YTSEJAM Digest 3825 Today's Topics: 1) Bassists and Me. by "Giannotti, Nick" 2) Washington-area Jammers by email_address_removed (Ryan Park) 3) elton by email_address_removed 4) Bass Players by Ivan Carvajal 5) Re: Fastest guitarist (new spin on a BAD thread) by Al Balkiewicz 6) Disappearing digests by Simon Wilkins 7) FS: Japanese "Awake" w/ Eve Bonus Disc by James Utz 8) Music Street Journal 4 by Yes0001 9) ? for whoever has the Rollins sig..... by Al Balkiewicz 10) bahr 'jam contributions by "Tedesco, Matthew" 11) just plug the IV in...ahhh, much better... by "Michael J. Emerson" 12) Peter "Mars" Cowling by "Tom Baddley" 13) Re: Bass players by Matthew Smith 14) Image Beyond by Awake77 15) Blipiblip by Adam Barnhart 16) Re: JP video by "James C. Shields" 17) Chicago Jammers Thang by Christopher Ptacek ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 09:02:04 -0400 From: "Giannotti, Nick" To: "'email_address_removed'" Subject: Bassists and Me. Message-ID: <4AA929543BC8D111A4E800600808ACE51B6D64@HAMSXHA2> D-Man wrote, >So, I'm interested in the opinions of everybody (bassists, other musicians, >non-musicians) on what makes a bass player good, and how, if at all, they may >be compared. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: it's called "Bass" for a reason. So, in my opinion, a bass player who can hold the groove of a song (be that song a James Brown Funk Jam or The Foo Fighters or Morbid Angel) is doing his job. The trick here, though is that - just like in a normal 9-5 job - you just don't want to 'do your job' - you want to rise to the occasion, so to speak. So the challenge that every bass player has is to take the groove of the song and keep it intact and then embellish what you're playing. Simon Gallop of the Cure and John Taylor of Duran Duran are masters of this, right off the top of my head, as is Geddy Lee. They'll take a basic beat and do something totally different with it, making it sound their own, and yet keeping with the spirit of the song (listen to 'Fascination St.' by the Cure for an example of this, or 'New Moon on Monday' by Duran Duran). >But, most importantly, I >realized that I did not have to sit back and play quarter notes when the >guitarist in my band wanted to wank. As a result, I realized why a guitar >solo can sound so thin if the bass isn't supporting it, and, more importantly, >how to fill in the gaps. Hear, hear. I've always been a fill-y player, trying to throw these little melodic gaps in here and there throughout the song, be it trying to support the guitarist or the vocalist. But one thing I've always wanted to try to do is be tight with the drummer. I don't mean tight as in, "hit the bass every time he hits the kick." I mean tight as in, "Wow. Not even Ron Jeremy could fit in there, it's so tight." A PERFECT example of this is the Dave Matthews Band. The drummer and bass player are so tight it's not human. And that's the challenge that I've given myself - to get to a point where the drummer and I aren't playing separate parts, or even playing 'in the pocket' - but playing as one distinct voice in a song that compliments every other part of the song around us, while sounding distinctly separate. It's easy in the studio. Doing it live in an improvised jam is a LOT harder. And, of course, being in a band would help my situation.... :) >I'll stop here, because I realize that this post is a classic finals-week >avoidance technique (I think I'm going to go home and clean the bathroom :). >But I really am interested in what you find good, bad, intriguing, boring, >tasteful, wanky, etc about bassists. Discuss. :) I'm not even IN school, though! :) Nicholas Giannotti JointSTARS Contracts email_address_removed "Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool." ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 09:23:46 -0400 From: email_address_removed (Ryan Park) To: email_address_removed Subject: Washington-area Jammers Message-ID: Hey guys, I just lost my transportation to Baltimore for Tuesday night's concert... Is anyone from Washington going to Daytona's on Tuesday? Would you be able to do a HUGE favor and allow me to grab a ride with you? I don't have a car, and I really don't want to pay $40+ to take the train and assorted cabs... Thanks in advance, Ryan ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 09:44:50 -0500 (EST) From: email_address_removed To: email_address_removed Subject: elton Message-ID: Date sent: 1-MAY-1998 09:41:39 Merlo warbled: >/me sings: Caaaaaaaaaan you feeeeeeel the loooooooooove >toniiiiiiiiiiiiight? Hey, you know what? Just for that song, if I *ever* see elton john in the vicinity, and he's in striking distance, I *will* uppercut him so hard his head'll come off, fatality style. meltin' josh ............................................................ mailto: email_address_removed Check out Another Page at www.j51.com/~mrasiel. Hot Diggity! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 06:35:52 -0700 (PDT) From: Ivan Carvajal To: email_address_removed Subject: Bass Players Message-ID: "The bassist in a band (to me) was exactly what D-Man said: The guy who stands off to the side playing quarter-notes There's a couple of other players (Stu Hamm, Les Claypool, John Myung) who do something suimilar, and I enjoy them for the same reason. Not for huge solo work, but for doing something "different" within a band framework." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I don't blame you for your opinion about bass players, because that's what an "average" listener would say; but for your conception about band framework, and it's relation with bass... Try to take and inside, more specific look at DT, and really discover why John Myung is said to be the best in the band... although they are ALL the greatest musicians I have ever seen. Anyway, TRY RUSH, what more different framework do you need? _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 10:16:17 -0400 (EDT) From: Al Balkiewicz To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Fastest guitarist (new spin on a BAD thread) Message-ID: On Thu, 30 Apr 1998, Alan Estrada wrote: > > > What about Stanley Jordan? Does he count? I'd consider his playing the > >fastest among contemporarys. He's not your basic picker, he plays the > >guitar like a piano...all tapped. > > I just saw a concert of him on TV 2 days ago...I was amazed..he was playing > with 2 guitars...on one he did only chords on the other he was paing like > crazy, but is not standard tapping...is as you said piano playing....I've > heard some of his albums and I was not amazed at all until I saw him. > --- Stanley Jordan is just amazing - I saw a special on him on PBS a few years back, and he totally blew me away - and I'm not even a guitarist. Plus, he does a KILLER version of "Eleanor Rigby", with the two guitar thing....unreal -Al ===================================================================== b l i n d l a b o r s t h e b l i n d a n d I a m u n w i l l i n g t o u n c o v e r m y e y e s ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email_address_removed OR email_address_removed OR email_address_removed HOMEPAGE:http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/9280/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 07:32:40 -0700 (PDT) From: Simon Wilkins To: email_address_removed Subject: Disappearing digests Message-ID: Hi I have not received any digests since yesterday and number 3823 Has anyone else had this problem? Could you email me privately if they are still going and forward the digests to me if possible? Simon my band Cereal Killer-not that great really _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 09:37:50 -0500 From: James Utz To: Ytse Jam Mailing List Subject: FS: Japanese "Awake" w/ Eve Bonus Disc Message-ID: Hi, I put this up on Ebay last night. If you would like this CD, you can use this link to see the item and bid. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=12647168 I've got some other 80's metal singles for sale too. My other items are listed here. http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewListedItems&userid=jamesutz Thanks, James ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 11:04:34 EDT From: Yes0001 To: email_address_removed Subject: Music Street Journal 4 Message-ID: Music Street Journal 4 is up. In addition to the Dream Theater dates, this issue features reviews of Tony Levin-From the Caves of the Iron Mountain, Anubis Spire-Old Lions (In the World of Snarling Sheep), Ajalon-The Light At the End of the Tunnel (includes an interview with Randy George), Lands End- Natural Selection (includes comments about the tracks by drummer Mark Lavallee), Fish-Internal Exile, Autumn Rest-Poems From the Fire, Fates Warning-Parallels, Blue Oyster Cult-Heaven Forbid, and Hawkwind-Levitation. http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Arena/9250/ ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 11:28:11 -0400 (EDT) From: Al Balkiewicz To: TheListFromTheDepthsOfHell Subject: ? for whoever has the Rollins sig..... Message-ID: Sorry, but someone has a sig with a Rollins quote about hope being the last thing before someone's defeated or something like that. Can that person please e-mail me. thanks, Al ===================================================================== b l i n d l a b o r s t h e b l i n d a n d I a m u n w i l l i n g t o u n c o v e r m y e y e s ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ email_address_removed OR email_address_removed OR email_address_removed HOMEPAGE:http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Towers/9280/index.html ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 11:31:00 -0400 From: "Tedesco, Matthew" To: email_address_removed Subject: bahr 'jam contributions Message-ID: from mike bahr: > So just so people know, my long-winded "meaty" posts to the Jam have >impacted my CD work exactly ZERO PERCENT. :) In fact, just now I have to >reach over and change the disc in Rand, my main machine, to the second >of ten VS disc 2's it's tasked to make this afternoon. i'm way behind on 'jams, so i might be about to read a whole shitstorm of stuff about this, or maybe not. but frankly, to those people complaining about mike writing long posts instead of making his boots or whatever, to hell with you. i am enjoying the hell out of some of the best threads i can remember in a long time; to that, i want to thank mike. this is some of the best reading i've done in recent memory. --MATt ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 12:00:15 -0400 From: "Michael J. Emerson" To: "'Lifting Shadows Off A Ytse'" Subject: just plug the IV in...ahhh, much better... Message-ID: <01BD74F8.B46BFF90@MEMERSON> greetings, fellow 'jammers! as if seeing OFB 3 nights in a row on the first leg of the tour wasn't = awesome enough, now i get the opportunity to do it again! 5/7 - Birch Hell 5/8 - Irving Plaza 5/9 - Electric Factory WOOHOO!!! i'm gonna be in heaven next weekend! mikE p.s.: a friend of mine says that his co-worker is...get this...Mike = P.'s COUSIN!! how f**king awesome is that? and he (my friend, not his = co-worker) is going with me to the Elec. Factory show, so we get to = (hopefully) see if he was telling the truth...i'll let y'all know... -- = m. ____________________________________________________________ "His final scene, the actor bows / And all those years are gone somehow / The crowd applauds, the curtain falls..." Dream Theater - "Take Away My Pain" ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 10:00:28 -0600 From: "Tom Baddley" To: Subject: Peter "Mars" Cowling Message-ID: <001901bd751a$447ec4c0$message_id_removed> >One of my favorites, for the same reasons stated here, is Peter 'Mars' >Cowling, who used to play with Pat Travers. He definitely introduced me to >how much more a bass player could be, within the band framework. Anyone else? Wow...another person who was influenced by Mars Cowling. I love his early work with Pat Travers, particularly the first PT album. The last time I saw Mars, he was playing with PT in Tulsa (mid-80's). Although he looked older than Keith Richards, he still had his chops. He made "Crash and Burn" sound 10X better than the album (I still love the beginning of that song!). Some of Travers' best songs, though, were instrumentals such as "Prelude" and "What you mean to me". I also enjoyed his "delay-abuse" album, Radioactive...lots of great stuff! I really miss his old style of playing. In the 90's he was signed to Blues Bureau, and now plays strictly blues stuff, which isn't bad...it's just not the old PT I'm used to hearing. I am glad that he's managed to stay alive in today's music scene...most musicians from his era no longer play. Anyone know what ever happened to Pat Thrall, one of PT's early guitarists? Tom Baddley "I've got demons inside my head! Gremlins with pickaxes, chopping my mind into little tiny pieces" Pat Travers - I Don't Want To Be Awake "Wanna buy some Mandies, Bob?" Frank Zappa - Flakes Oh yeah...DT Rulez!! ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 12:15:56 -0400 (EDT) From: Matthew Smith To: Multiple recipients of list Subject: Re: Bass players Message-ID: Someone asked about what we consider "good" and "bad" concerning bass players, so here's my take: Good: CLIFF BURTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Bad: He's dead!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Album Currently Playing: Dave Matthews Band--Before These Crowded Streets ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matt Smith "When Dream and Day Unite, Images and Words email_address_removed Awake A Change of Seasons Falling Into Infinity." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 13:11:19 EDT From: Awake77 To: email_address_removed Subject: Image Beyond Message-ID: Hey Anyone hear ever hear of the band Image Beyond? if got a demo of theirs that a friend sent me. I really like their sound, and Id like to hear more, but I dont know if their signed or anything. If someone here knows, please email me. Also, what happened to Power of Omens? Did they get signed? If they havent they should! Are they comming out with more music soon? -Chris ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 01 May 1998 10:13:50 -0700 From: Adam Barnhart To: email_address_removed Subject: Blipiblip Message-ID: >From: The iban >Subject: Re: guitarists > >Kerry King Sucks shit on lead guitar, he should stick to rhythm. >the other guy used to suck, but atleast when SITA came out he decided to learn >a scale and play a solo in key. >playing fast means ABSOLUTELY nothing when you don't have ANY idea what you >are playing at all, like playing a fast run in Eb when the key is Eminor, and >thats what all slayer guitar solos prior to SITA were. > >Rocky >p.s. don't even think of flaming me for this, especially if you are a drummer. I'm not a drummer, I'm a bassist. And I don't really like Slayer all that much (though "Seasons" is actually a great song). But isn't that the point, more or less? I mean, a great deal of what Slayer pioneered with their sound IS that dissonance. To have someone doing cool, advanced playing harmonically...Alex Skolnik or something (within vaguely the same genre, that is, I'm not beginning to suggest the guy is Hans Reichel or George Van Eps)...isn't really what gives the band its sound. >From: "Christopher R. Merlo" >Subject: Enough guitar. What about bass? >Message-ID: > >So, I'm interested in the opinions of everybody (bassists, other musicians, >non-musicians) on what makes a bass player good, and how, if at all, they may >be compared. Now THIS is a worthwhile topic to discuss...heh.... I'm gonna echo a lot of what our esteemed Mr. Merlo said previously, here, I think... Geddy Lee is The Man on bass for me. I was drawn to Rush fairly early on, before I was really too far down the road, as far as being a bassist goes. In fact, I liked Rush before I played bass, but they became THE band for me a little after I took up the instrument. The thing that I really dig about Geddy's role in the band is not necessarily just that he could flash and play technically challenging lines -- there are a fair number of bassists...and there WERE a fair number of bassists even in '74...who can play technically challenging music -- but that, compositionally, he was slotting interesting and melodic bass lines in the context of suprememly emotional music. One of the things that bassists sometimes miss is that rooted eighth notes are a really useful tool. But they're best used to build tension in a line...to create a consistent propulsion that moves the song toward a powerful end. But the way they're used in a lot of bands, they end up being the static backdrop that something more interesting happens on top of. Geddy was one of the guys (along with Squire, Entwistle, Bruce, and a few others) who really libertated rock bass from being the bass drum personified. I've got a number of other role models, too. Jaco was so constantly melodic and had the quickest musical mind, I think, of anyone who's picked up the instrument. There was just a tremendous fluidity to his playing. Steve Harris defined what it is to play dynamic bass for more aggressive songs (that trademark gallop, among other things). Jeff Berlin plays some incredibly dense, vertical lines and has probably the best right-hand articulation in the history of the instrument. Stanley Clarke added a greater sense of rhythm to high-technique bass playing, bringing with him a tremendous amount of energy. Jack Bruce defined what it is to improvise at full volume, with that glorious, ugly EB-3 sound. Chris Squire plays with an assertive sound of his own, and plays with that tremendous confidence. And Jamerson, of course, brought the instrument out of the closet (funny, I didn't know it was gay...). Five Gratuitous CD's: ===================== 1. Blues Traveler: Four 2. Shawn Colvin: Cover Girl 3. Kyuss: Welcome to Sky Valley 4. Rush: Hold Your Fire 5. Lost Souls: Howlin' at the Moon Adam D. Barnhart email_address_removed email_address_removed http://www.cfmc.com/adamb ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 12:52:14 -0500 From: "James C. Shields" To: email_address_removed Subject: Re: JP video Message-ID: I got the Video as soon as it came out, and I really like it. It has some really good warmup exercises and practicing tips, and some good excercises for building up speed and stamina. He's touched on some of the topics in his Guitar World Column, but I think the video is definitely worth getting. At the end of the video, as a bonus, JP gives a tour of his live rig, which I really dug, being a Mesa/Boogie phreaque. He also does some jamming, showing how to put the concepts together, etc, and it's really awesome to get a good close up view of how fluidly his hands move. It's so weird. His hands barely move, but all that lightning fast stuff comes out of his amp. Well, I gotta go finish packing; I'm finally moving out of the dorm! Woo-Hoo!!! James C. Shields Undergraduate University of Texas at Austin +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Man, I know, I've gotta go It's the same thing every time But I don't think another drink's Gonna make me lose my mind. So I think about my next drink And it's you and me and the bottle makes three tonight Big Bad Voodoo Daddy +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= ------------------------------ Date: Fri, 1 May 1998 13:21:54 -0500 (CDT) From: Christopher Ptacek To: email_address_removed Subject: Chicago Jammers Thang Message-ID: Hey... I mangled that script on the Chicago Jammers Page, so if you tried to post and it wouldn't work, or you had posted correctly, yesterday, go ahead and repost your info now. It should be working just fine. Sorry about the waste of bandwidth! http://www.prognosis.com/chicago ------------------------------ End of YTSEJAM Digest 3825 **************************