YouTube Backing Tracks

Here are the search results from the YouTubes with pages and pages of backing tracks, meaning tracks with no bass on them for us to play along with.

The styles vary from gospel to funk to blues to jazz so it is pretty good sampling of styles. And, lets face it, sometimes practicing bass without a band around sounds pretty empty. It makes practicing a lot more fun if you can hear what things sound like against chords and grooves.

And if you find one you like and want to keep it, check out http://keepvid.com/ (there are others like this too out there and plug-ins and browser extensions and stuff too). They will download any YouTube clip you want, and they have a little bookmarklet thingy that if you drag it to your browser bar, when you are on a YouTube page it figures out the video and downloads it for you. So you can harvest these things and play them on your 'puter whenever you want. Enjoy.

http://keepvid.com/

YouTube Bass Backing Track List

Johann Sebastian Bach - Suite Nº2 - 6 Gigue

A gent on YouTube whose very appropriate name is "DoubleBassScore" has exactly that - images of scores and the accompanying audio played by some very heavy duty classical cats like Edgar Meyer and Gary Karr.

For all those electric players who chase tone, check these guys out. What they can do with a bow and a giant ol' double bass is amazing. That thing ain't small, ya know.

If you are looking for some challenging sight reading and classical parts to work up, check out some of his videos and then track down a copy of the scores for some finger twisting.

20% Off All Books This Week And Ray Likes Melodic Minor

Yup, another coupon code celebrating the magical time of year that is Halloween, or Pedophile Christmas, as the Onion called it today. Ouch. It's a joke, people, relax.

Anyway, if you type in "BURIED" when you check out at Lulu.com, you can save 20% off your order, so that means you could get both the Major and Melodic Minor versions of the Book of Triads for like $16.00-ish. Which is a total deal, and as all the other coupon codes, it is good for anything on the site.

Oh yea, and check out what bassist Ray Riendeau says about the Melodic Minor version of The Book of Triads:

This book is an awesome resource for any musician looking to expand their knowledge and ears to triads of the Melodic Minor scale. It will have you melodically minoring all over your bass!!!!!

Ray Riendeau

James LaBrie, Halford, Star Monarchy

If you are a bass player and are not hip to Ray and his scary chops and funky grooves, you should be.

The first single, "MONARCHY" from Ray's new project Star Monarchy just went live on Itunes.

Ray is the leader of this new project and it features many top players/singers in the world of metal/rock.

On the first track he plays with:

• Daniel Tompkins - vocals
• Francesco Artusato - guitar
• Bassist Ray Riendeau - bass, guitar
• Danny Handler - drums

So some pretty familiar names that obviously are going to throw down. Check it out on Ray's Facebook band page, or any of his other web places.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Star-Monarchy/242527722445276
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/starmonarchy
www.twitter.com/zon5
http://www.youtube.com/user/phatgroovz

Here is Ray in action doing some demonstration of his monster slap chops and playing at a little gig down in South America where a couple of people showed up, something called "Rock in Rio" or something like that. Oh and by a couple, it turns out that means about 150,000.

Send Some Good Thoughts in Justin Raines Direction

Justin Raines, bass player for Israel and New Breed and a very funky and melodic bass player has some health issues going on right now.

So follow him on Twitter and send him a note and let him know you are a bass player thinking about him. Let's send him some good thoughts, and if any of you have an extra kidney in good working condition you are not doing anything with...well, you should talk to Justin.

Check out Justin in action, and even if gospel ain't your thang, he brings it. C'mon that is some serious bass playing. Gorgeous.

Pat Metheny Plays Girl From Ipanema

Sort of.

It's in there, and you can hear it, but he plays around with it quite a bit. It's still pretty but he makes it sound a little ominous as well.

Just him and a baritone guitar.



Here he is talking about his new record "What's It All About". The entire album is all other peoples tunes - Carly Simon, Beatles, Jobim - and just him and the baritone guitar and that nutty Picasso guitar contraption he plays sometimes. It looks like he is going to tour as a duo with Larry Grenadier on bass for this record so that will be a pretty amazing show if you can catch just the two of them together.

Two Russian Dudes Playing "Smooth Criminal" Duet on Carbon Fiber Cellos

Huh.

Don't hear that every day.

Chris Tarry Invents Something New

And that is hard to do.

Chris is a killer bassist that has won Canadian Grammys (Juno's) for his compositions and playing with his band Metal Wood, and now he has done something that might be a first.

He is also an author, so he took his writing and his composing and made a CD that has both on them - short stories, illustrations and jazz.

Cool, huh?

So you get his tunes, plus a 100 page book-bound CD.

Check out some photos here.

From the press release:

"Rest of the Story" is available in hard copy only (no downloads) exclusively through Nineteen Eight Records. That's right, for now, no iTunes, no CD Baby, just one place, right here. Because, when you buy this album, you support one of the most decorated groups in jazz, as well as a CD that speaks to a time when beautiful album design mattered, a good story was the talk of the town, and music was more than just a click away.

This is very interesting for a whole bunch of reasons - creatively, product-wise, and originality wise.

A big Bravo Ridiculoso, Chris, this may be the beginning of an entirely new genre of artistic output from him, and possibly others.

Check out Chris in action below, and on the web at http://christarry.com

What Christian McBride Did On His Summer Vacation. Actually for all of 2010.

Electric/Upright jazz/funk/pop/classical bassist Christian McBride wrote a post about all the musical things he did during the year 2010.

Um, wow.

It is pretty mind boggling how many different musical projects he was involved in during a single year, everything from playing with Sting to Sonny Rollins and from gigging in places from Detroit to Singapore.

He also touches on some of the personal things that went on his life, both good and not so good.

If you are in NYC, he is going to be at the Apple Store talking about historic jazz recordings as well. I would love to hear his list of desert island disks. I know he would have at least one Jaco record in there somewhere!

Check out his book report on how he spent his 2010.

http://www.christianmcbride.com/scrolls/scroll_mythang_output.html?id=162

Daily Licking 019: 1st Chorus Of Coltrane's Mr. P.C To Blow Your Mind

UPDATE - you can follow this entire series on this page:

http://bassoridiculoso.blogspot.com/search/label/Mr. P.C.

We have probably all played it. It is the defacto minor jazz blues, written by John Coltrane for one of the most famous bass players ever, Paul Chambers. It is on Mr. Trane's most famous album, "Giant Steps" and we are gonna look at his crazy solo, a chorus at a time.

Coltrane's solo on Mr. P.C might actually work on bass. This was before he went completely into another star child dimension of karmic existence and he was still playing in a way some of us humans might actually be able to emulate. Maybe.

I am going to try to go through his entire solo, all 16 choruses of it, and transcribe it all. I think it is doable. I have listened to it over and over and there is only one or two places that he gets really crazy and it might not be playable on bass, but over all, it just might be playable on bass with some minor tweaks. I think.

Also, since this is a blues and there are only 4 chords in the whole tune, it makes for really easy analysis and investigation into what he was playing. Even in only this first chorus, there is a dump truck full of goodies. I see posts from guys all the time saying "how do I know what to play when I solo?", well, look at these licks and dissect what he is doing and your cup will be overflowing with ridiculoso. Let us examine some things from The Master, shall we?

Autumn Leaves Bass Chord Melody

Adam Neely doing a very nice chord melody to Autumn Leaves on bass. Sounds killer. Check out his web page and YouTube Channel for many Basso Approved^© discussions and examples that will supply more than your minimum daily requirement of ridiculoso.

Daily Licking 018: McCoy Tyner's Effendi

Back to more of that, uh huh.

This is a tune from McCoy's first trio record, "Inception", from 1961 or there abouts. It is an awesome record, there is not a bad tune on it, and McCoy is being McCoy and just blazing. The bassist is a guy named Art Davis and he goes mano-y-mano with McCoy on a couple of tunes where they play unison lines during the melody of"There Is No Greater Love", and this one, "Effendi". Effendi is a term used in Turkey for government officials. So says the internet. I will have to go watch "Midnight Express" again and see if that is true.

This tune is sort of McCoys twist on a modal tune like "So What", but McCoy uses an ABA form, so it goes:

Dmin - 8 measures
Bridge - 8 measures
Dmin - 8 measures

Daily Licking 017: Family Man

Today a break from chromaticism and all that.

Here is a line from the King of Reggae bass, Aston "Family Man" (because he has more than 50 kids. No joke. He is obviously doing something besides practicing his scales....) Barrett laying it down through a thick cloud of pakalolo smoke on one of Mr. Marley's last songs before his untimely death.

This is only the verse groove, and the first time through it doesn't go to the E min, it just goes between the F and G. Nothing but triad chord tones and, man does it groove. I guess he is practicing his triads after all.

bass lick 4/4 tempo 60 | Fmaj f16 r c+ a f r8 r16 c+ r c a f r8 r16 | Gmaj g-16 g r g b r d r g- g g r r4 | Fmaj f+16 r c+ a f r8 r16 c+ r c a f r8 r16 | Emin e32 r32 e8 e16 b r b r e e e r r4 |

And here is the full tune, it is not one of his bigger hits but it has an unusually pop-y bass line. Bopland spreads out those sixteenths a little in the notation, so just listen to the groove to get the feel.

Irie, Mon.

Jaco Pastorius - There Is No Greater Love

Here is another bootleg of the Bright Size Life band with a 22 year old Jaco playing the standard "There is No Greater Love". Jaco doing a classic walking bass line over a standard...with some Jaco thrown in of course.

The copy I have of this said it was from Pooh's Pub in Boston in 1974 (two years before Jaco's solo record), not sure where Zircon is but the poster of this says thats where it was.

Check out Jaco's solo, there are quite a few well known Jaco-isms in the solo that would become very famous.

What People Want In Their Bass Player - Episode 2: Saxophonist Bob Reynolds

(Edit: You can read Episode 1 in this series, by Jake Hertzog, here)

First of all, the answer to what people want in their bass player is not "a nice rack" (either kind) or "fresh bullet holes". We are talking musically here, people, not anatomically. So enough with the jokes. Thats my department.

In Episode 2, we get the lowdown on bass players from saxophonist Bob Reynolds, fresh off touring with John Mayer. (Yea, that John Mayer) and doing some gigs in NYC with someone all us bass players should know, Janek Gwizdala.

Bob not only plays sax in Mayer's band, he also was part of the house band for the Bonnie Hunt talk show, is a Rico Reed endorsee, and has several of his own projects that play his award winning compositions. His 2006 album "Can't Wait For Perfect" was voted Best Debut in the Village Voice's jazz poll and he has won 4 ASCAP Young Jazz Composer awards. He does all kinds of side work/featured soloist stuff across all genres - Nellie McKay, Guy Sebastian, Jonah Smith Brian Blade, and Tom Harrell - as just a small sample of the range of situations he plays in. You can also hear him on Janek's latest album. He even has his own set of samples of well, himself, so you can have Bob at home if you use Reason or other electronic music tools. And then, in the massive amount of free time he has left over, he runs one of the best video lesson sites going on the net, not just for sax players but for anyone that wants to get their improv on from anywhere on earth with an internet connection. So he is a busy guy.

As you can imagine, a soloist like Bob gets to play with a lot of different people and in a lot of different styles of music, from jazz, to pop, to rock, to stuff that is impossible to put a label on like his electronica project. I can only imagine how many different bass players he has played with over the years...100? 500, 1000? A metric arse-load, for sure. I do know he has played with a very broad selection of bass players that are known experts in a lot of genres - Janek Gwizdala, Sean Hurley, Pino Palladino, Richard Bona - some seriously heavy cats I believe they are referred to. And so obviously when traveling in those musical circles, he is going to meet a lot of people that play at a very high level. My point is that I am willing to bet Bob's thoughts about "good bass playing" are shared by many others involved in music at the same level. So this is very likely what a lot of players, and especially soloists and singers think are the qualities that a bass player they want to play with should have.

Here is a gig Bob did with Mayer at a small, intimate, little out-of-the-way venue called THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL, you know for just for a couple of folks....

And when I say "a couple" I mean 20. THOUSAND.

And here is Bob grooving with a looper at the infamous 55 Bar in NYC.

And getting a solo on "Austin City Limits":

Whatever your thoughts are about Mayer (he tends to be polarizing and says some, uh, interesting things) that is a seriously sick band. Forget about it. Those guys can play. Get out of here.

And whatever you think about the music business, playing in a group at that level, the stadium show/national TV level, means you have your act together. There is no "hey man, I am just not feeling it tonight", or "Oh yea, I didn't get around to learning that tune, sorry, I was in the zone playing Call of Duty last night man!" allowed. You are on or gone.

So Bob has real experience at the very top of the music pyramid, on both the creative side with playing and composing and on the business of performing side. He is not talking to you as a guy imagining what you MIGHT need to be able to do in order to play on a TV show and do stadium shows for an entire tour. He does it.

If one were to have any aspirations to pursue music full-time as a bass playing human being, it would behoove one to read Bob's thoughts and really embrace them, because it is not very often you get the direct line to hear an honest and unfiltered opinion from someone who travels in the kind of musical circles Bob does. It is also a testament to Bob's character that he donated his time to answer this question (while he was traveling no less!!) when some random shmoe with a free blog who he doesn't even know emails him and asks for a freebie. That's class, right there.

So... what does Bob think a "good" bass player is?

I will let him tell you electronically below, I emphasized a few places that I thought were particularly interesting.

Print this one out and put it somewhere you can read it. Often. It's specific, its detailed and it is very honest.

Mr. Reynolds, your thoughts?

Q: What do I look for in a bass player?

A: A warm tone, solid time, a great hook-up with the drummer, and, if they are
to be a soloist, a sense of form and "the big picture" when soloing.

Truthfully, however, my impression of any bass player (or any rhythm section player) will be a direct result of how I feel about myself when playing with them. I will reflect on my level of comfort and quality of my performance to judge whether I choose to play with that person again.

We are all selfish. We all want to sound good. A great bass player makes it
easy to sound my best.

What do I mean by level of comfort? Was the bassist prepared? Did he know the music cold or was I constantly anxious he would forget to skip the 2nd ending on the repeat? Was his time solid? Was his sound good or was it bugging me all night? What do I mean by quality of my performance? Was the bassist over-playing during my solos, causing me to fight for my own space, or was he supportive? Did his playing/sound inspire fresh ideas on my part or was I playing on autopilot because I was mentally battling for ground?

With my students I stress the 5 T's. I believe if you focus on these 5
elements the rest largely takes care of itself:

1. Tone - it's the first thing a listener hears
   
2. Time - it determines a listener's comfort level
   
3. Technique - not how fast or how many notes but quality of execution
   
4. Triads - the bread and butter of harmony
   
5. Tunes - play songs, not licks (*same for solos: should be mini songs)
   

TONE ­ If I am turned off by your tone you've lost me for good. This goes for instrumentalists and vocalists. If your tone is not inviting I hope you have something amazing up your sleeve to keep me listening. (And it better not be slapping!) Your tone should be like a warm blanket that I want to be wrapped up in.

TIME ­ Are you rushing? (I hope not) Is your pocket solid? If you've got great time and a solid hook-up with the drummer then everything should just "pop" and it will feel comfortable to play over. If you're confident I'll be comfortable.

TECHNIQUE ­ Don't misinterpret this. It's not about quantity of notes it's about quality of note choice and note placement. I measure technique as the quality of execution, the distance between notes, and the placement of phrases. This is not what you do but how well you do what you do.

TRIADS ­ As my good friend Sean Hurley (bassist with John Mayer and in-demand studio player) likes to say, "I play the roots". After that, triads should come before substitutions and hot-licks. You'd be surprised how amazing it can sound when the bass player just plays roots, long round notes, and holds it down.

TUNES ­ Know lots of them and know them really well. If you are in a situation where you don't know one, know it next time and I don't mean having a fake-book app.

*As an extension, I think "tunes" applies to soloing. Your solos should be mini-songs rather than pyrotechnic adventures. Did I mention the no-slapping policy? ;)

Certainly there are different styles of bass players and what might be appropriate in one setting may be undesirable in another. Are you playing a 5-string and trying out your Jaco licks on a straight-up pop gig? Chances are you won't be on that gig very long.

Take Janek Gwizdala and Sean Hurley, two electric bassists with styles different as night and day, for instance. They both are incredible at what they do and I therefore love playing with both of them. I know the music will have a different slant depending on which guy is holding it down. I don't expect one to sound like the other.

Listen to the harmonic palette Janek creates behind my solo on "What She Didn't Say" from my Live in New York album. It's incredibly creative and inspiring for me as a soloist.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/live-in-new-york/id397057327

Conversely, listen to Sean hold it down on this solo I take with David Ryan Harris's band. As I get busier, he gets simpler, he's not competing with me or matching me note for note. He's locking it in with JJ (the drummer), leaving me an incredible launch pad to solo from.

And speaking of holding it down: both Janek and Sean are great unofficial M.D.'s (musical directors). I can always trust they will guide the rest of the rhythm section behind me and offer great arrangement suggestions in rehearsals.
For acoustic players, I like someone who has what I once heard referred to as "hump". It's a bounce, or a lilt to your playing that makes the music dance. I like the Ray Brown, Christian McBride, Reuben Rogers style. A guy like Reuben is a vibe-generator: he emits good vibes both personally and musically and makes everyone feel and sound better.

Reuben, he once told a friend of mine, who wanted advice on how to land more gigs, that his secret is "Not that I'm the greatest bass player out there, but I know how to make other people sound good." Take note.

I think what you'll find about most A-list bass players is that they make the bands/projects they're a part of sound great. We all should strive for this quality no matter what instrument we play.

One last thing (and perhaps the most important): be a good person. All the outstanding playing abilities in the world are worthless if I'm uncomfortable when you're in the room.

Oh yea.

Thats some very salient and honest advice right there. Like I said, print this one out, and the next time you wonder what other people in the band are thinking about your playing while they solo - read this.

And, I have to say, if you are a doubler and play another instrument like any kind of sax or even keyboards, you should take advantage of the times we live in by signing up for some improv lessons on Bob's site. Because even though Bob does play a saxophone, the stuff on his site is about music, no matter what instrument you play. Even if you are a bassist that just wants to get a non-bass players perspective on playing and learn some things that sax players have been using for decades, sign up. We have some unique opportunities living when we do, as far as communication and exchange of information goes, and so being able to get access to people actually out there doing it in a one-on-one situation is pretty incredible.

http://bobreynoldsmusic.com - Bob's main site.
http://lessons.bobreynoldsmusic.com - Online Video Lessons.
http://www.youtube.com/user/bobreynolds - Bob on You Tube.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/bob-reynolds/id159603110 - Bob on ITunes.

Transcribing. Part 1. The "Why" of Transcribing

The most popular article on the entire site so far has been the transcription of Autumn Leaves, by a factor of 2x over any other article. In fact, 9 of the top 10 most-viewed articles up here are a transcription of something - Whims of Chambers, or the ii-v's post, (which were all transcribed by David Baker from some recordings), or even a pop tune like Let's Dance.

Bass people like them some transcriptions it seems.

But rather than being at the mercy of my seemingly endless supply of generosity and witty thoughtfulness, what if there was a way, some way to have all the transcriptions you could ever want, a vast, unending supply of vibrant and illuminating musical documents spilling over upon and about ones self. And what if these were all basically free. Without cost, forcing you to re-numerate no man and expand your musicality as you saw fit. What a paradise that would be. Heavy Sigh. But alas, this can only be some twisted crazy fantasy utopia, the rantings of a mad dreamer, I should dare not to even speak of such things openly, it surely can't be possible. As many transcriptions as one could ever want? Of anything? How, how could it be? Where? Tell me more, you say, where is this never ending supply of transcriptions??? Dare you dream with me???!!!

Yea, see that pile of CD's on your floor, and that long list of mp3s in your Itunes playlist?

There they all are. Just waiting for you to write them down.

YOU. Yea, that's right - YOU.

You are the best source there is for transcriptions you like.

I mentioned in the Autumn Leaves post I would be happy to talk more about transcribing, and lo and behold, someone, oh lets call him "David Frank", sent me an email:

Dear Mr. Ridiculoso,

thanks for your efforts, particularly the Autumno Leaves transcription. You threatened to write more about the process of transcription. I'd be interested to read your deeply considered and carefully worded thoughts!

gracias,

David

Now, obviously Mr. Frank is a man of intellect and refinement and recognizes fellow greatness when he steps in it. And far be it from me to ever succumb to the more base and carnal impulses of my oh so human nature by responding positively to direct flattery and attention, but how can I resist such a poignant and scholarly request. I cannot, I say.

So then, my flock, join me and we shall follow that crazy crazy dream and during this two part article you will learn how YOU, yes, YOU are going to be able to transcribe anything it is you want to learn from and become so overflowing with ridiculoso you will talk funny and no one will even care.

I started writing this and the post kinda exploded, so I am breaking it into two parts - this first one is WHY transcribing is so great, and then the second post will be on how to actually do it, with a real tune.

Now, It seems a bit silly that in some quarters the idea of transcribing is not understood to be beneficial, but apparently that is the case. We shall start there and decimate that feeble myth quite convincingly and then we shall speak no more of such foolishness.

The Why of Transcribing

We don't really need to go over how important and fundamental transcribing is to learning how to play and develop as an improvising musician do I? What?? Really?

Oh man....Uh, Branford, you want to take this one for me, sir?

Oh Mr. Gourlay, you have a few things to say on the matter as well, based on your own personal first hand experince?

Hmmm I don't know, I mean, that sounds great, and kinda makes sense and all Rob, I guess, but I don't know, man, but how do I know it works?

Oh. Okay. Never mind.

If any knucklehead out there tries to tell you, hey man, he doesn't transcribe because, you know, "he doesnt want to sound like anyone but himself", just tell him great, have fun talking in your own private made up language that uses words no one but you understands, freak. Enjoy the musical equivalent of muttering to yourself in pretend speak on stage, cat lady.

In fact, for most of the history of the human race, a process that is basically the equivalent of transcribing has been the ONLY way people have been able to learn how to make music. Think about that.

Only for the last 100 years or so with recording technology has learning from "records" been possible, so that is a 20th-century-only option. For the entire history of human music making before that, if you wanted to learn how to play a piece of music you had two and only two choices -

1. Have a person who already knows how to play what you want to learn, play that piece for you and then you imitate it. As many times as it took until you got it.
   
2. Starting around ohhh the year 1000-ish or so, the option of looking at some kind of musical notation started to become an option. But considering that only about 2% of the earths population could read, you know, WORDS at that point, there were not very many folks reading music for several hundred years. So you are back to using method 1, which is basically, you got it, - transcribing. Hearing something and figuring out how to play it by imitation.
   

Today, even some drummers can read small words if they sound them out, we let them go to school and everything, so we add the step of writing down the notes as well since it it much more common. But the core skill is about hearing and repeating, which, for the vast majority of the time our species has been banging on hollow logs, or singing, or plucking on things, has been the only way humans ever learned how to play something.

DVD's, play-alongs, chord scale theory, Omnibook, all that stuff is great but...it is the complete opposite of the way that humans learned music for centuries.

If you are going to get in a fist fight with evolution over how you think music should be learned, uh, my money is on evolution. It ALWAYS wins.

Humans didn't learn scales or theories or note relationships first and then Caveman Ogg showed Caveman Grog how to do that neat thumpity thumpity on the hollow brown thing that was not a rock. No, Grog sat down and imitated Ogg as he banged on the hollow brown thing that was not a rock until he learned how to do it to and then they banged together.

Just like all the players you probably dig now learned how to play, via imitation. A lot of the players whose names we all know did it exactly the same way. And that's why we know who they are. Sure, some of them also went and got all book learned at some fancy-pants music school, and learned words like "semi-demi-hemi-quaver", but that also is a relatively recent phenomena in the big time scale of humans playing music.

Quotes about transcription

A small sampling and examples from some seriously good players, not all of them jazz guys either. These say a lot.

Marcus Miller (Miles Davis, Chaka Kahn, David Sanborn, everyone under the sun)

From http://www.jacopastorius.com/features/marcusmiller.html

"I was around 15 years old and a drummer friend of mine told me I had to check this record out. It was Jaco's first album. The first thing I heard was "Donna Lee". I have to admit, I didn't quite get it. It just sounded like some cat playing whatever notes he felt like. I was just learning about jazz and hadn't progressed in my own development to where I could even begin to comprehend what Jaco was doing. But this guy was obviously good so I got the record for myself and began to really listen to it

It stayed on my turntable for around two years. (Note: in another interview Marcus said he would just put other records ontop of Jaco's record, it never came off his turn table)

I slowly began to appreciate what Jaco was doing. I was studying music pretty intensely then and it seemed like each step I took in my development allowed me to appreciate that Jaco album more. I'll never forget when, just for kicks, I decided to walk the changes to "Donna Lee" on my bass while Jaco's version was playing. This was probably a year into listening to Jaco's album and I had finally learned "Donna Lee" at school. I was still assuming that, once Jaco stated Charlie Parker's melody, he pretty much was playing any ole' thing that he wanted and that it had nothing to do with the changes. Well I'm walking the changes under Jaco's melody and continue the changes under Jaco's 'crazy solo' and of course realize that it's not crazy at all! I realize that he's playing the changes -- and not just playing them. He was creating harmonies and lines that were so amazing it was sick! My appreciation of him grew so much that afternoon."

Think Marcus has internalized some of Jaco's licks through repeated listening and transcribing? Yea, maybe.

Scott Henderson (Electric Band, Zawinul Syndicate, GIT Instructor, Tribal Tech)

"If I had any words of wisdom, I would just say that transcription is really the key to everything. I mean, some guys think, “Ok, I’ve gotta go to music school, and I’ve gotta spend a lot of money to do this, or to do that, or to learn that.” Music school really is just about communicating to other people what to call this, or what to call that. It’s never gonna substitute for doing the work of just sitting down and learning stuff from your records. That’s how ninety percent of the great musicians today have learned how to play — by listening to other players, copying them at first, but discovering your own voice later. You copy from a lot of different people and keep your range as wide as possible — that’s really the key to getting better, faster. The more input there is, the more output there is."

Janek Gwizdala (Mike Stern, Pat Metheny, Randy Brecker, Airto, Hiram Bullock, VV Brown, Bob Reynolds, Solo Artist)

When asked about transcribing on a TalkBass thread. Some of the solos he started with.

I was inspired to play the bass by a Welsh bass player named Laurence Cottle. He's a monster bass player and really great human being. I saw him in a pub one sunday lunchtime in London and decided that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I went out and bought a bass and hit the shed. I haven't stopped ever since. That was in about 1995 as far as I remember. We lived close to each other and he took me to all his gigs. I used to record them all on a small tape recorder and then, when he dropped me home after the gig, would transcribe all the stuff on the tapes and learn it note for note. This was a great basis for trying to build my own sound upon.

So, to your specific questions.

1. yes, I always learn stuff on the bass that I'm transcribing. Don't forget that I normally transcribe at the piano so I'm working it all out on piano up to speed too. It's time consuming, but it makes all the difference. You bury these things that you're transcribing deep into your mind and your subconscious. And that's where it should stay, until it surfaces as something original in your own playing and sound.

2. It doesn't matter that there are only 24 hrs in the day. How do you think Trane came up with those solos for all of us to transcribe? he was in the shed! all day, every day. It's a life-long commitment, and something that you have to be totally focussed on to get to the next level. If you're going to do it, and you love what you do, then work as hard as you possibly can. Put in 10hrs a day if you really want to get the most out of what you're doing. ....

I rarely transcribe a complete solo these days. I started out with about 200 complete solos in the first few years of transcribing. Now I find small phrases that interest me, that I can take and develop and make my own. This is very important for creating your own voice. Don't just stop at learning these peoples music, take it and make it your own. Build your own ideas and vocabulary from what you are taking from all these records.

Fun Fact: Here is the guy Janek shadowed and transcribed. Monster bass player is putting it mildly.

Ed Tomassi (Professor of Ensembles at Berklee)

On what he has his students do: "I have them do a lot of transcribing."

So you can pay $40,000 a year to have Ed tell you to go transcribe some stuff...or you can just do it. You owe me $40,000 now by the way.

Snippet from Eddie Van Halens first ever interview in 1978.

Guitar.com: What guitar players were you most influenced by?

Van Halen: That's a toughie, really. But I'd say the main one, believe it or not, was Eric Clapton. I mean, I know I don't sound like him.

Guitar.com: You're more like Hendrix or Blackmore.

Van Halen: Yeah, I know. I don't know why, because Hendrix I like, but I was never into him like I was Clapton. And Clapton, man, I know every solo he ever played, note-for-note, still to this day.

Guitar.com: You memorized them?

Van Halen: Oh, yeah! I used to sit down and learn that stuff note-for-note off the record. The live stuff, like "Spoonful," "I'm So Glad" live, all that stuff. But Hendrix too.

Guitar.com: What advice would you give a young guitarist who wants to follow the route you've gone?

Van Halen: You just have to enjoy what you're doing. I mean, you can't pick up a guitar and say, "I want to be like him, I wanna be a rock star," just because you wanna be a rock star. You know? You have to enjoy playing guitar. If you don't enjoy playing guitar, then it's useless. I know a lot of people who really want to be famous or whatever, but they don't really practice guitar. They think all you do is grow your hair long and look freaky and jump around, and they neglect the actual musical end, which is tough. To learn music is like going to school to be a lawyer. But you have to enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, it's a waste.

Miles Osland (Professor at University of Kentucky). His Micheal Brecker transcriptions have been published in Downbeat magazine.

During his master class at the University of Kentucky, the question of the practicality of the study of transcribed solos was posed to Michael Brecker. His answer was that he is aware of the advantage that younger students have with the use of improv and transcription books. He did not have access to the many volumes of transcribed solos that are available today, and he completed all of his transcribing the old fashioned way: with concentrated listening and the destruction of a lot of grooves in the old vinyl LP’s. He wants to make sure that students never lose their curiosity and enjoy the magic of listening to improvisation. In his words: The problem is if you rely on the books too much, it seems to me that you’re stamping out your own individuality and it makes it harder to erase the information from your subconscious. I’m glad, in a way, that Coltrane didn’t explain everything that he did because it left a lot to my imagination. "

Joshua Redmond (Tenor Player, jazz soloist, played with everyone)

From his website FAQ when asked what solos he would recommend transcribing

"I would recommend learning any solo (or chorus, or phrase, or lick) that you find compelling. If it speaks to you, if it moves you, if you dig it, then by all means transcribe it. And you may find that the actual process of transcription is just as important as what, or who, you choose to transcribe. I would also recommend, wherever possible, trying to learn solos by ear and memory, without actually writing them down (transcribing without the "scribing"), as well as learning them in multiple keys. Now, there are hundreds and hundreds (thousands!) of solos that I love, by musicians of virtually every conceivable instrument, era and genre. So for every one that I have listed here, there are countless others that I could (and probably should!) have mentioned. You'll notice that for the sake of focus (and sanity!) ....when it comes to learning solos, "difficulty" can be a rather relative and subjective concept. The Dewey Redman solo, for example, might seem fairly straightforward to transcribe from a melodic and harmonic standpoint, since much of it is based on a "simple" G blues scale. But try to master all the nuances of tone, inflection, rhythm, phrasing, feeling . . . well . . . that could take a lifetime!

I could probably have 3000 other quotes from guys that you all know saying more or less the same thing, they copied and learned the licks they liked off records from players that inspired them. Jaco did it, (check out his instructional video where he plays a bass line that Jerry Jemmot, the guy interviewing him played on a BB King record), Jeff Berlin does it (he does crazy things like Keith Jarret piano solos and stuff), Janek, you name 'em he/she probably learned that way.

So, the prosecution rests. If you still are reticent and don't get it...well, my knucklehead paisan, you are loco da capo. Head crazy. Nuts. Bonkers.

And now, as a final gesture, I shall resort to shame and ridicule those still not convinced....I mean, its perfectly okay that you don't think transcribing is important, sure, its up to you, I mean, I guess you want 13 year old girls that invest the time and do the work to play better than you can....hey, you know, its your choice, thats cool.

She gets it. Could you play something like that 9 months after you started playing? Gee, she can. Weird. I wonder why.

Y'all wanna hear a little bass? Damian Erskine with Alice Dimicele.

Mr. Erskine soloing over singer/songwriter progression #3 : D - C - G. Sounds pretty tasty though, simple doesn't mean lame. It's nice to hear what chops like that sound like over a "normal" progression that anyone in a cover band might come across.

This must be from relatively recent because he is playing his signature model 6 string.

Happy Birthday, Larry Grenadier

Happy Birthday, Larry.

Actually it was yesterday, February 6th.

Here are Larry's thought about improvising and what he is doing while he is playing.

Triad Pairs. For Bass. Dammit.

Why oh why do book publishers hate the bass clef. Huh? What did that cute, harmless little crescent ever do to them? Why won't they just put a bass clef section in their music books. Is it because he is ....BLACK? Oh, that is just so typical. Hey, it can be at the back of the book, separate but equal okay, but whatever, just get it in there and set my bass peoples free.

Exhibit A - there does not seem to be a single book about triad pairs that has any bass clef notation in it. Not that I could find, anyway. Those trebley bass clef hating bastards. They are anti-octavists, thats what they are, overt anti-octavists. Next they will be saying bass players need to be in their own section, some kind of section just for "those people" that play rhythm. Geez.

Well, this aggression will not stand, man. Time to rectify said unacceptable situation. So here we go...

Triad Pairs

Triad pairs! What are they?

Well, they are a pair of triads, as in two different triads without any common tones paired up together. Just two triads you decide to group together and then limit yourself to only playing the notes contained in those two triads in a bunch of different ways. That is really all there is to it, pretty much.

Of course, there are details:

1. Usually the two triads are either a whole step apart or a half step apart, or sometimes a tri-tone apart. For instance, a C Maj and a D Maj triad could be one pair, and then say, D Maj and Ab Maj could be another pair. The reason is that if you put triads that are a 3rd, 5th, or 6th apart they can have many overlapping notes (c maj and e emin have 2 notes in common for example) and you don't get a strong harmonic effect. The unique notes of each triad make the effect. So, for example:

Triad Pair Example - C maj & D maj

bass lick tempo 140 3/8 | Cmaj c8 e g | Dmaj d8 f# a |

And here is the scale you get when you put the notes from those two triads in musical-alphabetical order, a-b-c-d-e-f-g, but only using the notes that make up the two triads.

Triad Pair Scale - C maj & D maj

bass lick tempo 140 6/8 | C c8 d e f# g a |

2. The two triads can be any quality - one can be minor, one can be major, both can be minor, one augmented, one major, whatever. You can pretty much go wild. The combination of the qualities of the triads (and their respective notes) determine what chords it makes sense to play that particular pair over. You can create your pairs either by just making up a pair randomly and then figuring out what chords it could fit, or find a chord or scale and then take a pair that occurs naturally within that scale/chord.

This is not a new concept, horn players have been using it for quite a while, as in, for decades. At the end of this article there are links to some books and videos and a bit of history on where this concept came from so you can get into it even more if you want.

This is probably a newer idea to a lot of bass players, however. Part of the reason is that this really is almost exclusively a solo technique, it's not really for altering bass lines on the fly. Sometimes the pairs of triads intentionally include notes that will create altered notes on a chord, or include notes that may not even be in the chord, so if you suddenly throw a triad pair line into your bass line, and no one else is playing those alterations...well, you might get The Look from your guitar player/keyboard/drummer and we don't want that. The Look is bad. It's the "what the hell was that" look. No good. So, keep that in mind and realize this is primarily a solo-istic device.

Guitar players also use this technique abundantly as well, see, here is an article where Mike Stern shows how he uses a triad pair to play over an F7 chord - scroll down to the section in that article called "Twisted Triads".

Let us take Mr. Stern's example as a jumping off point, but move his example into bass clef where it rightly belongs and then apply a generous slab of freshly ground ridiculoso to liven it up even more.

First, here is the raw triad pair Stern uses, just converted to bass clef. The first measure is the Eb triad, the second the F, and then the scale the two triads make when you put them together, like the example above. Note that he plays his examples in 4/4, but his pairs and his lines are exactly the same as the ones below. Those below are just in 3 so you can see each triad pair more clearly. You can play any of these lines in 4 at anytime. But that is an entirely different subject...

Stern Pairs in 3

bass lick tempo 90 3/8 | Ebmaj eb g bb | Fmaj f a c | F7 eb- f g | a bb c |

Next, Stern shows how to play the triads in different inversions to make a line. He plays each triad in each inversion, in order. So he does root position for each one, then first inversion (the third of the triad played first) for each one, then second inversion, (the fifth of the triad played first) for each one. Here is his line in bass clef:

Stern Lick in 3

bass lick 6/8 | F7 eb8 g bb f a c | g- bb eb a c f | bb-- eb g c- f a |

Okay, cool. A simple melodic line. See how it works? But there are a lot more ways to play these triad pair things than Mike had time to show. A lot more. How many more? Lets assess our options, shall we?

Well, since you diligently study and re-read every post spewn forth up here, you of course know that there are exactly six different ways to order the notes of any one triad.

So you have six different ways to group each triad, times two triads, and then you also have six individual notes between the two triads, so to figure out how many ways there are you do 1*2*3*4*5*6 and you get...

A big freaking number.

720 in fact. So there are 720 different ways to arrange the notes in any triad pair and play through them. Yikes.

Okay, but are all going to sound good? No. Some sound disjunct and angular and terrible and very contrived. But...some sound really cool. So lets try and reduce this number of possibilities and get to just some of the good ones.

So remember, we have 6 different arrangements of each triad:

1. Root - 3rd - 5th (aka Root Position)
2. 3rd - 5th - Root (aka First Inversion)
3. 5th - Root - 3rd (aka Second Inversion)

and then three others that don't have formal names and are just different orders of the notes:

4. Root - 5th - Third
5. Third - Root - Fifth
6. 5th - 3rd - Root.

So in our effort to reduce complexity, lets limit the ways we can play the triads to just the classic inversions, Root Position, First Inversion and Second Inversion. We will put those those other 3 non-inversion types aside for right now. That will help make our choices a little cleaner and easier, we will just keep it to 3 ways to play each triad, instead of 6.

But check it out, now we have 6 "units" of triads! (There are some made up abbreviations after each triad group. . .you will see why in a second.)

1. First Triad Root Position (or 1st Root)
   
2. First Triad First Inversion (or 1st 1st)
   
3. First Triad Second Inversion(or 1st 2nd)
   
   
4. Second Triad Root Position (or 2nd Root)
   
5. Second Triad First Inversion (or 2nd 1st)
   
6. Second Triad Second Inversion(or 2nd 2nd)
   

Uh oh. Thats six "units" of things again. We are back to having 720 different ways to organize just those! Fine. But now we at least have some organized labels and a way to approach this material, which is good because there is a LOT of material here. This concept is not a little lick or a line you just play once and then you got it, there is months or years of exploration in these things. There are rhythmic options, and all the crazy combinations of augmented, and minor then the tri-tones...all those are things for some future post. So, any way you slice it, this is a big ol' chunk of music to chew on.

To prove how much here there is here, I will use the triad pair of Cmaj and Dmaj and drop some examples on y'all. So using this pair and all its inversions:

Triad Pair - C Maj & D Maj in Root, 1st and 2nd Inversion

bass lick tempo 90 9/8 | Cmaj c8 e g e g c g- c e | Dmaj d8 f# a f#- a d a d f# |

And I will take those made up labels from above (1st Root, 1st 1st etc.) and use them to describe recipes for making melody lines with just those three arrangements of each of the triads. The examples will be in 6/8 just so you can see the recipe clearly, that means each measure will have two triads, each arranged in one of the three orders - root position, first inversion, or second inversion.

For instance, the recipe for Mr. Sterns example line, (originally with Eb and F) went:

1st Root (c, e, g) 2nd Root (d, f#, a) 1st 1st (e, g, c) 2nd 1st (f#, a, d) 1st 2nd (g, c, e) 2nd 2nd (a, d, f#)

Stern Lick Again Transposed

bass lick 6/8 | C7 c8 e g d+ f# a | e-- g c f# a d | g-- c e a- d f# |

But we can re-arrange those chunks INTO ANY ORDER WE WANT. What about...

1 Root, 2nd Root, 1st 2nd, 2nd 2nd, 1st 1st, 2nd 1st

bass lick 6/8 | C7 c8 e g d f# a | g- c e f# a d | e-- g c f# a d |

Or maybe, mess with the octaves a little and change the direction of the line and do:

1st Root, 2nd 2nd, 1st 2nd, 2nd 1st, 1st 1st, 2nd Root

bass lick 6/8 | C7 c8 e g a d f#- | g c- e f# a d | e g- c d f#- a |

You hear how this works. There are, well, over 700 different ways to do every triad pair just using the inversions, not even including the 3 other ways of playing triads. And like I said, some are gonna sound like junk and are not good for anything but sight reading practice, but hey, even if there is only 10% that sound good, that is 72 new phrases you can keep and use.

Listed below is just a taste of what you can do. These are from a PDF I created that is at the end of the article, which only has about 120 of the possible lines. "Only". Each melody line in the PDF is numbered and has the recipe that made it listed below it, so 1st Root, 2nd 2nd etc. And if 100 different lines are not enough for ya, just start in the middle of any lick and play to the end and wrap around to where you started, like it is a mode or something. Brain overload, I know.

The PDF only contains licks that start with the 1st Triad in First Inversion , thats all, so every lick starts with E G C, in that order. I chose that because it starts on a low E and lets you get as much range as possible going up from there. There is still over 100 ways to play the other 5 "units" (2nd 2nd, 1st Root etc) in various different orders after that first inversion triad as the starting unit.

Again, some suck and are useless. The first 10 or so, meh, its good to see them to get how the inversions can be moved around, but they sound contrived. Some however, are really cool. Some just need a little octave adjustment or direction adjustment (alternating the lick up and down instead of just ascending).

A small sampling...

Number 7

bass lick 6/8 | C7 e-8 g c c e g | d f# a g c- e | f# a- d a d f#-|

Number 30 - Emphasizing F#

bass lick 6/8 | C7 e-8 g c g c e | c e g a d f# | f# a- d d f# a- |

Number 39

bass lick 6/8 | C7 e-8 g c g c e | f# a- d d f# a | c- e g a d- f# |

Number 48 - Starts on Open Strings

bass lick 6/8 | C7 e-8 g c g+ c e | a-- d f# f# a d| d- f# a c e g |

Number 51 - Beginning of alternating groups

bass lick 6/8 | C7 e-8 g c d f# a | c- e g f# a d| g-- c e a d f# |

Number 60

bass lick 6/8 | C7 e-8 g c d f# a | g- c e a d f# | c- e g f# a d |

Number 62

bass lick 6/8 | C7 e-8 g c d f# a | f#- a d c e g | a- d f# g c e |

Number 70 - Opposite of 62

bass lick 6/8 | C7 e-8 g c d f# a | a- d f# g c e | f#-- a d c e g |

Number 86 - Staying Low

bass lick 6/8 | C7 e-8 g c f#- a d | d f# a c- e g |a- d f# g- c e |

Number 112 - Starting on Each String

bass lick 6/8 | C7 e-8 g c a d f# | d f# a g c e |f#-- a d c e g |

And here is what a few of these licks sound like against some chords. This is not the richest accompaniment, but it lets you hear the general idea.

Against C7#11 (rootless voicing)

piano voicings tempo 90 6/8 C7#11 | C7#11 | C7#11 ||| { | ( e2. f# g b ) | (e2. f#2. g b ) | (e2. f#2. g b) | }{| c8 e g d f# a | e-8 g c f#- a d | g- c e a- d f# | }

Against G Maj 9 (root on some)

piano voicings tempo 90 6/8 Gmaj | Gmaj | Gmaj |||{ | (d2. f#2. a b ) | (d2. f#2. a b ) | (d2. f#2. g g+) | }{| c8 e g d f# a | e-8 g c f#- a d | g- c e a- d f# | }

Lots of stuff. That's just 10 of 'em. Told ya. There are 600 others left for you to figure out. Some general observations:

1) The lines that alternate triads tend to sound more interesting (to me anyway). Yet, having lines that stay on one triad and then move to the other can be useful also. 2) Changing direction in the line helps, but having a line going in just one direction can sound great too. There is just so much stuff here to play with.

Okay great, so what can you play this C Maj/D maj pair over?

1. Any chords in the key of G Major or E Minor so your Gmaj, Cmaj7#11, Bmin, Emin, A dorian, D7
2. Dsus, C7#11 also.
3. F# minor flat 5 - Autumn Leaves anyone?

But ...there are not really any hard rules, you could try anything, for instance, say you wanted to try it over a BbMaj9 chord? What would happen?

Well you would have:

BbMaj9

1. C - 9th
2. D - 3rd
3. E - #11
4. F# - #5/b13
5. G - 13
6. A - Major 7

Hmmm, tasty possibilities. #11, nice and a #5, kinda whole-toney. Try it!

What about say..F7?

F7

1. F# - b9
   
2. G - 9
   
3. A - 3rd
   
4. C - 5th
   
5. D - 6th
   
6. E - Major 7
   

piano voicings tempo 90 6/8 F7 | F7 | F7 | { | (eb2. f a c2. ) | (eb2. f a c2. ) | ( eb2. f a c2.)|} {| c8 e g d f# a | e-8 g c f#- a d | g- c e a- d f# |}

Also has potential. The b9 - always a bold statement. And even with the natural 7 against the flat 7 of the dominant it might work, remember, the Bebop scale has that note in it and people play that all the time over a dominant chord. Just don't sit on the E.

But that is how you figure it out, just map what the notes of your triad pair would be in relation to the chord you want to play over and see how it goes. Some will be way way out there in a good way, some in the bad way, but others will be just spicy enough to keep using and give you a little extra snap on your solo.

And remember those 3 groupings of triad notes that we took off the table back there? Well, those sound pretty good too:

The Left Overs

bass lick tempo 140 6/8 | C7#11 c g+ e d a+ f# | e c+ g f# d+ a | g e+ c a f#+ d |

So this post is the tip of a very big iceberg, there are minor/major pairs, augmented/major pairs, pairs a half-step apart, ad infinitum...this is just an intro to the concept and samples on one measly set of triads.

More Info, Credits, and History

Like I said, this concept has been around for quite a while, but as bass players we are usually the last ones to get solo concepts trickled down to us. But horn players (especially sax players), guitar players and keyboard players have all been using this concept for years and years.

There are a couple of very well known books about how to make different triad pairs and how to determine what chords they fit over:

1. The most well known book is rather bluntly entitled Triad Pairs for Jazz , written by Gary Campbell, a music professor at University Of Miami. This one is the most extensive, oh, except for the overt and glaring lack of any bass clef in the entire dang thing whatsoever. Campbell showed stuff like this to Michael Brecker, or so Brecker said once. This is the book that I got it from. He takes a very structured approach to building the pairs and goes through an exhaustive list of possibilities. He also explains how to derive a pair from any particular scale. If you think this stuff is cool, you will like this book. Even though it has zero bass clef in it. None.
   
2. Another good book is called Hextonics by Jerry Bergonzi. "Hex" as in six, as in two different three note triads. Same idea as triad pairs, he just calls them something else, but in true Bergonzi fashion he creates a cubic butt load of lines and melodies with various inversions and melodic permutations and combinations. This book also has a play-along and you can hear Bergonzi demonstrate some examples of different pairs in action as well which is always nice. But again, sadly bass clef-less.
   
3. I think the oldest of the books is called "Intervallic Improvisation" by Walt Weiskopf. It is not as in depth as Campbell's, but it still has a lot of good stuff in it. Walt is playing sax for Steely Dan these days so they must dig it. There is a link to a video of Walt below, demonstrating the goods in person.
   

But supposedly this concept is the creation of a guy named Charlie Banacos, who was more or less the Yoda of improvisational music. He was a very famous guy who used to give lessons by mail. Yea, not e-mail, like, you wrote down stuff on a piece of paper and put it in that little metal box nailed to the side of your house, and then in a week or two some guy in a blue uniform with a truck that has the steering wheel on the wrong side brought you a cassette tape and a piece of paper that came from Mr. Banacos saying "do this stuff". Then you did that stuff, which was usually ass-kickingly hard and took a really long time and made you cry (or so all his students say) then you dried your tears, sent him a cassette of you playing his lesson exercises and another piece of paper saying "okay, now what" and then he sent you something back that was even harder to do than the first thing he sent you...and on it went like that. But, anyway, a lot of very famous well known monster players did his various lessons over the years - Mike Stern, Jeff Berlin, Alain Caron, Bergonzi, Joe Hubbard, tons of guys all went to Degoba to get hip with this musical Yoda. Mr. Banacos passed away recently but his legacy lives on in all the players he taught.

So there you have it, a very long post on the crash-course in triad pairs.

And at the risk of beating a dead horse - remember this is not the primary stuff we get called on to do as bass players. This represents, at best, 5% of what we are expected to do, so don't let this stuff become 90% of what you are practicing all the time. Spend some time with it if it is new to you and play around with it, explore...but remember the things that we will be doing far more of when we play and make sure you practice all those things even more.

And just in case this all wasn't enough..here are some YouTube clips and blog postings, mostly from sax players, about using triad pairs.

Shawn "Thuder" Wallace

Walt Weiskopf - The Man himself

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV-eaT3KDws

Dave Valdez's take

http://davidvaldez.blogspot.com/2006/04/triad-pairs-and-modes-of-harmonic.html

http://davidvaldez.blogspot.com/2005/10/gary-campbells-triad-pairs-for-jazz.html

Matt Otto - on tenor playing with some very altered triad pairs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXlnS3rF0sM

Alleged Artist - Triad Pairs over ii-v's on the gee-tar

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_NU987R8JU

Well, that oughtta be enough to keep y'all off the streets for a while.

Bass Whisperer Genz-Benz Review

Mr. Freidland has another installment of his Bass Whisperer gear reviews up. He always does a good job showing whatever gear he is demo-ing, and gets in some great playing.

This one is on a Genz Benz amp. These days the Class-D power supply amps are all the rage with amps that only weigh 10lbs putting out 900W of tube tone. Thankfully, the era of refrigerator sized bass amps that require you to buy new shocks for your car are gone.

While I am not a slave to gear in any way, these are very informative and well done.

Check out Ed getting his Jack Bruce and Jamerson on during the demo.

Jaco Playing "All The Things You Are"

It's pretty rare to hear Jaco playing a standard from this era (or at all really, there are few but not many) the original poster claims this was in 1974, two years before his solo album came out, and would put Jaco at 22 years old. It's bootleg quality but pretty good.

It is with the same trio he recorded "Bright Sized Life" with, (metheny and moses) and he of course sounds freaking awesome. Pat does too. Heck, they all do.

This might be at Poo's Pub in Boston perhaps. Don't know.