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Double Bass Juilliard Jazz & The No-Amp

#41
Phil Smith said:
In the real world, you have more variables, sometimes you don't know the size of the room, the people you're playing with or how many people are going to be at the venue. Coming to a gig without an amp under those conditions, i.e. so many unknowns, to me reflects lack of experience or a fanatical devotion to a purist ideal.
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I think this is a good point - so, I have been going to my local Jazz club for the last 5 or 6 years and it has changed venue a few times, but is now fairly small and has been smaller.

So - I go every week and must have seen hundreds of gigs there with small Jazz groups, who are of a very high standard and are often on UK tours or coming down from residencies in London. So - in all that time I have only seen one DBer with no amp and the guy who ran the club said he never uses an amp as a matter of principle - but he had a mic going to the house p.a. and sounded great - but it made me think about Phil's comments and the concept of "professionalism". So - that DB player must play at lots of venues where there may be no p.a. or worse - a really crappy one, that won't project any bass...:hmm:

So - is it unprofessional to turn up to a gig, unsure that you will be heard or will sound good to the audience?

As I say, in all other cases, the DB player has had a small amp, although at one gig, there was a power failure and the group carried on acoustically, lit by candles - as a trio of trumpet, DB and drums - although in this case the electric guitarist had to stand around twiddling his thumbs - guess they should have had a pianist eh!!! ;)
 
#43
Ah - but Brighton Jazz club owns a pretty good upright piano, that they look after very carefully.......

I do remember going to a small Jazz gig at a venue on Brighton seafront near the Palace Pier - that has since been knocked down! Anyway - the venue was more usually used by rock groups, but in an effort to deal with this, the trio of Sax, DB and drums had avoided the stage and set up in the middle of the room, so they were surrounded by the audience, rather than being up one end of the room and were playing completely acoustically.

Anyway - I got there late and standing by the bar, I could hear none of the band - they were completely drowned out by the noise at the bar and the audience around them - just occasionally, I got a hint of echoey, jumbled music reflected off the ceiling - but after a while I drank up and left, as there seemed no point to being there!! :hmm:

Never went back again!!
 
#44
Doesn't anyone here recall Christian McBride's experience with that well known bass pedagogue Wynton Marsalis? Hearing McBride play in his high school big band, The Omniesent One commanded young Christian to unplug, saying " you're a big guy, you can do it, you'll be heard, etc etc. Dazzled, he did as told, only to develop tendinitis from overplaying. McBride needed a six month layoff to heal. Seems relevant to this thread.
 
#45
shwashwa said:
i'm certianly no ledgend that's for damn sure... i'm just a regular guy trying to make some gigs in nyc. i'm sure most people havent heard of me. i can post a pic if you like..
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Hey Shwashwa when I posted my comment about my college days I was just letting you know my experience. As a teacher now I would not use that technique on everybody, but the guy working with me at the time was a great Jazz guy and I respected him so I tried it. It was an aggressive technique that worked for me. This thread was great and I learned a lot, but I do feel it is a personal thing. Many guys do not have great instruments, many do not have good pick ups or mics, many do not have to proper amp set up, and FAR too many do not know how to use the set up they have.

I think my teacher was trying to get me to have more of an old school kind of sound. That day he gave me recordings of Ray Brown and Mingus and told me to listen to them. I was just a kid and at the time this truly helped me.
 
#48
that's me.... the only down side is that i dont dare let anyone hear me complain about lugging gear. they make fun of me!!
fyi, kevin eubanks is quite the bodybuilder too...and i love his playing.

Marcus Johnson said:
C'mon, that's not really you! Bass players have pot bellies and circles under their eyes, from all the cigarettes and scotch for breakfast every day!

Or maybe I'm doing it wrong.
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#49
Marcus Johnson said:
C'mon, that's not really you! Bass players have pot bellies and circles under their eyes, from all the cigarettes and scotch for breakfast every day!

Or maybe I'm doing it wrong.
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I don't know, I'm getting a pretty good workout hefting my Woods and running for trains....
 
#52
GET OUT OF HERE!! seriously?? well, there goes my gimmick. i have to meet that guy. does he play upright?


Ray Parker said:
Oh. The guy I'm thinking of plays with Bill Sims. Jeez I suck at names. Anyhow, there's another body-building bass player in the city. That guy's freakin' huge, too. Built like you, but has to be better than 6'2" to boot.
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#55
I think moving a pile of Fender Twin amps (sans wheels) from one end of a lot to the back of a flat bed trcuk at the other should do it. Kinda like those nutty English T.V. Strong Man contests you see on late night TV now and then...
 
#59
yeah, thanks. i think that pic was taken while i was muting a string or something... i dont play flat like that. i have a decent classical technique that i learned from carolyn davis. anyone heard of her??

Ray Parker said:
Looking at the pic, if you put a little more arch in your left hand you could use far less effort gettings the strings down and find more center of tone and pitch to boot.
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#60
looking at that pic again it looks like i may have just played an interval of a fourth with my pinky. that's what my hand looks like when i pull it back to get the 4th across the strings. but thanks for the tip. i used to practice in front of a mirror to check out my hand positions. i should try it again sometime.


Ray Parker said:
Looking at the pic, if you put a little more arch in your left hand you could use far less effort gettings the strings down and find more center of tone and pitch to boot.
Click to expand...
 

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