Recent content by Andrew McGregor

That's the shop's photo of my ABZ 6/3, that I unexpectedly bought on a trip some months ago because it was the only 6 string bass I've ever been able to properly play. Not to mention the ridiculously amazing tone.

So... a lot of what many folks think an upright sounds like is what a recorded Kay upright sounds like, mic'd in a particular way. That's not what an upright sounds like when you're playing a symphony-quality upright yourself, or listening to it a few meters away. Many of the acoustic bass...

Since I have a 5-string Curbow (version 1, but version 2 is only electronically different AFAIK), I just measured it. 17mm at the bridge, 9 at the nut. They detune quite well if you use suitable strings. I don't think I'd like the tone of a fretted Curbow, but the fretless is quite nice. Or...

Absolutely. My double bass was like that too, 30-something years ago.

So, I was in just this situation a few months ago, except I was looking for a 6 string. Long story short... found an SRFF806 and an ABZ 6/3 hanging next to each other in the same shop. I played the SRFF for about a minute before my left hand cramped up. The sound was OK I guess, but I've heard...

No, that will put too much tension in your hand. Just make sure and have some contact with the strings that are going to ring. If you're accurate, the lower strings shouldn't ring on much anyway.

If you don't want to chew up the fingerboard on your fretless, use flats. You don't need roundwounds on it anyway. Practice on what you intend to gig with. If that's a mixture, practice that way (and occasionally do your whole repertoire on each, just in case you have a problem with one bass...

Left-hand muting; it's all about where you leave your spare fingers.

So, if you're having this particular problem, you are probably using your shoulder and arm to hold the bass, and trying to create your stop pressure entirely within your hand. Instead, you should be playing with a relaxed shoulder, and hanging the weight of your arm from your fingers. That...

On the contrary, I think mine was great value, and you'd need to spent at least half as much again to do better. The main reason it lacks volume is the hair, which I don't mind because I don't need full power since I'm not doing any orchestra work at the moment. If I was playing in orchestras...

Like I said, there's a certain moment in the turnaround at the end of a down-bow where mine ends up like that. But not most of the time. So it's probably an artifact of the photography (and that player has unusually long thumbs anyway).

1.5cm is a LOT. I'd be going to see a luthier just to make sure there isn't something else wrong with the bass. Sadly, there probably is.

At a particular moment in a down bow it will look like that... it's a very dynamic grip.

That's the grip I was taught by a bass professor from Kiev, who ended up in New Zealand. It works very well. "Hold the stick like a pencil. Now grab the bottom of the frog with your third and fourth fingers." Keep some air between your palm and the frog, except for a momentary touch during...

I was perhaps overstating "the only way to find the notes"... but it is true that the harmonics are the only truly fixed framework you have to work in. I'll have a go at explaining better. So, of course you can't find every note directly with a harmonic. However... how do you know where any...