starting out..

maxrathburn · #1 02-27-2013, 06:04 PM

hey guys, i am a freshman and in the high school jazz band. Ive been playing the electric bass for about 4 1/2 years now. So our band went to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival and played there as well as got to listen to some proffesionals play. I was just blown away by their skill and ability...but it also reminded me of how common the double bass is in jazz and how cool it really is. So, being inspired to play it, i want to learn. There are two bass players in the band, i play the bass guitar and the other guy now plays mostly double bass. I can now see why he loves it so much...anyways, i am left handed, and play that way. This makes it a little awkward for me..but i figured in the long run it would be much much easier and more beneficial to start out learning it the normal way. I picked it up for the first time today, and just messed around with it for maybe 20 minutes to a half hour. It was, of course, very strange plucking the strings with my right hand and fingering with my left, but i think that i could do it with the right amount of practice. I just don't know how to start...are there any good exercises to start with? It is a little weird, knowing the anatomy of the bass, and whether or not im playing the notes right or not, but not being able to play it..almost like picking it up for the first time again. i feel like the best thing for me to do would be to take lessons, but i am rather limited on time, and money. I feel i will most likely be learning from my own experience from the bass guitar, and my friends experience of how to play the damn thing. Opinions? If we cast out lessons..what would you do? I apologize if this is in the wrong category, and that i am a complete noob...

fdeck · #2 02-27-2013, 07:13 PM

Among a number of ideas, I suggest that you switch to a right handed electric. This will help your transition to right handed upright.

erizone · #3 03-02-2013, 07:15 PM

go to jam sessions, i started hitting them last week and they'er awesome meet people who look professional and play excellent, and most importantly get to listen to the local artists who are on the scene getting their hustle on. Electric bass can be a balls instrument for groove playing and even standards and big band. it's great for playing with the jeff beck inspired guitarists. and try to stay till the end of the meeting and not get too drunk during it, and most importantly listen to the other guys and learn from them. problem is you're a freshman in highschool so you may need a letter of permission from your parents, i'm sure they wouldn't mind you going to 1 a week, ask your band director where the good jams are, he should know!. or maybe the kids parents who bought him that fancy upright (they're friggin expensive) will be hip and be able to hook you up with a few good jams

chicagodoubler · #4 03-03-2013, 01:49 PM

There are left handed uprights, but they are few and far between, and most luthiers would slap you for trying to convert a quality instrument. The semantics are daunting and it costs thousands of dollars.

Plenty of wonderful left-handed bassists play right-handed instruments. See John Patitucci.

As always, get a teacher. There are some wonderful bassists in Seattle. Even if you just make it down once a month, it will be beneficial. Don't try to learn the upright on your own. You can hurt yourself badly and waste months or years of your life.

Sam Sherry · #5 03-03-2013, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chicagodoubler

Don't try to learn the upright on your own. You can hurt yourself badly and waste months or years of your life.

I have given this very advice about 80 brazilian times on this very board. They are words I stand by.

I'm scratch-building a guitar amp, which is something I have never done before. And I go over to TalkBuildingGuitarAmps.com and say, "What's the chance this thing is gonna work?" And the advice I get is . . . . "Get a teacher. You're gonna run 450 Volts through your chest and enter the fertilizer business." And it truly sucks eggs to hear that.

With that in mind, Max, please know that we're not trying to be jerks when we say this (although for me that does come very naturally). Like The Dubblah said, if you just pick up the DB you can make beautiful music but develop nasty habits and actually hurt yourself. There is no reason to do this alone so please don't.

Bassist4Eris · #6 03-03-2013, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sam Sherry

I have given this very advice about 80 brazilian times on this very board. They are words I stand by.

I'm scratch-building a guitar amp, which is something I have never done before. And I go over to TalkBuildingGuitarAmps.com and say, "What's the chance this thing is gonna work?" And the advice I get is . . . . "Get a teacher. You're gonna run 450 Volts through your chest and enter the fertilizer business." And it truly sucks eggs to hear that.

With that in mind, Max, please know that we're not trying to be jerks when we say this (although for me that does come very naturally). Like The Dubblah said, if you just pick up the DB you can make beautiful music but develop nasty habits and actually hurt yourself. There is no reason to do this alone so please don't.

I clicked the link.

rosskratter · #7 03-03-2013, 11:09 PM

fdeck and chicagodoubler are both right. Many of my favorite bassists are naturally left handed (Mike Richmond, John Patitucci, my former teacher John DeWitt) but play right handed. Due to the extreme physical nature of the instrument, I cannot recommend highly enough that you get a teacher. Your playing will grow in leaps and bounds and you will lessen the chance of a lifelong injury.

Jonathan Fisher · #8 03-04-2013, 11:37 AM

Left or right handed is for you to decide. What feels more natural? I fully agree and highly recommend that you get a good teacher, even for just a couple of lessons so you can get some tips on ways to get the most out of your instrument and using your body to manipulate the bass.

TroyK · #9 03-04-2013, 12:07 PM

The key point here on the instrument, just to make sure it didn't slip past in the teacher advice, is that, unlike an electric guitar instrument, you can't just string a right handed bass the other way and have a left handed bass. The internal structure of the instrument is not symmetrical. If you were going to play left handed, you would need to find a left handed bass, which is not impossible, but won't be either.

I would hate being told that I had to do something left handed, but it is something to consider for practical reasons in this case.

GrowlerBox · #10 03-04-2013, 01:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TroyK

...unlike an electric guitar instrument, you can't just string a right handed bass the other way and have a left handed bass. The internal structure of the instrument is not symmetrical....

You can't really do this with many electric guitars/basses either -- the external structure isn't symmetrical in most cases.

TroyK · #11 03-04-2013, 03:04 PM

Well, I'm sure there are examples of that, especially with custom instruments or things like Les Pauls that were clearly created to be used one way or another. But there are a lot of examples (e.g. - Hendrix, Dick Dale...) of people converting right handed instruments into left handed ones. Would I want to do that? No, does it work? Sure.

As you know, but our OP likely doesn't or didn't; a doublebass has a bassbar on one side and a soundpost on the other. You can't just switch the strings/nut/bridge and have it be okay.

Anonymatt · #12 03-06-2013, 02:02 AM

Yeah, man, I'm lefthanded and play right. I started out playing righthanded, though, thank god.

There's so much to playing doublebass that losing some of the intuitive motor skills you already have will seem like a drop in the bucket after a year or so. I do believe there is some benefit to having your dominant hand doing the lefthand (see, this is what everybody calls it) work on your instrument.

I'll bet there's a ton of stuff you can do ambidextrously, though. See, that's why us lefties are so smart. And playing electric bass both ways will always be a cool party trick.