Alembic bass owner question...

[hendixclarke]

Yeah.
 
My shorty is my Series one short scale/small body bass.
 
This is an Alembic Site, is it not? Hope my vibes are understood and age appropriate.

[pauldo]

5stringho -
oh but you can play a solo! Sometimes you just keep playing the 'groove'while eveyone else sits back.  ta da! it's a solo AND it keeps their butts movin'.  
 
Sometimes a solo comes my way and the first 4 bars are the 'normal' bass parts - then I just start adding (or subtracting) notes and all of a sudden it is this creative, greasy, groovy solo!

[hendixclarke]

Yeah, and its cool when this happens and the band is strong enough to keep the grove (the bottom) to give you this freedom. Keyboards really are essential in a band, to provide this open door. Power treo's (bass, lead and drums) are more trickey, and in this case, it requires a more quiet groove solo for the bass to stay in the pocket, but (and yet) doing some driving solo conversations which interacts with the audience. Good solo's are feed from the audience. They provide the energy to make the leap. This also where you and you band members set yourselves apart but keeping a balance to the unity and love you have for eachothers sounds. If you understand my point...
 
Yeah, that's magic because its a musical conversation, and sometimes the music can be in happeness, or in argumentative funk/rock groove. The message is great in either case, as long as it is understood by at least other musicans listening. I am very strong on peers comments, because they walk the walk too. Sorry for my ramblings... It's hard to explain sometimes.

[crgaston]

Couple of months ago at a show, there were 2 women who walked up and asked what kind of guitar I was playing.  I thought to myself, Wow these ladies recognize quality when they see it...  and told them it was an Alembic. They nodded and smiled, and then we started the next song.   A little bit later, one of them came back and asked, OK, but why is it so much longer than those other guitars, and why are there so many little black buttons on it?
 
oh...
 
 
I didn't think it was possible to live 38 years and be a music fan and not know that there was such a thing as a bass, but apparently, it is.  
 
I think musicians tend to assume that everyone else hears music the way we do, and many don't.  It's like Hal writes above...  Man, that was killer!  means a little more when it comes from another player.

[mele_aloha]

Thanks flax,
 
I think you know what you are talking about!
 
P

[David Houck]

Well Charles, you have to admit, your bass is an absolutely beautiful work of art.  So even if they didn't know what a bass is, they did notice that it was an extraordinary looking instrument of some type!

[hendixclarke]

The facts of the matter these day, the next generation of kids really lose out with the current music culture. Man, I wouldn't be inspired to play today, if it was not for seeing people who cared about playing real musical instruments of the past.
 
Listen to the musical phrasings of the 50's, 60's, and 70's that was such a wonderful time for learning sounds, and the dedication it took performers to release such magic.
 
I really feel sorry for Fartist (non-Artist) who serve Mu-sick (Non-Music) with only love for the money and 15 minutes of fame. The Nilly Vanilly's, and sample heads. An exaggerated sense of self-importance; pimps. These same producers, probably wouldn't know a bass from a broom stick.

[hendixclarke]

It it taste from the listeners, or is it musical taste from the producers?
 
Who knows, and a musician (a true musician) really don't care, and it matters just as much as knowing the going rate of tea selling in China. We are a tough people to please, because in most cases in order to be aware of Alembic, for some, it was a awakening for us to become even more aware of music. Its pretty hard to fall back asleep in mediocrity, after the first pluck and it was also, Good to the last Pluck :-)
 
Happy Thanksgiving!

[terryc]

Hendixclarke..totally agree with you, I once was given a gig where I had learned the set list but get this..it was a cheesy covers band and the girl singer said very politley ' no need to plug in' as they whole lot was on a mini disc. The drummer was absent but the only 'live' sound was her voice along with the non playing keyboard player and non playing guitar player.
Easiest money I ever earned but what a sham.
As far as noticing my MK, where i live they are a rarity and the non musicians ie audience sometimes comment on the instrument as it looks very unusual(bubinga faceing)

[tbrannon]

When my Alembic first arrived in New Zealand, I was asked several times, What is that thing made out of?  Is it real wood?  And those were comments from the 2 VERY talented guitarists in the band.
 
Neither of them had ever seen a non-painted finish in person before.  In terms of a solo- not from me.

[hendixclarke]

I am not at all surprised about the guitarist never seeing real wood.  
 
Discovery of new things, is a wonderful thing  
 
Companies paint, to cover up flaws and wood quality. It's a very cheap process, to ignore wood quality for the sake of mass production.  
 
I have no problems with painted guitars, because at least, people can still pick a guitar play them. In fact, I thank God for owning many of them over the years.
 
However, companies who produce guitars showing the wood are primarily concern with wood quality at the heart of production. We ultimately pay the price for this preference. As to the better sound, is debatable. But as far as beauty, no questions about it, nature wins over paint anyday.
 
I remember seeing a see-through solid plastic guitars during the 80's and they sounded great, but it was a gimmick/fad of the times. Back then, I wouldn't go out and buy one, and today, it would be a nightmere...but they are cool. If you are a drummer, the see through drums was also around too...

[rami]

I remember watching Stanley Clarke on the Arsenio Hall show way back in the early 90's.  Stanley didn't do a Bass solo.  He was playing his short scale Series I.  Arsenio was definitely mesmerized by that Bass.  He couldn't stop ooohing and aaahing over it.  It was almost as if Stanley was upstaged by his own Bass!
One thing I learned from that was that an Alembic definitely has serious stage presence whether or not you even know what it is.
 

[hendixclarke]

Man, that's what I am talking about. It's magic and Stanley knows it too.  
 
I had yet, see any of Stanley Clarke's albums where he didn't pose with his Alembic or his bass was pictured solo. You would think the bass was alive or something. If this bass could talk...
Stanely markets the hell out of his bass. BB King like...(remeber Lucile).  
 
Stanley created this myth with the Alembic bass. I am not sure if this was a smart move on his part or not.
 
Arsenio Hall probably was just identifying to those elements Stanley presented.
 
But I do know, Stanley chosen a great company to symbolize himself. When its all said and done, Stanely is more valuable than a bizillion Alembics. For in this matrial world, we only get one Stanely Clarke.  
 
This is why I change up basses when I play. I don't want to be that Alembic playing guy but simply, a bass player. Stanely Clarke is the Alembic Playing guy, that position is very much filled.  
 
Only a legendary company can have such a wonderful problem. Where the gifted is confused with what to put forward, the tool or the talent. Deep stuff to ponder on Turkey Day eve.

[hifiguy]

At a gig a couple of weeks ago the bassist in one of the other bands (Sol Spectres, and they're great, esp if you like Canterbury-style prog/fusion) and I traded first sightings.  
 
He'd never seen an Alembic in person and I'd never seen either a Carvin or a Steinberger electric upright 5-string.  The guy was a tremendous player but flipped over my Alembic.

[811952]

There are worse problems than being that Alembic playing guy..