fatback

[quote name='Rabbie' timestamp='1375313734' post='2159779'] I will not get any good at arco any time soon: my wife doesn't let me practice with the bow because she says it scares the baby...possibly only scary when I play it... [/quote]

I didn't know you could skip grades; that's encouraging. The logistics of exams are very difficult for me, so doing the first few grades would be a pain. Doing the syllabus with a teacher though could be ok. Then maybe tackle a later grade. I do want to keep going with the bow, and it might help with motivation. At the mo bowing is all frustration and no payoff. Can't say it helps with intonation at all (as my tuner confirms). The change in posture just wrecks the reasonable intonation I do have, especially with big position changes. I would dearly love to be able to play some classical pieces though. A distant dream, I'm afraid.

Have any of you taken grades in upright (or any other instrument for that matter) late on? Was it worth the effort? It occurred to me as a way of motivating myself for this bowing business. I'm slogging away, but with no prospect of ever needing to bow in the music I play it's in danger of seeming pointless. What do you think? A waste of time or an invaluable structure? A good excuse for going back to lessons? Thanks for ya thoughts.

Strictly, I think the bigger=deeper thing doesn't hold. Tens will be fine. As PTB says, gig away, and see how everything feels after a while.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1374682626' post='2151822'] I'm still fighting feedback issues, sometimes I winner if I should have saved a couple of hundred quid and gone full laminate? [/quote] I can't imagine that a hybrid would be a problem just cos it's a hybrid. A different pickup combined with notch filter and phase reversal?

Hybrid does seem to be best of both worlds.

[quote name='KevG' timestamp='1374410319' post='2148403'] Thanks for these responses guys, time to work on her ladyship I guess! [/quote] A few lines could help, like: Double bass players stay sober ('cos they have to drive with the wretched thing). Double bass players can't have groupies ( 'cos there's no room left in the car.) Double bass players (male) can't get divorced ('cos there's not enough room in a bedsit for the bass.) Double bass players have to make lots of money (no explanation needed).

You've a fair chance of picking up a good second hand on here if you're patient and willing to travel. That could save you enough cash to experiment a bit with pickups and strings, and a luthier setup. +1 for the adjustable bridge. Also means you could try a Full Circle type pickup if you wanted.

Get hold of Rabbath's 'Art of the Bow'. Makes total sense of all aspects and inspirational too.

A nice Czech bass for £300? Take a look around, you have actually died and gone to heaven Fantastic. You'll have a ball. On the books front, +1 for Rufus Reid. Also Micheal Moore's book is very systematic. Lots of people seem happy with the Yitamusic carbon bows on ebay. [url="http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Top-Model-A-Carbon-Fiber-Double-Bass-Bow-French-/150580744560?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Sting_Instruments&hash=item230f4fd170"]http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Top-Model-A-Carbon-Fiber-Double-Bass-Bow-French-/150580744560?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Sting_Instruments&hash=item230f4fd170[/url]

Really useful and interesting report there Jack - thanks. is the fingerboard on those things similar to your average 3/4 db or noticeably shorter/thinner?

You'll find that if you practice by reading you won't be watching those markers anyhow. For gigs, i stick on a few little sticky dots. An absolute lifesaver when it's hard to hear myself (which is often). Also, it's totally liberating, cos instead of straining to hear all the time, you can relax and leap about knowing you can hit the mark. I take them off between gigs to satisfy the little bit of purist that must live inside me somewhere. Frankly (puts tin hat on) I can't get why they don't have side markers as standard.

tbh I can't see how this forum is busy enough for a split. I have to say I like to get drawn into reading peripheral (to me) threads. Always interesting. If those posts were in a specialist section I probably wouldn't even notice.

[quote name='RhysP' timestamp='1372928457' post='2131640'] But they're not though. Since the Mumfords have been around I've been to plenty of small folk gigs (from legends like Martin Carthy & June Tabor to up & coming acts like Emily Portman) where there have beens loads of beardy adolescents at the start, only for them to start leaving after 15 minutes or so because it's not "jump-up-and-down-with-your-friends"-y enough for them. Now I'm not knocking people going to see bands so they can jump up & down, but you have to be pretty f***ing clueless to think there's going to be a mosh pit at a Martin Carthy gig. [/quote] Jump-up-and-down-with-your-friends is a great term for a particular kind of folky thing that always does well. You might say it's a vacancy in folky music that's always there for the taking. What the pogues did really.

Jake, thanks for being gentle with me. I think a lot has to do with age and stage. Nobody would say bowing isn't a great thing to do, but if you're not young, you already play bass and you need to get gigging fast without hurting yourself, I suggest there are various roads you can take and the bow could wait for a while. My own experience was that in year one the bow put way too much of a burden on far too quickly, and let's face it Simandl would make anyone quit. A jazz orientated teacher might help to balance things out with you in terms of where the effort goes at different stages.

They're a live band above all. When I first saw them on TV (on Jules I think) my reaction was there's a bunch of guys who work hard at kicking a show's ass, and I love that. Huge energy. Add an exceptional ability to write uplifting choruses and that's a good recipe for success. But what is this thing now with beards?

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1372797080' post='2130203'] Would they teach a Plonker like me? I know the foundation for techniques are the same but I'm probably better off with a jazzer or blues player I guess? [/quote] I'll get killed for this, but I would say go for someone who actively plays jazz . If they have a classical background all to the good, but don't let them bog you down in bowing Simandl or you'll lose the will to live. / puts tin hat on /

Now that's what I call doing the right thing. I hereby join the queue for whenever it next goes on walkabout.

Loads of mass produced fretlesses are just defretted (or unfretted, i suppose) versions of the fretted instrument. My Yamaha BB400s for instance. If you can't feel the fret marker it won't affect the sound.

[quote name='fatgoogle' timestamp='1372427120' post='2125645'] [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Top-Model-A-Carbon-Fiber-Double-Bass-Bow-French-/150580744560?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Sting_Instruments&hash=item230f4fd170"]http://www.ebay.co.u...=item230f4fd170[/url] This the bow i have. For the money you really cant get a wood bow to beat it for less then 500-600. Get it re-haired when it arrives and you'll be sorted. [/quote] Who does the rehair for you?

Wow, i thought trad jazz militants would all be dead by now.

[quote name='Hector' timestamp='1371815794' post='2118427'] I kid you guys not, it was pretty transcendent. I was a couple of licks away from seeing my spirit animal. [/quote] Wonderful. Guess that's what people mean when they say they want their playing to be as natural as singing; the instrument just disappears. On the subject of ears, I think anyone who's learned a monophonic instrument and never played piano or whatever is at a disadvantage. Hearing the note in the chord matters so much, as distinct from just hearing intervals, which is what we're inclined to do when we're practicing. I really need to get a keyboard.

Kind thought damo, but Skype video is virtually unusable for me. 200kb upstream at best. Third world stuff.

Getting a 404 on that shermusic link, hector. Looks like it's incomplete. All very interesting stuff.