pro bass player / first bass

[drphatkins]

hey guys. i am a professional studio bass guitar player in nashville tn. i have been wanting to get an upright bass for a long time.... and should have a long time ago. i just learned that i missed out on playing on a major record (joan baez) because i don't play upright bass. ouch!!! ok so point me in the right direction. i would like to buy a bass that is worthy of going into a studio, but not a museum. i have a couple / few thousand to spend. any idears???

[Dave Martin]

Originally Posted by drphatkins

hey guys. i am a professional studio bass guitar player in nashville tn. i have been wanting to get an upright bass for a long time.... and should have a long time ago. i just learned that i missed out on playing on a major record (joan baez) because i don't play upright bass. ouch!!! ok so point me in the right direction. i would like to buy a bass that is worthy of going into a studio, but not a museum. i have a couple / few thousand to spend. any idears???

Go see Dustin Williams at Williams Fine Violins at 1103 16th Ave S (next door to where Emerald used to be). He should have a selection of instruments for you to try/buy. You might also give Dennis Crouch a call - he occasionally has basses for sale.

[drphatkins]

i will do both of those very things tomorrow. much abliged!

[liam_g]

Man, sorry you lost that gig.

I lost a studio gig before I moved back here, while I was in seattle. The woman I was playing for, Holly O'Reilly (Figueroa) went more in an alt-country direction, and I had been wanting to start playing upright again anyway, so I did. Problem was, we went into the studio two weeks after I got my rental upright ... I had no chops back by that point. I couldn't play well enough for the studio, although I was doing fine in her live band, so she had to bring someone else in to do the record. That hurt. Now though ... I just found out that the album is nominated for a Grammy this year!!!

Anyway ... *sob* ...

Dustin definitely has a few very nice basses in right now. There's a nice old American Standard, for one. I just sort of found my 'soul mate' bass in that very shop, as a matter of fact: Blown away by a low-end Chinese carved bass.

Lots of great teachers around town, too. For someone who really gets the electric bass / upright doubling, you might try Roy Voght over at Belmont. Monster player on electric or upright, and a super nice guy.

Hope to see you around town sometime!

Cheers

[drphatkins]

Originally Posted by liam_g

Man, sorry you lost that gig.

I lost a studio gig before I moved back here, while I was in seattle. The woman I was playing for, Holly O'Reilly (Figueroa) went more in an alt-country direction, and I had been wanting to start playing upright again anyway, so I did. Problem was, we went into the studio two weeks after I got my rental upright ... I had no chops back by that point. I couldn't play well enough for the studio, although I was doing fine in her live band, so she had to bring someone else in to do the record. That hurt. Now though ... I just found out that the album is nominated for a Grammy this year!!!

Anyway ... *sob* ...

Dustin definitely has a few very nice basses in right now. There's a nice old American Standard, for one. I just sort of found my 'soul mate' bass in that very shop, as a matter of fact: Blown away by a low-end Chinese carved bass.

Lots of great teachers around town, too. For someone who really gets the electric bass / upright doubling, you might try Roy Voght over at Belmont. Monster player on electric or upright, and a super nice guy.

Hope to see you around town sometime!

Cheers

thanks for the info liam. i myspaced you too. i know litterally nothing about upright bass. i played one on a pop track once. i think it had 4 chords in the entire song, but i really dug it, and thought at the time that i would love to dive off into a new world. so should i rent one? never thought of that. i def want to get some lessons too.

[liam_g]

Originally Posted by drphatkins

thanks for the info liam. i myspaced you too. i know litterally nothing about upright bass. i played one on a pop track once. i think it had 4 chords in the entire song, but i really dug it, and thought at the time that i would love to dive off into a new world. so should i rent one? never thought of that. i def want to get some lessons too.

Hey, awesome, man .. thanks for the Myspace connection.

Renting can be really good ... I rented for a year before buying. Some shops will give you all or partial credit for your rental payments towards a purchase later, which is cool.

I played back in college, then didn't play again for 15 years, until about 2 years ago. Love it, and I play more upright than anything these days. It's addictive!

See ya around!