Walking Jazz on ELECTRIC BASS?!

How so?

 

A bass by any other name would swing as sweet...

 

Chuck Sher actually gets a pretty convincing feel on bass guitar.

Plus, if Bob Cranshaw is gonna go all Gertrude Stein, I’ma go all Shakespeare...

 

Personally, I never really saw much difference between the upright and the electric bass. The electric was just smaller, allowing for one finger per fret and single hand position scales, therefore easier. For the purists who say it is hard to conceive of an electric bass in traditional swing, it is even harder to conceive of an upright in rock or R&B.

 

For you, perhaps, but the double bass was the instrument used in the recordings of both those genres, not just at their beginnings, but up into their heyday...

 

IMO both will do, with the music I play. Always wanted an upright, but my hobby budget would not stretch that far.

Oh well life moves on....

 

Well, they are different instruments . . . . . . . I double on both, and they share the same tuning, that's about it.

But do whatever you want. Upright bass these days is a lot about aesthetics, at least in the situations where I play it. I think the upright is better for a straight-ahead gig because the attack and decay and timbre of the notes just work better. But I'll play electric if it's more practical, or for whatever reasons pop up, you never know.

This from a guy who once played his Charvel San Dimas guitar in blue burst over quilted maple on a strict straight-ahead gig when it was time for the singers and rest of the rhythm section to take a break.