Author Topic: Jimmy J in Bass Player (Read 975 times)

bassilisk · « **Reply #45 on:** September 02, 2009, 06:21:07 AM »

Firstly let me start off by saying - Jimmy, I have been a fan since I picked up Tricycle at its release. Your playing is inspirational (though I'll never get anywhere near it). I also picked up Metal Fatigue when it first came out on vinyl - it immediately became one of my favorites as well. Thank you for all the wonderful music you've made and continue to make.

I play in a cover band - we're weekend warriors not pros, but we've had a measure of success over the years and work all the time. Our name and rep has become established locally (Long Island, NY) in the 24+ years the band's been around. A lot of good points have been made regarding videotaping of live shows but I must say I agree with you wholeheartedly. It's one thing to take some pictures or catch a bit of song here and there, but some people come with tripods and tape the entire show. For what? Why not just come see us again? We're doing covers for crissakes!

I came in today thinking to start a thread about this very topic - see Miscellaneous.

Jimmy, you're a class act and a monster player receiving well deserved acclaim. I avidly follow your exploits.

Will

(Message edited by bassilisk on September 02, 2009)

(Message edited by bassilisk on September 02, 2009)

cozmik_cowboy · « **Reply #46 on:** September 02, 2009, 07:52:19 AM »

...but I'm sure the talented ones will rise up and hopefully find some reward for their hard work.

It is truly refreshing to see that kind of optimism in someone who's been in the biz as long as you have, Jimmy. I once went to see some friends' new band; at a break they asked me what I thought. I said It's great! If you don't make it, there's no fairness in the music business. That cracked them up (as it was meant to). 2 decent albums, but they didn't make it.
Maybe with YouTube they would have or maybe their albums would have sold even less. The whole thing is confusing to an old fart like me.

Peter

The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.

Hunter S. Thompson

(Message edited by cozmik_cowboy on September 02, 2009)

David Houck · « **Reply #47 on:** September 02, 2009, 08:06:05 AM »

Hunter Thompson certainly had a way with words.

jakebass · « **Reply #48 on:** September 02, 2009, 10:13:54 AM »

Lots of good points coming out here. I agree that the talented ones will make it, I also agree that giant record companies could do with being brought down to size to hopefully inject a little integrity into the process, and there is a definite benefit available to individuals having media access in the way that this computer age allows (just like us being able to chinwag this subject whilst oceans apart :0) )
I am watching the next phase of the business with interest, and have felt for sometime now that live music could be an accidental beneficiary of this turmoil, it's the one thing that great artists have left in their exclusive possession.

oh and I love the Hunter S. Thompson quote
Jake

(Message edited by jakebass on September 02, 2009)

medic162 · « **Reply #49 on:** September 25, 2009, 02:11:56 PM »

Not to hijack... but I gotta say ~ after picking up the latest BP and seeing Mr. Johnson's story, I had to throw Neon on the CD player and comp along with Jimmy on my old favorite Just Another Beautiful Day! I first saw him play on some crazy laser disk a fellow musician bought when we lived in Athens Greece in 1986 or so. He was backing Lee Ritenour and we would sit there in awe of his tasteful fills. Wow how time flies. Jimmy is solely responsible for my love of Alembic instruments... I hate to admit I'd never seen them before then. At the time I had an old 4 string Carvin and a jazz bass. Got rid them to just have one five string. Life was never the same even if it wasn't the coveted Alembic

alembickoa · « **Reply #50 on:** September 26, 2009, 02:06:33 AM »

I don't know where I found this but it is a pretty good pic of one of Jimmy's basses...

mario_farufyno · « **Reply #51 on:** September 26, 2009, 06:28:36 AM »

It seems Jimmy reached the G spot...

JimmyJ · « **Reply #52 on:** September 26, 2009, 04:44:59 PM »

Brian, thanks for the nice comments. Cool that I helped you find Alembic although you would have gotten there on your own. If I remember that thousand-year-old BB's tune, I think the melody had a couple fingered harmonics in it - even higher than the note I'm working so hard to play in the above photo! Wee!

Steve, I think that shot was taken when Holdsworth played NearFest in Pennsylvania in '07. Oddly, it's my recording bass (the straight tailpiece is the giveaway) so my road bass must have been somewhere else. The shirt could have used a touch of ironing too... Ha!

Jimmy J

811952 · « **Reply #53 on:** September 27, 2009, 01:34:19 PM »

Ironing is for uptight people.

John

lembic76450 · « **Reply #54 on:** September 27, 2009, 05:13:07 PM »

Jimmy
Is the string spacing a little extra narrow on your Series basses?

Kenn

bigredbass · « **Reply #55 on:** September 27, 2009, 08:40:57 PM »

If it's NOT custom, I'm guessing Alembic's 'classic' taper, which on fives would be 2 at the nut x 2.5 at the 24th fret.

It's virtually straight, very little flair. I prefer it as it reminds me somehow of a keyboard, as if the strings are parallel all the way to the top. I hate these newer axes where they widen out so much at the top there's room for cup holders between the strings! But as always, Mica and the guys can make any taper you'd want.

bigredbass · « **Reply #56 on:** September 27, 2009, 08:52:38 PM »

Oh yeah, and I also meant to say one usually unmentioned benefit of the Series shape: This is an excellent picture to show how the fingerboard is almost completely clear of the body.

Mica's always maintained that this shape is OK balance wise for short and medium scales, but can be a bit much for long-scale. And you'll really have to have a LONG talk with Susan before they'll do a 35/36 scale version.

But since the neck is pushed out of the body (notice that Series axes don't have the bridge/tailpiece against the bottom rim like most basses), if you ever wanted an axe with the entire fingerboard open to you, THIS is the shape. I never imagined how easy I could learn to play WAY up the neck 'till the bigredbass came along, whose shape is identical to Jimmy's axe (save for a Crown head on mine).

JimmyJ · « **Reply #57 on:** September 29, 2009, 04:46:00 PM »

Kenn,

Yes, it is a tighter string spacing than normal. I actually think it's 5 strings on a 4-string neck, but can't measure it right at this moment... This was how my first 5-string came way back in '76 and I just got used to it. It works great for me but other bass players who try it feel cramped. Probably not good for blazing thumb action... (I wouldn't know!)

Yeah Joey, the full access to the fretboard is a swell thing! For the reason you described - the bridge and tailpiece not being at the very end of the body - people usually guess this bass is some extra-long scale. I'm so used to it that I don't know if I could find the notes on anything else. The hardest thing to reach is the tuning pegs! And as you said, the shop can make you whatever anybody can think up, how cool is that?

Jimmy J

medic162 · « **Reply #58 on:** September 30, 2009, 06:51:09 AM »

Why is it that I find the most obscure recordings that Jimmy contributed on to be the ones that speak to me the loudest? I was looking for a particular passage and remembered the bass part Jimmy provided on Lee Ritenour's Earth Run album for the song Soaring. Absolutely one of the most discreet and fluent examples of using the BIG STRING in existence! Maybe I should spend some money on CURRENT MUSIC??? This is a really good thread

JimmyJ · « **Reply #59 on:** October 01, 2009, 09:39:11 AM »

Brian,
Hey, that one was only from 23 years ago, that's current to me. Ha!! Thanks for the comment, I can't remember the bass part on that tune but I do remember that playing with Carlos Vega made life easy.
Jimmy J