Is it just me or...?

[dazza14]

I've been a fan of my Squier Jazz for years (had the same one since 2007) and in this time I can probably count the gigs I've played without it on one hand but since using my EUB - it's a Harley Benton one - in rehearsals for a gig a few weeks ago I've become addicted. 

I feel like I have so much more freedom on the upright, I know I don't have more notes to use - and it's nowhere near as easy to play (particularly on the muscles) - but something about the sound and bulk of the instrument makes me feel more involved in the music somehow.

Is this something others feel when playing an upright??

My band mates prefer me playing the upright, it certainly brings a different sound, more 'presence' is how I describe it but I think maybe the fact I tend to move more (up and down the neck) means I'm probably giving more to the music.... 

[itu]

My experience (not Jimi's) is somewhat similar, but there is also another point of view. Our band is somewhat big, 12 people. If everybody is in, the basic 4/5-string electric seems to be more suitable, but if we are with, say 4-6 on stage, then the double bass (or the EUB) or my fretless seem to work OK.

I have no idea how I have had similar thoughts, you just put the pixels to my screen. This may have something to do with the feeling that the listening _(drinking) crowd is creating. Of course the arranging of the song affects, but I tend to play a bit different stuff if I don't have frets.

[Staggering on]

Ah,you are following many of us on the pathway that leads to the dark side!

Yes upright is addictive and wonderful and makes you feel free and you will play things you never thought of playing on EB and you will feel like (gasp) a "real" bass player.I have played guitar and EB for 58 years but became a better person and a better bass player about five years ago when I went upright with a Stagg EUB and then upgraded to a Yamaha SLB 200 EUB. After a trip to England last April and attending the BC Double Bass Bash I just had to have the real thing and three months later I bought a DB and I love it.

I think part of the good feeling you get playing upright is due to the fact that you are connected to the instrument physically in a way that is unique.It is a difficult instrument to play in the strictly physical sense but with a DB you get the vibe from the sound and the vibration of the instrument...heaven!

Welcome to the club, you are in for a great time!😊

Edited February 12, 2019 by Staggering on

[DaveFry]

Yes , once you have felt the organic wooden box resonating against your gut you don't want to go back ☺️.
My NS eub stays in the case , it comes nowhere near in terms of playing satisfaction to my cheap chinese upright worth a quarter of the monetary value .

[mangotango]

A little while back, in November, I was taking my Aria EUB to try out with the jazz quartet in an afternoon rehearsal/recording session.  However, in the morning, I had a practice for the Xmas concert by the jazz workshop band with which I also play, and I was going straight from one session to the other. I wasn't going to leave the EUB in the car, and so I decided that just maybe I felt brave enough to give it a try-out on a tune or two. Just something slow, nothing too demanding, to dip my toe in the water. I set everything up, and got a few looks of interest from the many horn players in the band.

First number up, Charles Mingus' tune "Boogie Stop Shuffle", an up-tempo Bb minor blues. Thought I'd give it a go - nothing too worrying there, right? Except the MD counted it off at a ferocious pace and it was way too late to jump back onto the bass guitar.  But as they say - what doesn't kill us......doesn't kill us. And the reaction from the massed ranks of saxophonists, even mid-tune, was to turn around to me with a "Whoooooaaa!!! What is that?" expression on their faces, accompanied by many thumbs up. At the break, everyone was asking about it and saying that I should use it for the gig. Well........

So I survived that, though my left hand and arm were feeling the burn! I went on to do about 4 or 5 numbers on EUB in that rehearsal - mostly bluesy Hank Mobley tunes, or Latin pieces. "With a bit of work, maybe I might just take that to the gig", I thought.

3 weeks later and it's the Xmas gig. 18 tunes in all - well, one was done twice, second time as the encore at breakneck speed! - and I played 11 numbers on the upright. People loved it. I loved playing it. It's a real visceral feeling, a different connection to the instrument and the music. Much as I'd love a real DB (I have owned and played one before, and it was great), I have neither the money to spare for a decent one, nor the storage capacity for it.  The EUB tucks away nicely in both car and house and it does a good job.

And don't discount the "listening with their eyes" factor - so many punters see an instrument that's upright, rather than being worn like a guitar, and instantly for them it adds a touch of authenticity to your jazz/rockabilly/Americana or whatever. I used to play a duo jazz gig on guitar, with @Stingray5 playing a Dean Pace; and for the audience, it was totally credible despite the lack of "organic wooden box"...

Of course, his top quality playing might have had something to do with it

 

[Staggering on]

6 hours ago, mangotango said:

A little while back, in November, I was taking my Aria EUB to try out with the jazz quartet in an afternoon rehearsal/recording session.  However, in the morning, I had a practice for the Xmas concert by the jazz workshop band with which I also play, and I was going straight from one session to the other. I wasn't going to leave the EUB in the car, and so I decided that just maybe I felt brave enough to give it a try-out on a tune or two. Just something slow, nothing too demanding, to dip my toe in the water. I set everything up, and got a few looks of interest from the many horn players in the band.

First number up, Charles Mingus' tune "Boogie Stop Shuffle", an up-tempo Bb minor blues. Thought I'd give it a go - nothing too worrying there, right? Except the MD counted it off at a ferocious pace and it was way too late to jump back onto the bass guitar.  But as they say - what doesn't kill us......doesn't kill us. And the reaction from the massed ranks of saxophonists, even mid-tune, was to turn around to me with a "Whoooooaaa!!! What is that?" expression on their faces, accompanied by many thumbs up. At the break, everyone was asking about it and saying that I should use it for the gig. Well........

So I survived that, though my left hand and arm were feeling the burn! I went on to do about 4 or 5 numbers on EUB in that rehearsal - mostly bluesy Hank Mobley tunes, or Latin pieces. "With a bit of work, maybe I might just take that to the gig", I thought.

3 weeks later and it's the Xmas gig. 18 tunes in all - well, one was done twice, second time as the encore at breakneck speed! - and I played 11 numbers on the upright. People loved it. I loved playing it. It's a real visceral feeling, a different connection to the instrument and the music. Much as I'd love a real DB (I have owned and played one before, and it was great), I have neither the money to spare for a decent one, nor the storage capacity for it.  The EUB tucks away nicely in both car and house and it does a good job.

And don't discount the "listening with their eyes" factor - so many punters see an instrument that's upright, rather than being worn like a guitar, and instantly for them it adds a touch of authenticity to your jazz/rockabilly/Americana or whatever. I used to play a duo jazz gig on guitar, with @Stingray5 playing a Dean Pace; and for the audience, it was totally credible despite the lack of "organic wooden box"...

Of course, his top quality playing might have had something to do with it

 

I love it, I love it, I love it! Been there, done that and it feels great! 😊

Edited February 19, 2019 by Staggering on

[Happy Jack]

Yup. In my rockabilly 3-piece I can play much 'better' basslines on a Precision, I can play with more accuracy and consistency, yet the same songs played on a DB just sound like the real thing, and it feels to me like I'm playing the real thing.

 

[dazza14]

I've played a double bass before but I didn't enjoy it very much, the action was very high and I just don't think I was suited to it, saying that, if I tried another one - or, better still, had my own that I was happier with - I'd soon take to them but like MangoTango said, it's a storage thing. Lugging a DB, amp, cables, mic stand and whatever else I need for a gig isn't something I would want to do very often (replacing child seats in the back of the car as well) so the EUB is a bridge between guitar and DB.

I've got a jam session with a jazz band next Thursday where I'm determined to play solely EUB, just some Horace Silver stuff, but it's a different instrument and feel, but suited more to my direction in bass playing. 

[mangotango]

40 minutes ago, dazza14 said:

I've played a double bass before but I didn't enjoy it very much, the action was very high and I just don't think I was suited to it, saying that, if I tried another one - or, better still, had my own that I was happier with - I'd soon take to them but like MangoTango said, it's a storage thing. Lugging a DB, amp, cables, mic stand and whatever else I need for a gig isn't something I would want to do very often (replacing child seats in the back of the car as well) so the EUB is a bridge between guitar and DB.

I've got a jam session with a jazz band next Thursday where I'm determined to play solely EUB, just some Horace Silver stuff, but it's a different instrument and feel, but suited more to my direction in bass playing. 

Exactly this. I'm very lucky to have found an EUB that I love -  there's a thread on it here https://www.basschat.co.uk/topic/328425-new-ish-eub-day-and-aria-question/?tab=comments#comment-3634367 - and that makes such a difference.

Gotta love a bit of Horace - Song For Me Dad was one of the tunes for the Xmas concert mentioned above, and if you can play the bass part without hearing "Ricky Don't Lose That Number" in your head, you're doing better than I did.....

 

[dazza14]

MangoTango, you seem to have had a similar experience to me, my EUB didn't come with the added metal rod/supports I've had to use it without, I really should look into getting something made up (or copied from another Harley Benton) but... actually, there is no but, I really should look into getting something made up.

It might make things easier somewhere in the playing.

[mangotango]

On ‎21‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 07:45, dazza14 said:

MangoTango, you seem to have had a similar experience to me, my EUB didn't come with the added metal rod/supports I've had to use it without, I really should look into getting something made up (or copied from another Harley Benton) but... actually, there is no but, I really should look into getting something made up.

It might make things easier somewhere in the playing.

Well you can see in my thread what I have had done; all I can say is that it works brilliantly and has made the instrument properly playable for me. Previously, I was having to support the bass with my left hand whilst trying to play it as well and It really wasn't working, the neck was twisting in my hand all of the time and I couldn't get up any agility in my left hand playing.  It was better if I sat down on a stool and was able to rest the bass on my left leg, but then I couldn't get that easily to the E string as my plucking hand would end up close to my body. Now....completely, instantly different and 100% better.

Inevitably, I ended up just giving myself a hard time for not having had it done sooner - the only reason that I hadn't was that I didn't know of anyone that I'd trust to do it.  And then I needed a repair done, and both my bass and music tutors recommended Jerome. I couldn't argue with a recommendation like that, and he was absolutely the right guy; as I say, I just wish that I'd got round to it sooner. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

It's not a direct replacement for the original, true...but it works very well for me and I think it looks great, the photos don't really do justice to the lovely woodwork that Jerome has crafted on this. I can only encourage you to have someone produce a frame that will work for you, and then...just play the heck out of it.

Edited February 22, 2019 by mangotango
..if I could type I'd be....almost average!