Ambient/Post-Rock/Textural bass playing thread

[jbybj]

The 1920's Spanish style home across the street, was taken down by a large back hoe yesterday.
So I took advantage to test a concept. Except for the reverb, these little ditties are all sourced from crunching house.

 

[lordradish]

Didn't he basically rip off Wing Bass?...Using the super heavy strings to tune it as a normal bass is the only change. Other than that, isn't it a Wing Bass?

Actually, as I understand it, the Wing bass is upper octave, too.

I read an interview with Mauro on Bass Musician. He gave props to the Wing Bass, as well as a few others who have also done this, but also talked about how he thinks he's improved on it. I do think the Miezo looks much more ergonomic, plus there's the price and wait time to consider, too.

 

[lordradish]

I also share this feeling of inadequacy.
Got better when I accepted that a perfect performance is impossible.....

I used to think this... until I started having a few perfect performances. I kind of see it as dating... I usually had the best luck when I stopped trying so hard. When I think of these gigs where I killed it, there were two factors... The band was also hit, and I was just in the right mindset. I knew the material, I wasn't obsessing over every note, I was sober, and I generally was in a relaxed mindset, even if the stakes were high.

It can be done, but it's a lot harder when you're not a virtuoso or you don't gig 5 nights a week. I reached a point about 10 or so years ago where I realized it's not impossible.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I used to think this... until I started having a few perfect performances. I kind of see it as dating... I usually had the best luck when I stopped trying so hard. When I think of these gigs where I killed it, there were two factors... The band was also hit, and I was just in the right mindset. I knew the material, I wasn't obsessing over every note, I was sober, and I generally was in a relaxed mindset, even if the stakes were high.

It can be done, but it's a lot harder when you're not a virtuoso or you don't gig 5 nights a week. I reached a point about 10 or so years ago where I realized it's not impossible.

I managed to pull off a few good ones.

 

[JES]

The 1920's Spanish style home across the street, was taken down by a large back hoe yesterday.
So I took advantage to test a concept. Except for the reverb, these little ditties are all sourced from crunching house.

that is some well-arranged percussion!

 

[lordradish]

I used to have panic attacks on stage. I would be in full panic attack mode in a full room of people thinking to myself "when will this be over??"......I lost gigs because it was effecting my playing. This is with many hundreds of gigs under my belt. I felt completely inadequate. I was self taught, basically playing by ear for many years. Learning more about music helped a great deal. Learning to not hate myself with every "wrong" note helped even more. Being in NY for 2 1/2 years was the best thing that I ever did for myself, because I realized that so many of my heroes also struggled with self worth and being "good enough". I still get nervous, and it can still effect my playing, but at my best, when the voices aren't there and all I'm doing is reacting to what is happening around me, I am elated...and I get to experience something that feels like real life magic in a very complicated world.

I can see why so many musicians find their thing and stick to that. It's comfortable. When you do something that involves improvisation heavily, you're taking a chance every time. I've seen some heroes crash and burn in front of an audience, and I respect them even more, because they took a chance, and because they'll get back up and do it again.

I can relate to a lot of this.

 

[cosmicevan]

i only use soundcloud for interim things. bandcamp for "complete projects" and actually do physical discs fro certain projects.

i have so many bc projects it's stupid (literally). it might be easier to ask what interests you. (steuart liebig)

what's the vongon and what's the big pink thing?

I hit play, let it roll for a while doing stuff...overall I am digging what you are putting out there. Very mmw vibe at more than a few times.

 

[steubig]

The 1920's Spanish style home across the street, was taken down by a large back hoe yesterday.
So I took advantage to test a concept. Except for the reverb, these little ditties are all sourced from crunching house.

those are really cool. do you have plans for them?

what part of l.a.?

 

[steubig]

I hit play, let it roll for a while doing stuff...overall I am digging what you are putting out there. Very mmw vibe at more than a few times.

.

thanks for checking it.

medeski, martin and woods?

 

[slareman]

This discussion about performing and mindset makes me think of the book "Effortless Mastery" by Kenny Werner.

Effortless Mastery - Wikipedia

Some of you are probably already familiar with the book, as I think it's gotten pretty popular, but I thought I'd mention it here, as it may be an eye-opener and help some people. It's about letting go and playing music from what he calls "the space." Working on your self-judgment. It's an interesting approach.

 

[emjazz]

This discussion about performing and mindset makes me think of the book "Effortless Mastery" by Kenny Werner.

Effortless Mastery - Wikipedia

Some of you are probably already familiar with the book, as I think it's gotten pretty popular, but I thought I'd mention it here, as it may be an eye-opener and help some people. It's about letting go and playing music from what he calls "the space." Working on your self-judgment. It's an interesting approach.

Read it when I was 18 I think. I'm 43 now. It meant a lot to me at the time.

What I'd like to see discussed beyond our personal work is the teaching of music in Universities regarding hero worship and the shaming of "lesser" musicians, as well as more positive things such as the building of our personal voices, building a community of musicians, etc....with there being such a focus on musicians going to school to study now, we have to work on how music is taught, because I saw music school destroy so many incredibly hard working, talented musicians along the way.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

Read it when I was 18 I think. I'm 43 now. It meant a lot to me at the time.

What I'd like to see discussed beyond our personal work is the teaching of music in Universities regarding hero worship and the shaming of "lesser" musicians, as well as more positive things such as the building of our personal voices, building a community of musicians, etc....with there being such a focus on musicians going to school to study now, we have to work on how music is taught, because I saw music school destroy so many incredibly hard working, talented musicians along the way.

With kids atm this Sunday am.
But will go into further detail if you are interested.

My university music studies completely destroyed me.
It made me hate music for the 1st time in my life.
Quit mid semester with only a few months left to complete my bachelors degree in jazz interpretation.
It was either quit or go completely loco
....literally.

Jazz police sucks!!!!!!
Try being a hip hop maniac with a Public Enemy tattoo in modern jazz combo playing some Wayne Shorter getting picked on by the the 5'2 @$$ hat of a teacher and the "follower" students.
They didn't pick on me for long.....that a guarantee you.

Or I can pm you if you want...??

 

[emjazz]

With kids atm this Sunday am.
But will go into further detail if you are interested.

My university music studies completely destroyed me.
It made me hate musical for the 1st time in my life.
Quit mid semester with only a few months left to complete my bachelors degree in jazz interpretation.
It was either quit or go completely loco
....literally.

Jazz police sucks!!!!!!
Try being a hip hop maniac with a Public Enemy tattoo in modern jazz combo playing some Wayne Shorter getting picked on by the the 5'2 @$$ hat of a teacher and the "follower" students.
They didn't pick on me for long.....that a guarantee you.

Or I can pm you if you want...??

Absolutely feel free to PM if you'd like. Have been thinking about doing some webinars on the subject for sure. We need a systematic change across the board.

 

[emjazz]

Also, it wouldn't hurt my feelings to see people stop relying going to schools to learn music. There are better ways for many folks without going into debt.

 

[lordradish]

With kids atm this Sunday am.
But will go into further detail if you are interested.

My university music studies completely destroyed me.
It made me hate music for the 1st time in my life.
Quit mid semester with only a few months left to complete my bachelors degree in jazz interpretation.
It was either quit or go completely loco
....literally.

Jazz police sucks!!!!!!
Try being a hip hop maniac with a Public Enemy tattoo in modern jazz combo playing some Wayne Shorter getting picked on by the the 5'2 @$$ hat of a teacher and the "follower" students.
They didn't pick on me for long.....that a guarantee you.

Or I can pm you if you want...??

I don't know how many 'Berklee musicians' I've played with who never finished Berklee.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

I don't know how many 'Berklee musicians' I've played with who never finished Berklee.

Touché

 

[emjazz]

I don't know how many 'Berklee musicians' I've played with who never finished Berklee.

I didn't. Couldn't afford to. Got what I knew that I needed and split. It's a school for rich kids. Stupid expensive.

 

[steubig]

Jazz police sucks!!!!!!
Try being a hip hop maniac with a Public Enemy tattoo in modern jazz combo playing some Wayne Shorter getting picked on by the the 5'2 @$$ hat of a teacher and the "follower" students.
They didn't pick on me for long.....that a guarantee you.

Or I can pm you if you want...??

you just hit the wrong generation, now it's cool to do that. but trad guys, not my thing and a major pita at times.

Also, it wouldn't hurt my feelings to see people stop relying going to schools to learn music. There are better ways for many folks without going into debt.

i think university is great for teaching you how to find information and analyze it, and presenting avenues of investigation. those are the things i got out of it. i feel like it served me pretty well in those regards.

and now that heavy club playing and touring is not so easy, the apprenticeship aspect of learning to *play* is way more difficult (or so i think), so what are younger kids to do?

I don't know how many 'Berklee musicians' I've played with who never finished Berklee.

some of the more famous ones sure didn't. they got gigs.

 

[steubig]

I didn't. Couldn't afford to. Got what I knew that I needed and split. It's a school for rich kids. Stupid expensive.

but if you were lucky, you met some like-minded people to play and hang with.

 

[ugly_bassplayer]

you just hit the wrong generation, now it's cool to do that. but trad guys, not my thing and a major pita at times.



i think university is great for teaching you how to find information and analyze it, and presenting avenues of investigation. those are the things i got out of it. i feel like it served me pretty well in those regards.

and now that heavy club playing and touring is not so easy, the apprenticeship aspect of learning to *play* is way more difficult (or so i think), so what are younger kids to do?



some of the more famous ones sure didn't. they got gigs.

I’ve never been cool so.....