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Double Bass Bringing EUB to the solo big stage.

J

JtheJazzMan

Apr 10, 2006
1,199
17
Australia
#1
Hi everyone,

Slight repost, but I just want to make sure this gets exposure. I just wanted to share my bid to enter the Youtube Symphony Orchestra as a soloist in the lyrical section.

Here is my submission:

and click "vote now" you can see all the submissions. So if you feel I am worthy of a vote then feel free to help out.
 
#3
Yeah, its possible. You need quite bright and thin strings. I use spiro solos both on the EUB and DB. The action on the EUB is extremely low so the string rings out the harmonic when it hits the fingerboard.

The action on my DB is low, but not as low as the EUB and it makes it considerably harder to do. Sometimes I pluck a harmonic on the DB with my left hand only, but I dont use the tapping technique.

Plus magnetic pickups are strong in the frequencies that the harmonics ring at, so its going to be an amplified trick.
 
#5
The video track was recorded onto the cameras internal memory, and its internal microphone track was discarded.

The audio was recorded on a Mac, I cant remember the program sorry. Any multi-track program works - I normally use adobe audition.

Youtube supplied a playalong MP3 of the orchestra to play with. Im hearing that through the headphones and at the same time that I am recording a raw signal of the bass.

Then the final video was mixed in Final Cut, where the video track, MP3 and raw signals were synched up. A small amount of reverb was added to the bass track, then the text and fade in & out were added, and thats about it really.
 
#6
JtheJazzMan said:
Yeah, its possible. You need quite bright and thin strings. I use spiro solos both on the EUB and DB. The action on the EUB is extremely low so the string rings out the harmonic when it hits the fingerboard.

The action on my DB is low, but not as low as the EUB and it makes it considerably harder to do. Sometimes I pluck a harmonic on the DB with my left hand only, but I dont use the tapping technique.

Plus magnetic pickups are strong in the frequencies that the harmonics ring at, so its going to be an amplified trick.
Click to expand...

thanks for explaining. I already thought it had to do with the low action. On the video do you tap the harmonics an octave higher then you 'fret' the note with the left hand? I do that on electric bass sometimes. Or do you tap the open string harmonics? it is hard to hear because I don't have the 5th C string.

And how do you pluck harmonics on your DB with the left hand only? or did you mean just regular open string harmonics picking them with the right hand?

interesting stuff!
 
#8
Les Fret said:
thanks for explaining. I already thought it had to do with the low action. On the video do you tap the harmonics an octave higher then you 'fret' the note with the left hand? I do that on electric bass sometimes. Or do you tap the open string harmonics? it is hard to hear because I don't have the 5th C string.
Click to expand...

I tap the string directly on the harmonic I want to ring out, the strongest ones being 1/4, 1/2 & 3/4 along the string for octaves, 1/3 & 2/3 for a perfect 5th and 1/5, 2/5, 3/5 & 4/5 for Maj 3rds

Les Fret said:
And how do you pluck harmonics on your DB with the left hand only? or did you mean just regular open string harmonics picking them with the right hand?

interesting stuff!
Click to expand...

You lightly touch the harmonic with your thumb and pluck with your finger on the same hand. This guy does it justice more than I can

MNAirHead said:
very cool --- really digging it

How low is your action?
Click to expand...

Its 1.5mm under the high c string at the end of the FB, I had it a little lower for a while but it got too buzzy in spots.
 

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