nickbass

+1 to what MandShef said. I would also add that it's important to keep relaxed. My teacher's noticed that when I'm tense my bow position moves closer to the fingerboard so I have to consciously relax my shoulders. Makes bowing easier too! I try and bow about an inch or so below the fingerboard and have raised the bass so that the bow natural touches the strings there. Also the A string is bowed slightly faster than the E, the D string a bit faster than the A etc. Exactly how fast depends on bass, bow, strings and what sounds good to you. (That's before you get into fitting your bowing into the piece you're playing!) Bowing is one part of DB playing where having a few lessons can really help. It's certainly one of (many) technical aspects that I constantly work on.

If you're in London I recall seeing some of the Vivaldi Sonatas either in Chappells (now renamed to Yamaha Music London -- http://www.yamahamusiclondon.com/) of Foyle's (www.[b]foyles[/b].co.uk).

I get a similar pain in my left tricep from a shoulder injury caused by too much practising of the same piece of music. I had a few sessions with a physiotherapist which helped.

Can you rent one for a month or two? The rental bass I used when I first started wasn't brilliant but it got me through the first few months until I knew I wanted to buy my own.

I found this link on standing versus sitting. Interesting reading. http://doublebassblog.org/2008/05/standing-versus-sitting-for-the-double-bassist.html

I'm more used to playing the DB standing up. It's only when I joined an orchestra that I bought a stool and I only sit down when another section is going over a part and I'm not playing. For concerts I play standing up. I'd like to play sitting down but it mucks up my intonation -- more practise I guess. Standing up and with no hands my bass is stable for about a second but it needs a little correction from my left hand and doesn't interfere with my playing. Most of the leaning weight is on my stomach. (I guess it's a bit like riding a bike, although the thing's unstable you automatically compensate.) Of course, some of this depends on your build and the bass itself. I've played a bass with a very light body and it's much harder to balance. Changing your endpin height may help too.

[quote name='Beedster' post='884243' date='Jul 2 2010, 07:03 PM']Installed some used strings which have clearly been bowed, and now have horribly sticky fingers! Any ideas?[/quote] Surgical spirit works well for me. Nick

I'm currently working on Marcello's Sonata in G major. A quick scan of the music and the highest note is the octave G in 6th position. I'm using Thomastik BelCantos which really improved the sound of my relatively cheap Stentor bass. I use Nyman-Harts rosin. I've used the Petz rosin (still got some for emergencies) but prefer the Nyman's. Hope this helps Nick

I'm using Thomastik Bel Canto's on my Zeller. Sounded much nicer than helicores and have been getting some good press recently. I'm playing arco mostly but they sound OK (to my ears) playing pizz too. -- Nick

[font="Verdana"][/font] I've always found 'The Gallery' to be very helpful and when Martin worked on my Sei bass he did a first class job. Nick

How closely you follow the original recording can depend on how closely the band is trying to imitate the original. On some tunes I've been allowed a free hand (provided I follow the harmony), and in other cases I've stuck closely to the original line (assuming I'm able to play it!). I think you should always aim to play the best bass line for the song as it's played by your band (which may be quite different from any existing recordings).