He started learning fifths back in the late eighties. I remember going for a lesson and he had at least five basses in his studio all tuned differently.
I don't think that he tried playing exclusively in fifths until at least '92 or '93; he used to joke that he had to wait until he had tenure in the Toronto Symphony which would have been around then.
It took him two years to learn how to read music without being preoccupied about making a mistake.
I tried to learn fifths but I did not have the right conditions to really focus much to my regret.
