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Uptight about upright

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dubmon

Sep 20, 2007
78
0
#1
Hi Justin,
Hope you're rocking heavily on tour and having a great time.
I was curious--I know you play upright on some albums. Is that something you came up learning from early on, like in school jazz band or orchestra, or did you add it to your skills later on since, well, it seems like the first or second sentence out of producers/artists mouths these days(even from my limited experience) is "do you play upright"?;) If so, do you study at it now in any formal way? I'm personally not that drawn to upright and definitely can't afford a halfway decent one right now, but I know it would get me a few more gigs (I think).

Cheers!
 
#2
I kinda suck at upright. Or at least I suck less than I used to, maybe. But I sure record a LOT with it. Did a whole record with Daniel Martin Moore on Sub Pop recently on upright...very pleased, because I got a good tone and played better than ever.

Likewise, I play a bunch of upright with Nine Inch Nails, and am working a lot on my bowing and pizz, and am grateful for the chance to do so.

I was forced to play it back 10 years ago while recording Mutations with Beck. No training. So it's a bit of a struggle all the time, but I get better every time I play it. I think it's a wise thing to pick up.

I should probably take some lessons.

Best,
Justin
 
#4
Nah, never used. Only my Englehardt ES-1 (plywood), King Slapking (plywood, but customized for NIN tour and sounds quite sophisticated, like an older plywood or newer carved bass), and my Hofner/Paesold carved bass. Something about electric uprights scare me visually. I'm sure that in practical use they're pretty helpful, especially in arenas like I'm playing in every day.

JMJ
 
#6
The Slapking is severely customized and relic'ed, not rockabilly style at all. It's made to look like an old German upright. Had it made from scratch just for the tour.
 
#8
bassybass said:
Very cool---a Slapking for NIN--I'll have to look for pics of that!
See, I would expect to see some kinda very stealth-looking black electric upright stick bass for that gig. Shows ya what I know!:)
Click to expand...
Not me. Yeah, they're convenient, but there's no cool factor like when you drag a big ol' upright onstage. And even a band on the cutting edge of technology like NIN can appreciate the visual appeal of a real upright. Especially when you do stunts like my good pal Marshall Lytle from The Comets. Guy's 76 and bodysurfs his bass, lays on the ground and holds it up with his feet, picks it up over his head and plays, etc. I hope Justin works a few stunts in.
 
#9
Thanks for the info Justin! I guess it really would be a good thing to add to the skill set, at least enough to plunk out simple stuff (which is what I do anyways:)

I'm one of the few I guess that thinks an eub actually looks cool, at least some models---ever since Sting used to play his in the Police. Maybe 'cause they look a little mysterious to regular folks, like "what the hell kinda sound is gonna come out of that?" But, it's gotta be in the right hands. If you're sporting a fanny pack and multi-colored worldbeat baggy pants, forget about it.
 
#14
Joeinsprings: I don't use arco very much in the studio, but live with NIN I do quite a bit.
blizzard: I play upright on a song called "Piggy", as well as about seven different pieces from the Ghosts album.

JMJ
 
#17
Did you teach yourself arco or have you had any lessons with it? Any books or vids you might recommend? I'd love to play some arco but it sounds like I ran over a cat in a Humvee.
 
#18
I taught myself, and trust me: I have a looooong way to go. I'm gonna get some lessons. But the NIN songs I use bow on have had a lot of practice, so they aren't half bad.

JMJ
 
#19
JimmyM said:
Did you teach yourself arco or have you had any lessons with it? Any books or vids you might recommend? I'd love to play some arco but it sounds like I ran over a cat in a Humvee.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I use Rabbaths third book almost every day. It's all scales and different rhythms, but about four hundred different versions for each scale (from basic, to super pissy hard) . I will warm up with those for about twenty minutes each day. Any rhythm, any key, at any tempo. It's basically super wood shedding, but it does work.

Try and play in an orchestra if you can. There is nothing better for bow control than orchestra tunes.

And being in a quintet (two violins, viola, cello, and me, but I doubled the cello most of the time) really helped as well.
 

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