Hey Mr. Seaton,

I remember hearing you play a really nice groove one of the tunes "Pretending" on your album, and I wanted to ask you how do you approach playing a groove or funk on the upright bass.

I've played funk before on electric bass and learned all about listening to the drummer, and playing in the pocket, however, whenever I begin to play funk on upright it seems new and hard to me, since when I play upright I'm more used walking or playing 1-5 basslines (such as country, latin music, etc.) I was wondering how do you approach playing funk on the upright bass?

dear AZNBassist,
Check out Eddie Gomez playing with "Steps Ahead" and Brian Bromberg on his own CDs. Bromberg playing a funk version of the Star Spangled Banner is a National Treasure and should be in the National Archives here in DC!

is it possible to play rock -funk on the DB? and if so what would be the best possible set-up to achieve the entire sound of the bass?

Yes, It is possible to play any kind of music on the doublebass. The previously mentioned examples of Eddie Gomez and Brian Bromberg are wonderful. Some of my students also suggested listening to some things: Ron Carter recorded with the Tribe Called Quest on Verses from the Abstract, the bands called Soul Coughing, the Philadelphia Experiment, and the John McFadden Trio are other suggestions. Christian McBride also played with Sting. I recorded a couple of things: Teen Town with John Fedchock's New York Big Band (with the amazing George Flynn playing the melody on Bass Trombone!) and a new CD of Steve Wiest Out of the New has all recent pop tunes done in a jazz style. Medeski, Martin, and Wood, and Brad Meldau have done some interesting things. As always, there are some left out so anyone else who has suggestions are encouraged to name them on this forum. As far as sound goes, it is a personal choice, but for volume, a pickup is probably needed for live work. With the pickup any effects used on the electric could be used on the upright. Blending a mike in the studio and possibly in the PA for live would be good too.

I'd also like to recommend the two duo records by Steve Rodby and Ross Traut. They do a number of Motown/Philly pop numbers and Steve is a great proponent of the voice of upright in that music.

http://www.opendoormanagement.com/traut-rodby/index.html#bio

Yes, It is possible to play any kind of music on the doublebass. The previously mentioned examples of Eddie Gomez and Brian Bromberg are wonderful. Some of my students also suggested listening to some things: Ron Carter recorded with the Tribe Called Quest on Verses from the Abstract, the bands called Soul Coughing, the Philadelphia Experiment, and the John McFadden Trio are other suggestions. Christian McBride also played with Sting. I recorded a couple of things: Teen Town with John Fedchock's New York Big Band (with the amazing George Flynn playing the melody on Bass Trombone!) and a new CD of Steve Wiest Out of the New has all recent pop tunes done in a jazz style. Medeski, Martin, and Wood, and Brad Meldau have done some interesting things. As always, there are some left out so anyone else who has suggestions are encouraged to name them on this forum. As far as sound goes, it is a personal choice, but for volume, a pickup is probably needed for live work. With the pickup any effects used on the electric could be used on the upright. Blending a mike in the studio and possibly in the PA for live would be good too.

Christian McBride recorded with "The Philadelphia Experiment", not Ron Carter

My second sentence is a run on and misleading. Sorry about that. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. It was not meant to imply that Ron Carter played with all those bands.
I should have formatted my sentence like this:
Some of my students also suggested listening to some bands: 1. Tribe Called Quest "Verses from the Abstract" (with Ron Carter) 2. Soul Coughing, 3. the Philadelphia Experiment (with Christian McBride), and 4. the John McFadden Trio.

thank you all so much. i 'm in a somewhat dellima right now because the group i am involved with seems to believe the electric bass drives the music better. i, being the bassist, strongly disagree, but i just have not conveinced the powers that be as of yet. my set up does not help either. i have the pickup, i've had amps with my blender. i'm not getting all of my stings' , full range of the bass is not even. i am trying to achieve transparency as though unplugged. i have no sustain of notes.

If the bass is not even when played acoustically, it will not be so when using a pickup. Some pickups work better on different basses. What is right for one is not always right for all. If you have no sustain, try different strings, go to a luthier to make sure the bridge is OK and the soundpost is in the proper place. Usually bridge pickups amplify with a lot of sustain. On the upright, it is necessary to pull harder (and bow faster) in the upper register to have the same intensity of sound as the lower register when plucked a little softer. If you are not happy with the sound of your bass, it is no wonder that your bandmates are not either.

thanks, i will be meeting the luthier that i bought the meisel from on Monday to actually check most of the things you just mentioned. Ed

I would also like to ask about gut strings. I have an old "artone "red gut set and would like to try them. I've had the G string on for about a weak but constantly have to tune it after pizzicato of a few bars. will this condition improve in time?

Most new strings take time to settle because they are stretching out. Some people stretch the strings manually to speed up the process. This can be done after you put the strings on. Grab the string with two or three fingers and pull out (away from the finger board) several times. Do this along as much of the string as possible from the end of the fingerboard to as close to the nut as your fingers will fit between the string and board. Re-tune and do it again.

thanks, I will give that a try this evening.

I'd also like to recommend the two duo records by Steve Rodby and Ross Traut. They do a number of Motown/Philly pop numbers and Steve is a great proponent of the voice of upright in that music.

http://www.opendoormanagement.com/traut-rodby/index.html#bio

I don't know how easy they are to find in the US but Jim Vivian plays some great funk on the early Shuffle Demons albums. Not to knock George Koller or Mike Milligan's playing but I don't know their work with the SD's as well.