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Double Bass Don't you ever wish you played flute?

#101
Wil Davis said:
I do play the flute - but I think I have more fun playing the double-bass.
Click to expand...

Yeah me too. I find double bass is more challenging, which makes it funner, and since there aren't too many double-bassists out there you're needed more. :D So many more different groups to play in, and so many more opportunities out there for bassists.
I must say though, I wish my double bass fit in my backpack.
:rolleyes:
 
#102
Only for some reason the line is usually "don't you wish you played trumpet?". Well, decades ago I doubled trumpet and had a loaner I was bringing in for a friend while his was in the shop.

I had a totally beat Besson BBb 3-valve, and the trumpet in a gig bag fit right inside the bell of the tuba, in the tuba case.

So at least once I got to be the wise guy whipping the trumpet out of the tuba like Kweskin the magician, in answer to "don't you wish you played trumpet?".

Actually, since that option only lasted a couple weeks, the alternate strategy is the pre-emptive strike: (while lugging case) - "Next time around I'm playing piccolo/flute/etc" Jujst beat them to the punch and get the inevitable over with :)

:bassist:
 
#104
I got it on the very day I bought my first double bass. The bag it came with had no strap, and I certainly didn't have a wheel yet. So there I am, a total ignoramous, hugging this big Kay bass in a vinyl bag and slowly shuffling through Manhattan. By the time I got to my block I was exhausted and embarrased. I turned onto my street and heard a voice behind me:

"Ah-boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom..."

I almost dropped the bass and clocked the guy!

I used to get that one a lot, but now it's pretty rare. I dont know what changed.
 
#105
I remember reading this thread before I got my first upright. Well I finally got it back in September. I'm not exaggerating, this is how it really happened:

Sales clerk: All set, here's your receipt, thanks.
Me: Thank you.

Turn towards door, guy holding door for me says:

"Wow, I thats a pretty big violin"

I'm not even an upright bassist for 20 seconds and I get my first stupid comment!!!
 
#106
One sure way to free yourself from everyone asking about your "big violin" at gigs is - play with a pedal steel guitar player.


Man, my friend who's a steel player can NEVER get that thing out of the case before sound engineers, audience members, other musicians and random people of the street start to come up to him with that blank stare; "whoaaa, what's THAT?"

...guess it makes him wish he lived in Nashville and not the far north of Sweden :)
 
#109
I always get the 'How are you going to get that under your chin?'

The most original quip happened when I was leaving an upstairs club & carrying the bass down stairs in it's zip up case.

A drunk at the bar was watching me & as I passed him he put his hand to my shoulder & remarked, 'I'm really really sorry to see your wife's not been too well lately!'

Best wishes
Gary
 
#110
I don't remember getting dumb questions like that, having played in a Gospel Blue Grass band. I have, however experimented with making my own flute. We have river cane (it looks a lot like miniature bamboo) growing wild in our area. So I cut a 12" section out of the bottom (Bass?) end if the cane, and bored some fingerholes and a mouth hole. It didn't sound half bad when I tried it. The next flute is going to be made from a length of 3/4" pvc pipe.
 
#113
I want to be the loser who sits in the Orchestra counts out 476 bars, hit a flippin' Triangle once, and then counts 1154 bars, for the final hit....

How do trianglists warm up????

And If I did play Flute, it would be some freaky double flute with a jack, and a rig like Bela Fleck 8x10 Trace Elliot and a refridgerator full of effects....so it wouldn't really be that funny a joke then....they'd say...

Don't you wish you played bass??

:) oh, I have an Ocarina too....fits in my pocket
 
#114
Introvox said:
I want to be the loser who sits in the Orchestra counts out 476 bars, hit a flippin' Triangle once, and then counts 1154 bars, for the final hit....

How do trianglists warm up????
Click to expand...
Actually you should try playing triangle in a brazilian rhythm section. Classical triangle might be easy, but the way the brazilian's play it, it's hard. It's kinda like doing the "pat your tummy rub your head" thing. And then they play with fast tempo too. You have to be able to mute the triangle on certain beats while keeping the striker going off steady like a fast metronome > 250 bpm or something like that. Some pop music features that kind of thing. Some Peter Gabriel comes to mind. I forget which song.
 
#115
hdiddy said:
Actually you should try playing triangle in a brazilian rhythm section. Classical triangle might be easy, but the way the brazilian's play it, it's hard. It's kinda like doing the "pat your tummy rub your head" thing. And then they play with fast tempo too. You have to be able to mute the triangle on certain beats while keeping the striker going off steady like a fast metronome > 250 bpm or something like that. Some pop music features that kind of thing. Some Peter Gabriel comes to mind. I forget which song.
Click to expand...

I love people who push the envelope on their instruments

"Hats off to the Brasilians!!!"

Ima gettin me a triangle...help me out...I need brilliant highs, punchy low end with a growl...can i get this thing with a built in preamp....maybe a vintage model is the way to go...so many questions....I'm gonna go download something with kickass triangling..
 
#118
Hey, I *was* an orchestral triangle player- at least in high school- and let me tell you, there are more "exposed" parts for triangle than just about any instrument. Face it, when you leave out a note playing DB in a section, no one hears it. Even if you play the wrong note, only the people around you hear it. But just try coming in a little off the beat on a triangle part...!

I was the utility infielder in my HS orchestra, handling xylophone, orchestra bells, tubular bells, bongos, gong, everything that involved counting 80 measures, coming in for a couple, and disappearing for another 80. And let me tell you, there's no better way to piss off your conductor than to miss that triangle cue. ;-)
 
#120
Since I have a school bass at home, and there is another at school, I just take my bow with me. I have a case for it, and I just carry it around like a flute.

So anyway, I was carrying it around after school, and I heard someone shouting at me. I turned around, and my school's police officer was running after me, and literally about ten administrators were lined up in a line staring at me, kind of scared looking. The police officer rushes up close to me, and demands to know what the thing is. I told him, "It's a bow..." and he responded, "OHH! Man, you need to carry that thing differently. We all thought you were carrying a rifle into school!"
 

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