do double bassists hate normal bassists

[dancehallclasher]

Originally posted by yottskry


HEY!! I do that...and I'm almost normal. Besides being a Tiger I mean. RRRAAAAAHHH!!!!!

Ahem...I'll go now

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm...atestheadlines

what's up, fellas? more real bass vs. fake bass wars? i want in!

your (insert instrument of choice) sucks! and is gay!

[jazzbo]

Originally posted by dancehallclasher
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm...atestheadlines

Takes all kinds, eh? This is priceless.

[ConTraBajisTa]

wanna know whats really funny to watch?
i have been playing string bass for 3 years, and electric for 1, so i am a little bit better at string bass than electric. i know alot of electric bassists in school, and its really funny when they come up to me and ask to play my string bass... they're like "uh, so where's the 9th fret? these strings are hard to push down!" and to watch them, cuz they think they know what they're doing, hehe.
does anyone else find that funny to watch?

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally posted by ConTraBajisTa
wanna know whats really funny to watch?
i have been playing string bass for 3 years, and electric for 1, so i am a little bit better at string bass than electric. i know alot of electric bassists in school, and its really funny when they come up to me and ask to play my string bass... they're like "uh, so where's the 9th fret? these strings are hard to push down!" and to watch them, cuz they think they know what they're doing, hehe.
does anyone else find that funny to watch?

CONTRAFAJITA,

You're absolutely right...I also love it when that happens. My favorite is when some joker who's really into KoRn tries to play some of that FiElDy SlAp StUfF, and it totally flops. Robbed of their instant claim to coolness, they invariably begin to attack the credibility of the DB as if its continued existence is a big conspiracy to kill creativity in modern rock music.

Of course, I think what they really hate about it is that:

a) It so big, you can't show off your tatoos.

b) If you've had your butt pierced, no one but the drummer can see it.

c) Kinda hard to jump up and down while playing.

d) Last, and perhaps most important, you have to work at it for awhile before you can play anything that sounds like anything.


Having said all of that, I'd like to add that I don't hate toybass players...I'm all psyched about getting a 6 string soon, and have been practicing my fingers to the bone to get a good toybass sound for a new group I just joined...but when something like what you mentioned happens, I'm not above getting a good laugh out of it.

Regards,

DURRL

[XavierG]

Pardon my ignorance, but I've never heard a DB referred to as a "string bass" before (probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm a toy-bassist). Is this common &/or correct terminology? Does this mean a toybass is not a string bass? Some companies are making loads of money selling strings for toybasses - and we don't need strings???.

(Please be gentle.)

[ConTraBajisTa]

when people would ask me what instrument i played i would say "the bass" <--and that meant, the double bass, but they wouldn't know (and one time, i was going to play in the pit in marching band with my bass and just put the pickup on the bridge and plug it into an amp, and so when i said "i play bass" the guy went to the drum room and gave me a marching bass drum, so now, people understand better if i use a different word). if i say i play bass, no one knows what that means, and i have to explain to them what it is (and run through all its names--double bass, contra bass, upright bass, bass violin, string bass, stand up bass, the thing that looks like a big ol' violin and i don't mean the cello, etc.). string bass is just one of its many names, and around here, thats how people recognize the instrument.

buuuut... i'm not really sure why they call it a string bass, since both kinds of basses need strings... maybe because of the confusion with bass drums (as in my case, and bass drums don't have strings)? to me, double bass is an ugly word, and it always reminds me of a big, ugly, old, moldy string bass (don't ask why, cuz i have no idea), so i say string bass.

[Klimbim]

the reason they call it a string bass is to differentiate it from the brass basses, which to brass band people, are known as simply "bass"....I think they mean tuba.....

so they call our basses String Basses.
And BTW, why is he called Durrl?

[Tim Ludlam]

Klimblim:

You've been around long enough to know that Durrl is an "Edism" (moment of silence). I believe it is directly related, correct me if I'm wrong, to Mr. Fitzgerald's home base. Or is that home bass. Anyway, Durrl resides in Kentucky.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally posted by Tim Ludlam
Klimblim:

You've been around long enough to know that Durrl is an "Edism" (moment of silence). I believe it is directly related, correct me if I'm wrong, to Mr. Fitzgerald's home base. Or is that home bass. Anyway, Durrl resides in Kentucky.

Well, it's kind of a long story, but...it is indeed a "Fuquism". Remember the Newhart show, where they had those three dumb**** hillbilly brothers named Larry, Darryl, and Darryl? DURRL is a "Fuquafied" written version of the deep south dialectic pronunciation of DARRYL. I forget exactly how it came about, but once it did, it stuck.

And when you get right down to it, considering what MASTER FU managed to do to some other people's names, I never minded being called "DURRL" one bit. Given some of the possible alternatives, I consider that one a keeper...

[Brad Johnson]

Sooo... could you guys be more predictable?

Someone throws the bait (pretty weak bait at that) and... let the frenzy begin

While it may be funny to watch an electric bassist struggle with a DB, is it any less amusing to watch the opposite happen? Especially with that whole superiority thing happening. They're different. Duh. Very few people exit the cradle with the ability to play either well, without some shed time. There are mediocre to great players on both, so what's up with the grade school mentality? Hehe.

The gay thing?... an obvious trolling maneuver that, surprisingly, still seems to work extremely well on the "real bass" players. Hmmmm....

Niagara Falls!

*ding-ding* (Dr. Pavlov's little dinner bells)

Gay!

Ahh, the classics

BTW I have a 3 piece DB... the neck is in the basement, by the freezer; the body's in the corner, the bridge and strings are on the shelf

[Klimbim]

well, i guess that sort of thing doesn't really happen that much as so many dbassists started out from BG? But while it might be amusing, I think it would be quite an accurate generalisation to say that a double-bassists trying out a BG would have alot less trouble playing it than vice versa, plus the fact that since so many of DBers have teachers, they tend to be able to find their way around the BG more easily due to the fact that quite a bit of theory gets passed along too....

Not saying that any DBer could pick up a BG and play like Jaco, or even Fieldy (you know, i still don't know who he is), but at least he could play tunes within the week. A BGer might not be able to play the parts in Beety or Mozzy in such a short time.....to say the least....this is assuming that both bassists are of a similar standard on their own instruments.

[Brad Johnson]

It happens more often than you might think

Sure, the theory remains the same, it's the techniques that test you, either way. What I find interesting is that I know of quite a few very good electric or toy bassists who will readily admit a lack of proficiency on the DB while I rarely hear the opposite from real bassists. It's usually "Hey, it's an electric...how hard could it be?" Gigging in a week?...sure but gigging in a serious fashion will probably require more time. I know...it's obvious but here ya go...

They're different

Assuming a similar standard, will the DB'er be playing Tribal Tech/ Flecktones in a week?

[john turner]

Originally posted by Brad Johnson

Assuming a similar standard, will the DB'er be playing Tribal Tech/ Flecktones in a week?

most bg'ers aren't going to be there in a week either. ..

then again, i have no problem letting a DB'er try out one of my "toy" basses

[Brad Johnson]

Party pooper

Hey JT, it's not about whether the toy bassist will be there (they have Beet and Mozie to worry about)... the two bands I mentioned would probably be no more difficult for a reading toyB'er than Mozart for the DB'er.


Nah nah so there. BTW I'd love to see a real bassist with one of your toys. I'm sure you'll agree... they're much easier to ridicule than to play.

Deep, huh?

[ConTraBajisTa]

i think its easier to go from playing string bass (or double bass, like you guys say) to electic bass (or bass guitar--wow, i just realized i have weird names for the bass compared to you guys) cuz you have the frets all right there in front of you which is exactly where the note is, the strings are easier to push down, etc. the hardest part for me was learning the right terminology (ie. do you still call the neck, the neck? or the fingerboard the fingerboard? or is it fret board?). when i ask for, say, the four main chords of the song, i ask for the notes, not the frets (its a habit). just little things like that, and when my guitarist says "that sounds cool, how do you play it?" i always end up using the note name instead of the fret #. other than that, its painful on the left wrist (from the neck being sideways instead of vertical).

i still think its funny watching a bass guitarist try and play the string bass for the 1st time though =)

[Brad Johnson]

Never seen a DB'er jump on a Smith 6 for the first time with super low action, huh? Gives new meaning to the phrase "playing through".

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Well, this DB'er jumped all over a Smith 6 about a month ago. I had a great time, and got a terrific case of GAS all in one fell swoop. The difficult part of going to BG from DB is that the right hand technique is totally different from one to the other, and the spacing is also completely different. CONTRA FAJITA is completely on the money though - the LEFT hand technique required to play BG is not anywhere NEAR as difficult as the same for DB. It's like fingerpainting (L.H. BG) as compared to fine detail brush work (L.H. D.B.). I know, because I played Toybass for 9 years before I ever touched a DB.

Having said that, I still think that great electric players are not somehow lesser musicians than great acoustic players...it's just that I would rather HEAR a DB over a BG 97 times out of 100. (At least, for certain styles of music) It's a matter of sound and tone....once I started listening to great acoustic players, all I could hear was THAT SOUND, even when I was playing fretless BG. Eventually, it dawned on me that the only way I was ever gonna get THAT SOUND was to come on over to the dark side. But if you're wondering just how seriously we take the whole "DB Snobbery" schtick, I think you'll find that most people here are doing it more to amuse themselves than out of actual mean-spiritedness. Try it sometime, it's kind of fun.

[Brad Johnson]

Originally posted by Chris Fitzgerald
Well, this DB'er jumped all over a Smith 6 about a month ago. I had a great time, and got a terrific case of GAS all in one fell swoop. The difficult part of going to BG from DB is that the right hand technique is totally different from one to the other, and the spacing is also completely different. CONTRA FAJITA is completely on the money though - the LEFT hand technique required to play BG is not anywhere NEAR as difficult as the same for DB. It's like fingerpainting (L.H. BG) as compared to fine detail brush work (L.H. D.B.). I know, because I played Toybass for 9 years before I ever touched a DB.

Chris, I get the fingerpainting analogy, I just don't "get" it. Scale legnth alone would show that a doghouse requires dealing with more fretboard. That doesn't make working above the 12th fret position on an unlined fretless electric bass any less hairy.

By this logic DB is hard, fretless TB is easier, violins should be a piece of cake

BTW Smith's are pretty sweet. Not really conducive to a heavy touch though.

Having said that, I still think that great electric players are not somehow lesser musicians than great acoustic players...it's just that I would rather HEAR a DB over a BG 97 times out of 100. (At least, for certain styles of music) It's a matter of sound and tone....once I started listening to great acoustic players, all I could hear was THAT SOUND, even when I was playing fretless BG. Eventually, it dawned on me that the only way I was ever gonna get THAT SOUND was to come on over to the dark side. But if you're wondering just how seriously we take the whole "DB Snobbery" schtick, I think you'll find that most people here are doing it more to amuse themselves than out of actual mean-spiritedness. Try it sometime, it's kind of fun.

No problem there, Chris, I find the "DB Snobbery" highly amusing...but probably not for the intended reason;0. I dig them both, I find the idea that one's "better" to be pretty funny.

[Klimbim]

actually really glad to see a difference in opinions between the BGers and DBers remain relatively amicable....most of the time it really gets pretty ugly......

Well, it's not exactly by scale length that just makes it harder. Have you ever tried to stop notes above the octave on a DB? Even on basses with a rather low action, that area is physically friggin painful to work with....whereas it's not as painful (when starting out) to play above the 12th fret as compared to the 11 frets.

I think no one on the Db side really thinks it's just scale length that makes it harder to play.....if you bow, then that's a whole different world altogether. I understand the violin analogy, but it only sort of makes sense if you're talking scale length, which we're not. Anyway violin intervals are so close to each other, hitting the wrong note is a huge possibility, as it is when you play high on a double bass....on BG, the frets help so much...

Nah, I don't think it's "better" cos everyones got their preferences, but personally on an acoustic bass, I feel the range of colours, vibrato, tone make for a more intense sound....something that can be described as truly beautiful. And I guess maybe some of the snobbery comes from the fact that Dbers have to work alot harder to get a good sound. Left hand technique is tough already, on both instruments, but right hand technique....sigh....I've been playing for a little over 2 years and my Russian tutor ALWAYS has something to say about my bowing technique.

I guess alot of it has to do with the music you listen to too....not dissing other styles, but once you really get hooked on classical....the power and dynamics of purely acoustic sound cannot be replaced...when you have TOTAL control over how the instrument speaks and no electronics at all come into play, when you feel the floor rumble under a full bass section...it's sometimes a bit hard to see the same depth, intensity and beauty in a Bg.

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Originally posted by Brad Johnson

Chris, I get the fingerpainting analogy, I just don't "get" it. Scale legnth alone would show that a doghouse requires dealing with more fretboard. That doesn't make working above the 12th fret position on an unlined fretless electric bass any less hairy.

By this logic DB is hard, fretless TB is easier, violins should be a piece of cake

Fretless electric above the 12th "fret" is far simpler than playing the same range on DB because of the build of the instruments. On fretless you just keep moving your LH closer to you to get to the high notes. On DB, you start to run into the body with your LH at about a Maj 6th above the open string. Once you go very far above that, it requires an entirely different - and insanely difficult - LH technique.

BTW Smith's are pretty sweet. Not really conducive to a heavy touch though.

They are VERY sweet. I didn't find the touch thing to be a problem, but then I can't say that I was playing perfectly either.


No problem there, Chris, I find the "DB Snobbery" highly amusing...but probably not for the intended reason;0. I dig them both, I find the idea that one's "better" to be pretty funny.

I don't think anyone is saying that one is really better than the other, just that most of us down here greatly prefer on to the other.