A side of Eddie Gomez I hadn't seen

Eli_Upright12 · #1 10-20-2008, 08:20 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rz9j3...eature=related

Check it out, his bowed solo is very nice.

Marc Piane · #2 10-20-2008, 08:59 PM

I don't know. I love me some Eddie but that solo didn't do it for me. His ideas didn't seem as fluid as is characteristic. His phasing also seemed strange.

I'll probably get flamed.

Eli_Upright12 · #3 10-20-2008, 09:40 PM

I mean, it just struck me because it was so much more sedate than his normal solos and I liked his tone. If I heard that solo out of some one like Renaud Garcia Fons or John Clayton, who I've come to expect great bowed solos out of maybe I wouldn't be as impressed.

chris dammann · #4 10-21-2008, 02:20 AM

amazing. what a master. are those steel strings? i love EG's tone at this period.

Paul Warburton · #5 10-21-2008, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris dammann

amazing. what a master. are those steel strings? i love EG's tone at this period.

No Chris, they're Weed-Whackers
Surprised about Eddie's arco?. He went to Juillard. This is the French bass Eddie bought after his Morelli. Before he bought his Claudot
I thought it was a nice solo.

Marc Piane · #6 10-21-2008, 08:21 AM

Don't get me wrong. I thought it was nice. Eddie's solos always blow me away and not just from a chops perspective. Note choice, phrasing, dynamics. Always killin.

This solo just didn't floor me in the way most of his solos do.

jallenbass · #7 10-21-2008, 11:13 AM

If I would have heard only the bass solo and didn't know who was playing my guess would have been that it was an early 20th century classical compostion played on bass with piano accompaniment. Not that that's bad at all.

Eli_Upright12 · #8 10-21-2008, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

No Chris, they're Weed-Whackers
Surprised about Eddie's arco?. He went to Juillard. This is the French bass Eddie bought after his Morelli. Before he bought his Claudot
I thought it was a nice solo.

It was nice in a subtle but powerful way, I feel that it fit the spirit of the music and of the Bill Evans Trio style.

Ed Fuqua · #9 10-22-2008, 11:15 AM

Now I'm not really an arco player, I'm just starting out getting serious with the bow. But one of the first things that I noticed in my playing is how the bow REALLY makes you mean every single note you play. No ghosting, no wiggle room. You want to get a solid sound with the bow, you gotta mean it. You want the note to be in tune, right hand's gotta mean it too.

And that can slow you down, in terms of note per bar output. Which is a Good Thing....

Eli_Upright12 · #10 10-23-2008, 03:09 PM

Yeah, you can't just throw in random passing tones either, every note you play has to be perfectly in tune. theres no right or left hand flailing.

Marcus Johnson · #11 10-23-2008, 04:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed Fuqua

No ghosting, no wiggle room.

Oh boy. Ain't that the truth. You could carve that on my tombstone.

Eric Swanson · #12 10-23-2008, 04:50 PM

Here's a second-hand anecdote.

My former teacher, Terry Plumeri, told me that once, in the '70's, he, Eddie Gomez, and George Mraz did a bass trio recording, just the three of them, all playing arco jazz bass together.

Terry told me that intonation issues made the tape painful to hear, so the project never went forward. Even as wonderful as those three players are, there is definitely something to be said for having a blend of registers and timbres in an ensemble.

Like Ed says, arco leaves no wiggle room...

Marc Piane · #13 10-23-2008, 04:57 PM

how do you get two basses to play in tune?

Shoot one

Eric Swanson · #14 10-23-2008, 05:16 PM

Right. Lots of respect to the orchestral cats who nail this daily.

When I was in music school my teacher came to a rehearsal of the school orchestra I was in. After rehearsal, I asked him what he thought.

He was thoughtful and kind. He paused, then said that the main difference he heard between our student orchestra and the one he in which he worked (NYPhil) was intonation...

Paul Warburton · #15 10-23-2008, 06:19 PM

I may be listening to too much talk from Red Mitchell and Joel Quarrington, BUT in MY opinion...That's My opinion, the string section in ANY orchestra will never be in tune until the basses are tuned in fifths.

Eli_Upright12 · #16 10-23-2008, 07:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

I may be listening to too much talk from Red Mitchell and Joel Quarrington, BUT in MY opinion...That's My opinion, the string section in ANY orchestra will never be in tune until the basses are tuned in fifths.

That's an interesting decision, but I think it might actually make it harder. I would make essentially the "first position" would extend from the open string to the note below the "D" in the saddle. To me it would seem that with the extra area to cover, and less of a crutch from the open strings this would be harder for a section player. In terms of a string section being in tune part of the issue is that:
A. We play in a significantly lower register which is harder to hear and therefore tune.
B. our string length is gigantic in relation to other stringed instruments, this means we have less margin for error and farther to shift.

shadygrove · #17 10-23-2008, 08:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eli_Upright12

...In terms of a string section being in tune part of the issue is that:

A. We play in a significantly lower register which is harder to hear and therefore tune.
B. our string length is gigantic in relation to other stringed instruments, this means we have less margin for error and farther to shift.

A. Yes, it is harder to hear if you're in tune at the lower frequencies, but it's also harder for others to hear if you're out of tune unless they have very good ears.

B. Actually, with the longer string length a double bass has more margin for error. If you are off by a few mm on a bass it wouldn't usually be noticeable in an ensemble, but if you're off the same amount on the e-string of a violin...eek! I've always wondered if that's why classical violin technique tends to use so much vibrato, it gives you a little wiggle room to wiggle back on pitch

I've been intrigued by 5th tuning on the bass, but other than having to relearn the fingerboard the thing holding me back is the amount and distance of shifting.

Paul Warburton · #18 10-23-2008, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eli_Upright12

That's an interesting decision, but I think it might actually make it harder. I would make essentially the "first position" would extend from the open string to the note below the "D" in the saddle. To me it would seem that with the extra area to cover, and less of a crutch from the open strings this would be harder for a section player. In terms of a string section being in tune part of the issue is that:
A. We play in a significantly lower register which is harder to hear and therefore tune.
B. our string length is gigantic in relation to other stringed instruments, this means we have less margin for error and farther to shift.

Eli...You've just taught me, Red, Joel and most of us bassists something that we've never been aware of...that there are notes in the "saddle " Every time I tried this, the tailpiece got in the way.
Could you possibly be refering to the nut? Thas' that thingy up at the top of your fingerboard that your strings travel through to keep them off the fingerboard.

ryco · #19 10-23-2008, 08:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eli_Upright

Check it out, his bowed solo is very nice.

That was gorgeous! Thanks for posting that!

Eli_Upright12 · #20 10-23-2008, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Eli...You've just taught me, Red, Joel and most of us bassists something that we've never been aware of...that there are notes in the "saddle " Every time I tried this, the tailpiece got in the way.
Could you possibly be refering to the nut? Thas' that thingy up at the top of your fingerboard that your strings travel through to keep them off the fingerboard.

Sorry if that was misunderstood, the saddle is the term my teacher uses for the notes around the heel of the neck.