Recent content by jloehrke

Sorry if I'm being a jerk, but I think you're missing the point. When we transcribe we don't seek perfect ideal solutions to musical problems, but rather to find out what happened in real life successful examples of the idiom. Wes's version of Summertime is a happening piece of music. The bass...

It's just one of those realities of being a working bassist. When I first came to NYC I studied with a great, "hall of fame" bassist. Once during a lesson he got a call for a gig. He hung up and said "I'm playing duo with .........(a great, "hall of fame" pianist). Wow, I said, I can't wait to...

I did a show on an old ply strung with guts and got the bug to try guts on my bass, so I ordered a g and d of these. Put them on Sunday, and played gigs on Tues and Wed and the tuning was surprisingly stable - some minor tweaking after every set. Today - Friday - the tuning is all over the...

I'm not sure where to post this, so here it is under misc. I live in NYC and have suffered a serious wrist injury requiring surgery. The pins come out in a couple of weeks, and I'm gonna need OT. My wrist surgeon doesn't know any therapists who specialize in musicians, and, surprisingly, a...

Don't know about the time, but that Bill Evans track don't swing at all. Happens to the best of them. I find it kind of encouraging, actually.

I too find the compas 180 set great across all four strings.

I have found Building Jazz Bass Lines (a book by Ron Carter) very helpful.

Any of you using this string primarily jazz players? Like them? I'm using Velvet 180s now, and have tried a bunch of stuff over the last few years after using Spiros for a long time.

So what's that thing attached to the tailpiece

Sorry , but I don't know how. Ill try to figure it out.

Playing conventionally in tune isn't as crucial as we think

I know some guys who teach at the New School who say Reggie Workman plays so strong that he makes piano players sound out of tune. Maybe there's something there. Maybe pl

Apples and oranges. His Bach is hideous, obviously. I am one of the idiots who actually spent money on the CD. Try sitting through that baby. Jazz is different. I really am curious; do those of you who cringe at RC's intonation cringe when you listen to Miles or Jackie McLean? Do different...

I went to the U of Michigan in the late 60s as a brass player. The big kahuna faculty in that area was a trumpet teacher who used to bring up Miles as a horrible out of tune musician, especially when compared to a great jazz trumpeter like Doc Severson. Seriously, do Miles, Sonny, Billie, or...

Sorry to get obsessive about this, but as an older cat who has played a lot of great music, but has not had the career I'd hoped for, I like to listen to guys like Ron and figure out why they're so great. I've come to the conclusion that his approach to pitch is far from a problem. It is an...