Double Bass Beginner-ish (re-beginning?) double bass book/course recommendation

[Alexis Duntov]

Hey guys,

I am very excited to soon be inheriting a double bass from a relative. Double bass was the first instrument I played way back in the fifth grade . . . which was a loooooooong time ago. I played it all of the way through high school, but haven't touched one since. That was 28yrs ago (good grief, I'm getting old). I switched to bass guitar, and have played that continually ever since, even professionally full-time for a while. So I do know quite a bit about bass, reading bass music/notation, some theory, where the notes are on an electric bass, etc. But now that I am switching back to an upright after such a long hiatus, I could use a good book to reacquaint myself with the upright bass. Some technique (how to bow, how to hold the bass), and how to find where the notes are, relative to the electric bass. For example, I started watching some upright videos the other day in anticipation of having the bass soon, and I forgot just how different it is. One finger per fret on the bass guitar vs 1-2-4 on the upright bass, and switching positions, for example. I'm going to be somewhat lost on the fingerboard. While there are some good basic videos on Youtube, it seems one would be hard-pressed to actually find good, extensive lessons there. They're more like snippets or teasers for a course you can purchase. At least from what I've found so far. I can't really justify spending a bunch of money on this, since I doubt I'll ever have much opportunity to play the upright professionally. It will be more about playing for fun, playing in church, and doing my best to honor the relative whose bass it was.

Thanks

Simandl to start plus a teacher. Zoom can work if that’s all that’s available. If you can start Simandl pizz and then maybe scrape together a few bucks for a couple of lessons to get started with the bow could be an option. I bet some of the folks here would be willing to give you a free Zoom call once you get the bass and a bow. I really struggled with the bow at first (I started DB at 40 after a while playing bass guitar). But it really is part of the instrument. During an early lesson I took with an accomplished classical bassist, she referred to the bow as the “vocal cord” of the instrument. I would not recommend going too long without it, but I do think you could spend maybe 6 months up front getting your pizz together in the lower positions. Trying to go arco right off the bat could backfire. It can be hard to listen to yourself before you have some basic fingering and intonation together. Of course, the bow is what will ultimately fine tune your intonation, but I think it’s fine to get comfortable thumping out some blues lines pizz to get started. Good luck. Happy to do a free Zoom bass hang sometime (weekend) to check your rig.

 

[Ed S]

You are right down the road from Lansing, and not too far from South Bend. Not exactly the middle of nowhere. Should be able to find a teacher in either of those towns for a monthly session. Look up Tom Ball in Lansing. If he's not willing to teach, he'd be able to recommend someone.

For really basic stuff, I like the All For Strings and Habits of a Successful Middle Level String Musician series.

 

[jacoby75]

I'd recommend the courses at Discover Double Bass
They make really good video courses. Really valuable stuff. There is a library of free lessons, which are useful. And then full courses are in the region of $100-120, which can give four or six hours of video material sliced into six to ten minute slices, that amounts to you several months worth of practice.

Yep, I did find them on Youtube. I tried picking up and tuning the bass for the first time, and that was a chore, lol. I quickly realized that I'm a lot older and a lot . . . a LOT . . . bigger than I was when I last played the upright. I don't even know how to hold the darn thing. It's (clearly) so different from bass guitar. I started fiddling around last night trying to figure out where notes were, and then realized that I probably wasn't even holding the darn thing even close to right. So I started with one of the Discover Double Bass videos on how to hold the bass. It's back to the bassics for this kid. And I don't even have a bow yet, because it somehow got misplaced. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

 

[jacoby75]

Good luck. Happy to do a free Zoom bass hang sometime (weekend) to check your rig.

I really appreciate that. Once I get a few basic video lessons down, I just might take you up on that offer.

 

[jacoby75]

You are right down the road from Lansing, and not too far from South Bend. Not exactly the middle of nowhere. Should be able to find a teacher in either of those towns for a monthly session. Look up Tom Ball in Lansing. If he's not willing to teach, he'd be able to recommend someone.

For really basic stuff, I like the All For Strings and Habits of a Successful Middle Level String Musician series.

I'm about an hour from Lansing. I could probably find someone there to make it worth a monthly trip to. But then again, I'm about an hour from Jackson too, and I have a friend there who might be able to help me get started. The more I hold the bass and realize I have no idea what I'm doing, and that it didn't all come flooding back to me like riding a bike, the more open I am becoming to the idea of taking a lesson or three to get me started off on the right foot.

 

[marcox]

As you're (re)discovering, the upright is a whole different beast. It'll pay long-term dividends to learn good habits at the beginning, even if your goals are modest.

I recently took up the bow after nearly 15 years of only playing pizzicato. Fortunately, my hand shape and arm placement (established in early lessons) survived the many years of roots thumping and are serviceable as I tackle the stick o' pain.

 

[overit]

Do the lessons no matter how much you think you don’t need them or can’t find someone locally. I found my teacher online - a public school teacher that charged $25/lesson and was 20 minutes away. I learned more in 4 lessons than a year trying to teach myself via YouTube and books. Without feedback from someone that knows what they’re doing, you’re really just guessing if your technique is right and/or if you’re gonna cause yourself future pain.

 

[jacoby75]

Pics or it didn't happen:

She's a real beaut. She's got tons of mojo, which I love. You can tell she's lived some life. I love how the upper bout on the side facing your body is worn in. I'm sure it could tell some stories. I know nothing about it, really. All I know is my uncle bought it used for $1,300 about 5yrs ago. It had a couple of cracks that he later had repaired. I don't see any identifiable markings of any kind. I tried to look inside for some label of some kind . . . like on an acoustic guitar . . . but didn't see anything. And it's heavy as all get out. It's like trying to play an armoire. So I'm fairly certain it's solid wood.

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[jacoby75]

I felt I should take a moment to honor the man whose bass I inherited. My uncle, Jerry Jacoby. He passed away very unexpectedly last summer. He was a consummate musician, entertainer, songwriter, performer, lover of God, his family, children, and everyone he met. He was a true encourager and motivator. He had an uncanny gift for making you feel like you were the absolute best at whatever it is you were doing at that moment. He could make you feel like you were the most important person in the world to God and to him. That was one of his many gifts. He spent much of the last few decades performing as a “kid motivator” at schools, camps, and other functions, often alongside his wife and violinist, Michaella Jacoby.

When I started on the upright bass in the fifth grade, he was one of my biggest supporters. I recently learned that he also played the upright bass through grade school and later in life, before switching primarily to guitar as a songwriter and performer. Then over the past few years he purchased an upright and practiced for hours a day, until he was able to audition for and be accepted into the Jackson Michigan Symphony Orchestra. Here’s a video I found of him playing with one of his good friends, Mark, with whom he often performed. He is the one on the right (in the video, stage left).

(for some reason, YouTube won’t allow me to embed the video here, but if you click the link to watch it on YouTube, it should work.)

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

I've got a new copy available of Vance's Progressive Repertoire for the Double Bass, vol. 1 if you're interested.

 

[fu22ba55]

That's a beautiful bass, and beautiful tribute to your uncle.

Another method to consider is Jim Stinnet's three method books on Double Bass:

-Strong Foundation (level 1)
-Build It Solid (level 2)
-Fluency (level 3)

double bass

It's bit less dense than Simandl... but still has some useful exercises to make sure you're arco work is keeping up with your left hand as you learn the fingerboard.

Not better or worse than Simandl or Rabbath, just different.

 

[CharlieDN]

Oh, don't you worry. I know the rules. Pics or it didn't happen, lol. If nothing else, the bass should be in fantastic shape. My uncle played it all the time and played occasionally in the Jackson (MI) symphony orchestra. I'm sure (I hope) that he maintained it. So if I stink terribly there will nobody to blame but myself and my 28yr old rusty technique. But I did pretty well when I played back in the day. I took lessons from a guy in the Detroit Symphony Orchestra myself while I was in school. So I'm hoping it will come back to me relatively quickly. Like riding a bike.

On a side note, I learned a few years back that the expression, "It's like riding a bike - you never forget," is actually erroneous at best. One year for our anniversary my wife and I decided to treat ourselves to good bicycles to tool around in. I probably hadn't ridden a bike in like 15yrs by then. And sure enough I really did forget how. For the longest time I could only turn left. I still struggle turning right. I have to make three left turns to make a right and just tell my wife I'll catch up to her on the straightaway. Before that, I thought that it was difficult to maintain qualifications in intellectual pursuits, but as it turned out, not only creative endeavors require constant support and practice. In various art essays https://graduateway.com/essay-examples/art/, reading examples of how creative people are taught to maintain their knowledge, I was surprised because I thought that it was impossible to lose qualifications. Now I understand that even if you have studied the instrument well and even teach a few students a little yourself, you still need to learn something new all the time.

Well, all the same, resuming sports or cycling is much easier than learning musical instruments I once didn’t play bass and guitar for a couple of years, and after such a break I had to get used to the instrument for a long time and learn again. And cycling is much easier

 

[Paps]

As regards learning and methods.
I'd first find a teacher, a well recommended teacher you will stick with.
Use whatever method book the teacher recommends.
Simandl is great.

 

[bherman]

Lots of good advice here about teaching resources, I’ll add my own personal experience. I’m 68, I was a very proficient player and then pretty much stopped when I was in my late 20s and didn’t touch the bass again for 25 years. I have been playing electric bass again and was pretty good, but starting double bass back up was a whole new experience. The one word I’d say to put a poster and tape onto your wall is patience. It will take lots of it, I felt like I knew what I was doing, and just started working my way through Simandl. But numerous times over the first six months I was ready to quit. I persevered, and now I’m quite capable, although I definitely learned that because of age I can’t do many of things that I could do when I was younger. Only piece of advice I’d add to the mix is to practice every single day – doesn’t matter if it’s 15 minutes or an hour and a half, the key that I found to progress is consistency. Like others have said, feel free to reach out if you’d like to do a video session. I recently did it with my brother, who also just started up with a double bass.

 

[turf3]

Something to keep in mind is that all of the options listed require the ability to read music.

OP said he played DB in orchestra all through high school. Even if he's a bit rusty it'll come back.

OP, I'd suggest ponying up for at least a short course of lessons. Looking at your stated location, I see a number of small cities within an hour's drive (or a bit more). YES, that's a lot of driving for a bass lesson, but maybe you should try doing it for a short while - say, every other two weeks for two or three months. There's an awful lot of stuff about how to address the instrument that is really really hard to communicate except in person.

Is there no consolidated high school or regional orchestra in your area at all? Even a "general strings" teacher should have been through the training on double bass sufficient to get students going. (And that would probably be less driving.)
You could even maybe get a teacher to meet you partway between your place and theirs?

 

[Paps]

I'm not disagreeing with anything above, but my experience of general strings teachers is lukewarm.
My experience is that many don't understand the correct position and bowing technique unique to the bass.
Such guidance be adequate for basic playing, but the limitations in technique and subsequent bad habits unwittingly developed may hinder progression.
I'd get the best bass instructor I can find, especially at the beginning to get you on the right course.
Of course, YMMV.