Fretless P FTW? (for Jazz Standards)

[Dr. Cheese]

You should consider going upright.

The sheer size will prevent how many you can accumulate and there’s not as much gear to obsess over.

I really wish I had stayed with string bass in college. As I have become more of a fan of acoustic Jazz, I have fallen in love with the sound of double bass.

 

[Pings Bass]

Playing standards, "tone" is way down the list of concerns for me and anybody I've ever played with. My main concerns: timing/feel, chord changes, note selection, intonation.

Nobody's going to notice if you have the wrong pickup selected, but everybody will notice if you rush, forget the chords or play out of tune.

 

[JazznFunk]

Except a decent upright can cost more than high-end custom basses. The cost of a set of strings alone could buy a decent entry level electric bass guitar.

This is getting off topic, but.... 'Decent' I assume translates to: professionally inspected and set up, constructed of properly aged and cured woods, constructed with proper materials, and capable of being played for years as a primary instrument and producing a quality tone. If so, plenty of entry level laminated and carved-top basses (typically made overseas and curated/setup here in the USA by qualified luthiers) can be had for somewhere in the ballpark of $2,000 to $4,000 minimum - much less than the cost of a high-end custom bass. Think student to beginning-pro level - a workingman's instrument. There ARE cheaper basses, but they have an infamous reputation for blowing up and disintegrating. When you get into specific pedigrees and vintage basses, the cost goes up significantly for sure. I've seen symphony players with basses north of $50,000. But I digress. It's easy to dismiss the entry cost of double bass with a quality entry-level instrument as prohibitive when it's really more in the ballpark of what people already pay for a lot of 'professional' electric basses in many cases. Strings - of the metal or synthetic core variety - are usually $300-ish and up depending on what you get. All of this is spread out though when you consider that people own a double bass for many years, and strings last several years. Case in point: The bass I play (in my avatar) I bought in 2004 - a carved-top Chinese-made bass from a reputable shop. $2500 out the door. It's the only upright I've owned in that time. Every gig and recording session I've been on in 18 years has been on that bass. I've changed strings many times over, but each time they stayed on at least 2 or 3 years at a time in most cases. A few dings here and there of course, but zero splits, cracks, or open seams in that time. When I look at the entry cost, plus strings over 18 years and the money I've made with that bass.... it's not prohibitive at all.

 

[Slade N]

You should consider going upright.

The sheer size will prevent how many you can accumulate and there’s not as much gear to obsess over.

forget size...cost alone will prevent that for most mortals

 

[g-dude]

Except a decent upright can cost more than high-end custom basses. The cost of a set of strings alone could buy a decent entry level electric bass guitar.

Which also helps prevent too much gear accumulation.

If you think about it, buying a single double bass versus cycling through multiple bass guitars is probably not too dissimilar. Also, resale on a double bass is probably going to be better.

 

[g-dude]

I really wish I had stayed with string bass in college. As I have become more of a fan of acoustic Jazz, I have fallen in love with the sound of double bass.

It’s not too late!

 

[Manticore]

Check out the fretless P here. There's a few accomplished players in this band.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

It’s not too late!

Getting better on electric is kicking my rear end. I don’t have time to put in a serious effort on double bass. If I were 20 or 25 years younger, I would go for it!

 

[g-dude]

Getting better on electric is kicking my rear end. I don’t have time to put in a serious effort on double bass. If I were 20 or 25 years younger, I would go for it!

I feel like playing the upright has resulted in an improvement in my bass guitar playing.

Plus, it’s so much harder to avoid sight reading on the double bass.

 

[Nashrakh]

Upright is my primary jazz standards instrument. However, my USA Fender P with flats is my ersatz upright on otherwise electric bass gigs.

Same here. This "ersatz upright" (with the obligatory foam mute) has never failed me and comes close enough for most people, save for the looks department. When people DO demand I bring an upright, it's primarily for that reason: I should look the part.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Check out the fretless P here. There's a few accomplished players in this band.

Birdland is officially the swingingest composition to have come out of the Fusion era.