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Double Bass other instruments?
- Thread starter chrismmc
- Start date
I don't currently play enough BG to call myself a bass guitarist. I do a few sessions here and there, maybe a half dozen a year.
Guitar...played it professionally a looooong time ago, along with bass, but the bass work just took over. Everybody's a guitar player
Piano...enough to write from, that's it.
I majored in trumpet in college. Lip is officially gone. Really enjoyed that while it lasted. It seems there are a lot of double bassists who used to play trumpet.
Guitar...played it professionally a looooong time ago, along with bass, but the bass work just took over. Everybody's a guitar player
Piano...enough to write from, that's it.
I majored in trumpet in college. Lip is officially gone. Really enjoyed that while it lasted. It seems there are a lot of double bassists who used to play trumpet.
I was a jazz pianist before picking up DB. I hope to have time to become one again someday, but right now the bass demands my attention. 
Drums are the other instrument that I have any proficiency on (other than DB and EB), but I'm trying to learn piano and tried saxophone for a while until my jaw disagreed with it.
I'm taking some bass viol da gamba lessons; it's like having a cello with frets. I practice the piano about three times a week.
I play piano, albeit a bit sloppily. I learn tunes and compose on it. I also play Hammond Organ.
I can play Rock Drums too! And some guitar, harmonica, vocals.
Can anyone tell what I was like as a kid before I took up DB?
I can play Rock Drums too! And some guitar, harmonica, vocals.
Can anyone tell what I was like as a kid before I took up DB?
Everyone should have basic keyboard skills if they are serious about music. It's just mandatory. I play or have played piano, organ, synth, electric guitar, steel string acoustic, classical guitar, uke, clarienet, marimba, xylophone, marching snare drum, drumset and violin. What I realy want to learn is the Tuba/Sousaphone so I can double in Trad jazz bands.
Jon
Jon
jneuman said:
Same here. Even Bass Sax.
And thus continues my fetish with really expensive big instruments......
Even though it's still just a bass guitar, I do play the 6-string version. Besides the obvious, it's basically the same as a regular BG but I can play a good amount of clean chords on it and have more tapping freedom.
Last Saturday I bought a penny whistle.
I learned it in a half hour. 
I play guitar and drums too, but I guess that is an inevitability once you've played in a jazz band for long enough and/or have played the BG for long enough given all the music theory you learn and the experience of playing with a drummer for a long time.
Last Saturday I bought a penny whistle.
I learned it in a half hour. I play guitar and drums too, but I guess that is an inevitability once you've played in a jazz band for long enough and/or have played the BG for long enough given all the music theory you learn and the experience of playing with a drummer for a long time.
I play tuba, baritone horn, piano, and a little guitar, plus i like to sing in men's quartets. Bass is my main instrument, however.
In addition to BG, I play drums, congas and various other percussion instruments on a regular basis. I used to play trombone (many years ago) from age nine to twenty. Also, I have basic piano skills. I was teaching myself the piano when I was five. My parents set me up with lessons when I was six, but my instructor would only let me play scales, never "letting" me play any songs. I got discouraged and quit. I should have kept with it and played my music (on my own time). Actually, my parents should never have let me quit so soon.
Augh... I was forced to play piano since age 5. I was into Scott Joplin piano rags bigtime by age 21. Then I dropped the whole thing, went to guitar, then to accordion (what was I thinking?!? 
) then back to guitar, then to brazilian hand percussion (agogo, tamborim, shaker, repinique, conga, surdo), back to guitar, then to slab bass, and finally to DB. Phew! I messed around with other crap but to no level of significance (blues harmonica, berimbau, pandeiro - a tamborine to everyone else, and conch shell - ha!).
I'm glad to say that my long search is over!!! About ready to sell all of my other instruments. Anybody want a handmade italian accordion?
anyone?!?!
) then back to guitar, then to brazilian hand percussion (agogo, tamborim, shaker, repinique, conga, surdo), back to guitar, then to slab bass, and finally to DB. Phew! I messed around with other crap but to no level of significance (blues harmonica, berimbau, pandeiro - a tamborine to everyone else, and conch shell - ha!).I'm glad to say that my long search is over!!! About ready to sell all of my other instruments. Anybody want a handmade italian accordion?
anyone?!?! 
John Sprague
Sam Shen's US Distributor
- Mar 10, 2003
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- Sales Manager, CSC Products Inc.
I've played guitar for some 20 years in different settings and trumpet at home (mainly to annoy my kids , gotta get back at 'em), and a little piano. But now I've quit practise on these instruments (will probably increase my freebop playing skills), and taken up bow studies instead. 
When I grow up I wanna be a symphony player! (But dear, you can't do both things... or was that the jazz musician joke?)
, gotta get back at 'em), and a little piano. But now I've quit practise on these instruments (will probably increase my freebop playing skills), and taken up bow studies instead. When I grow up I wanna be a symphony player! (But dear, you can't do both things... or was that the jazz musician joke?)
I had piano lessons as a kid, and have played on and off since then. In high school (in England) I played Bassoon in the school and county youth orchestras.
As a teen I took one year of classical guitar lessons, and then picked up electric bass when all my friends wanted to be Richie Blackmore (or Jimmy Page, or something...)
This year a combination of low workload and a bit of extra money (from last years very high workload) allowed me to start playing DB, and it's been an adventure - to say the least.
I have two small kids, and my next step is to buy them a piano (they may limit my practice time, but they give me a good excuse to have a piano in the house again).
As a teen I took one year of classical guitar lessons, and then picked up electric bass when all my friends wanted to be Richie Blackmore (or Jimmy Page, or something...)
This year a combination of low workload and a bit of extra money (from last years very high workload) allowed me to start playing DB, and it's been an adventure - to say the least.
I have two small kids, and my next step is to buy them a piano (they may limit my practice time, but they give me a good excuse to have a piano in the house again).
Classical guitar and bass guitar since 11. Clarinet and sax from 11 to 18. Trumpet from 12 to 20, and still on-and-off. Rudimentary keyboard and drum skills, but I'm working on those.
I was a tuba major in college and still play(it's my mental health instrument). Something about the charge you get from doing things like Gabrieli antiphonal and Bach organ pieces with brass that you can't quite get anywhere else.
