Playing upright style

[two fingers]

This is going to be hard to explain.....but I'll try.

Years ago (this one time at band camp)......

I was at a staff jazz band concert for East Carolina University. The guy on bass was actually a low brass professor. Has sat to play. He sat on his strap that was only hooked at the end of the body....not on the upper horn of the bass. The back of the body rested against the outside of his right thigh. The front of the bass faced to his right. The neck of the bass was in front of him facing to his right. He alternated between plucking upright style and regular finger electric bass style. It was a 60s Jazz bass with flats. Sounded fantastic. If this makes no sense at all let me know and I'll try to replicate it with a pic later.

 

[jsbarber]

I had a Steinberger L2 Fretless bass, (which I just sold two weeks ago), which has a bracket on the back that attaches through a single bolt. The strap attaches to the bracket and you can rotate the bass into horizontal or near vertial position. Something like this might work well for you.

 

[Fergie Fulton]

I learned playing bass on an upright. For a few years now I have been messing around with fretless electric guitars but I find myself gravitating toward the upright position when playing. Most often at home I stand the bass on the back of my living room couch and play it pretty much vertically. I have tried a guitar strap but it just feels uncomfortable and the full weight of the instrument is on me. I find the position to be very limiting as well. Classical guitar players sit and use an upright position, why not bass?

Has anyone seen someone play an electric bass in the upright position? Is there possibly a stand made that allows this playing position?

Yes i have done it myself on many occasions, but it's a gimmick or "for show" if you will.
The point of a bass guitar is it is a guitar before it is aby sort of bass.
If you cannot get to grips with its playing demands get some lessons, it is not that hard once you understand you are playing a guitar and not a bass.

 

[Atshen]

Someone mentionned Jim Fielder. Notice where's his strap button:

 

[Mansa]

I learned playing bass on an upright. For a few years now I have been messing around with fretless electric guitars but I find myself gravitating toward the upright position when playing. Most often at home I stand the bass on the back of my living room couch and play it pretty much vertically. I have tried a guitar strap but it just feels uncomfortable and the full weight of the instrument is on me. I find the position to be very limiting as well. Classical guitar players sit and use an upright position, why not bass?

Has anyone seen someone play an electric bass in the upright position? Is there possibly a stand made that allows this playing position?

 

[Low Down Brown]

View attachment 7467199View attachment 7467200

Pretty neat. Can you explain this setup? I wouldn't mind trying that myself.

 

[bass player 53]

There was/is a local Latin band here in Tallahassee, where the singer and bassist plays like this:

WFSU Music & The Arts | Tocamos Mas: Tu No Sabes | Gradstock 2016

It looks like he has a crutch tip on the bottom of a straight pole.

 

[Les Fret]

If you want to play this way why not just get a 34" scale electric upright?

 

[dlmarquez]

the original Gibson EB-1 from the early 50’s came with an endpin. The Takamine TB10 is a current bass that comes standard with an endpin. not unheard of, but not common either

 

[Feral Feline]

I know it's a really old thread but...

Any bass played in an upright position is hardly a "gimmick", as one commenter opined, for those with back-problems — or anyone that simply wants to play it that way.

The whole "point of a bass guitar" was to make playing BASS easier, NOT for it to be first and foremost a "guitar".

If one cannot get to grips with others' playing demands and the concept of "to each their own", maybe refrain from commenting altogether. Seems constructive to say "get some lessons", BUT the player may already be taking lessons. Perhaps the player is quite an accomplished musician who sustained an injury requiring changing the way the instrument needs to be played. It is not that hard to be understanding, and to discern that how you play your "guitar" is not how everyone else wants/needs to play their bass.



There's no need, even, to have a bad back, other ailment or any logical reason to put your bass on a stand and play it vertically — might just like it that way, full stop.


Do whatever it takes, people, to stay healthy (physically & mentally) and happily playing your bass however you damn well please.