Recent content by Steven Ayres

I'd be cutting a new bridge foot.

Everyone gets to like what they like, but for me, the experience of music is intuitive and emotional. If I have to study it to get it, it feels arid and artificial, too much head and not enough hips. I'm no longer impressed with speed or gales of notes. I've played enough bebop and such in clubs...

I've been involved in making art as a profession for over 55 years, working in a range of media, and since before I was sufficiently self-aware to ask myself why. The writing, the images, the shows, the vibrations in the air all represent one aspect of the endeavor. The work to build skills and...

One thing you can check easily is whether the instrument is actually choked. Try lowering your tuning by a full tone. If the bass is louder or fuller in lower tuning, your first problem is too much string tension. If it isn't any different, your first priority will be soundpost position.

I had the JLC on my stage once some years ago, and I can attest that the band's volume control was amazing. For our 1200-seat theatre he specified no monitors, no onstage mics other than in the piano, no acoustic shell, just bare stage and some risers. Carlos H held the center masterfully with a...

The second it starts.

Don't forget that if your band is playing that loud for a 50-seat room, you need ear protection, probably the audience does as well. I would counsel against adding to the din by trying to join it. Playing too loud is a common pathology that's not good for you, your band, your venue or your...

With respect to Oscar and Ray, I can't say they didn't play the octave, but they at least also played in bass tuning.

My Kay 200A jazz cello is tuned as a bass, using long-scale electric bass strings. It's also built for that, with a wider fingerboard. I've seen people refer to an octave bass using 'piccolo.' I'm not sure what I'd do with that.

I've seen the same dynamic among ASU undergrads in Tucson, and I have to wonder: what are they competing to win? Do any actual jobs proceed from this anymore?

I imagine that the cutting contest evolved from the regular dance-band gig. Musicians had to work pretty long hours to keep it together in the '20s and '30s, and there wasn't much formal rehearsal time. After-hours jams were where many learned new tunes and techniques from other players, and...

What I see in the videos is that Black is addressing the instrument consistently, so he wasn't directed to do it differently and we can take it to be representing his actual technique to some extent. The departures from visual hand position in the music are easily explained: he wasn't playing...

As far as I remember I've always had a good sense of swing, just absorbed from listening to all sorts of music, so it's hard for me to imagine not hearing it, and I expect that would make it hard for me to teach it. I can see how different methods and contexts can reach people with different...

The survey results are interesting. The subject range selects for members of Talkbass, of course, so I'd expect to see a higher proportion of technically comfortable people in them, but 70% is still a pretty strong endorsement, with another 15% anticipating tablet use, reluctantly and otherwise...

I don't disagree, but let's not overstate the reliability of paper. For many years I've been a member of an international group trading big-band charts, one of its primary functions having been to help members replace parts that band members lose, destroy by accident or fail to return when they...