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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...

Songs that I hate to play : The Girl from Ipanema A Night In Tunisia (because a lot of guys I've jammed with completely butcher this song) So What (at the tempo on Kind of Blue because I know someone is gonna miss the change to Eb) My Favorite Things (It's been called at least 5 times with one...

I'll give you a few exercises/things I did to strengthen my 2-3 finger pizz. 1. Put a metronome at 60 bpm, play even 8th notes on one string. After 8 bars of doing this on each string I'd up the tempo by 4 clicks (so 60, 64, 68, 72, etc...). I did that up until about 140. Then I started at...

I understand that transcribing solos from some of your favorite players is a great way to get many Jazz Licks/Language to use as the building blocks to your solos. I have personally begun to transcribe some solos from guys like Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Neils-Henning Orsted Pedderson...

If you are playing in a brass/wind ensemble, then why would you need to be audible? More than likely your part is doubled by the Tuba/Bass Trombone/Bass Clarinet/Bassoon. The reason the Double Bass is used in the wind ensemble setting is for color, not for being the dominant supporting bass...

My question with all of these crazy low tunings is not why they exist, but how does one accurately tune one of these strings? I personally am interested in what the person ordering the string is going to tune that low for (like what they would be playing that uses that low of a note).

I don't want to sound like a pretentious jerk when I say this, but there is no such thing as a major 4th or major 5th. In Music Theory (or just music in general) they are referred to as Perfect 4th and a Perfect 5th.

This version of Cause We Ended As Lovers, both the guitar and bass solos are great, and speak to me in a way that is indescribable

A triad off of D, E, and A would be minor chords. A minor chord is spelled out 1, b3, 5 (interval wise this is as follows between the 1 and 3 we get a minor third which is why its a b3. Between 3 and 5 we get a major third which explains why we don't have a b5, a b5 would make the chord...

I did my audition today around 4:00ish. It was really simple, same process except they did not ask me for scales because I was blowing through a lot of different stuff in my audition piece (Orinthology by Charlie Parker). The sight reading was completely simple stuff, even the funk (easy 1-e-a...

Running through your major scales while having a drone of the tonic pitch playing would help if you understand what it means to have a note sound intune. Using a tuner would help, and if you want just mark that spot on the bass with a little piece of tape so you have a little bit of a...

Well thank you all for the replies. I have been doing these little exercises just so I can get my right hand in shape, nothing more than that. My goal was to be able to always be able to keep a controlled and perfectly in time 16th note pulse at these tempos so that if need be I would be able...

Lately I have been practicing for about 5-6 hours a day for 5 days a week (on Tuesday and Wednesday I can only practice for 3 hours). My warmup for fingerstyle (using 2 fingers) has been to set a metronome at 60 and run through 4 bars of straight 16th notes on each string, then do various...

I love the first one, I actually have the sheet music for it in the funkifying the clave book. Thank you once again.

I grew up listening to zappa (my dad was a zappa freak), and learned this one for a jam band I was working with 3 years ago, I should still be able to revisit it. Thank you Kobaia for all the information you have provided for me. I decided to just do a nice groove oriented piece for my...

I believe when one discusses position playing at the 5th fret rather than using open strings, it would be done with a 5 string (or greater) with a low B as the lowest string. That way you have the range of a typical 4 string bass, and the low B-C-C#-D-D# if necessary.

Thank you for the input, lately I've been rethinking my prepared piece a lot, and I need to get something definite within the next week or so.

Congrats!!!! Hopefully I will be accepted as well. My audition will take place on the 27th of February, been working on my prepared piece every chance I get (been doing so many gigs with my combo group lately, and that is all upright bass work so have only had about 2 hours of electric...

Thank you both for the input. I've been freaking out over this to the point that I've spent the majority of my time working on soloing over changes in an uptempo bebop song (I will more than likely be doing Voyage by Kenny Barron as I have worked out the head, and am able to walk a line on...

You can just play his low G at the same octave he is at (should be your E strings 3rd fret). I know Meshuggah's bassist does that (he matches their low F with an F of the same octave, the first fret on his E string).

The Charlie Parker omnibook is a great way to learn to solo over bebop changes. What I do is look at each lick, and analyze it and how it fits into the chord and where hes starting from a chord tone then uses passing tones to reach certain chord tones of the next chord (like a b9 to 5, which he...

I've been considering doing something along the lines of that. I thought about performing a version of something like Autumn Leaves, or In a Sentimental Mood, but for unaccompanied bass (similar to Dave Holland's version of Goodbye Porkpie Hat). But my concerns were that this would make me...

Love the quick replies and suggestions. I looked into Voyage by Kenny Barron, I fell in love already. I think I might do this one (Lead, Walk, Solo, 3 times total), but my main concern is getting a backing track for it. I was thinking of just making my own and playing over that, any ideas...

I have been going crazy recently with choosing my audition piece for Berklee. A little introduction about my musical interests... I am a jazz upright/electric bassist, and have performed in several jazz groups (including combos, and my high school's jazz band). I know berklee is a jazz...