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Double Bass New to rockabilly and double bass

outoftune

outoftune

Supporting Member
Nov 30, 2011
1,447
3,866
Pennsylvania
#1
Hi all, new forum user here and I am also new to the double bass. I have been a long time rock and metal bassist and am trying to transition into rockabilly - psychobilly style. Why? Because as a bassist I want to expand and it is just plain awesome style of music.
I have a cheap china made double bass that I picked up from Guitar Center. I took it immediately to a local music shop and had it looked over and set up. From what I know, it feels pretty good to play and noodle around on. So after all that, I am asking for advice, what to expect and how others may have transitioned into double bass. Thanks all.
 
#2
I'm no expert, been playing only for a year, so please take this with a grain of salt:

Double bass and slapping is so different from what you're used to on the electric bass, you will have to un-learn and re-learn all of your technique.

If you want to learn slapping without a teacher, buy Didi Beck's book and DVD "Rockabilly Slap Bass".

What strings are you using? Most psychobilly slappers prefer nylon or gut strings. I play rockabilly and I'm using Jargar steel strings, which are nice, but I'm considering switching to gut.
 
#5
I play some rockabilly songs in my western Swing group and the same rules apply in rockabilly as other music. You can't go wrong with a 1-3-5-3 arpeggio.

I'm not knocking it but I never bothered to learn to slap and concentrated more on learning how to accurately play chord tones to build walking bass lines on the double bass.

BASS Player Lesson Ten
 
#9
I started playing upright after being an electric bassist for many years...mostly playing Blues and Swing stuff. For me taking some lessons with some Jazz bass teachers really did help me get some fundamental technique together, and I learned a lot about how to approach lines on the instrument (it really is very different). Learning a different fingering system was hard at first, but it got easier...and now my electric playing is much better as well, I use traditional upright fingering on the upright and a hybrid combination on the electric. Later I studied with a Classical teacher for a while, which kicked my ass and really helped me too! I'm still workin' on the slap thing...heck, I'm still working on it all, and I probably will be for the rest of my life, but that's one of the things I like about it.
 

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