Recent content by Ant_C

I own a copy of Gary Cambell's book "Expansions", and it's seen quite a bit of use since I got it (so about a year now). There is a brief section in the book, in chapter 3, that covers triad pairs. To me, it seems like his approach takes the two triad pairs and forms a "hexatonic scale" out of...

This, alone, freaks me out. Maybe it's because I'm so young right now, but I don't understand how a double bassist can graduate from, or even get into, any university's college of music without being able to play there 12 major scales (2 octaves) in tune. What/how do these guys practice? Have...

I don't mean to derail the thread by any means, but I was looking for some advice as to what albums to study by these bassists. I've been a huge fan of Ron Carter since I got into playing jazz on the double bass, and a lot of his (for lack of a better word) idiosyncrasies have actually come off...

Since I've got my hands on my own Double Bass again, I've been constantly practicing whenever possible. For me it's gotten to the point where if i'm lying down in bed and hear a lick in my head, I will go and pick up the bass to play it (and of course write it down for future reference). I...

+1 I was listening to my copy of this album last night, and he plays some extraordinary lines throughout the whole album. I love his tone too, it really makes his playing standout to me. My personal favorites off the album are Beautiful Love, Dolphin Dance, and Footprints.

One of my favorite arco bass solos is Paul Chambers on the tune "I Remember You", off the Johnny Griffin album "The Congregation". Another great arco solo that comes to mind is Red Mitchell on "Hear Ye!", off the album "Hear Ye!" by the Red Mitchell - Harold Land Quintet. Ari Roland does a...

Red Mitchell's solo on "Too Late Now", off the Tommy Flanagan album "Super Session" is one of my favorite bass solos I've heard. (heres a link to it : ) I also love Charnett Moffet's solo on "Who Does She Hope To Be" off of the Sonny Sharrock album "Ask The Ages" (his playing on the whole...

This is exactly what I needed to get me out of my rut (when it comes to walking the A section to Rhythm Changes)! It's great when you think you understand how something works and then all of sudden something/someone makes you look at it in a different way and you realize what you actually were...

+1 Rodney Jordan is a monster of a bassist, as well as a great person. I just got back from an audition for FSU, and Professor Jordan's (along with Leon Anderson's) words were quite inspiring.

Thanks for all the great advice so far! I think for the next few weeks or so It's going to be a lot of arco practice, with some pizz in between arco sessions. I've been doing a lot of ear training/transcribing over the past 7 months (still had my electric bass), but I can always get better...

Thank you all for the responses. I figured it was more of an endurance/being new to the instrument again problem, rather than a technique problem. I guess I will just do my scales with the bow for 45 mins, pack up, then maybe 4-5 hours later do 45 minutes of pizz practice. I guess it's...

Hello guys. I've just came back to the Double Bass after taking 7.5 months off. I've went back to the same teacher I was working with before, just to make sure my technique is still in check. I've been back at the bass for a week and 2 days now (got myself one of the Thompson plywoods)...

Great book; I use it as an exercise for both arco (mainly with a detache stroke, but I'm working on spiccato too) and pizz (in the perpendicular to the string approach like Eddie Gomez, as well as the traditional parallel to the fingerboard approach), and I've seen huge improvements in my chops...

Personally I've gotten a lot of **** for playing across the strings. I remember working on a passage in the Koussevitsky concerto, and my classical bass teacher went nuts because it wasn't "sul g". My Jazz bass instructor advocated across the string playing, and since I am a jazz bassist at...

I think the biggest thing I do that has gotten me many compliments in my short time playing the Double Bass, is communication between the soloist and I, or the rest of the rhythm section and myself (usually in a big band setting). For example if the soloist was playing more of the upper...