doing the transfer from electric to double.

[UnderDogbassist]

hi let's make this quick
During the summer ill be renting my school's double bass in order to get used to playing it. one of my current goals is to end high school and work towards a career playing jazz. problem is. i dont know where to start with playing double bass. my intonation is really bad on the thing, and my fingers hurtt sooo much. i dont even know how to properly pluck it. so if somebody could really help me with it, i would appreciate it.

[drurb]

Okay, I'll make it quick. Get a teacher!

[1954bassman]

Good luck. completely different instrument.

[Jazzdogg]

Originally Posted by drurb

Okay, I'll make it quick. Get a teacher!

+ 1 Playing DB is only superficially similar to playing electric: GET A TEACHER - someone who specializes in teaching DB.

[jdepriest]

First thing, get a teacher that PLAYS upright! I know it’s starting to sound old already with so many of us saying that but it will really help you get started the right way. Electric bass is “technically” more forgiving than upright. By that I mean, the equipment (amps, pre-amp, EQ, THE BASS ITSELF…) can cover (hide) some minor technique flaws that the player has. On upright, it’s just you. Good technique can make a cheap peace of crap bass sound good. Bad technique will do nothing but frustrate you, cause you physical pain and make you want to quit.

Stay away from most of the Learn Upright Bass videos on Youtube. MOST of them are absolute crap that are full of bad techniques, bad teaching and bad playing by people claiming to be “Experts”. There are a few exceptions to that but not many.

If you absolutely can’t get a teacher (try really hard) get Rufus Reid’s Evolving Bassist book and DVD set. They are awesome for beginners to advanced players. The book has great pictures and descriptions of proper technique and the new DVD has Rufus demonstrating the proper techniques.

Most players when they first switch to the upright for jazz, me included 25 years ago, ignore the bow and go straight to pizz playing. Stick with the bow. Do all of the Reid exercises with and without the bow. It will improve your intonation immensely.

Good Luck!

[Eric Hochberg]

You also might want to do some research into the "career playing jazz" thing...

[Paul Warburton]

I would suggest that you start by filling out your Profile to give us more of an idea about you and your musical tastes, especially since you're interested in becoming a Jazz bassist.

[CellarDweller]

Good hand position in the left hand will help your intonation a lot. Good hand position in the right hand will help your pizzicato tone production and your technique, especially on faster tunes. And, once you get some callouses built up, the pain will go away, if you are using good hand position.
The bow has its own hand position techniques to learn. Once you get good at drawing a good tone from the bass, you will be able to hear intonation more accurately because the sounds last longer.
The advice about getting a teacher at the beginning is important because developing good hands happens most quickly when you have a teacher. Once you achieve that all-important basis for technique, then the rest of it can start to happen. We have all gone through this point as players, and you will make it through, too, with a little help from a real double bass teacher, especially at the very beginning.

[eerbrev]

Not that I want to ruffle any feathers, but personally, having made the transition from electric to DB myself, I feel that more transfers than people give credit for. Things like basic musicianship knowledge (scales, keys, rhythm etc) are transferable from all instruments. Electric may be more "forgiving", but if you look at the really famous electric players, the vast majority have a very well practiced technique base, whether it be of a certain "school" or their own experience of what works for them and what doesn't.

I do agree with the sentiment of getting a teacher. Someone to teach you how to play double bass without hurting yourself. We all kind of laugh at the concept of serious injury from playing an instrument, but we laugh because we know it's true. Months in physiotherapy with the possibility of never regaining proper use of your wrist are an extreme, but possible example of what can happen if you play with pain for too long. Some people here, myself included, speak from experience in this regard.

Also Ditto on bow use. I read somewhere on this forum that someone used the ratio of 4/5 bowed, 1/5 pizz for their JAZZ practice regimen. The mainly jazz guys can talk more about their own personal breakdown, and what exactly they are practicing during that bowed time better than I can, as a mainly classical player and student.

So, in short: Get a teacher, build on your own basic musical knowledge, and get a bow to help with intonation and technique. Also, continue to rock out.

Alex

[Eric Swanson]

Originally Posted by Eric Hochberg

You also might want to do some research into the "career playing jazz" thing...

D'oh.

I also like the "let's make this quick" concept.

Fast (but intending to be respectful and welcoming) answer:

- Fill out your profile. Its a polite way of introducing oneself.

- Start studying with someone who can really play. A top-level player. Ideally someone with some classical (i.e. arco) experience and training, as well as working-jazz-bassist experience.

[Wasted Bassist]

A massive +1 on getting a teacher. I played upright basically self taught for about 7 years before I started lessons. I started taking lessons about 6 months and I've made more progress in these past six months than in about the last 2-3 years.

[drurb]

I think I hear a consistent message!

[shwashwa]

how do you make a million dollars as a jazz bassist?

[shwashwa]

start with 2 million. haw haw haw...

[AMJBASS]

Nice

[JoshD]

Originally Posted by UnderDogbassist

my intonation is really bad on the thing, and my fingers hurtt sooo much.

1)compare pitches to a piano or tuner. Can't really help you here, the biggest disadvantage to unmarked, fretless stringed instruments is that you actually have to develop your ear to know where the notes are (gasp). Playing scales will help you find the notes... I started with C major one octave, then two, then three, then moving on to more and more tricky ones.

2)It ain't an electric. Expect callouses.

[wdnewman]

The best advice I can give you is:

Get a teacher.


(Wait. Did someone else suggest that?)

[Phil Rowan]

Originally Posted by drurb

I think I hear a consistent message!

+1