_28

I like "The Enormous Room" better.

Most definitely!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aY4Ra2KOyas

[JayAmel]

Don't forget, Michael Manring only needed 4 Hipshot D-tuners.

Well, technically speaking, this is gorgeous. Just does not speak to me in the musical department. Give me James Jamerson any day.