Double Bass Messiest Office/Studio/Practice Room Contest

[Chris Fitzgerald]

@Don Kasper The picture is a Magritte that I fell in love with 25 years ago. Some paintings just slay me and I can never say why exactly... they just do. The stringless P Bass is a project. I set it up there to remind me to string it up with some flats and get a new pick guard this summer. By having to look at it like that, it will gradually annoy me until...

P.S. - your glass needs cleaning!

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

In all seriousness, I have a theory about the yin and yang of brain types and the relation to orderliness. It's not an either-or, but more like poles on a spectrum, and most people tend to lean one way or the other.

Organized minds/brains - are internally orderly, so they don't need external organization in order to find things and keep track of them. These people tend toward visual disorder because they don't have to care what something looks like; they have their file system in their head.

Disorganized minds/brains - are internally chaotic and disorganized, which requires external organization by way of compensation, otherwise they can't find anything, feel out of control, and can't function until they know where things are.

My grandfather was an amazing example of the former type. My grandmother was an extreme neat freak, so most of the house was immaculately organized and spotless. But he had two domains that were his: his office, and the non-parking space in the 2 3/4 car garage, both of which looked like a bomb had gone off in them. He lived in Lexington, about 80 minutes from Louisville, and in his later years he had a stroke that left his mind intact but his right side too weak to walk. He lived his last 12 years in a nursing home, where his room looked like his office (much to the chagrin of the staff). Because I was his closest family, I used to drive up once a week during those years to see him, take him shopping, and run errands for him; he was always great company and I looked forward to these trips because I could get him to talk about obscure family history, of which he had an amazingly detailed memory.

Anyway, during this time I was frequently asked to go retrieve some document or other from his office from the house and bring it to him at the home. The instructions invariably went something like this: "There are four large piles of papers on the floor to the left of the desk. Go to the third pile, about 2/3 of the way down, and you'll see a green sheaf of paper with a picture of a boat on it. Two papers below that, there's a two page financial document. Bring that to me." And it was always right where he said it would be, even after he had not been in the house for a decade. It was like a magic trick.

And I can't find a single thing unless the room is clean, and will lose my mind looking for it until I finally give up and clean the room until I find it...and when I do, I'll continue to clean the room until it's done so this doesn't happen again.

 

[nutdog]

What about messy people that can’t find anything? Asking for a friend.

 

[Groove Doctor]

In all seriousness, I have a theory about the yin and yang of brain types and the relation to orderliness. It's not an either-or, but more like poles on a spectrum, and most people tend to lean one way or the other.

Organized minds/brains - are internally orderly, so they don't need external organization in order to find things and keep track of them. These people tend toward visual disorder because they don't have to care what something looks like; they have their file system in their head.

Disorganized minds/brains - are internally chaotic and disorganized, which requires external organization by way of compensation, otherwise they can't find anything, feel out of control, and can't function until they know where things are.

....I can't find a single thing unless the room is clean, and will lose my mind looking for it until I finally give up and clean the room until I find it...and when I do, I'll continue to clean the room until it's done so this doesn't happen again.

I’m a bit of both extremes of that spectrum. Tidy where it helps me, loose when it doesn’t.

I can also be efficient, direct & to the point, then daydream for an hour or more.
I can make concrete travel plans, then be flexible and spontaneously improvise my way around a city like a local.

Edit: I’m rather impartial about most things, seeing both sides of every situation. One mate regularly tells me I’m “Gray by name, grey by nature.”

 

[rickwolff]

@Don Kasper The picture is a Magritte that I fell in love with 25 years ago. Some paintings just slay me. The stringless P Bass is a project. I set it up there to remind me to string it up with some flats and get a new pick guard this summer. By having to look at it like that, it will gradually annoy me until...

P.S. - your glass needs cleaning!

So, Chris, what color pick guard for the P bass? Tort? (Oh, crap. I must have stumbled over to the other side).

 

[Groove Doctor]

View attachment 3476278
!

How’s the Rob Allen Mouse 30” going Chris. Feeling at home on her by now? Last I heard it was strung with TI JF strings (B-G tuned up to E-C).

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

So, Chris, what color pick guard for the P bass? Tort? (Oh, crap. I must have stumbled over to the other side).

Funny you should ask - I actually can't decide between black and tort! I also need to figure out what are the highest tension flats I can find for it. Also, see below re:ramps...

How’s the Rob Allen Mouse 30” going Chris. Feeling at home on her by now? Last I heard it was strung with TI JF strings (B-G tuned up to E-C).

I hardly ever play it because the difference between BG technique and DB technique is too much to juggle. Somewhere on my to-do list is to figure out a way to equip it with a ramp that won't mar the top. If I like that, I'll keep it. If not, I guess I'll sell it. I would rather keep it because it's really nice, but no time to practice two such contrasting techniques, and DB will always win that contest. It still has the crazy string set.

Obviously, attaching a ramp to the P bass would be a much easier proposition. Just stick the sucker on there with 2 sided tape!

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

I’m a bit of both extremes of that spectrum. Tidy where it helps me, loose when it doesn’t.

I can also be efficient, direct & to the point, then daydream for an hour or more.
I can make concrete travel plans, then be flexible and spontaneously improvise my way around a city like a local.

Me too, actually, and I think most people are like this in some ways. In my case I practice obsessively, usually in 12 keys, focusing on technique and analyzing changes that flummox me and looping them at stoopid slow tempos to internalize them. But when it's time to play, it goes best when I turn my brain completely off and just react to the sounds the other players are putting out. In an ideal situation, this means never being aware of the name or function of any note played, and feels much more like improvised singing than any other description I can think of.

It takes all types to make the world turn!

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Check out this guy's "office"....

Exactly! That was my grandfather's office and I also have two colleagues at the U with office spaces like that. We openly laugh at each other when we pass the office of the other. One of them made a funny physical comedy routine out of it some years back, pretending to be repelled away from the open door of my office when he passed, as though we were two magnets pushing each other away. What made it funnier is that he's not what I consider a "funny" person by nature, but I mimicked the gesture when passing his office for months afterward. Good times.

One last funny story about the office at the U: When I first moved in, I set up the office as much like my music room at home as possible - lamps instead of the ugly overhead fluorescents, plants, the whole 9 yards. A long tenured professor from the floor above whom I did not know passed by the office one day, did a double take, then came back to stand in the doorway to look around. He finally introduced himself, shook my hand, then informed me that "you have the second most metrosexual office in the entire school of music".

 

[unbrokenchain]

I keep it in a "moderate" state of organization, but maybe there's a category for most pita practice space... mine's dark, the end of a byzantine journey through tight doorways, never gets "clean" no matter how I try, and perpetually moist. I have one dehumidifier that makes it hot and another that makes it cold. They battle each other and the moisture. I'm moving soon, looking forward

... I also need to figure out what are the highest tension flats I can find for it...

I've been liking Chromes, but if you want high tension on BG go for DR "Legend" flats. Super stiff.

 

[J_Bass]

@Chris Fitzgerald , can you explain this, please:

Highest tension flats? Rotosound 77. A little less, D'Addario Chromes, Fender 9050M.






Oh, almost, forgot, TORT!

 

[Tom Lane]

I think Lynn has you beat.

Exactly! That was my grandfather's office and I also have two colleagues at the U with office spaces like that. We openly laugh at each other when we pass the office of the other. One of them made a funny physical comedy routine out of it some years back, pretending to be repelled away from the open door of my office when he passed, as though we were two magnets pushing each other away. What made it funnier is that he's not what I consider a "funny" person by nature, but I mimicked the gesture when passing his office for months afterward. Good times.

One last funny story about the office at the U: When I first moved in, I set up the office as much like my music room at home as possible - lamps instead of the ugly overhead fluorescents, plants, the whole 9 yards. A long tenured professor from the floor above whom I did not know passed by the office one day, did a double take, then came back to stand in the doorway to look around. He finally introduced himself, shook my hand, then informed me that "you have the second most metrosexual office in the entire school of music".

Now I gotta know: who had the first?

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

@J_Bass D'oh! I was hoping nobody would catch that. In truth, I had just moved the stand from the practice space over by the mirror so I could take the pictures, and the Bach must have shifted in transit. So embarassaing...

@Tom Lane re: Lynn - which way, though? The most metrosexual office, according to the gentleman in question, was occupied by a now-retired professor who dressed immaculately, went to great lengths not to show any signs of aging (always tan, jet black hair and eyebrows into his late 60's when he retired, etc.), and had an expensive oriental rug in the middle of his office. Honestly, if it were not for the clothes, I think I might have gotten first place!

Will check out the strings recommended, thanks!

Also just a note that neatness and germaphobia do not always go hand in hand. I had a student who used to tease me about my office, accusing me several times of also being a germaphobe by association. I finally decided to put the matter to rest, and the next time he mentioned it I unwrapped a peppermint, dropped it on the carpet of my office, went on talking to him for another 30 seconds about something unrelated, then picked it up and popped it in my mouth and went on to his lesson material. He never brought up germaphobia again, except to tell the story to others at my gigs about what a gross thing that was to do .

 

[Don Kasper]

a Magritte that I fell in love with 25 years ago. Some paintings just slay me and I can never say why exactly...

Hmmm...Maybe you like the Magritte because the couple in the painting is blindfolded and are incapable of judging (you, or,) the cleanliness of your room?
Well, our time is up... Think about it, and we'll pick this up at your next session.
Thanks.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

@Don Kasper I think I understand some of the things I love about the Magritte, but they definitely don't belong in this thread. Like many of Guayasamin's paintings I recently saw in Ecuador, they speak of the human condition in general as much as they do the actual subject of the paintings. I'll stop there before you charge overtime for the use of the couch.

And now....more messy studios, anyone? Enquiring eyes are ready to be covered.

 

[Groove Doctor]

Me too, actually, and I think most people are like this in some ways. In my case I practice obsessively, usually in 12 keys, focusing on technique and analyzing changes that flummox me and looping them at stoopid slow tempos to internalize them. But when it's time to play, it goes best when I turn my brain completely off and just react to the sounds the other players are putting out. In an ideal situation, this means never being aware of the name or function of any note played, and feels much more like improvised singing than any other description I can think of.

It takes all types to make the world turn!

Reminds me of this

Invalid Link Removed


https://i.pinimg.com/originals/27/4b/0e/274b0eb1bfc9df88b041e97800343190.jpg

 

[J_Bass]

Very messy for my taste, but (I hope) not enough to win the contest:

This is the top floor of my house, I'm the only one who uses it. The double bass, piano and two more basses are not there:

 

[rickwolff]

Very messy for my taste, but (I hope) not enough to win the contest:

This is the top floor of my house, I'm the only one who uses it. The double bass, piano and two more basses are not there:

View attachment 3476885

View attachment 3476886

No, not very messy,

Do you have places to store the 'stuff' that appears to be just kind of 'lying around'? That was my difficulty. I solved it by putting a bunch of storage bins on a small bookshelf, but it doesn't look like you have the amount of junk I had to put away.

 

[J_Bass]

No, not very messy,

Do you have places to store the 'stuff' that appears to be just kind of 'lying around'? That was my difficulty. I solved it by putting a bunch of storage bins on a small bookshelf, but it doesn't look like you have the amount of junk I had to put away.

That's curious, because I saw your post earlier and I thought to myself "that's a good idea for keeping things organized".

The double bass is in the living room, my wife approves because it looks like part of the furniture. And then, there is always something "bassy" when you open a drawer or look at a corner:

I like to read about Jazz almost as much as like like to listen ou play it.

 

[rickwolff]

I see you are in Porto, Portugal. I'd love to visit Portugal (maybe even stay for a while). How is the Jazz scene there?

It's been very hot and humid here. I would love to have an extended visit to someplace cooler and drier. I found it interesting comparing the climate where you are and where I am.

climate porto portugal - Google Search

climate raleigh nc - Google Search