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Double Bass New jazz bass video tutorial series

#101
After all kinds of technical issues, the third video is finally up:



It looks best on the 720 HD setting in the medium viewer. The video is really long because I wanted to cover 4 meat and potatoes left hand topics at once so that I could move on after this installment and cover some more advanced/interesting topics in the upcoming vids (which will all be shorter, single topic videos). I don't really expect anyone to sit and watch this one all the way through - it's more of a reference video on the issues it covers, mostly for beginners or people who want some basic technical perspective on these issues.

I'll copy the info in the indexing here just in case (also found on the video page):

Due to the length of this video (33 minutes), it has been indexed on screen by topic so that specific topics can be more easily found. The sequence of events topics in the video is as follows:

0:00 Bach cello suite excerpt and topic introduction
2:40 Introduction
4:18 Hand position basics
7:33 Connecting the left hand string stops to the larger muscle groups
11:38 Fixed position and Free/Vibrato position
22:12 Finger tips and finger pads
29:29 Summary
30:58 Donna Lee melodic example/demonstration of techniques
 
#108
Thanks for the feedback, fellas. The next couple of topics are already chosen, but I would welcome suggestions/ideas for future topics.

Huy - I've always felt/heard Bach's melodic conception while listening to bebop lines, especially in players like Bird and Kenny Barron. This summer I'll be designing and writing a jazz analysis course for the U. which is almost a comparative analysis course in this sense. The longer I play and teach music theory, the more I come to believe that music is just music, and that various styles are just putting different clothes on the frame(s). In western tonal music, I feel that there's a basic "algorhythm" for consonance and dissonance for each style, and that once the parameters are set for each style, a computer could write convincing lines in that style; I also firmly believe that it takes a living human to make any of it feel good.
 
#109
Yeah I kinda get that too. I think it's the same reason why I dig Bird so much - I hear that common musical conception that just makes it rise above any style or genre. That even if you took his music outside of the jazz context it still sounds great, like how you demonstrated.

I just took an arco lesson a couple weeks ago with Jim Kerwin (bass player for Dave Grisman Quartet) and he's working on a book for a bunch of bass tunes. He calls them all bass fiddle tunes and includes stuff like Donna Lee along with stuff from the Cello suites among his fiddle tunes (the two being different but ultimate fiddle tunes). Among that stuff is all sorts of other things ranging from Irish reels to Klezmer. I'm working through some of his material and he's really treating it all as just "great music". Really fascinating.
 
#114
I'm not very adept at bowing, but several things come to mind on this issue:

- strings and setup are a huge factor. A bass that is set up to play with a powerful pizzicato sound is often a very different thing than one that is optimized for blending in a section or playing chamber music.

- the arco player with the most gorgeous sound I've ever heard in person is Hal Robinson. I was lucky enough to be able to attend a masterclass he did at the university a few years back, and he talked a lot about using the body, gravity, and natural movement to be the centering force for both hands. There was a great demonstration where he talked about full left hand stops and sound. Whenever the student he was working with fell into the "3/4 stop trap", he'd ask them to play a long tone and then press on the stopping finger to help it create a true deep stop. The difference in the before and after sound was obvious. I think his intense awareness of this is a big part of the reason why he makes every student bass he picks up sing like a pedigreed master creation. It's the most full blooded sound I've ever heard, and the notes connect beautifully.

- When I played piano, the greatest teacher I ever had used to make me sustain my long notes with increased pressure (and occasionally even vibrato) on the key during the duration of the note, even though in the case of the piano neither of those things can physically have an effect on the sound. It worked in that situation because it created musical intent. It also made the playing of the instrument more physical and at the same time more intimate because of the emphasis on connectedness. On the bass, it's not uncommon at times for players to lighten up during difficult passages or at difficult tempos to the point where the lines don't speak as well because a part of the physical connection in the left hand is distracted and trying to keep up, and as a result the string stops are no longer complete ones. I personally almost always prefer the sound of complete stops, but more importantly I think it's important to be able to use complete stops in every conceivable situation, even if the music for whatever reason might not call for that sound at that moment. When you play with a bow, you can always change the sound with your right hand after the initial attack. When you play pizz, after the attack the control of the sound is solely in the left hand.
 
#116
DURRL, I think your points about arco just ring a bell for me since I started working on the stick o'pain in earnest. I have been messing around with playing Bird heads at a slow tempo and they certainly making intonation better regardless of the use of pizz/arco.

I'll focus on how much I stop the string the next time I'm at it.
 
#118
Finally got 30 more-or-less contiguous minutes in which to view this. Wonderful again, Chris, and I can't tell you how much I appreciate your style, in every sense -- the calmness of the approach to teaching, the precise yet rhythmically flowing technique, and not least the generosity of spirit required to provide this on an open forum.

Much respect.
 
#120
The playing is gorgeous, and I like the Klimt print AND what you are saying.. However - since it is a left hand tutorial: The bass teacher in me wants to see far more control over your pinky and just a lot tighter relationship between your left hand and neck.

I am not trying to split hairs - as a player it is working for you, as teacher I'd say it needs to be addressed.

Happy Holidays!
 

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