Starting old...

[Dudie]

Are there any good double-bass players that started playing late in life, or did everybody this "wonderkid" career with classical piano at an age of 6 and so on...

[LoJoe]

I am not a double bass player so I can't render an opinion, however THIS THREAD may be of interest to you.

[Dudie]

Thanx!
That was a good and interesting thread.
Are there any famous bassplayers that started late in life?

[SleeperMan2000]

Originally Posted by Booty

Thanx!
That was a good and interesting thread.
Are there any famous bassplayers that started late in life?

Ray Drummond I think.

Oh, and me of course

[Bruce Lindfield]

I'm not sure that you would have heard of any of them - but I've met lots of good DB players in the UK who started out on bass guitar and only came to DB later on in life.

[Mike Crumpton]

I'd like to know of ANY famous musician musician (as in not a folk/pop artiste) who started late in life. I need inspiration this week - lots of it.

BTW 1) Bruce - tell us about the synaesthesia - I just copied and pasted your link into explorer - I like the tale of the cellist. I see it relates to your Messiaen quote - do you have it?

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Mike Crumpton

BTW 1) Bruce - tell us about the synaesthesia - I just copied and pasted your link into explorer - I like the tale of the cellist. I see it relates to your Messiaen quote - do you have it?

No - but Messiaen did - which helps make more sense of the quote!!

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by Mike Crumpton

I'd like to know of ANY famous musician musician (as in not a folk/pop artiste) who started late in life. I need inspiration this week - lots of it.

Havergal Brian wrote most of his symphonies after the age of 70 - but I'm not sure that counts, as his career was "interrupted" by WWII...

[Mike Crumpton]

Originally Posted by Bruce Lindfield

Havergal Brian wrote most of his symphonies after the age of 70 - but I'm not sure that counts, as his career was "interrupted" by WWII...

I've never heard of him to my shame, but as he left school at 12 when he was much in demand as a church organist and played violin and cello in local orchestras I guess not. Of course, I found this information by checking on the web. Don't split on me to PW will you !

I always wanted improvisation to be like painting - to choose the notes that reflected the emotional colours of my thoughts - but no, I ain't got synaesthesia either - I'm just a lapsed painter.

You will have noticed I put BTW 1), which implies there was BTW 2) etc, which was just going to point out that PW posted 2 or 3 grumpy repies at the same time yesterday. He must have run out of choccy bics with his afternoon tea?

I've had a pint now so I no longer feel like holding my own counsel .

[bass_means_LOW]

Originally Posted by SleeperMan2000

Ray Drummond I think.

Mr Man, Vince Lataeno the drummer with Cal Tjader said he was playing in Sacramento with Ray when they were in High School.
I've made a living for my family of two sons by playing bass. I'm definitely not famous.

[brianrost]

I know there are a few well known bassists who started late in life...trying to recall their names but I think you'll find that they all played some OTHER instruments first. In other words, they already had been playing music for a while before taking up the bass.

If the root of your question is "can it be done", I got my first string bass when I was 27 but didn't play it more than once or twice a year until I was 40 (I'm 49 now). Today almost all the calls I get for gigs ask for the upright. While I have a day job I'm playing 2-4 nights a week in a city (Boston) where there are a ton of great pro bassists so I'm at least holding my own.

I had played clarinet for two years in elementary school, took a few months of organ lessons in high school and started playing EBG when I was 20, but didn't play a paid gig until I was 25. I'm nowhere near being a "great" bassist (I'm swiftly approaching "competent" ), definitely a late starter.

[BubBass]

[quote=Dudie]Are there any good double-bass players that started playing late in life, or did everybody this "wonderkid" career with classical piano at an age of 6 and so on...

There are a few great players who picked up the DB relatively later in life: David Izenzon, who played with the Ornette Coleman Trio in the 1960's, was, I understand, formerly a singer who picked up the bass late in life -- his mid 20s -- and went on to develop a beautiful arco sound and feel that can be heard on some of the Coleman recordings. Another great "late starter" is Reggie Johnson, who first appeared on some Bobby Hutchinson recordings from either the late 1960's or early 1970's, along with Chick Corea. I believe he started out on trombone, but switched to bass either in his very late teens or early 20s and also has a great sound. So, as a good friend and teacher of mine used to say: "A birth certificate doesn't necessarily get it all the time".

[winston]

I remember watching a documentary about the life of pianist Bill Evans in which Evans said he didn't really start to be a serious pianist until he was 29.

Fingerpicking acoustic guitar wizard Adrian Legg couldn't have been much younger than 40 when his international touring/recording career took off.

I feel like my ability to concentrate and give meaningful energy to pursuits that interest me improves as I get older. I've only been seriously playing the DB for 14 months (I'm 31 now) but I feel like I've made more progress in that time than the previous 17 years playing BG.

[hdiddy]

Originally Posted by winston

I feel like my ability to concentrate and give meaningful energy to pursuits that interest me improves as I get older. I've only been seriously playing the DB for 14 months (I'm 31 now) but I feel like I've made more progress in that time than the previous 17 years playing BG.

+1. I'm in the same boat (I'm 31 in December). I've never felt like I got so comfortable as I do now with music and I've only been playing for a few months. I've never felt so connected with the noise I'm making than I do now after learning music for 24 years. And I have the focus, discipline, and desire that I didn't have 15 years ago.

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Mike Crumpton

I've never heard of him to my shame, but as he left school at 12 when he was much in demand as a church organist and played violin and cello in local orchestras I guess not. Of course, I found this information by checking on the web. Don't split on me to PW will you !

I always wanted improvisation to be like painting - to choose the notes that reflected the emotional colours of my thoughts - but no, I ain't got synaesthesia either - I'm just a lapsed painter.

You will have noticed I put BTW 1), which implies there was BTW 2) etc, which was just going to point out that PW posted 2 or 3 grumpy repies at the same time yesterday. He must have run out of choccy bics with his afternoon tea?

I've had a pint now so I no longer feel like holding my own counsel .

What the hell are you talking about Mike?

[edge83]

I'm almost positive i've read more than one interview with Harvie Swartz saying he did not start playing bass until after Berklee, where his principal instrument was piano while studying comp-

so even though i'm sure he got into studying music at a younger age, he's a major, technically virtuosic player... so that's inspiring.. that level of virtuosity without heavy classical training from a young age etc. etc.

this, if it's accurate, totally invalidates that internal justification i find myself using too often- but is also very inspiring

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I wouldn't call myself a "great" player, but I started DB 5 years ago at age 35. Before that I was a jazz pianist who doubled on electric. My personal feeling is that if you have music in your ears, that's half the battle on any instrument. The rest is just determination, hard work, and downright bullheadedness.

[Mike Crumpton]

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

What the hell are you talking about Mike?

Hell Paul - this seems like a long time ago - as I remmember it, in the middle of a string of three or four posts you made, in which you were not a happy bunny, was a grump about people speaking only from what they found out on Google and not from experience/personal knowledge. This is exactly what I'd just done of course. And a reasonable grump it was too. What made you so unhappy that day I wouldn't like to speculate. Hope you're in fine form now though .

[Paul Warburton]

Originally Posted by Mike Crumpton

Hell Paul - this seems like a long time ago - as I remmember it, in the middle of a string of three or four posts you made, in which you were not a happy bunny, was a grump about people speaking only from what they found out on Google and not from experience/personal knowledge. This is exactly what I'd just done of course. And a reasonable grump it was too. What made you so unhappy that day I wouldn't like to speculate. Hope you're in fine form now though .

I'm so ******* happy it hurts! You gotta understand That grumpyness is part of my SCHTICK.

[Johnny L]

Originally Posted by Chris Fitzgerald

I wouldn't call myself a "great" player, but I started DB 5 years ago at age 35. Before that I was a jazz pianist who doubled on electric. My personal feeling is that if you have music in your ears, that's half the battle on any instrument. The rest is just determination, hard work, and downright bullheadedness.

I agree with Chris here completely. I'm 35 too, started about 3 years ago, and never wasted much time wondering if I had started "too late". On the other hand, I do consider it "too late" to stop now...