Choosing to play the double bass (or did it choose you)

[bejoyous]

While answering a another thread I told a bit of my story and I thought it would be interesting to hear how people on Talkbass chose to play double bass.

I guess I'll start with my story. I started on piano and organ (from a Kawai organ dealership) when I was about 9 or 10, I got to about a grade 5 or 6 level. (still there!)

We didn't own piano so I learned as best I could on a very basic Hammond organ. It had a one octave pedal (only one bass sound) and two 3.5 octave manuals. These were offset by an octave. There were 2 different sounds for the left hand manual and 3 sounds for the right hand manual. Most pieces had the left foot and hand providing the accompaniment with bass and chord (boom chuck or boom chuck chuck) while the right hand played the melody.

A lot of the pieces were pop tunes like On Broadway or Never on a Sunday but occasionally there would be an interesting classical piece like Bach's Air from Orchestral Suite #3 or Elgar's Pomp march that's used in graduation ceremonies. I think this is what got me interested in classical music. This also got me interested in orchestration. Since my organ was so basic, I'd go to the organ store often and listen to the different sound possibilities of the higher end units.

The accompaniment also got me started on music theory and really hearing what the bass was doing.

When listening to rock music, it was usually something with an interesting bass player - Beatles, Rush, Police, Yes etc.

In school grade 6, I chose tuba because of the low sounds. My big achievement that year was figuring out and playing the Root Bear song!

In grade 10, I heard my English teacher play guitar so I decided to teach myself guitar. The first piece I learned was Trees by Rush. I learned it from sheet music on piano then translated each note on to guitar. I still know it today! Fortunately, most printed pop music has chord symbols above the piano part so I could teach myself guitar rather quickly.

Also in grade 10, I first encountered listening to classical music through Hooked on Classics and watching the Smurf cartoons. I know it's embarrassing but that's how I learned a lot of repertoire.

In grade 12, one of the music teachers decided to start a jazz band at our high school. I played the bass part on tuba until Mr. March said, "I think there is a bass guitar in the storage closet." I found it. What a piece of #$^&. If you let go of the neck, the headstock would swivel down and hit the ground with a bang. Oh well, it had four strings and it worked. Because of my piano, organ and tuba playing I could read bass clef and chord symbols. Because of learning guitar I knew the EADG strings and how to pluck the strings with my fingers; Voila! I was instantly an OK bass player!

This went on for a few months then one day I was putting my tuba in the storage room in the city's music building when I saw a double bass behind the last shelf of the room. I had never seen one in person before. I wondered if it was the same as an electric bass. It was! So I asked if I could borrow it to play in jazz band. I took a few lesson from a lady who used to be a Gary Karr student when he was hiding out in Halifax. She also let me rent a gigantic Hofner bass. (another piece of @#$#@$)

During a jazz band rehearsal, the new conductor of the Nova Scotia Youth Orchestra came by recruiting players. His philosophy was if you could hold an instrument and show up for rehearsals, you were in! I joined up. So the orchestra had 10 horns and 8 trombones, 8 basses, 5 flutes etc. We played every bombastic piece you could think of!

I didn't play with them until their summer camp (David Murray was my teacher there). I remember the very first thing we played was Gershwin's Porgy and Bess suite (extremely difficult bass parts!), Rideout's Fall Fair and Barber's Adagio for Strings. The brass played Fanfare for the Common Man.

I was blown away! This was way better than Michael Jackson medleys and the like in concert band and way better than In the Mood, etc in jazz band and definitely better than Scotland the Brave in my Air Cadet glockenspiel and drum band. (Although teaching glock during the summers at the Air Cadet Band Camp did pay my way through university.)

The highlight of my NSYO career was playing the Lt. Kije solo.

I started music at Dalhousie University on tuba. My tuba lessons didn't go so well. Then I heard Mark Bonang play tuba and I thought I would never, ever be able play that well. By this time I had been playing bass about 6 months and was a lot better on it than playing tuba for 6 years. I also looked at the playing opportunities a bass player has over a tuba player. I re-auditioned and they allowed me to switch instruments.

My teacher was Lena Turofsky (Assist. Princ. of Symphony Nova Scotia). I studied with her for four years. I bought a bass from Max Kasper. He re-assemble an old Italian bass that was delivered to him in many splintered pieces. During that time I played in the NSYO, the university chamber orchestra (Led by Phillipe Djokic; we did lots of interesting Baroque and Contemporary things (Denise was just a little baby then!)), the PEI Symphony (many scary experiences crossing the Northumberland Straight in an ice-breaker car ferry then driving through blinding blizzards to play great stuff like Beethoven 5 and the Planets), The Chebucto Orchestra (a community orchestra) and a few other gigs here and there.

There's another 20 years after moving to Toronto then becoming disabled but I'll finish later if anyone cares to hear the rest.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Great story. These type of threads are always interesting and help people understand each other better. My story and many others are in This old thread. Since there have been a lot of new members since then, I hope the newer folks will carry on the tradition!

[KrisH]

My father had old trombones from school and college laying around that I always played with, so when it came time to choose a school band instrument, I chose trombone. Through high school I ended up playing other bass instruments in school projects and bands, electric bass and tuba. Although the school no longer had an orchestra, some of the old instruments were still sitting around, including an old blond double bass, which I messed around with on occasion. Then I got involved in the pit band for our school production of "Mame," and the director insisted on a double bass rather than electric bass. The band instructor gave me some pointers on how to properly pluck the thing and otherwise handle it. So I spent a few weeks practicing and figuring it out and the gig went just fine. After I graduated, I didn't touch a double bass for 33 years and played electric bass exclusively. But when I started doing acoustic guitar work a few years ago I thought it would be interesting to revisit the double bass, and after checking a few out over the course of a year or so, bought the one I have now. It's been fun playing in coffeehouse/folk settings, as a break from the raucous stuff I usually play. No, it's not my primary instrument, but its fun and adds to my arsenal of skills.

[rftbass]

I took piano lessons as a kid. I don't recall the exact details it has been almost 48 yrs ago, but in 6th grade, the orchestra director (cello player) came to general music class and said that since I already read music, she wanted me to play bass in her orchestra.

[MollyKay]

The bass choose me…

I was born into a family that owned a restaurant business and we lived in the apartment above it…that is all I knew for the first 18 years of life…work, work, work. It is what the family did, WORK. There was no time for vacations, family dinners, or school activities…you worked in the family business. The silver lining was the restaurant had a lounge and ballroom for 500 people…so every weekend there was music. My bedroom was on top of the ballroom so I would fall a sleep to the sounds of a 23 piece big band or a Dixieland band. Sometime it was country music or a three piece jazz ensemble. But there was always music. Little did I know that low-end sound that came up through the floor as I fall a sleep on my pillow was going into my head from age five and beyond. I could always hear the low-end bass in all types of music…it was in my head.

When I finally had the time and money to choose what I wanted to play…I tried the guitar, Dobro, banjo and then I touched an upright bass…the rest is history. I love bass because it is big, physical and requires no fingerpicks, capo or slide…and no matter what, I can hear it in my head and my heart…it feels like home again.

[Paul Warburton]

As I mentioned on Durr'ls ( Chris ) link..I didn't share my story because it was aimed at bass guitarists making the change over to DB. Here's mine...
My half brother Dick Benson, was a pro bassist who had a regular day job. I think I was about 14 at the time. He lived out in Arvada, Co., which in those days was quite a distance from the Capital Hill area of Denver where I lived with our mother.
When he had a gig, he would drop off his nice carved Jacobus Hornsteiner bass at our apt. for safe keeping, while he did his business in the city.
One day for some reason, he dropped off a portable turntable along with some jazz records...Some Art Tatum with Slam Stewart, AND a vivid green record cover side with some guy named Hampton Hawes, strolling around the background in black and white photos. The title on front said The Hampton Hawes Trio...Volume 1. The bass player was Red Mitchell, the drummer was Chuck Thompson.
Dick had taken the bass out of it's cover to show us a bit about playing the instrument a couple times, and of course I was madly in love. The sound, the look, the whole trip...you know. I remember zeroing in on his left hand moving up and down the neck, much like caressing the neck of a beautiful woman...at least to me. Listening to the percussive point of the tone, blossoming into a nice sustain, plucked by his right hand fingers.
I asked Dick to show me a bit more...so I copped what I could from him. He wasn't a great bassist, which he often warned me about. He always put the bass back in the case, asking me to not get it out without him being there.
One day I put Hamp's record on....listened to what Red was doing....and looked at the bass....the obvious happened. Out came the bass. I layed it on the floor in front of me, just as Dick told me, looking at every part...the scroll down to the rubber tip on the end pin. I did this many days before eventually getting the nerve to actually pick it up and attempting to try to play it.
Sorry, I'll wrap this up....I concentrated on a blues in F by Hamp called " Hamps Blues". It took time, but I memorized the whole thing...I could sing ALL of Hamp's choruses, play ALL of Red's lines and, believe it or don't, play Reds walking solo. Of course, I had to tune the bass down to the record to get in tune.
As luck would have it, Dick returned early one day when I was practicing...ALL this, unbeknownst to him. Apparently, he stood outside the kitchen window listening for quite some time...when it was over, he came in exclaiming " WHAT THE HELL ?!!!". I thought he was very pissed that I'd gotten the bass out. He said that I was playing much better than him.
I never studied...I hung out in record stores, trying to find pictures of the great jazz bass players on the backs of covers, trying to figure out how the left hand positions worked. Not to mention the fingers of the right.
Years later, I told this story to Red and Ray Brown, thanking them both for teaching me. They both said..."You never studied with me".....then they both thought about it, and cracked up.

[MDEbass]

chose me.....

i always wanted to play bass when i was younger (EB), and started playing when I was 10. started some lessons, played rock and learned from tabs and stuff. and wasn't really very serious about it. i picked up guitar in the meantime and got a new teacher, who got me interested in it again. i started listening to more types of music, especially fusion. my chops on EB came pretty quick as i learned every jaco solo i could.

i attended Victor Wooten's bass/nature camp that summer where i got instruction from a lot of the best EB'ers.

that summer my high school lent me an UB over the summer so i could learn to play in the orchestra (since i only played EB). started learning classical, learned to read music, and started to get into jazz. i was still mainly focused on EB though.

that year DB and classical and jazz started to grow on me. the next summer i went to the New Hampshire Bass Fest, where i got instruction from a lot of the best jazz bassists and i started to get really focused on jazz bass.

that summer my main focus went to UB and eventually classical and orchestral UB. i'm now kind of at the total opposite of the tab-learning rock EB'er i was at the start. i kind of naturally changed from one type of bassist to the other until im at where i am now. if you told me 5 years ago that i would be playing classical UB and planning to play it professionally as an adult, i wouldn't have believed it. so yeah i guess the bass chose me

[ROCKWOOD]

I have a favorite part in each of the above stories! I too checked out interesting
rock bass parts & still whistle the bass part from Bostons' "More Than a Feeling."
I remember well the pit in the old community theatre & the plays we performed.
While I was just a baby, my crib was against the bass player neighbors wall - what
was mom thinking?
My granddad was childhood friends with Jim Reeves. They sang & played together.
My granddad died before I was born. I am told he could play any instrument you
put in his hands. I was only aware of 3 kinds of music as a youngster. They were
Church, Hank Williams Sr & Lawence Welk. Only trumpeters, like Louis Armstrong
caught my eye, so I decided to be a trumpet player. When it came time to join
the band in 6th grade....I somehow missed tryouts. A week or so later they held
orchestra tryouts. I wasn't gonna miss this (though I knew nothing about it). To
my boyish thinking, only the bass seemed manly. So, I chose the bass - instead of
the other way around. I walked 7 blocks to school & was so interested in playing
that I got permission to carry the schools bass home. I worked out a way to hold
it with 1 hand & brace the neck well against my neck. Dad wasn't gonna let me not
bring my books home. I carried them in my other hand & switched hands along the
way. By the 8th grade I played with 3 church groups as well. There was an older
guy in my neighborhood that played in the high school orchestra. We became good
friends. He was playing the community theatre that year but had other plans 1 night
& asked me to sit in for him. I sat up before the show & the conductor wanted to
know who I was. At the end of the show, he asked me to finish out the season!
My family moved to Fort Worth just before my Sr year. I joined band as a double
bassist (no orchestra). I tried out & made the Ft Worth Youth Orchestra & even
played in the Ft Worth Symphony all on borrowed basses. I couldn't afford a bass
of my own after highschool. Thats when I switched to bass guitar. Got my old Kay
back in 89. This is the same bass I played when I was in 6th grade. The neck had
been broken again. I didn't care. I was just so happy to get it back. I put it back
together & have been playing it every since!

Happy Holidays & Looking forward to more stories ;<)

[fdeck]

It's interesting how many of us started out as "the kid who could read." I took 'cello lessons from 4th grade through high school. In 8th grade, the junior high band teacher tapped me to play bass in the jazz band, so I got a second hand Fender and a little amp.

The year I started college, the local high school discarded some basses that had been sitting in a storage closet for more than a decade. They were all wrecks. I took one home -- a 1961 Kay. My dad and I did our research, then repaired a loose bass bar and cracked neck block. Probably the only thing we did right was to use hide glue, but the bass has held up for a quarter century and is still what I play.

I majored in math & physics, but the college offered classical bass lessons. What a concept -- getting liberal arts credit to practice my bass. Meanwhile I played electric bass in school jazz bands from junior high through college. It wasn't until I was in grad school that I put the double bass and jazz together. I gave my card to some bandleaders in the town where I was living, and some older guys gave me a chance. Most of what I know about jazz, I learned on the bandstand.

While I am merely a "weekend warrior" today, playing bass is a part of me that I would have a hard time giving up.

[tyrelnorth]

Bass chose me.

Short version, I started out playing drums, then moved to guitar, then moved to bass. The reason I started playing bass more was because no one needed guitar players in bands. After becoming an actual bass player and not just a guitar player playing bass, I understood the importance of the bass and how people just don't really "get" what the bass does. My personality fits with the instrument, and through playing bass I met lifelong friends, I met my wife, and I'm currently playing in the worship band at my church.

My whole life at this point is the way it is because I picked up a bass and joined a few bands. Everything happens for a reason and this is why I believe that the bass picked me.

[drurb]

My dad was in the music business since the '40s. I grew up listening to all kinds of music. My brother took up the double bass in junior high and not long after that a brand new 1967 Kay arrived at our house. Well, my brother gave it up and then my time came around. I was already hooked so...

I took private lessons through junior high and high school. All formal classical training, Simandl I and II and beyond. I played in the school orchestra, community youth symphony, all-city, all-state, etc. My last teacher in high school was a cellist who studied with Casals and he taught me artistry. At age 17, the conductor of the Miami Beach Symphony called me and said "we heard about you" and offered me a student spot. It was a really short conversation. This guy was a real hot-head. He asked, "You have a tux?" I told him I didn't and he replied, "Well, get one. See you Saturday." That was it. Wow, what an experience!

Not long after that, my dad took me to hear an interesting concert at the very same auditorium where the MBS played: Benny Goodman, Zoot Sims, Hank Jones, Slam Stewart. Slam blew me away! I went and chatted with him and he was very kind and inspiring (see below). When he gave me his autograph, I remember him remarking that my name, LES, was his initials (Leroy Eliot Stewart). Maybe that's why he wrote my name in caps. What shocked me was that he handed me his bass and said, "Here, hold this." He then used the upper bout as a table to write the card. It was a magical night, to say the least.

Off to college... more private lessons... started playing big-band jazz, combo-jazz, bluegrass, theater, etc. All on that Kay! Then came graduate school and I basically stopped playing. Stupid!!!! I always had the bass in the corner available to doodle on.

Years later, I started over but this time with jazz. I soon realized that as a classically-trained player I was, essentially jazz-ignorant. I hooked up with fine teachers once again, bought a better bass, a better one after that, and a better one after that. I intend to play until I'm somehow physically prevented from doing so. I'm in love with the DB.

[violann]

I've lurked and read here for about 3 years, and may even have posted in the past, but I need to make a decision one way or the other.

From the day I was born there was a radio on within hearing, always jazz, pop, Big Bands, and sometimes some classical.

I became a music major in college and played bass clarinet and was a voice major, but we weren't ALLOWED to participate in any jazz activities in school, and since I was busy enough with what I was already doing, I did mostly classical.

After getting a BA in music education, I went into an entirely different field, and although I continued to sing in church and teach in private schools once in a while, I always came back to wanting to play.

About five years ago, I contacted a very good UB player in my area and attempted to arrange for lessons, but HE didn't follow through so at the time I gave up.

Now I've retired and have the funds to do something that I want to do. I started harp lessons about 2 years ago and love it, and in addition, I've proven to myself that I have more hand strength than I had thought. I tried 'cello and liked what I was able to do, but found for other reasons at the time that it wasn't for me. I love the sound of the bass and the fact that I only need to worry about one line of music rather than the more complicated chordal patterns that come with harp.

My situation is a little complicated by the fact that I'm attending the local junior college, and the bass teacher there is the same one who blew me off five years ago. I'd love to have a few lessons with him to see if I have any potential, but I do have a concern about the way he reacted to my request for lessons previously. I should point out that he is VERY young and I am retired.

What could I do to enhance my credibility?

[drurb]

Originally Posted by violann

What could I do to enhance my credibility?

Enhance your credibility? Do you mean with the teacher? I don't see why you'd have to at all! Where do you live? I'd suggest that you find another teacher. In my experience, teachers are often quite happy to have older, dedicated students.

[SpamBot]

Bass definitely chose me. I was the drummer in a band and had been drumming for god know show long, when the band dissolved, due to lack of gigs and internal strife (Our keyboard player was a huge arsehole). My guitar player started a new band, with a different drummer, and knowing I had a background in guitar, offered me a position as a bassist. I don't think he was serious, but I took him up on it.

Next day, I pawned my guitar goods (Kept my drum set, of course) and bought some discount gear at my local GC. I bought a Squier bass, a VM Fretless (I didn't know it was fretless until after the fact, fret-lines) and a crate practice amp. Took them home, and POW. Bass was much more natural than guitar, either played with fingers or plec'd.

Next week, I was pumping my line out through a PA with a three-piece alt act, and it felt pretty natural.

So thank you, bass, for "pwn"-ing my life.

[drurb]

Originally Posted by SpamBot

Bass definitely chose me.

...but did the DOUBLE-BASS choose you or did you choose it? Seems you took a detour to the dark side of TB.

[Treyzer]

There are some great stories here and thanks to all who have shared.

My dad was a highly decorated Naval fighter pilot. Prior to WWII he grew up around Kansas City and played tenor sax in high school and college. I think this was Count Basie and Jay McShan (sp). My dad loved jazz. My mom was a flight atendant for Pan Am in the late 40's. She flew to Hong Kong & Hawaii. She had dabbled in theater and loved the musicals of that period. We always had music in the house. It could be Miles "Live at the BlackHawk", "Kind of Blue", Bill Evans, "Portrait in Jazz" or "Sunday at the Village VanGuard" or any number of Broadway musicals like "Carousel" or "ShowBoat" or "My Fair Lady".

I remember my dad sitting on the stairs after a big party, scotch in one hand, leaning back and listening to Miles and telling, "Trey, now this is music!'.

In 3rd grade I started playing clarinet. I was not really inspired but I kept at it. In H.S. we moved to the West Coast. We had a really cool music teacher named Bill Trimble. I still keep in contact with him to this day. Since he new I could read a bit he convinced my to play the Double Bass. I don't know why, but I just loved it! Long story short, all the music I'd been listening to kind of got in me through osmosis, and I evidently showed a bit of promise as a bassist. Mr. Trimble gave me the line about 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration and having never heard it before, I took it to heart and practiced all the time.

The practice and what bit of talent I had allowed me to have a career in the music biz. I was not a complete enough player to hang with the jazz cats who were in L.A. during my time. These were world class players. For awhile I live across the street from Dantes and would go there a few nights a week to see the greatest of the great. It was both awe inspiring and very very humbling! I continued playing DB, had a number of great teachers and made a living as a session player and touring musician. It was a 25 year career. I played and recorded with lots and lots of popular artists as well as a few jazz guys, got to travel the world in style and make a pretty good living.

Toward the end of this phase of life I got married at 36 and our first baby arrived when I was 38. When our firstborn arrived I just didn't want to travel anymore. This decision seriously cut into our income. Our first born also had bronchial problems and L.A. was not a great place so we moved to Northern California, started a business and I stopped being a professional bass player. However, I soon found out that even though I was not a professional, there were lots of playing opportunities and there were many cats who wanted to play with me. So I guess I've never stopped playing!

Cut to present. We have been living on Kauai about 10 years. At this point I only play for the love of it. I don't have to make decisions about gigs or travel based on economics so I get to play only what I want to play (jazz) with the people I choose to play with. I'm playing music that is timeless;(jazz). The instrument I love playing is the Double Bass. I sub for people and have my own band with my wife Sara who is a very fine vocalist.

The TBDB site has re-connected me with one of the main things missing in my life as a professional musician and that is hanging with others who share your joy and passion for the instrument and the music. Musicians, typically have great timing. Their humor is always interesting and often hilarious. It is so much fun to hear what you guys have to say and be able to share a joke as well as trade tips and insight. Thank you one and all.

Cheers

[Andrew McGregor]

Bass chose me.

Sometime during my first few weeks at high school I showed up at the local weekend music school wanting to play 'cello. The head of the 'cello department took one look at me and said 'he could play bass!' So a couple of hours later we left with a hire bass in the car, and I was doomed. Once you're a bass player, everyone knows it and you have to play all the best gigs on bass... not that I mind that. Four years later I was in the National Youth Orchestra, the year after that I was in the Christchurch Symphony, and that paid my living costs while I did my degree, all the way to grad school.

[SpamBot]

Originally Posted by drurb

...but did the DOUBLE-BASS choose you or did you choose it? Seems you took a detour to the dark side of TB.

Mkay perhaps I chose DB. I started playing that after my electric experience

[brake]

You studied Tuba at Dalhousie? Was Jack teaching?

[MR PC]

Pretty simple, really. Spirit brought me a gift of Music, and gave me the choice to choose bass to express Music's beauty.