Recent content by johnvic

I am on the top floor and recently started double bass, with the bow. I was thinking of getting an Auralex Gramma iso pad for the end pin. Then maybe hang some moving blankets around my space to reduce the ambient sound. I'd love to build an iso room, a play late. But that would cost a bit, I...

I had a pretty strong reaction to Joe Frazier - Round 3. So I wrote a review on Facebook, this is a shorter version. I'm not quitting my day job to become a writer, but my opinions are real. Here is my review of JF3: I have to be honest, a confession so to speak. I’m a big Jeff Berlin fan. I...

I'm a decent amateur bassist. I want to start playing some rhythm guitar, mostly for my own songwriting. I need a little advice. I can read music in bass and treble. I can technically play guitar, I studied classical as a young man, so I can finger pick okay. I know chords, more than just the...

A couple of things I noticed over the past few days. Some days are better than others, of course. If I've been playing for a while then it starts to get more staccato, but if I focus I can stop it. If I make big leap, like doing a major 7th arpeggio starting on the 4th finger and then back down...

I'm guessing I'm ending the note by lifting the left hand fingers. But I also think my plucking and fretted finger landing is not happening at the same time. I also think my bass is a little tough to play, it's a Precision, the action isn't super high but it does make a good amount of fret noise.

I am not a fast player but even when I play slow or moderately there is too much space between the notes. Any advice other than try to make the notes connect? Any exercises? Thanks!

I played guitar when I was young and played classical guitar for a few years. Two things I remember. One is that my friends and I would play 33 1/3 Beatles records at 45 rpm and I loved the bass lines. The other thing is that in college I studied some classical theory. I loved figured bass and...

Thanks. Last night I tried something similar. I did a few minutes of Scott Devine's Flying Finger exercise, basically a chromatic fingering exercise, very slowly.

I've been practicing a lot chord tone exercises. When I start my practice session I can only do the easiest. But after 10 minutes or so I can play fingerings that involve more finger independence and string crossing. Do you guys just start easy and slowly or do you have specific ways up...

Utrasound on 30th street has a good weekend deal of 3 hours for the price of 2. They do have piano's in some rooms. They are cheaper than Roberto's.

I won't be running out too soon to buy a new bow. That may be part of my tax return budget!

My bow is a $75 CF bow. I'm pretty sure it's a Glasser bow. Yesterday during my lesson my teacher had me try his nice wooden bow. I forget what he said it was worth but it was not cheap. What I noticed immediately was that I could feel the vibration of the string in my finger tips. I don't get...

I know on my electric bass lighter gauge strings don't have as much bottom as regular gauge strings. I would assume that is also true with double bass strings.

I have recently started double bass. My bass was originally set up with Spirocore lights with the bridge set low with flatter arch. I am playing arco since I am studying classical. This was tough for bowing and I was triple stopping. I had my teacher look at it in case it was just bad technique...

They are Weich, red bottom, purple top. I forgot exactly what he said about the fingerboard.