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Double Bass Electric Upright Bass Generally

#21
Originally posted by Ed Fuqua

You can ask all the Wale-landers why they are so pale and freakishly tall....
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I know the answer to that one - it's because they all live in very deep valleys where it rains every day! Even in the middle of July/August!!

It can be quite atractive in the women...think Galadriel! ;)

They all sing as well - comes from having to communicate across the valleys.....


Back to the topic, I was trying to explain that my enthusiasms for sound probaly come from the fact that I started listening to music in the 1970s . I have talked to some Jazz DB teachers and they say - listen to the classic records in your collection for inspiration - of course they started listening to great Jazz DB players. But I was listening to Jaco, Marcus, Stanley, Alphonso etc.
 
#22
Me too, Bruce; we must be of about the same vintage. Actually, I recall Stanley playing one of the first EUB's I ever saw, back when the choices were pretty slim. The guy that really threw me for a loop was Eberhard Weber, who played a homemade EUB in his quartet with Charlie Mariano. That was a cool band.
 
#23
I bought a new amp yesterday for my BG... and tried out a few leccy uprights in the shop. one was indeed just like a fretless BG but upright (real low action) and the other was more like an electric double bass, the strings were about an inch off the board up above where the '12th fret' would be!

I had a play on the EUB and found it relatively easy to play physically. I expect my intonation was nausiating, but that's another story!

I was really intregued by the EUB, it sounded so nice and wasn't too hard to play. Would you guys recommend one of these?... are they good as a starting point, are they a totally differnt intstrument? Bruce - do you intend to move to real DB at somepoint or is the EUB your thing?

what's the gernal opinion of them? Are they played alot by professionals - what recordings can i hear one played on?

Just interested cause I could have played this thing all day!
 
#25
Originally posted by Howard K
I bought a new amp yesterday for my BG... and tried out a few leccy uprights in the shop. one was indeed just like a fretless BG but upright (real low action) and the other was more like an electric double bass, the strings were about an inch off the board up above where the '12th fret' would be!

I had a play on the EUB and found it relatively easy to play physically. I expect my intonation was nausiating, but that's another story!

I was really intregued by the EUB, it sounded so nice and wasn't too hard to play. Would you guys recommend one of these?... are they good as a starting point, are they a totally differnt intstrument? Bruce - do you intend to move to real DB at somepoint or is the EUB your thing?
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Hmmm..don't know! I think that when I am very careful about how I play it - i.e. I am relaxed and accurate it sounds great and very like an amplified DB. But - generally these "ideal" conditions only prevail in private practise - live gigs and I'm all over the place and just about hanging on with the "sound" shot to pieces.

Ask me again in a few years! ;)

As to your other question - a lot of "rock" professionals have taken them up - Tony Levin, Les Claypool, Pino Palladino etc. The only Jazz pro who currently plays one that I know of, is Eberhard Weber - but he does get the call from Jan Garbarek!
 
#26
Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield

The only Jazz pro who currently plays one that I know of, is Eberhard Weber - but he does get the call from Jan Garbarek!
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Well, EB began to play EUB well before he met JG!
He had and still has more things running than playing with him.
In my opinion, Garbarek has nothing to do with Weber's choice of the EUB.
EB toured a lot with Garbarek though, if that's what you meant.
 
#27
I didn't mean that Garbarek asked him to play this - just that Howard was asking for "professionals" who play EUB and his name was the only one who sprang to mind in the "Jazz" field.

I was just thinking though, that it was a pretty good gig to land - probably the most lucrative in Europe, so he (Weber) was doing alright from a "professional" point of view, playing EUB! ;)
 
#29
Originally posted by francois
True.
Another well known EUB Jazz player is David Friesen.
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Not a name I've heard - I would be interested in hearing a recording where he plays straight-ahead Jazz with EUB - any recommendations?

I know I could look on the net for CDs but this won't necessarily tell me where he plays EUB or if they are any good! ;)
 
#32
Originally posted by Bruce Lindfield


Not a name I've heard - I would be interested in hearing a recording where he plays straight-ahead Jazz with EUB - any recommendations?

I know I could look on the net for CDs but this won't necessarily tell me where he plays EUB or if they are any good! ;)
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Check his web site http://www.davidfriesen.net/ for lots of information.
His EUB is the Hemage Bass. (David also plays AUB on several records)
My first Friesen record, on which he plays the Oregon Bass EUB was "Amber skies". (features Chick Corea, Airto Moreira, Joe Henderson, Paul Horn, Paul Motian).
See [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#33
I got to "shadow" Dave for a week during the Aebersold camps (I'm in transition from Piano faculty to Bass faculty, and was allowed to soak up the bass fac vibe by shadowing Dave and Lynn Seaton for a week each during master classes), and he didn't touch an EUB all week. In fact, he even went so far as to tell the bass guitarists in the master classes that he couldn't help them with any technique issues AT ALL because he doesn't play that instrument. I have his latest trio disc, Name of a Woman, and he plays DB on the entire record. It's a good sounding double disc with a lot of good spontaneous synergy, and pianist Randy Porter plays his *SS off throughout.
 
#34
Hopping in a bit late here. . .

But to answer Francois' question, nope it wasn't me playing the EURB in the picture. I have played them a few times, and I have played with orchestras, but never at the same time.

My feeling on EURBs is that they are great for touring and late night practice, but they don't feel or sound right to me. I like fretted 6-string electric bass and double bass better, and the EURB seems to be in between.

Laurence Mollerup
 
#35
RE: EUB

I'm no expert, but I got the chance to play at least a half dozen different "popsicles" at the NAMM show a couple of years ago.

Without exception, they all just felt "dead" in my hands. Maybe it was the strings or the way they were set up, but I felt no connection with these instruments at all. Even my Fender Jazz bass gives me some kind of physical response under my fingers that makes it enjoyable to play (kind of).

Later, I did try the Eminence and found it more satisfying to play. But as a main axe -- no way.
 
#36
This is in response to any of you out there that "wouldn't be caught dead playing a popsicle"
I am about embark upon a trip to the Mid-East to begin a long term engagement playing jazz in a fine hotel.
However, I have just learned that my new employer has decided that $1342 fee (one way) for flying my double bass in it's anvil style road case (82"x35"x21") via air cargo is more than they would care to spend.
I'm disapointed, to say the least, but nevertheless relieved that I happen to own a John Carruthers Sub-1. No, it dosn't sound exactly like my double bass but does indeed sound close enough like a double bass to fool most people, most of the time. Even many other musicians!
I'll miss the sound, feel and vibe of my double bass very much, but will enjoy playing the Carruthers, I've had it for seven years now and have come to enjoy it for what it is, a good subsitute for a double bass, not a replacement, hence the it's title, Sub-1.
I'd like to think that I'm so comitted to the double bass that I'd be willing to absorb the cost of shiping the instument myself, but that would greatly reduce my profit for the gig. Yes, real double bass players play real double basses but most real double bass players are real men (not to slight any of the fine women playing the instrument, please forgive me) who have real resposibilities, like bills, families to feed, child support payments, rent or morgages.
I don't play music for money, I play because I love music, and money comes to me because I'm doing something I love. I play the "real bass", no matter if it's a double bass, bass guitar or "electric popsicle stick" they are all "real basses" to me, because I'm a "real bass player" who lives in the "real world". So to all you self styled purists out there, "get real".
 
#37
Originally posted by Mike Carr
I don't play music for money, I play because I love music, and money comes to me because I'm doing something I love. I play the "real bass", no matter if it's a double bass, bass guitar or "electric popsicle stick" they are all "real basses" to me, because I'm a "real bass player" who lives in the "real world". So to all you self styled purists out there, "get real".
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#39
Chris,
I guess I must have been "real" frustrated when I posted last time. Must have been because of all the problems I encountered trying to get my double bass shipped out the U.S. to the Mid-East.
Used to be easy enough to ship a bass, you could just go to a frieght forwarder or cargo company and as long as someone was willing to pay the bill, you could ship without having to worry about much more than someone driving a fork lift thru your flight case!
But I have found since 9-11 cargo companies in the U.S. are now unwilling to pickup cargo from anyone who is not a "know shipper". They will not pickup from individuals, only from companies. When I offered to sign a declaration document stating who I was, and what I intended to ship I was told one had to have had "19 concectutive shipments in the last two years with the company in order to be considered a known shipper".
Hey, I'm shipping a bass, not nukes, bombs or weapons of mass destuction, and my bass isn't one of the cheap Chemora's that you see on E-Bay that explodes on contact so no one is put at risk.
So I found that the only way I could have shipped it was to find a frieght forwarder that way willing to write it up as a "special deal for an employee of the company" and then my employer would have been grossly overcharged for this "service". $1342, each way!
I guess the "real" reason I started all of this is to give all of you the heads up regarding dealing with flying with double basses. It's getting harder to do these days. Forget about even trying to buy a seat for one! British Airways told me the only way I'd be allowed to bring my bass on the plane with me would be if I purchased five seats, an entire row to lay the bass down on to. They refused to allow it to be placed "Rufus Reid Style" as depicted in "The Evolving Bassist".
So I'll playing my E.U.B. Guess I'll have to start watching what I eat too, all those extra pounds I'll put on over Thanksgiving weekend don't show so much when I play my double bass!
 
#40
Bruce Lindfield said:
I have been playing along with a video titled (ironically-enough!) "Essential Techniques for Acoustic Bass" by Todd Phillips and the sound I hear when I play what he does, sounds to my ears just like the sounds coming out of the speakers from his Acoustic bass!
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Bruce, could you pop on over to this thread and tell us what you think of the video series?
 

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