drTStingray
Well-known member
Just wondering really.
A couple of months back I was invited to join a jazz quartet (singer, piano, bass and drums) playing swing music - a new departure for me though I have learnt quite a few jazz tunes in the past - usually trying to play Marcus or Jaco versions - so in a moment of excess I said yes - not realising what I was letting myself in for.
I played my first gig with this band yesterday afternoon to a small country pub full of people eating their late lunch/dinner. I couldn't have asked for more from my fretless Ray - at low volume in this setting it just sounded great on songs like Fly Me to the Moon - and when you want to get funky, such as Cantaloupe Island (Herbie Hancock) you can spice it up a bit. Walking lines plucked at the end of the neck sound almost like an upright.
My head is still aching from trying to remember the songs though - if I said the piano player, who is great BTW, tends towards arrangements with six chords where one would normally suffice - you will get the picture - I had to read chord charts for some of it, not easy in a dark low beamed pub.
I really couldn't have been happier with the whole sound, which the bass really complimented and what made it better I got a lot of comments about how good the bass sounded from people in the audience - so the MM bass seems perfect for this role - I'm now glad I didn't go down the P or J route, or even another MM bass (I did actually go and try some but stuck with the Ray). Thankfully the audience didn't notice one or two lapses in intonation let alone one or two (or probably three or four) fluffed turnrounds! Must try and remember one or two of the songs better for the next one
A couple of months back I was invited to join a jazz quartet (singer, piano, bass and drums) playing swing music - a new departure for me though I have learnt quite a few jazz tunes in the past - usually trying to play Marcus or Jaco versions - so in a moment of excess I said yes - not realising what I was letting myself in for.
I played my first gig with this band yesterday afternoon to a small country pub full of people eating their late lunch/dinner. I couldn't have asked for more from my fretless Ray - at low volume in this setting it just sounded great on songs like Fly Me to the Moon - and when you want to get funky, such as Cantaloupe Island (Herbie Hancock) you can spice it up a bit. Walking lines plucked at the end of the neck sound almost like an upright.
My head is still aching from trying to remember the songs though - if I said the piano player, who is great BTW, tends towards arrangements with six chords where one would normally suffice - you will get the picture - I had to read chord charts for some of it, not easy in a dark low beamed pub.
I really couldn't have been happier with the whole sound, which the bass really complimented and what made it better I got a lot of comments about how good the bass sounded from people in the audience - so the MM bass seems perfect for this role - I'm now glad I didn't go down the P or J route, or even another MM bass (I did actually go and try some but stuck with the Ray). Thankfully the audience didn't notice one or two lapses in intonation let alone one or two (or probably three or four) fluffed turnrounds! Must try and remember one or two of the songs better for the next one
