Double Bass Just a few days with an EUB - already getting heckled

[damonsmith]

You are who you are. You play what you play. Play it well and to hell with the rest.

That is pretty much right. I think we should not just try to replicate the double bass but also try to let an EUB have it's own character.
My Ergo amplifies cleaner, it was great for a very vigorous outdoor gig on Sunday.
So try to get a warm, full sound out of it, but also try to find something else the acoustic bass does not give you.

 

[Huy Nguyen]

EUBs can sound like acoustic basses, but not if played like this:
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Notice the BG-style 3rd-finger.

3rd finger? Uh.... hasn't NHOP been doing that before the BG even got to prominence? Besides, the way he's looking at his fingers and his stance/approach to the bass, you can tell he's not a DB player. What the ****'s he looking for?

Anyways, yes there is stuff you cannot do on DB. It is quite easy to do a BG style slap/pop on an NSD. There is a youtube clip of it somewhere and it's pretty cool for what it is, mainly because the string heights are so low. For myself, I have been getting this half-electricky sound from my Yamaha. Just a big blossoming bass note that is very even, sustained, and mellow - just awesome for low volume type stuff when I'm comping for someone else. To a certain extent, I prefer it to what I get from my DB but I do like having the variety. Reminds me of the sound Buster Williams gets but not so rubbery since I don't use the black Labella strings.

 

[buddyro57]

You are who you are. You play what you play. Play it well and to hell with the rest.

That should become our mantra!

 

[damonsmith]

3rd finger? Uh.... hasn't NHOP been doing that before the BG even got to prominence? Besides, the way he's looking at his fingers and his stance/approach to the bass, you can tell he's not a DB player. What the ****'s he looking for?

Anyways, yes there is stuff you cannot do on DB. It is quite easy to do a BG style slap/pop on an NSD. There is a youtube clip of it somewhere and it's pretty cool for what it is, mainly because the string heights are so low. For myself, I have been getting this half-electricky sound from my Yamaha. Just a big blossoming bass note that is very even, sustained, and mellow - just awesome for low volume type stuff when I'm comping for someone else. To a certain extent, I prefer it to what I get from my DB but I do like having the variety. Reminds me of the sound Buster Williams gets but not so rubbery since I don't use the black Labella strings.

3rd finger on the left hand - but he could be using the Billie technique however doubtful.
Yeah, I have been going for a Reggie Workmann/Fred Hopkins sound, the Ergo I have through the GK stays pretty woody, but the last gig I did I really pushed the highs since it was outside and got a nice, '70s upright sound.
It was fun, almost like a soulnote record.

 

[nathanmcnathan]

I wouldn't mind having an EUB... different sound, and probably much more convenient for when I go to college... I like the ergos, they sound better than a lot of the higher-end models. Only problem for me is the lack of the big acoustic body, which I need to play in my method.

 

[Huy Nguyen]

3rd finger on the left hand - but he could be using the Billie technique however doubtful.

Oh... left hand. I read too fast and was thinking right hand.

Yeah, I assume it's simply that that guy is an EB player who's using his 3rd finger cuz he's an EB player. Most of the people on the NSD artists list have terrible form. Interesting tho, Tye Zamora's form looks halfway decent unlike the other bassists save for guys like Jim Creegan (who is a strong DB player).

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

I think the fact that Tony Levin was one of the first to take up the NS basses, inspired a lot of rock bass guitarists to pick one up - in the same way they might get a new effects pedal.....

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

I got my Ergo a few days ago and it's a lot of fun. Already though, I have had 2 instructors and 1 non-musician give me guff over getting an EUB rather than a "real bass". The non-musician used to date a bass player, so she obviously has just taken on all of his prejudices, but still, she told me it was the lamest thing she'd ever heard of (a fan of hyperbole), although she never saw or heard the actual bass. I need to get some rosin and I'm fearing talking to my only local doublebass dealer, expecting to have him talk to me like I'm an idiot for playing the instrument I do. I have been looking for instructors, but the responses I've received have all been of the "What? Why?" type, sometimes going into great detail about why this was a dumb move.

Is this something you guys get a lot? I know my reasons for getting an EUB, and there really was no other choice for me. I have no regrets. But it is a little nerve-racking having everybody look at me like a fool for playing a particular instrument. I guess this is what it's like to be a claves player.

Screw the naysayers. It's great that you've embarked on a new instrument, and through it are deciding to continue to grow as a player/musician. The only "idiots" in this scenario are the naysayers. Keep doing what you do. You have my respect. I wish I could afford an EUB. Someday... someday...

There are players, bands and teachers receptive to the EUB. Seek them out.

Good luck to you.

 

[burnunit]

I saw the Basie Band in 1990 with Cleveland Eaton playing a Clevinger, of course he would never record with it, but in a live situation, the bass sounded fine, and was probably much more consistent from room to room than the wood.

You won't meet a nicer guy than Cleve Eaton. I have seen him in the late 90s playing a Baby Bass and a cello(!). He was working that cello out.

 

[Taylor Livingston]

Screw the naysayers. It's great that you've embarked on a new instrument, and through it are deciding to continue to grow as a player/musician. The only "idiots" in this scenario are the naysayers. Keep doing what you do. You have my respect. I wish I could afford an EUB. Someday... someday...

There are players, bands and teachers receptive to the EUB. Seek them out.

Good luck to you.

Thanks for the encouraging words. If you haven't, you should check out the Invalid Link Removed. Very affordable. I'm liking mine a lot.

Although I use my 3rd finger... Seems to be a bit of EUB snobbery even in this very thread, but oh well.

 

[buddyro57]

You won't meet a nicer guy than Cleve Eaton. I have seen him in the late 90s playing a Baby Bass and a cello(!). He was working that cello out

Yes sir, Cleveland was laying those quarter notes down. The Clevinger actually sounded great, it was only when he played solos that you became aware that it was an EUB. I would like to have one of those puppies but they are spendy.

 

[Thunderthumbs73]

Thanks for the encouraging words. If you haven't, you should check out the Invalid Link Removed. Very affordable. I'm liking mine a lot.

Although I use my 3rd finger... Seems to be a bit of EUB snobbery even in this very thread, but oh well.

Yes, I have checked them out. Bookmarked, in fact. When I get the money, I'm very tempted. This, coming from someone who already has both an upright bass, as well as a Fender Jazz fretless, and wants something "in-between" so to speak...

 

[Basseroni]

I tried out an Eminence at NAMM this year and I tell you, that is the most "real" feeling and looking portable upright out there IMHO. I don't want to classify it as an EUB because it's not electric at all. It's acoustic just like a DB but with a smaller body and the string length is similar to a 3/4 DB. I'm torn over getting this one or a DB as my first upright due to portability issues.

 

[Gordon of Eden]

I used to get alot of compliments and positive attention when I would break out the KYDD on acoustic gigs and for specific songs in bigger shows (of course everyone asked if they could look through my telescope ). I really can't imagine lugging around a DB. It's really not my instrument, the EUB is perfect for the amount I use it. I wouldn't even care if someone gave me crap about it. I just find them enjoyable to play. I have recently sold the 4 and am saving up for a 5'er.

 

[jcater]

The comment about the electric piano is so true. How can anyone moan about an EUB whilst the piano player is using an electric piano.
i have a double bass as well as an aria lite swb1. The sound from the Aria is more consistent than the double bass & easier to adjust for the differences in the venue / playing area.
Many double bass players that i admire in the semi pro area, all of whom have better technique tham i will ever have, do not consistently achieve a good sound. Feedback or booming bass notes seem to be common problems. The EUB seems to me to eliminate these problems whilst giving an overall good sound, clearly the tone is not exactly that of a double bass at it's best, but how often in small clubs & pubs does a double bass manage to sound at it's best.
The EUB does not have the same visual effect as a double bass but when operating in the semi pro / amateur arena playing little pub / club gigs surely the sound should matter more than the image. If anyone wants to be that purist then every venue will have to be equipped with a piano on site & presumably guitar players will stop using effects pedals.

jeff

 

[6stringbassist]

I find it so weird that jazz musicians can be so 'traditional' and narrow minded when it comes to instruments such as the EUB.

It is afterall 2008, not 1958, why do they continue to want to live in the past, and to keep everyone else there too, there's a place for both EUB and DB, neither is better than the other, just different.

I'm used to small mindedness, I've had to put up with it regards me playing a 6 string from electric bass players.

Tony Levin is fantastic, his biography looks like a 'who's who' of the worlds top musicians from the last 30 years.

He's a marvelous bass player, very inventive and creative, listen to any album by Peter Gabriel.
I love his playing on his NS instruments.

 

[AndreasH]

Eberhard Weber has played EUB with high C since the 70's, wonder if ever got these things

 

[Taylor Livingston]

I find it so weird that jazz musicians can be so 'traditional' and narrow minded when it comes to instruments such as the EUB.

This is very true, especially since jazz was at one point all about shattering everyone's preconceptions about music. I am always so befuddled that jazz is such a closed-minded world, considering its origins as crazy avant-garde music for wild young people. Here in New Orleans, the traditionalism of the Marsalises looms heavily. I'm sure in other places, this attitude is less prevalent.

Thankfully I don't play jazz and am not trying to be a part of that scene, so I don't really care about impressing those guys.

 

[Huy Nguyen]

Lots of people are still stuck in 1965 - as if nothing good has come since then. But as a player of both, the DB certainly does have a powerful organic sound that is hard to beat for most things. It's just extremely versatile and the sound never gets old.

 

[D.A.R.K.]

"to defy the laws of tradition is a crusade only of the brave"
funny to quote for me, since i'm not a huge fan of the player.
eub is not db or bg, it is a hybrid, taking elements from both instruments and incorporating it into something new.
the technical development necessary to take full advantage of the eub will depend greatly on that instruments bulid. my ns is worlds away from the clevinger, kydd and carruthers basses i've had.
i use the 3rd finger on my left hand with the ns..... because i can, and it widens my palette of musical options. this wasn't an possibility on a few of the others. i may receive some skepticism initially on the look from time to time, but after hearing it and picking their jaws up off the floor,
it's nothing but compliments.
your naysayers apparently just don't get it, you are probably better off sharing time with forward thinking people.