Music versus equipment

[Steve Force]

5 string Mike!

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

Does gear make you musician? No. Does Theory make you a musician? No. These are tool sets used to execute a craft, and the practical use and application of these tools to communicate what is inside of you makes a musician.

 

Well, yes, there IS that side to it.

 

On the other hand, there ARE certain musics where theory doesn't make much of an impact. There's lots of people out there making stuff out of bits and pieces of recorded stuff, slowing it down and speeding it up and cutting and mixing it and all that. There's a whole tradition of it going back to the musique conctrete of the 1950s (hell, even back to the Futurist "Art Of Noises" treaty of 1913) and it hasn't much to do with traditional theory at all.

 

http://csunix1.lvc.edu/~snyder/em/russolo.html

 

And also, I wonder how useful theory really is when you're in a cover band and expected to reproduce other people's songs (because they're popular and people are prepared to pay to hear them) regardless of what they sound like. Does it matter if you know why a certain inversion works if you're meant to play it regardless?

[jeremy c]

In response to the last post, knowing your theory will help you learn the songs faster because you'll know what you are listening for and remember them longer because the chord progressions and basslines will not just be a collection of notes to memorize but will actually have a logic to them.

[Kramer Ferrington III.]

Yeah, I suppose that makes sense. Never having been in a cover band, I really wouldn't know. Makes sense though.

[Sanvean]

Jeremy,

 

I have always had a fascination with Jazz, I don't play it, but listen to it time to time. Could you give an example, of a progression that shows how someone from a rock background would play it, then the differences of how a Jazz bassist would play it. I suspect it's more than just roots and fifths.

 

I've been listening to Sun Ra lately... lol.

[CaptainCutthroat]

My eyes hurt from reading every word in this thread and it was completely worth it! I don't think I could say anything yet that has not been said. You all really nailed it here.

 

SteveRB "Some of my biggest frustrations lately have been finding reliable, motivated people to play with. Because myself and my friends have turned 40-something, they are seem less enthusiastic about music."

 

This is a big thing for me that I am anxious about. People around me getting older, less interested and less dedicated, and plain old lazy.

 

Jeff A we're all working towards "- Making my 8-bar slap solo spotlights not suck the big one."

 

"One of the great things about music is to be able to create something new--a new organism if you will." is possibly one of this simplest but best line in this. And coming from a guy named Bootyquake....you know it is bass gospel!

 

the thread is too long to keep posting my faves. but thanks to all for the inspiration this morning.

-Kevin

 

 

[jeremy c]

I have always had a fascination with Jazz, I don't play it, but listen to it time to time. Could you give an example, of a progression that shows how someone from a rock background would play it, then the differences of how a Jazz bassist would play it. I suspect it's more than just roots and fifths.

 

I've been listening to Sun Ra lately... lol.

 

That's a slightly hard request to fill. There are obviously a lot of ways that different rock bassists would create a bassline to the same progression. It's also unlikely that a jazz player would be playing to the same kind of track, even if it were the exact same chord progression.

 

Listen to Moondance by Van Morrison. The chords are Am, Bm. The bassist is playing jazz over that...he's the only one in the band who is. He hits a few roots and fifths in there somewhere.

[Lowtones11]

Ed:

 

Show me a bass player who doesn't listen and feel, and I'll show you a band that sucks.

 

 

Ding, ding ding...we have a winner. That pretty much sums it up in a way that is easy to rememember and convey to others. People, myself included tend to get too wordy-lengthy when talking about music. This type of communication causes the one attempting ot get the point across to lose their inteneded audience.

 

You put it in a nice little package with a bow. I intend to steal from you the next time I need a kick in the ass becuase I have lost site of what I'm supposed to be doing as a bass player.

 

Nicely done and thank you.