Last weeks Drums was fab, expecting this to be equally f.a.b.

I’m keen.

Indeedy.

🙂 talking heads were such a good underrated band, it’ll be interesting to hear Mo’s pov

Are you sure they were underrated? They seemed pretty big at the time.

Will catch up tomorrow, tonight is French Noir ‘Crimson Rivers’ and pray there won’t be any more dead horses to see.

Yip, it was goooood.

D.R.O.P

🥴✌️

Great programme, sort of thing BBC 4 does very well.

Enjoyed that ..even though Im not big into bass ..
Nile Rogers ..class act ..
The only time I’ve really felt moved by bass at a live concert was at Roker Park , Sunderland ..Bowies ” Glass Spider ” tour ..but it was the bass player in the support act who blew my socks off that night ..Tony Butler of Big Country ..truly awesome..

Was very good 🙂

Tony Butler is a staggering good bassist!

Good program that… looking forward to the guitar one!

Missed that! Will get that and the drumming one on iPlayer.

Cheers!

Brilliant – as a new bassist (maybe 3 months now, been on a loaner and just bought myself an Ibanez Talman last week) it was great to see the evolution but also see how some different genres approach bass – from jazz and blues running basslines through to second or even main melodic instrument. Who knew that Blue Monday was a cover version 😉

I’ve also got a fair bit more reading to do; starting with all about Carol Kaye. Wow; 10,000 or so tracks and so many virtually uncredited but iconic.

I’m also inclined that while it’s fun to look up a bass tab and then try to copy it / play along, I might enrol in a few lessons so I can learn the basics properly. Anyone on here play properly, would you mind if I pm’ed you a few newbie questions?

Wow! This is brilliant! How bonkers is Bootsy Collins? 😳

Bernard Edwards … what can you say?! incredible

starting with all about Carol Kaye.

This is a cracking interview with her, as good a place as any to start. It was my inspiration to learn more music theory a few years ago. Defo worth a watch.

No Mani? If you haven’t watched Made of Stone then it’s worth it for when Shane Meadows splits the screen into 4 to close up on each one of them as they’re rehearsing.

Mani and Reni bouncing off each other doing Fools Gold is absolutely amazing, and you get exactly why John Squire could go off-piste with epic ‘I am the Resurrection’ guitar solos when you’ve a rhythm section that’s that tight behind you

talking heads were such a good underrated band, it’ll be interesting to hear Mo’s pov

😳 Shirley shum mishtake? Once In A Lifetime got to 14 on the U.K. chart, and gets played regularly, and Pschokiller got a lot of attention. Talking Heads have never been underrated, and neither have any individual members of the band, for that matter.
Only got to see them once, when they were touring 77, their first album.
I have seen David Byrne, when he toured with Saint Vincent, astonishing show, and Byrne is an amazing songwriter, and isn’t underrated either

Recorded it, I’ll watch it later. I watched part of the Copeland one, recorded that so I can catch up with the rest later as well.

talking heads were such a good underrated band, it’ll be interesting to hear Mo’s pov

😳 Shirley shum mishtake? Once In A Lifetime got to 14 on the U.K. chart, and gets played regularly, and Pschokiller got a lot of attention. Talking Heads have never been underrated, and neither have any individual members of the band, for that matter.
Only got to see them once, sadly, when they were touring 77, their first album. 🙁

Wonderful program!
Anyone else watching Reginald D Hunter’s Music of the South? It’s equally as good but a little more thought provoking

no, ran out of eye open time, but it’s been dowmloaded as well.

BBC4 is a great channel isn’t it.

There are plenty of Bass players worth listening too, if you have the time.

Pino Palladino, Nick Beggs, Billy Sheehan, Geezer Butler, Neil Murrey, Jaco Pastorious, Larry Graham, Stanley Clarke, Verdine White, Meshell Ndecgocello, Thundercat, Louis Johnson, Jerry Jemmott, Nathan Watts…

The list is endless..

If you have time, go seek them out on YouTube.

✌️😵

I was a bass player in a third division indie band! My major infuences were Peter Hook , The Bass Thing and William Potter from cud. ha.
+1 for Tony Butler & bernard edwards..
the young fella from White Denim is pretty talented IMO.

@ the otherjonv – start simple.learn all the scales ,walking basslines etc,get stronger fingers and be able to take more drugs than your band mates.

If Les claypool isnt on Im not watching

I’ve always been a big Hooky/New Order fan, but I didn’t know he nicked the bassline for Blue Monday straight from an Ennio Morriconi film soundtrack 😂

Hooky’s books are really good. He’s a great writer. Inside New Order in particular. He’s an unashamed music geek, and goes into detail about how in those days you couldn’t just buy this kit off the shelf, so they built their own.

As he puts it “we spent as much time with soldering irons in our hands as guitars”

Then the studio would be broken into, it’d all get nicked and they’d have to drive round all the music shops in Manchester and buy it all back!

Or spending a whole day programming an early drum machine or sequencer only for it to crash and you’d lose the lot!

Puts it into perspective just how pioneering they were

Well worth a read

Senor j…..story is useless without names!

Wow. Just seen it. I thought the Drums one was good, but as a failed guitarist I really loved this showing all the skills I lack.
Bit of a link too…
When Tina talks about going to Compass Point to record Tom Tom Club she mentions Grace Jones and Robbie. My mate Jess was there in the queue to record one of his albums with Sly and Robbie but there was a backlog as Sly (I think it was Sly) had been busted and was doing a minor sentence. So he ended up singing Pull Up To The Bumper and other assorted tracks and met Tina at that time.
A few months later when he decided to leave the music biz he went to New York to train as a graphic artist and ended up with he and his wife staying with Vice Admiral Weymouth for some time.
A small world.
I really loved this show. Can’t wait for next week.
(I was going to post lots of bass player jokes but am in far too good a mood. And playing a lot of Tom Tom Club right now.)

No Mani?
Obviously not time for all quality, original bassist (JJ!), but the way Mani & Reni played together was amazing. One of the best rhythm sections ever.

Obviously not time for all quality, original bassist

Also determined by it being a history of bass rather than a list of great bassists; of course that’ll cross over in places as some bassists defined bass playing, but also why we got (reasonably) into looking at the reggae soundsystems and electronic drum n’bass. Same as in last week’s, getting into drum machines and the like rather than just drummers.

Back to bass then, @senor j

Yep, clearly I need to do some groundwork rather than just copying and playing along with stuff I like and can find (although all work and no play). But I also need some fundamental instruction I think….

(not necessarily after answers here but I’ll ask)

– I play fingers mainly, anchoring thumb on the neck pickups but why do some players use the bridge pickup or switch between

– (bit like gears on a bike) – your notes repeat at 5th fret so why do some tabs or plays use the length of the neck and one string and others stay around the same few frets and more strings

– as per last one; I haven’t got particularly good fingers…too many breaks and dislocations from goal- and wicketkeeping when I was younger so I pretty well can’t fret with my pinky and don’t have a wide stretch where my forefinger is bent, does that tend to push me more to ‘less frets / more strings’?

stuff like that?

forget all about the bass, I’m waiting for totally carp

Guitar Cods?

@ the otherjonv – I’ll promise to tell you all if & when I meet you.
🙂

– I play fingers mainly, anchoring thumb on the neck pickups but why do some players use the bridge pickup or switch between

finger position shouldn’t be static, it’ll change depending on what style you are trying to play and even within songs, nothing wrong with anchoring, but don’t get too attached to a particular anchor.

your notes repeat at 5th fret so why do some tabs or plays use the length of the neck and one string and others stay around the same few frets and more strings

different notes on different strings sound different, so things need to be played on certain strings to get the right sound/tone/slide or whatever, and it’s sometimes it’s just easier to play things a different way.

– as per last one; I haven’t got particularly good fingers…too many breaks and dislocations from goal- and wicketkeeping when I was younger so I pretty well can’t fret with my pinky and don’t have a wide stretch where my forefinger is bent, does that tend to push me more to ‘less frets / more strings’?

It tastes longer than 3 months to get the required finger strength and dexterity, it’ll take years. If you can’t use your pinky, keep trying, similar with stretching, it’ll come eventually. If it doesn’t you’ll just need to figure out ways around it.

—

basically, just keep learning songs and learn a wee bit of theory(intervals and your chord tones are what a bassist most likely will benefit from.)

Thanks for the link OP. I’m ill in bed with flu and the two episodes were a nice distraction. I’m a big fan of the police and think Copeland did a good job of the drums episode.

@binners – the castanets episode’s going to be epic

Castanets were Bez not Mani
One’s tall, drug addled and danced like a monkey on heat
The other is a short-arsed Manc bassist with attitude and nearly always in fits of giggles

what am i missing here……..

I was watching a Vox mini headphone amp (Amplug) so I can headphone practice without needing to drag our practice amp about (particularly when on work travel)…. there was one on ebay that was at around £20 last night and then went crazy finally selling for £55.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/223324141270?ul_noapp=true

When you can buy from a UK retailer music shop for £35?

https://www.gak.co.uk/en/vox-amplug-2-headphone-amp-bass/103325?gclid=Cj0KCQiA-JXiBRCpARIsAGqF8wWzG1Cx7SSVzpayy7j_5sIEjOWRFNh51N2vcrPJ-QIJx1Jl7XaQrv4aAqJAEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

The one you’ve linked sold at £31… someone’s trying to sell them at Buy It Now for £55.52 (barracauk), but, not only overpricing stuff, looking at his feedback is one to definitely avoid!

well spotted….