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Double Bass Choosing / Finding Your Sound... 2 Basses?

#21
From what I can tell, even really established players have a constantly changing sound over the course of their careers.

Personally, I have a carved bass, and a plywood bass for gigs that are less than ideal but that's more for practical reasons. Its not like you wake up one day and say, "ok I have my sound now, I'm not changing anything."

At the moment I'm really happy with my sound but thats not going to stop me from trying different strings, experimenting with my setup, different bows, different pizz techniques etc. Watching and hearing the evolution from year to year if definitely part of the fun of playing.
 
#22
I dig what you're saying about sound as those are pretty different. The other guys have given some great advice.

I've been there, heck-I'm still there. I'd identify what about their sound that you like. Then do your best to emulate what you hear. For me, it was identifying specifics and learning how to incorporate those into my own sound.

I love the way Charlie Haden does hammers, pull offs, and well-phrasing in general-so I spent a while listening to recordings of him and transcribing his stuff. While working on those tunes it was my goal to emulate his sound except coming from me. I won't ever sound exactly like Charlie Haden-I don't want to get called to sound like anyone but me.

I've done this same thing with a few other bassists and I'll continue to do it the rest of my career.

Another one-the way Ray Brown walks a line. I won't ever sound exactly like Ray Brown, but I've learned a lot about walking lines by listening, transcribing, and emulating his sound.
So my response comes down to: listen, transcribe, get a teacher.

all the best.
 
#23
TomSauter said:
It's not uncommon at all to have 2 basses, I've been thinking about buying a second bass myself. I put a set of animas on my current bass and I really love them, but they suck with the bow, and the sound doesn't work well when I play with certain guys. So I'm looking for a bass that I can set up with low action and steel strings, and I suppose I'd use it for outdoor gigs too. Maybe that can be next year's big tax deduction:)
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I found that a Tourte mute helps calm the Animas while using the bow.
 
#24
stanhamrick said:
sometimes I aspire to a Paul Chambers sound and other times a more modern NHOP sound.


How common is it to keep 2 (or more) basses ready to go depending on the gig?

Thanks in advance!

Stan Hamrick
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The fact of the matter is that you don't know what anybody sounds like unless you hear them live. PC recordings for Columbia did not sound like Prestige or Blue Note. The producer of the recording dictates the sound that the engineer finally puts down.
I noticed a similarity in the sounds of 3 or more different bassists, all of whom were recorded in Stan Getz live concerts. The reasonable explanation is that the engineers, not the bassists, made that happen.

As soon as I could afford it, I got one bass for orchestra, one for jazz, and a plywood for outdoors or high risk environments.
 
#26
Ed Fuqua said:
I've been meaning to ask, how do you manage the switch between your medium tempo and waltz basses in a tune in 7? I've been doing OK on the slower tempos, but it's become a real problem whenever anything is qnote=120bpm or more.

Any advice you could offer would be helpful.
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It depends on how long the leader takes to introduce each piece, Ed; if they're talkers, you make the band set up on the floor and put all of the basses on stands in the middle of the stage in a semi-circle with you in the middle. If they don't spend a lot of time telling the audience what they're about to play, you have to guess what's coming next and hold that bass under one arm until you need it. Sometimes, you have to hold a bass under each arm, since you won't be sure where the set is going...

Playing is easy - the choreography is hard. :)
 

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