great instructional videos you've seen

The DVD, Rufus Reid "The Evolving Bassit" is complimentary of his book of the same title. The DVD has been recommended many times on this forum and you can get it together with the book on Amazon for under $50. I highly recommend getting the book as well.

Rufus addresses many different aspects of playing the double bass, creating basslines, etc. I've benefited quite a bit from the information presented in the DVD. There is live performance footage with an excellent jazz trio as well that Rufus uses to emphasize some of the points he makes.

Go to http://www.amazon.com and search for "Rufus Reid" and it should be the first thing to come up. You should also see the "Buy Together" option for buying both the DVD and the book.

 

+1 on the Rufus Reid book and DVD.

On the surface it seems a very simple book, as it deals very effectively with the fundamentals. But it also contains a lot of depth - I'm continually amazed at how relevant it is as I dip into it to deal with my playing problems.

I'm a bit of a book junkie, but if I had to be limited to just one book this would be the one (especially paired with the DVD).

 

+1 on Rufus DVD. I can fully recommend the DVD to give you the fundamentals of jazz bass playing.

I would also suggest these two books on jazz playing:

- The Bottom line by Todd Coolman, a very nice and logical method for constructing good basslines
- Modern Walking Bass Technique by Mike Richmond, shows you how to embellish a bassline to make it more interesting and swinging

 

has anyone seen gary peacocks' video? reccomended?

 

I have Gary's video and I've gotten a lot from it. He begins with the physical aspect of the bass and then goes into the concepts that he uses when soloing or playing a line. Found it out ebay...definately worth it.
John

 

For me, the best one that I know of that's for sale to the public is Jeff Bradetich's video. I think it's intended for people who are moving through an orchestral program while in high school (meaning, the very fundamental things such as bow holds and so on are mentioned only briefly if at all), but even when I didn't know **** I thought it was great...more playing than talking.

If you're just starting out on arco and you don't learn so well by just watching and then try aping someone else (that's my favorite way of learning) it may not be the best video out there. He even gets into demonstrating good left hand technique which is cool too...a solid and strong left hand is extremely essential to a quality arco sound for all stringed instruments nevermind the intonation issues, and Jeff proves it without doubt there in that video.

My old teacher David Neubert has one too but I think it's only supposed to be for string teachers in the school systems who need to know more about the bass...I haven't been in touch with him in a while and don't know if it's for sale to the public. That one got down and dirty on the fundamentals...plus you got to see the best vibrato in Texas being demonstrated

 

apparantely THE ONE to get is Francois Rabbath's Art of the Bow, a few great teachers have all recommended getting this, Mark Dresser said to spend some time with it and you don't need to go out and get a bent endpin or anything, I don't have it yet but Santa's promised he'd bring it this year..

 

I looked on Amazon.co.uk for DVDs and got this message :


"We found no matches for rabbath . Below are results for rabbit ."


To be serious though, great player that he may be - I've never heard Rabbath mentioned as a Jazz 'great' - I mean I've got loads of books about Jazz get magazines every month, go to Jazz gigs regularly - but I've never heard anybody mention his name in this context!!

 

He released an album of jazz standards a while back on either liben or slava publishing you can check it out as well as other Francois "Rabbit" related stuff, other then that I don't know of any straight ahead jazz stuff he's ever done, i'd call him more "world folk music" there's definately some jazz in there you just can't pick it out very easily

 

Yeah - but he's hardly going to be your top recommendation for Jazz playing is he...?

When you can see players like Rufus Reid,Ray Brown,NHOP,Ron Carter etc. etc. on DVD!!

 

definately won't be up there with my top recommendation for jazz playing,..... but all styles aside if your looking for a DVD for pure arco technique he's my #1 recommendation......

totally unrelated this Art Pepper disc the boys are talking about friggin' smokes! i've got it on right now....DAMN!

 

Sure but for learning the basics of arco I wouldn't recommend Rabbath. After he shows you the French limp wrist trick and standing in open position to leverage gravity, it's almost nothing else but bows hurdling 1000 MPH off the string.

Or maybe this is how arco should be taught to beginners and the real problem is a different stick up my butt *LOL*

 

I honestly have no idea what the video contains it was just highly recommended to me, if it's simply bows plowing at 4883 mph then maybe I don't need it so much, 3 teachers told me it was good stuff though

 

Rabbath is pretty advanced technique, from what I've heard. I was curious about it and asked my teacher at my first lesson WAAAAAY back in March, and he advised me to just chill on that thought for a bit -- Rabbath is not beginner style stuff!


EDIT: Oh, and a big +1 to Rufus's DVD. *Great* instructional video.

 

For those of you curious about the Art of the Bow DVD, I would be happy to answer your questions. I was the producer and director of the project with Rabbath.

I would like to address several misunderstandings about the DVD. There is a general feeling that his technique is not for beginners. In fact, in the DVD he teaches the proper motion of the the bow stroke to a young lady who has never touched a bass before.
Then there is this misunderstanding regarding the "loose wrist" technique that:
1. it will somehow diminish your power from a straight wrist and that
2. the technique is only to execute hyper-technical passages.

Please allow me to attempt to convince you otherwise.

1. Regarding the perceived lose of power, imagine that you have gotten something really sticky and messy on both sides of your right hand. Now wipe the alternate sides of your hand up and down on your pant leg allowing your wrist to bend. Use the weight of your arm, even your back -- you have a "loose wrist" yet you rubbing your hand onto your leg with maximum power.
To do this with the french bow, you only need to turn your elbow out a FEW degrees to allow for you wrist to bend forward and back along the stick of the bow rather than side to side like a cello. (German bow players are already capable of using the loose wrist, since their wrist hinge is already moving in the direction of the stick.)
2. The "loose wrist" ALLOWS you the greatest flexibility and range of motion. The loose wrist is not a specialty stroke, but rather a necessary stroke to get the smoothest bow exchange and most legato detache stroke possible (what Rabbath calls the "son premier" or first sound). This stroke is the first of the building blocks to begin to work on the other 7 families of bow strokes.

Regarding the cost of the DVD, this DVD was made possible by a grant from the university where I teach, Ball State University in Indiana. The university owns the copyright to the DVD and sets the price. Most educational DVDs that the university produces are speciality DVDs and are marketed at $200 to libraries. I had to fight to get the cost under $100. You are free to disagree with me, but I see this as a tremendous value. You get the time equivilent of about 4 up close and personal lessons with one of the greatest bassists ever - $100/lesson and a RT ticket to Paris - for $80.

There are sadly many misunderstandings about Rabbath. He is one of the most generous spirits I have ever met - a gentle guru. Many of the greatest bassists on the planet have been influenced by Rabbath and see him regularly for inspiration and help including jazzers such as the late Ray Brown (who was so impressed he made the video), Rufus Reid, Glen Moore, John Clayton, Renaud Garcia Fons. And don't forget the major orchestral bassists who still study with Rabbath regulary including Paul Ellison (former Principal Houston), Hal Robinson (Principal Philadelphia), Barry Green (former Princial Cincinnati) and now Jeremy Kurtz (new Principal San Diego), Ali Yazdanfar (National Symphony). Remember that while Rabbath spent years accompanying jazz and cabaret singers, he developed his methods while playing with the Paris Opera Orchestra, one of the finest orchestras in Europe.

While I may not kep up with the postings - please feel free to contact me from the web site.
Thank you,
Hans