Yo upright or not too

[6bass41r]

Hey all,
So I'm stuck in this predicament....
Any opinions are welcome...
I have always been a die hard electric player.
I started playing my junior year of highschool. I graduated with a degree in composition and I am now in the process of working on my masters in jazz performance on electric bass ( only strictly electric player in the school)..
Here a few of my concerns ...
1) being a bit over my head... School is hard. Being the youngest in the program probably with the smallest amount of "jazz"experience.. Tunes,piano, chops, harmonic understanding...
2)getting my ears together to gain a sense of freedom. Hearing intervals , melodies, harmony...
3) overall confidence
4) the big one ....why I started this thread..... Should I double ?!?!
Should I learn and make the upright thing happen.
I've played it a little bit... Never seriously and always just noodling on someone's bass . Every upright player always says "you have a great sound" this new motivation is from a clinic Ray Drummond gave at my school last week.... And he turned and said I have a good sound when I was just noodling on my buddies bass. Also my buddy at school has been playing upright for about a year and grew so much an was killing it . He was strictly an electric player.....


Any feedback possible would be awesome ! Thanks y'all

 

[MalcolmAmos]

I can not speak to how this would affect your degree program, however, don't most degree programs encourage a second instrument? If so yes the upright is a natural.

 

[6bass41r]

Piano is my second instrument at school

 

[Real Soon]

In my humblest opinion...go for it. As a composer, you'll appreciate being able to work with a broader sonic palette, and the upright is capable of truly unique sounds. School is one of the last places you'll have easy access to both instrument and instruction, and being able to spank an upright will open doors that would be closed to a purely electric player out in the world. As for the learning of jazz theory...it's hard for everyone, that stuff is complex. But it gets ingrained with study and using it in practice. It sounds like you'll be learning it both on the instrument and in concept, so you've got the perfect opportunity to make it part of your growth on the bass.

If you really like being plugged in and want to take advantage of effects for more modern sounds, you could go the electric upright route.

Either way, it sounds like an adventure waiting to happen, man.

 

[6bass41r]

In my humblest opinion...go for it. As a composer, you'll appreciate being able to work with a broader sonic palette, and the upright is capable of truly unique sounds. School is one of the last places you'll have easy access to both instrument and instruction, and being able to spank an upright will open doors that would be closed to a purely electric player out in the world. As for the learning of jazz theory...it's hard for everyone, that stuff is complex. But it gets ingrained with study and using it in practice. It sounds like you'll be learning it both on the instrument and in concept, so you've got the perfect opportunity to make it part of your growth on the bass.

If you really like being plugged in and want to take advantage of effects for more modern sounds, you could go the electric upright route.

Either way, it sounds like an adventure waiting to happen, man.

Thanks!!

 

[Dbassmon]

I can not think of a reason not to expand your horizons to DB as long a you devote time to the things you need to to complete your degree.
Getting your ears together? DB can only help. Get a teacher, DB is not electric bass guitar and there in much that is directly translatable and much that is not. Finger system is way different. Learn to bow if you are going play DB. You will need an instrument.... not cheap to get a decent bass.

What is your musical heart telling you to do? That is the only voice that matters in this case.