Yes I can tell you what to do... RENT TO OWN. just because you are a bass player doesn't mean you are an upright bass player. They are two completely different instruments. They do the same job... same key.. blah blah blah.. but playing it is completely different.
Rent to own just so you can make sure you like playing it and want to continue with it. Otherwise you forked out a lot of money for no reason. For an example. One of my first bass instructors new Jaco fairly well. They weren't friends, but Jaco and he would hang out a couple of times. And Jaco SUCKED at the upright. He was terrible at it. Yet on the slab bass he'd tear anybody up. So Just because it's a bass doesn't mean you will like it as much as an EBG.
Second... Are you going to get an instructor? If you are going to play the upright and try and teach yourself you may want to second guess the purchase. Bad habits with the Upright is a lot of times worse then bad habits with a slab bass. If you have a not so great posture with the upright... you will get hurt. I mean these have to be one of the most awkward instruments to play. My first instructor wasn't the greatest. And didn't instruct me on my posture.. after playing for 8 months or so My back hurt so bad constantly. Then I had to cover my the bass player in my colleges jazz ensemble and the original bass player was in the audience (he broke his wrist) and he saw me playing and asked why I was moving a lot.. I told him about my back and he just movedmy back about 1 inch and it completely fixed my problem and actually made my playing better since I wasn't wincing from the pain.
Now I can play for hours and hours and feel great.. sweaty.. but great
. I know this post may sound negative. But there are a lot of things you have to think about when purchasing an upright. It's costly and the bass tends to grow on you. So much as I get very paranoid when anybody is touching my bass. Like a guy is flirting with my fiance. lol. I don't mean to be negative. It's just that a lot of people go all out and buy an expensive starter bass, and use it for 6 months and put it away.
The upright can be a life changing experiance. I was a slab player, and played a lot of gigs and did a lot of work on it. I Rent to Owned my first upright... now I only bring my slab to jam with some friends... I practice, and gig with the upright because I *PERSONALLY* find it to be a superior instrument in what I'm doing. If you do choose to purchase the upright please feel free to Surf and Search here on talkbass. You have no idea what kind of wealth of information is archived here on TB. I spend hours just surfing through posts made years ago and learning a ton. Good luck and enjoy the music!
