What type of music do you play?

billengelman · #1 07-10-2005, 02:28 PM

I'm sure it's been done here many times before, but what kind of music do you play on your double bass? Seems most players are Jazz enthusiasts, some bluegrass and some classical. Maybe a gospel thing, or what? Right now I'm filling in for a few bands, one is a very mellow christian bluegrass and the other plays classic rock done in more or less a bluegrass style. Sounds weird, but people love it. What else is out there?

Tbeers · #2 07-10-2005, 02:34 PM

I play jazz, classical, and this month for the first time I am playing in the pit orchestra for a musical. So it's been a new experience... very corny music with the same stereotypical bass lines. You know, a lot of 1 5 1 5 1 5.

Aaron Saunders · #3 07-10-2005, 02:57 PM

Yeah...only by the third five, you'll have had 3 or 4 key changes

.

I'm...aspiring to jazz. I've started playing (improvising) my first coherent, smooth, in time, in tune walking lines in the few days. Soloing is still...a while off. I take jazz lessons for BG, and my DB lessons are all classical with a local symphony player (who also plays jazz very well, but our lessons are focused on classical.) I decided I wanted classical lessons because I wanted that kind of discipline -- and classical teachers really bludgeon intonation and other fundamentals into you! That said, I've actually grown to really love the sound and feel of bowing, and I practice classical a little too much in comparison to jazz. I say "too much" because before the last two weeks, I haven't been dedicating enough time to jazz, considering I want to be going to McGill University with a major in Jazz Performance and my audition is in Spring 06. All the same, I'm auditioning for the Kingston Youth Symphony in September.

To be entirely honest, I wouldn't mind a bit of bluegrass, I love the sound of a good banjo player. This year, the school's doing its musical again (it's an every 2nd year thing,) so this will be my third time involved with one -- first was in grade 9 as being IN the show (chorus member, kaloo-kalay,) second was in grade 11 as the co-technical director and production manager (lighting director, specifically -- we've got very swank theatre equipment.) I'll be in the pit band this year. By then (rehearsals for us will start in late March/early April) my reading chops should be great.

Bobby King · #4 07-10-2005, 05:32 PM

I live in Nashville, TN, and do a pretty wide variety of music on upright. I've done shows like "Always, Patsy Cline" which is in the old Bob Moore/Owen Bradley pop/country style. I just did "My Way, A Tribute To Frank Sinatra" which was lots of medleys of standards, etc. I got in a little arco on things like "My Funny Valentine" too. I do an Elvis tribute show

and the first half is all on upright -- the Sun and RCA things -- "Don't Be Cruel", "That's All Right Mama", etc., I do a little slapping. Nashville actually is developing a decent jazz scene. I'm not a real great hard-core jazzer but I try to sit in and improve when I can, I do jazz gigs with singers and weddings and such, though. Also, a few years ago I began studying some arco and have played in a community orchestra. I do a fair amount of studio work, mostly demos and indie CDs. I play more electric on sessions but sometimes I'll play upright on a bluegrass, swing or country tune. I've been working on a CD for country/blues artist T. Graham Brown and we've been doing stuff in the vein of Ray Charles, Charles Brown, Etta James and so forth. Blues-based upright things. I love that kind of stuff!

I really love the variety, my only problem is my string setup. For Patsy, Elvis and bluegrass, a real gut setup is best. For the jazz and theatre things, a good steel, pizz string is ideal. And when I'm really working on the arco, I love a true orchestral string. So I experiment with hybrids a lot. I'm using Innovations right now and they've been working well for most all of my stuff. Once in a while I put the real gut back on.

I also have a teenage son who's really getting good on upright! He's only 16 but he's totally into Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Miles Davis. He loves Paul Chambers and Ray Brown. Kid's got good taste! I wonder where he gets it from?

pklima · #5 07-12-2005, 04:51 PM

Folk, metal and church hymns. How's that for variety? I'm not a real jazz or classical musician but I can sort of look like one when needed. I've also never played bluegrass, though I've played with old-time fiddlers a few times.

Aaron Saunders · #6 07-12-2005, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bobby King

I really love the variety, my only problem is my string setup. For Patsy, Elvis and bluegrass, a real gut setup is best. For the jazz and theatre things, a good steel, pizz string is ideal. And when I'm really working on the arco, I love a true orchestral string. So I experiment with hybrids a lot. I'm using Innovations right now and they've been working well for most all of my stuff. Once in a while I put the real gut back on.

This is something that slightly concerns me, given my probable future situation. I've got Spiro reds right now and love the sound. Problem is, they sound pretty out of place in orchestral and bluegrass, so...I dunno. *sigh* The last thing I want is to compromise my jazz sound so I can do other things in addition to that, but speaking in terms of practicality, I'll probably end up having to anyway.

Bobby King · #7 07-12-2005, 10:27 PM

I had two basses for a while but my son bought (at the world's best price

) my Strunal Hybrid. Actually, I prefer playing just the one bass because my 1930's King bass is 43 1/2 scale and the Strunal is 42". A bit of advice for anyone contemplating getting a second bass: get one with the same string scale (mensure) as the one you're used to. Maybe some more experienced players can adapt quickly but when I'd practice on one and then switch to the other, my intonation would suffer. But it is nice to have another bass that you can set up differently, string-wise.