transition time from electric

[hambone1]

I am intersted in auditioning for a jazz program at a university. I have six months to prepare for the audition. I am an electric player and will audition on upright. With a teacher do you guy think I can be prepared and make the transiiton to upright?

Thanks.

[longfinger]

Hey there,

In 6 months, you'll be at the level you'll be at in 6 months.... Just do your best.

Many universities will not expect the 17 and 18 year old high school kids auditioning for them to have the DB down cold before they audition. Often, you can audition on electric and switch to DB once accepted. Perhaps for your audition, you can have some pieces prepared on the electric, and some on the DB, including a classical arco etude. This will show your skill level / musicianship on your current main instrument (electric), and will also show your desire to play the DB and how much you can learn in 6 months.

Get the audition requirements from the schools your applying to, and carefully go over them with your teacher.

[hambone1]

thanks for the reply.. I am actually 26 yrs old. I am returning to school for music after getting my B.S. in 05'. It just seems so much more difficult to have to play DB for an audition when you have been playing electric. I am really dedicated to learning but I understand the DB has its unique challenges.

[Jason Sypher]

Six months up to the 4th position...doable.

[hambone1]

Would up to the fourth position cover most jazz tunes?

[M Ramsey]

I'd say it's quite possible. I had a nearly 19 year old daughter who practiced her scales on my old plywood (for a month after graduating high school) and auditioned and placed 5th chair (out of 12 basses) at App State.

[hambone1]

I am actually not intersted in jazz performance but a music therapy program. However, I still have to audition for the music to begin the program. The requirements are playing two jazz tunes( slow, fast) and scales. Surprisingly I dont think sight reading is tested during the audition.

[kreider204]

It depends on you, obviously, but in general, I'd say yes. In my own experience, I played electric bass for 4 months, then started upright, and was a minimally competent orchestral player in 6 months, and fairly decent by 1 year.

Go for it!

[hambone1]

thanks for the replies. I just need to start now...

[Taxxorrak]

Originally Posted by Jason Sypher

Six months up to the 4th position...doable.

Do you mean in the terms of Simandl book? Because I'm primarily a electric bass player that has been doing some classical double bass before I started playing electric bass. I sightread my way through most of 1st - 6th position. Not that it's in tune, but that gets better with the scales. Do you really mean that one should spend up to several months on the same two-three pages? Or am I just getting this wrong?

[Jason Sypher]

I mean that if you get a good teacher and focus on the first four positions along side of learning some good solid lines etc you can probably pass an audition. This would include Simandl, scales, arpeggios, transcriptions, blues, etc...There is a lot of work to do down there to get a good sound, feel and swing. I think focusing on the most essential part of the bass makes the most sense for a concentrated short term goal. It doesn't matter if it's one page of a book, what matters is you can play in tune and with an even sound with good swinging lines.

[ole Jason]

I think you'll be fine as long as you have time to put in the necessary practice. Focus on getting a good sound and feel with solid intonation. Don't try anything fancy, just lay it down

[longfinger]

I found that I got the quickest 'physical DB specific' results with practice that was 4/5 arco practice, and 1/5 pizz practice. This was true even if my performance goals were 100% pizz.

Franz Simandl New Method for the Double Bass, and a bow, with some good rosin, and off you go. Start at the beginning and progress slowly. The first 30 pages are enough to tackle in the first 6 months. You'll sound like a Suzuki kid at first, but you'll progress the fastest this way.

For pizz, practicing on the open strings is fine. The rest comes together easily.

I take it you already play jazz on the electric, and know your music fundamentals and repertoire.

[eerbrev]

I'm originally an electric player, and I think that, as the previous poster mentioned, if you've got a fair bit of electric experience, especially in your chosen music field, then it's all a matter of how much you're going to work. if you spend as much feasible time as you can learning what may become your new obsession (as it became for me), then hands down you'll have no problems.

Make no illusions for yourself, this won't be easy, but with a decent teacher and a large portion of self-motivation (it's good that you have a goal, it makes it easier), this is an accomplishable goal, especially with previous experience on electric. Things transfer.


regards, and good luck,

Alex

[Eric Hochberg]

I was gigging professionally with some confidence about two years after I started working with DB at 20. I found my bass guitar chops very helpful in making the transition. I think learning with the bow is the way to go, but I came up pizz only and then got into arco playing later.

You can do this!

[T-zone]

Wow, this thread is awesome... I hope experienced DB players keep posting in it. I too have recently (within the past two months) made the upright transition and after reading this thread I am going to incorporate the bow into all of my practices... thanks a lot!

[hambone1]

thank you guys for the support. I am auditioning for a competitive school but don't want to scare myself out of trying to get in.

[M Ramsey]

Originally Posted by hambone1

thank you guys for the support. I am auditioning for a competitive school but don't want to scare myself out of trying to get in.

Go for it!

[jweiss]

Originally Posted by longfinger

I found that I got the quickest 'physical DB specific' results with practice that was 4/5 arco practice, and 1/5 pizz practice. This was true even if my performance goals were 100% pizz.

Do you have a feeling for why this is the case? I've been playing DB for about a year (minus 5 months off for an injury) and I spend about the first 1/4 of my practice session with the bow. I understand that it helps with intonation since playing with the bow produces more upper harmonics and makes it easier to tell when you are out of tune. But how do you feel it otherwise helps your pizz playing?

Cheers,

Jeff

[eerbrev]

Originally Posted by M Ramsey

Go for it!

I second this statement. I love to see some positives on this board. We can definitely get into a very negative point of view around here.