Weird bowing sound

Veed · #1 06-01-2008, 09:05 PM

Hey, I've been playing DB for about a year and a half and been playing electric for 4 years. I am still a student and there fore i use a student bass, which was fine for a while. Now all of the sudden when i am bowing, it seems as though i must tear the strings with my bow to get any sound--with a fully rosined bow. if i don't do this, the sound is raw and dull and bad. it seems like it almost recks my intonation. Could it be the strings? bow hair? any help would be thanked.
and btw, i'll be using a new bass soon from the high school--so excited.

reedo35 · #2 06-01-2008, 09:30 PM

What does your teacher say?

Veed · #3 06-02-2008, 05:01 PM

She says put rosin on, then i tell her that i did that....but she kinda just makes me make play with what we have. That was my orchestra teacher, but i'll be having a bass lesson soon with my actual DB teacher so i'll ask him too.

reedo35 · #4 06-02-2008, 05:16 PM

Could any one of those things, or a combination of bad hair, old strings, plywood bass, cheap rosin, and\or less than perfect bow technique. It is almost impossible to tell which is the problem, based on description only. Unless you can afford a bow rehair, new rosin and new strings, my only hope for you is that your teacher will correct something in your technique that will help you. Not the answer you were looking for, I'll bet, but there is no magic solution
to fix everything at once.

Veed · #5 06-02-2008, 05:34 PM

much appreciated; I'll try someone else's bow and concentrate on my bowing technique also.

JoeyNaeger · #6 06-02-2008, 06:24 PM

Do you know what strings are on it? I've played some student basses that came with absolutely terrible strings. I feel like I'm a decent arco player, so it frightens when all I can get is scratches and treble out of the bass.

Veed · #7 06-02-2008, 06:31 PM

No, I don't unfortunately. I'm guessing they are cheap and old. I'm glad I won't be using it much longer.

toman · #8 06-04-2008, 03:35 PM

That's going to be really hard to figure out on a text-only forum. Perhaps an A/V clip? :-/

vikingur · #9 06-04-2008, 03:39 PM

where are you bowing? if it's the same as cello, when you bow at the bridge you must bow harder, but it will produce a very metallic sound that is very unconventional (but i think it sounds awesome).

toman · #10 06-04-2008, 03:50 PM

For the love of god, don't torture the aluminum cello! lol