New Upright Bassist From Boston

[a.kryzka]

Hi there everybody,

Thanks for having me in the group!

Finally, at 35 years old, I'm realizing my long time dream of learning how to play the upright bass. I started playing the electric around 13 or so...stayed up all night, many nights, drinking pots of coffee trying to prove to my father I could be good at something. Vigor and vim and caffeine-induced mindless-repetition granted me chops, but not much else. After a bit of touring and knocking around with fairly middle-of-the-road singer-songwriters throughout my 20s and early 30s, I entirely gave up music (burnt out) several times to focus on loitering around in coffee shops and scribbling in my journals. Sam Keen: "Let's make laziness respectable again!"

Lo and behold, a little more than a year later, a cheap plywood upright bass was taking up too much space in my tiny apartment and bothering neighbors with its less-than-incredibly resonant tones. I'm really enjoying not knowing how to use my brand new F.Simandl books properly and coming to terms with exactly how little I really know about playing the bass.

Thanks to all the knowledgable folks here for freely sharing their experience. It's been an inspiring and confusing first month, and a pleasure to be a beginner again.


Viva!


--a.kryzka

p.s. I'm in the market for a good upright bass teacher in Boston. Erm, no young hot shots that will make me feel like I'm too old to be starting. An "elder statesman," of the bass would be like a dream come true...but perhaps too much to ask for.