Double Bass Starting again advice

[MisterBeagle]

No, not as in starting after a 15 year break.
I left about 4 weeks ago to fly out to Hawaii for a month-long vacation. Of course, my bass doesn't qualify for any type of luggage (not that I would- I've heard horror stories), so I've pretty much been unable to practice for the last 4 weeks. It was like torture. I just got back, and after my first practice I'm faced with a few problems, mostly about intonation. I'm pretty sure that everything'll be restored after enough time, but I have auditions for SRO in a month and I don't want to waste any time. I'm sure that this is just the life of a bassist, but I'd really appreciate it if anybody could a) give any advice or any things they do to get back in the swing of things and b) advise wether or not to work on intonation before playing pieces, or just play and let the intonation return over time.

Thanks in advance for any replies

 

[Cory Palmer]

Working on scales slowly is a great way to get back into playing after a long break. Work on anything that is giving you intonation problems slowly. Don't set up bad habits by trying to play your audition material at tempo when you know there are issues that need to be cleaned up.

 

[JimGullen]

+1

If you can't play it slowly, you can't play it fast.

Start out with long-tone scales and then scale sequences (eg. C-D,D-E,E-F,...)

You might also want to pick one of your pieces for the audition and confine your practice sessions, initially, to a single key. Start out with scales and arpeggios in the key, then find an etude in the same key to work on and then move to the audition piece.

Good luck and best regards!

Jim