Double Bass Three day bluegrass double bass workshop... Wow.

[Don Hergert]

I'm still trying to get my head around this experience. I'm "painfully autodidactic" and while I taught banjo for a number of decades, I've never had formal music lessons or participated in any kind of serious instrument workshops.

A little over two weeks ago I was a student in a three day double bass workshop at the Susanville (California) bluegrass festival. It was taught by Edgar Laudermilk, front man and lead vocalist and bassist for the Edgar Laudermilk band and 2x winner of the SPBGMA "Bass Fiddle Performer of the Year." award.

This was a very well taught, hands on, fairly intimate study of beginning to advanced bluegrass double bass technique with lots of insights into Edgar's own double bass style. Edgar is a marvelous double bassist and we really had a great time, although from the start it was clear that he is way way over my head in technique, to a point that retaining more than about 1/10th of what he taught us was going to be nearly impossible.

Aside from being personally exposed to a huge amount of simple to advanced double bass technique, some really nice things did come out of this. For me, one of those nice things is getting a feeling of fitting more comfortably among other bluegrass double bassists...

Watching and listening to Edgar play is truly remarkable. While right now I still cannot explicitly say what I've retained from this class, I'm sure glad I was there. Even if I retain nothing, just seeing and hearing these things being done has opened up a lot of possibilities.

My wife and I have also become friends with Edgar and his bandmates, and that also is a very very nice thing.

 

[PapaBearBass]

Sounds like a great experience!

 

[Pdaddy1978]

A really good teacher will both train, and inspire.
You certainly sound properly inspired!
I'll bet you've retained more than you realize.
I passed through Susanville many years ago, but it was for trout fishin.

 

[Swizzledoop]

Sounds awesome. Any pearls of wisdom you can lay on us?

 

[Don Hergert]

Sounds awesome. Any pearls of wisdom you can lay on us?

Well, it depends on where you are with your technique...

In the last year as the RA in my hands has progressed, I've lost the ability to bend some fingers at the tip and middle joints, at least for the first 30 to 60 minutes of playing. Until that started happening, my normal left hand posture had been the baseball grip, which works for many bluegrass players, but a few months before this workshop I found that the thumb on the back of the neck works better for me now -- my fingers don't have to bend and have much better reach -- so I've been working on adopting that right hand posture. Edgar uses that posture too, so I got to see a pro doing that, and he's realllllly good at it. If you're having any trouble with left hand finger movement, I highly recommend the thumb on the back of the neck, and maybe even if you're not having hand trouble, just for the additional reach you get out of the left hand. It's actually given my left hand new life related to the DB. (For me, this does require some DB setup work to make it possible.)

Edgar also makes heavy use of the index, middle and ring fingers, and even the pinky sometimes, on his right hand. I'm a Index&Middle-fingers-together right hand player so far. And like with the left hand I've lost some joint movement, so I didn't even try to emulate that during the workshop. But Edgar is also reallllly good at that. It's on my list of things to try once I have gotten my left hand working well. Using all fingers independently provides tremendous speed in attacking the strings, plus Edgar does a muted integrated slap type of thing with some of his fingers that is just amazing.

Other than that, we did a lot of licks or walks, finding subtle and non-distracting ways to add them to the flow of a song. We probably spent most of our time with those, which of course also incorporated other techniques.

Edgar's DB playing is pretty great, I highly recommend listening to him when possible. He probably let loose a little more with us in the workshop than he would with a jam, but on stage he does exercise that DB a lot. Like many of us in bluegrass, Edgar doesn't read music, but he's very strong at the NNS and by ear. I need to get better at NNS myself, so this was good for me to see. Edgar also doesn't bow enough to bring a bow along, and he doesn't do thumb position or play much above the neck heel. For me that is all great, because he had way too much to teach without those anyway .

I'd definitely do this workshop with Edgar again. I hope I get a chance.

 

[Derek Kay]

I had a similar awakening with a week long Jamie Abersold course. Not just instruction but inspiration as well. Humbling.

FWIW I learnt to release some of the tension in my left hand by using less 'clamp' between fingers and thumb, and more weight pulled from the shoulder. I was asked to try fingering without using my thumb at all, just to introduce me to the concept. That's a lot easier when sitting but also transfers to standing position with some practice. It helped my wrist problem.

 

[Ed S]

How many attendees? What was their level? How much instruction over the 3 days? By any chance was there a "lesson plan/schedule" you could share? Anyone else slinging aluminum?

 

[Don Hergert]

How many attendees? What was their level? How much instruction over the 3 days? By any chance was there a "lesson plan/schedule" you could share? Anyone else slinging aluminum?

There were 3 of us students in the bass workshop, so we nearly had Edgar to ourselves. There were other instrument classes being held in other venues at the festival. These were primarily adult workshops, although there were also a few teen aged kids participating in some of the other classes.

In the bass workshop there was one brand new beginner, playing an electric BG. Edgar also plays electric very well (he's a session musician too). The other DB player and I were/are what I'd consider intermediate bluegrass players.

The classes were two 2 hour sessions a day, 10am to noon, 2pm to 4pm, Tuesday through Thursday. We met in and outdoor shaded area, really pretty good acoustics and not too hot.

No written lesson plan or schedule, one handwritten diagram, other than that very little if anything written. Edgar started from scratch really, covering fundamentals and short cuts that he's successfully used, then moving on to fancier stuff. He did answer some foundational questions I had, particularly about playing in different keys and such, which immediately helped me.

We also did a large group on-stage performance with all the participants of all the classes at the end of the week, which was fun to do along with friends, but really challenging from a group musical perspective. I could have missed that and not felt bad about it at all. Edgar also said it was difficult too, considering how many people were there on stage, etc. None of us bass students could hear ourselves play, which was pretty frustrating. If I'm in a class/workshop like this again, I'll probably disappear before any group performance.

There were no other aluminum double basses at the festival, but there was a Texas-based owner of a nice actual Condino-polished Alcoa performing on stage with his Chadwick folding bass. We talked at length, he played my Alcoa quite a bit and really really liked the tone and setup, which of course pleased me a lot.

The festival itself was great. At the Lassen county fairgrounds, a very nice venue really. We usually don't attend too many of the stage shows, but we did catch all of the Edgar Laudermilk band's performances. We are quite impressed. There was of course jamming every night into the wee hours, which is really what we go to festivals for.

 

[Ed S]

Thanks, man.

Just noted that, when I get the email notification of a response, it includes the entire response, instead of needing to link to it. Perhaps a mild improvement on the new forums? That and the "Reply" box at the bottom.

So many folk slagging on the upgrade, I thought I'd mention a couple of (minor) improvements!

 

[Don Hergert]

Very welcomed Ed.

And I agree, in fact I think I prefer the upgrade over the old version. But my needs here are pretty simple, I really don't require a lot of bells and whistles.

 

[Holdsg]

Howdy Don, glad you were able to hang with Lowdermilk for 3 days. That would have been a great thing to go to.
I've been neglecting my upright playing this summer. too much demand for rock and roll electric. but eventually, when things cool off a bit here in the desert SW, I hope to get back at it, going to some of the jams in Vegas, etc.
Kinda miss the jams via jamkazaam during the lockdown. As much as they were at times annoying, they were also very fun. Are you still doing those?

 

[Don Hergert]

Howdy Don, glad you were able to hang with Lowdermilk for 3 days. That would have been a great thing to go to.
I've been neglecting my upright playing this summer. too much demand for rock and roll electric. but eventually, when things cool off a bit here in the desert SW, I hope to get back at it, going to some of the jams in Vegas, etc.

Hey, good to see you again!

One of the really special things about the Susanville festival was that there was jamming every night, and a lot of participants in the jams were band people. That included getting to jam with Edgar and the rest of his band. Lots of fun. Btw, there were lots of NV folks there, especially from around Reno.

Kinda miss the jams via jamkazaam during the lockdown. As much as they were at times annoying, they were also very fun. Are you still doing those?

Yes, the JK jams are still happening, although summers tend to get busy with vacations and festivals, etc., so the number of session participants is noticeably reduced. I still setup and administer the JK jam sessions, every day at 4pm PT, but unfortunately I haven't attended one since before the Susanville festival, just haven't been able to get back to it. I spoke with one of the most steadfast participants yesterday and he confirmed that people are still coming with random regularity, so that's good. Just like an in-person jam, there's no way to predict who will be there. I hope to attend again soon.

 

[cultrvultr]

awesome! Susanville is a great festival. I got to play there a few years ago and had a ton of fun. Loudermilk is a great player. The CBA Father's Day Festival always has great bass workshops too.