Steely Dan’s classic album Aja is one of the cds that permanently stays in my glovebox – there’s something about the tunes that make it ideal listening for driving home from gigs and trying not to fall asleep when you’re on the M25 at 2am… One of my favourite moments on this record is Bernard…
Continuing the previously aired topic of lick recycling, here’s another borrowed lick that gets a workout from two great fretless players, Jaco Pastorius and Pino Palladino. The phrase in question originates in Igor Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite of Spring’, composed in 1913. Listen to the opening line played by the bassoon: Fast forward to 1977, and…
Just a brief one this time as things have been rather busy of late in preparation for heading off to Norway tomorrow for a week of gigs with Jamie Abbott. This is what happened when we went out there last September; hopefully, this one will feature more of the same (if you’re allergic to bass…
I recently got a call from a fellow bassist asking if he could borrow a bass for a recording, on the basis that he needed something with a bit more ‘grunt’ than his jazz bass. As I’ve known the guy for a good few years (we regularly cover for each other if one of us…
It’s been a while since I’ve posted any fresh transcriptions, so here’s Nate Mendel’s line from Foo Fighters ‘Learn To Fly’. There’s Nothing Left To Lose was one of my favourite albums as a teenager, and although I don’t really think of Nate as having a massive influence on my playing he definitely has some…
Firstly, a belated Happy New Year to one and all. My one and only resolution for 2011 is to keep this blog updated with fresh material – my annual stats email from WordPress tells me I got something in the region of 14,000 views last year, which shows that I should really pull my finger…
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