Recent content by Steve Freides

Honestly it just does everything well. My only complaint is that, while it has a gazillion amps and effects you can choose from via the app, there isn't a way - at least not that I've found - to say you want the cleanest, most unaltered sound possible. But out of the box, the first preset is...

Exactly the point I'm trying to make with my student. He's at an age and a skill level compared to his peers where he thinks plays the notes in tune and in time is all there is. -S-

Thanks for all the replies. I see two separate things here: one is that none of the examples given plays the G - A on the first string. Basses and cellos both have a D string and what the cellos are doing in the one video is just what the basses are doing, namely everything is on the D...

I can tell you what my 6th grader would say. He'd say he always plays F# with his 4th finger so why would he ever want to do it any other way. On the G string, he'll play B - C - B as 4 - 1 - 4, just because that's what he's used to. And he would deal with the string crossing of playing the G...

@Wasnex, my student plays beautifully in tune in the 6th grade and has rather a high opinion of the way he figures out to do things. With all due respect and having been teaching since 1971, I'm not asking how to handle my student, I'm asking to play the passage well. If I didn't communicate...

The famous "Freude schoene goetterfunken" - how do you play it? I'm asking not for myself but for a student playing an arrangement for middle school orchestra, but I have really only one question - whenever I've thought of this, it's always been F#, G, A, A, G, F#, E, D all on the 2nd string...

Only if you tune your bass down a whole step, which isn't anything I've ever heard anyone doing. If your bass was a Bb instrument, that means that when you read a C in the music, a Bb comes out, which means you'd have to play an E7 to match the pianists D7. If your bass is in solo tuning...

Nice! Congratulations on your anniversary. -S-

Agreed. So many weird things in the high voice book - I can't imagine it could be worse in the other one but I guess anything is possible ... I like that because I teach and ballads, because they're slower, are more user-friendly to new players. Yes, there is that. These are mostly tunes...

I like the Real Vocal Book. I use it for lots of things, and I encourage my students to get their own copy. It's got lots of great tunes in it. One of my students bought it recently, same 2nd Edition that I have, or so I thought. The first tune we picked found his in a different key than...

Thanks. The last set of found strings here I sold for $1 plus shipping. I think that's what I'll do with these also - always like to see things reused before sending them to a landfill. So you or anyone else, repeating part of my earlier question, is there a way for me to determine whether...

Tell me why they look trashed to you - I was thinking about them for a bass I rent to students. (Just found them here, don't remember anything about how they were previously used or even if I bought them used and then never put them on anything.) The Orchestra are the only ones I ever buy...

I just don't which ones. -S-

I'm pretty sure D'Adarrio Helicore, but I'm not sure which ones. (I did try looking at some id-these-strings web pages and confess to be thoroughly confused with multiple things looking the same.) And one more question - I have a number of 1/4 size basses here that I rent out to students. Is...

As in driving, where you're going determines which way you head. Descending 5ths or ascending 4ths. -S-