Starting to play DB on the cheap, injury-free

Plan A all the way! The difference between a $600 bass and $1500 bass can be monumental, and you will need to spend up to have a $600 set up to be playable in any event.

 

As you progress, new questions will arise. It is impossible to solve problems in advance for the first 5-10 lessons. Problems with posture and injuries occur even among experienced players.
Do you want a double bass or do you want to play it? Perhaps the best plan will be C: find a teacher and spend money on their studies.

 

There is a plan D too: take lessons and rent a bass: in a few months you will be able to know if you are comfortable and want to own a bass or just leave

 

^^This^^

I'd say get started while you have strong enthusiasm. And don't let DB ownership be your waiting point. A lot can happen while waiting for 3-5 years. If you're renting for 3-5 years, you can be making huge progress with lessons and with skills, and you can also be targeting yourself for the purchase of a potential life-time double bass.

 

I talked to a local teacher, and her advice was: take lessons and rent a bass for at least half a year. After this you'll know if you want to proceed, and what you should invest in a good DB.

 

So far I'm the only one who voted "Yes, but only if [advice]."

Perhaps it's because I never had a single lesson in double bass or bass guitar, and I've had a moderately-successful run over almost 50 years. Other than right-hand blisters, I've never injured myself from playing.
That said, there are "holes" in my technique: This past week I had an epiphany regarding how much easier the left hand becomes when I keep my elbow up! Beginner stuff. So, subjectively, I think the issue is not so much injury as proper technique - learning it from the start so you don't have to unlearn bad habits later.

But I came to double bass already proficient on bass guitar, so knowledge of scales and harmony was already there. You didn't say whether you already have some skills on other instruments, like guitar, bass guitar, or piano, or whether you would have to start from ground zero musically.

I'll add my +1 for renting and lessons for awhile.

 

Take some lessons on a rented bass for 6 months or so. I had a Kay that I used while taking lessons, but the basses in the rehearsal room at Ball State were SO much better than the Kay I had (which also needed set up in the worst way) that I was discouraged from continuing at the time. The Hofner-built laminate bass I own now is a lot better to start with, and I've learned how to do set up work, and it plays so much better, that it's a lot more fun to play.
BTW, the italics came on by itself, no significance there at all.
Buy a good bass from a good shop, it's worth the money to do so.

 

... And btw, you can teach yourself to bow, but a good teacher can teach you usually much better, usually in much less time. Life is short, and btw, many teachers start with the bow, it encourages better intonation practice.

 

I'm mostly self taught, had two semesters of lessons in college that were challenging, and a few one-offs since then, but honestly never really had instruction in body posture and hand technique beyond 1-2-4, also zero arco. Never thought I would need or want to play with a bow. I did end up with a left hand injury from bad technique and it was a real bummer. Managed to get past it and learned better technique for myself, and now am absolutely loving playing with the bow, it's 95% of what I do at home (though like 1% of what I do professionally..). I'm happy to be where I'm at, but I'm absolutely sure I'd be further along if I had gotten more formal training in the fundamentals instead of having to undo bad habits.

 

Also, it's not a path for everyone, but if you have the motor skills, attention span, and access to tools to learn to repair and setup your instrument properly, you can save a lot of money. Cheap basses can be good learning tools in that way. It's also a great way of gaining an understanding of how the instrument works and allowed me to get into an instrument when I was a totally broke college student and just wanted something that wasn't owned by the school. Condino's words when I got it were something like "it's not a great bass, but it can pay for your next bass.." Wise words.

 

This is what i would choose. Rent a bass and take lessons. Alot of shops will let you build store credit with the monthly rental fee that can eventually go toward your own bass. As for playing pain free, lessons will help, but it requires life long reinforcement. You may find yourself going back for lessons from time to time as you run into brick walls with your playing.

 

... depending on where you want to go there may be a lot of stuff one can deal with in order to move (a lot) faster later on - ear training, functional harmony, rhythm ... You may want to get a keyboard ...

 

My cheap, piece of junk Chinese no name bass sounds great, but it isn't loud. If you buy a cheapie, you can sell it quick when you upgrade. So far, I'm hanging onto mine because I kinda like it, and it's handy to have one in the basement and one in the living room

 

I vote for renting and taking lessons. Find the teacher, ask them French or German, and get a cheap bow with the rental. Take standard lessons using a standard method. Yes, yes, yes, we all know about so-and-so the famous player who's totally self-taught, but there's a reason the standard methods and standard instruction are standard; they work fast and effectively to give beginners a basic solid grounding in the mechanics of playing the instrument. As someone who is formally trained on three instruments (piano, flute, and double bass) and self-taught on one (saxophone) - trust me, you will go much further much faster with traditional methods.

At this point, you have absolutely no clue what you want or like in a double bass instrument. You will need to be able to play the bass before you can make that choice. It is not like guitar where you can go to Guitar Center and buy a $250 Yamaha acoustic dreadnought and be pretty well assured it's a reasonable quality instrument that will be suitable.

 

Subscribed to this thread...
And a shout out and thank you to the OP and all of the responders.
I have been thinking and researching this topic over the last few weeks.
Playing EB for three years, late in life start.

Watching TV with the better half a few weeks ago and when a DB is on she says: "you could do that, right? and you don't have to have the amp?"
My response was:
I would like to try it..
Yes it is a Bass, but it is not the same as EB - you play the piano, can you play an accordion?

And for the record, I am going down the "rent one and take lessons" path. I started EB with an instructor and it went well.

 

One more suggestion: if you don't have one, buy a tall mirror. That way you can observe your posture, your arm, your wrist, your plucking hand, etc. while you play. I'm also a beginner and getting a mirror was really good for me. Recording yourself is another good idea (with a smart phone, for example).

 

Or with a decent large diaphragm condenser mic into your audio interface and DAW with a little bit of compression.

Of course your listeners won't have the vibes that *you* can feel from the instrument, but they'll still melt away for that heavy, deep, dark, wooden sound...

Sorry, got carried away - this was about posture. Well a camera on a tripod and said microphone would do a nice job me thinks...