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My first album... finally!

congrats, sounds really good..nice clean recording and playing..i love fusion jazz and metal...which is kinda strange you crossed over to fusion from there. must be something about the theory/language of it thats similar?...either way its good stuff......please continue sir!:thumbsup:
 
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@Felken awesome stuff man! I especially love the groove of the coda/outro/whatever you want to call it - the guitar solo reminds me of Allan Holdsworth in a good way, and your bass is grooving! Jazz sensibilities can be hard to tap into after playing rock for a while, so kudos to you on that too! :thumbsup: Did you guys produce/mix it yourselves?
 
You have a really inspirational message going on here. So you joined TB 4 years ago and you were playing bass, as a kid, a year before that, so you have like 5 years playing time on your recording here, which by the way is phenomenal, nice work. So, in that 5 year time frame, did you take any real lessons, music theory, or what. Can you maybe tell us some highlights of how you really learned a few things? What kind of music did you play in the metal band, covers or originals, in what genre? I'm a big fan of John Taylor from Duran Duran and he has said that he first played guitar and then bass and when Rio came out he has only been playing for 4 years, but I don't know how much of that was bass, but his story and your story are about the same as look what both of your final products are after only 4 or 5 years playing, its really incredible. I have been playing super seriously for 4 years now and although metal is my one main desire, I took Jazz bass style lessons from 1 teacher and intense theory from another, learned to read, but I cant pull of what you accomplished quite yet. I know exactly what you are talking about as far as the exponential learning curve after a certain period of time, but it was about at the 3 year mark for me. I would say though that as a time gauge for people wanting to go the route you went would be at the 2 year mark find other guys/band to play with but that is totally subjective but probably a good starting point. I think, actually I know, that not having played with any other musicians in this entire 4 years of my playing is probably THE most contributing factor to why I can't do what your doing. You say your guitar player is fantastic and everyone on here thinks so highly of the drummer, but you are right in there with them, maybe you think don't have as much experience as those other 2 guys in your band but that 'exponential' thing for you is in full swing so its only onward and upward for you and your band.
 
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Yup. It’s already available for pre-save on iTunes, so you can buy it and it’ll automatically be added to your library when it’s released (on the 16th).

Alternatively, we are selling physical copies, so let me know if that’s something you’re interested in.

Any support is appreciated!

Did somebody say physical copies? Going to assume CDs since the cost of vinyl is pretty high...
 
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Dude that’s awesome! The bassist sure does have the chops. I especially like the rising pattern he plays at 2:14
I’ll pass this along to the other guys in the band, I’m sure they’ll like it too.
Glad you dig it! Here is one more (and don't worry, I won't spam you more with this): a Holdsworth cover, same drummer, same bass player!



Oh, and I will for sure get a copy of your album on Oct 16!
 
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that's a really awesome recording and groove...congratulations! I am a total jazzer, although more traditional, I do branch out into modern jazz (Brad Mehldau, Hiromi)... Hoping for my sake that i find someone with similar interests to play with soon. I'm stuck in a really blue collar town in the south...not so much jazz here. Moving to Arizona in 2 years...hoping that will help.
 
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You have a really inspirational message going on here. So you joined TB 4 years ago and you were playing bass, as a kid, a year before that, so you have like 5 years playing time on your recording here, which by the way is phenomenal, nice work. So, in that 5 year time frame, did you take any real lessons, music theory, or what. Can you maybe tell us some highlights of how you really learned a few things? What kind of music did you play in the metal band, covers or originals, in what genre? I'm a big fan of John Taylor from Duran Duran and he has said that he first played guitar and then bass and when Rio came out he has only been playing for 4 years, but I don't know how much of that was bass, but his story and your story are about the same as look what both of your final products are after only 4 or 5 years playing, its really incredible. I have been playing super seriously for 4 years now and although metal is my one main desire, I took Jazz bass style lessons from 1 teacher and intense theory from another, learned to read, but I cant pull of what you accomplished quite yet. I know exactly what you are talking about as far as the exponential learning curve after a certain period of time, but it was about at the 3 year mark for me. I would say though that as a time gauge for people wanting to go the route you went would be at the 2 year mark find other guys/band to play with but that is totally subjective but probably a good starting point. I think, actually I know, that not having played with any other musicians in this entire 4 years of my playing is probably THE most contributing factor to why I can't do what your doing. You say your guitar player is fantastic and everyone on here thinks so highly of the drummer, but you are right in there with them, maybe you think don't have as much experience as those other 2 guys in your band but that 'exponential' thing for you is in full swing so its only onward and upward for you and your band.

Thanks for the kind words man! I have indeed been playing for 5 years. I took a few lessons around my second year but dropped them because of the cost.
I started off playing prog rock for the most part. I just learned as many songs as I could by ear, and didn’t worry too much about theory. Rush, porcupine tree, Opeth, DT, that’s where I stayed. I think the key is really just intense practice, and listening to a lot of music. That’s what I did at least. You mentioned you can read sheet music? That’s a huge advantage right there. I used to be able to read when I was in my high-school jazz band, but I forgot after not using it for a while.

However, nowadays I’m focusing a lot more on theory, because I think that’s what is still holding me back in my playing. I’m learning from books, learning to read sheet music. I’d like to take more lessons now that I’m a more experienced player than when I first took lessons. They’re all online unfortunately, so we’ll see where that leads.

We played originals in the metal band, but composing was extremely difficult because none of the guys knew an ounce of theory, which made communicating musical ideas very hard. In the span of 6 months we wrote 1 and a half songs, whereas in my current band we did 10 in that span.

You’ve been playing for 4 years, the best thing you can do is start playing with other musicians. It doesn’t have to be a serious band or anything, doesn’t even need to be the type of music you like, but it’ll really develop your playing.

I find my playing stagnated during the 4 year, but what rejuvenated my interest was when I started seriously getting into jazz. It introduced me to a different way of playing, a different way to feel rhythm, and it’s been a great discovery as a musician.
 
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This is pretty damn good. I wish you lots of luck with this project.

How do you side chain to the kick drum & what is the effect ? I'm not into effects, but that sounds interesting.

I’d have to inquire to the guitarist who mixed the album for the specifics, but basically, the bass cuts out specific low frequencies automatically when the kick drum is hit. It leaves more space for the kick drum by removing clashing frequencies. It was done in post production with plugins. It’s not so much an effect as it is a mixing technique.

As far as effects go, I barely use any. Reverb during solos, compression, that’s about it. 95% of the sound comes from the bass itself and the plucking technique.
 
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congrats, sounds really good..nice clean recording and playing..i love fusion jazz and metal...which is kinda strange you crossed over to fusion from there. must be something about the theory/language of it thats similar?...either way its good stuff......please continue sir!:thumbsup:
There’s definitely something, as all three of us in the band love metal as well.
 
@Felken awesome stuff man! I especially love the groove of the coda/outro/whatever you want to call it - the guitar solo reminds me of Allan Holdsworth in a good way, and your bass is grooving! Jazz sensibilities can be hard to tap into after playing rock for a while, so kudos to you on that too! :thumbsup: Did you guys produce/mix it yourselves?

Yup. Everything was self recorded, mixed, and produced. We put a lot of effort into making it sound as professional as possible.

And the guitarists loves Holdsworth! I haven’t heard too much of him though.
 
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that's a really awesome recording and groove...congratulations! I am a total jazzer, although more traditional, I do branch out into modern jazz (Brad Mehldau, Hiromi)... Hoping for my sake that i find someone with similar interests to play with soon. I'm stuck in a really blue collar town in the south...not so much jazz here. Moving to Arizona in 2 years...hoping that will help.
Wishing you all the best!

We’re thinking of moving into a jazzier, more bebop-esque direction on the next record. Might do more of your thing ;)
 
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Yup. Everything was self recorded, mixed, and produced. We put a lot of effort into making it sound as professional as possible.

And the guitarists loves Holdsworth! I haven’t heard too much of him though.

Wow, amazing! Did you have access to an actual recording studio? Sounds so good, and your bass tone is especially cool. Haha yeah I used to be a BIG Holdsworth fan - his album with Jean-Luc Ponty is brilliant.
:thumbsup: