Gareth Hughes

[quote name='oldslapper' post='1089141' date='Jan 14 2011, 11:43 AM']There's a bit of me that gets exasperated with the misguided belief that you have to be perfect before venturing out.[/quote] Well - I'm not cheap, BUT....... how much you got? In 12 years I haven't had a single MD or bandleader ask what my training/education was. I've had plenty ask about what experience I've had, who I've played with, etc - and that's normal to gauge a player's ability. If you know that someone has played with Frank Zappa, for instance, you automatically know that that player has some serious game WITHOUT hearing them play. An important thing is to be honest about your ability. I've turned down several gigs because I knew they were beyond my ability. It's fine to take a gig that's a bit above your ability and will push you - but it's just stupid to take a gig that will leave you looking like an incompetent fool. I almost lost a very credible and lucrative gig because the person who recommended me had said I was an orchestral player. When the MD mentioned this to me at my audition, I explained I had played some orchestral things in the like of Broadway shows but that's a far cry from being an orchestral player. So we looked through the material and thankfully I was fine with it. And you're spot on with "the misguided belief that you have to be perfect before venturing out." I know someone working with one of the biggest bands in the world who told a little white lie about a certain aspect of a job and then learnt damn quickly on the job. And I know from talking with some other professionals, way higher up the food chain than me, that I'm not the only one waiting to get found out!!!

Fair play with the lessons. I just took my first upright lesson a few days ago (getting almost stranded in the snow on the way there too!!). I've been playing upright professionally for about 12 years - basically got one and got gigs just because I had one so very much learnt on the job - so after all that time I have a LOT of bad habits to correct. After one lesson I'm already feeling, and more importantly - HEARING - the changes in my playing, especially with my bowing. Yes, I am a wee chuffed ferret. How I wish I could go back to my younger self and give me a slap for not taking lessons then.

[quote name='Damo200' post='1085213' date='Jan 11 2011, 10:00 AM']No offence, but I won't recommend these for a player who has only been playing for a year and a half. Try the Simandl 30 etudes first.[/quote] That's another great book - especially if you get the Music Minus One version that has the piano accompaniment.

Hey Sam - Check out John Goldsby's 'The Jazz Bass Book' - [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jazz-Bass-Book-Technique-Tradition/dp/0879307161/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294737666&sr=8-1"]http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jazz-Bass-Book-Tec...7666&sr=8-1[/url] Part history, part lessons - it's a great resource. Plus, it has play-along tracks which are vital in developing your intonation.

Fair play and thanks for this. Now - let the frustration commence!!!

Yes Yes Yes. (Yes) Ps - Yes

Or check this out: [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=117584&st=0&#entry1081339"]http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=...p;#entry1081339[/url]

[quote name='endorka' post='1081227' date='Jan 7 2011, 03:53 PM']and you find yourself constantly amused with comments about the "big guitar" and so on :-) Jennifer[/quote] Same here - my favourite is 'How'd you get that big fiddle under your chin?'. To which my sarcy reply is 'The same way I'd get it up your a$$ - with a lot of effort'. Or the other classic - 'I bet you wish you played the flute'. My reply - 'Right now I do, so I wouldn't have to listen to that same comment for the thousandth time'. Yes - Bah HumBug is alive and well after Xmas.

My first car was an early 90's VW Polo - it was tiny. I could get my upright, an electric, a Hartke 2x10 cab and 2U head, and also take a passenger in the front seat. You can get a lot more in a car than you think sometimes. Right now I drive a Ford Focus C-Max, which is a dream for taking gear - or at least was until a baby seat went in!!

Hey - Just sold a Schaller Magnetic Pickup to Hedofire. All good - and very patient while I missed the post office before New Years shut-down!! Top bloke and would happily do business again.

[quote name='Johnston' post='1078396' date='Jan 5 2011, 11:23 AM']I was reading somewhere yesterday that they reckon the VAT increase will be used as an excuse to put things up by around 8% .[/quote] Fully expect that. I was living in Dublin when the currency changed from Irish Punt to the Euro. Everything was rounded up way past what it should have been, with the excuse that there would be too much confusion and hassle if prices ended in 58c, 23c, etc instead of 99c.

Not to take away from Bob's instruments - but I would recommend you look into some of the basses available from Thomann. After playing a friends that was set-up professionally and played brilliantly, I replaced my €5000 bass from Ken Smith with one of these: [url="http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_kontrabass_22_02.htm"]http://www.thomann.de/gb/thomann_kontrabass_22_02.htm[/url] The Ken Smith was fully carved, while the Thomann is a hybrid (carved top, laminated sides/back) and to be honest there isn't a lot in the difference. My main reason for downgrading was to get an instrument that would amplify better than the Smith would. The carved body was a crazy feedback machine. So I knew I would be sacrificing some acoustic qualities in getting a hybrid. I can honestly say that after playing the Smith for over a year, and getting to know it pretty well, that I would rather have the Thomann. The Thomann bass is made by the Hora company in Romania. Also, I was able to specify what set-up I wanted, so the bass arrived with the bridge set-up to my playing style. It also arrived with the soundpost still in place, so I was able to string it up as soon as I unpacked it and was playing in minutes. This saved the time and expense of going to my repair guy to get it setup. I've been playing this bass for almost a year now and have no problems with it at all. With the free shipping from Thomann and the trial period where you can return it if you don't like it, this might be a better option for you. Maybe check with them about the procedure to return it if you don't like it.

I've had great results with a Genz Benz Shuttle 3.0/10T combo. There's something about that little box, and the low freq cut-off that makes it so much more useable than bigger cabs and more powerful heads.

I made it to my gig early, and then sat for three hours until the rest of the band pulled the plug as they hadn't moved in the last hour. Joy.

Absolutely!!! The Wright Brothers are just too damn good. Myself and a drummer used to play 'Big Dick' incessantly. What a tune. Saw them live about 4-5 years ago. Me a happy camper after that. In my opinion he is a brilliant bass player - a lot of those lines are way beyond casual riffing. And the tone!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!?!! Just the tone of his bass on it's own gets my head spinning.

I haven't gotten down to one, and never will as long as I double, but I have sold off a few that didn't inspire me or that I couldn't justify owning anymore. Really is a lovely spring cleaning of the soul, if you're a little OCD. Maybe now I'll get obsessed about making music and practicing?

A string I've found to be an absolute joy for pizz and arco are Kolstein Heritage strings. They have a lovely low tension and are closer in sound to gut strings than steel. And they also have excellent customer service. Check out www.gollihurmusic.com for prices and other options. I've had Kolstein's on both my upright and my Eminence portable upright and they work beautifully on both. Another string I'm loving for both arco and pizz, and currently have on my upright are Velvet Blue's.

I played a gig a few days after breaking my collarbone. Thankfully it was my right one, so my strap hung on my left shoulder - but I still had to have help getting my bass over my head. Also played a show with such a rotten head cold that both my ears were blocked, making my already dodgy upright intonation that much worse. To make it more fun I got a serious nosebleed during the intermission that delayed the second half. The bleeding didn't stop on it's own so I had to go onstage with a big wad of reddening toilet paper wedged up one nostril. To make things even better was that this was a tux and tie gig, backing three tenors - so very la dee daa. Can I get a Darwin award?

Well, all long as you're swearing F's you're intonation will be fine. (sorry, that's the best I could muster)

Yes and no to with a reference pitch. I think it's a given that you should practice with a reference - be it for pitch or timing. Consistently practicing without either of those present leads to a false sense of security, in my opinion. I know I've worked up some lines that I thought were spot on only to be shown that I was tripping up left and right once I put a metronome on or a reference pitch. Like had been said - you can learn to play in tune without a bow BUT you'll hear if you're out of tune instantly with the bow, whereas a plucked note can hide a multitude of sins. More so on upright than bass guitar, I believe that repetition is your friend. Get a fingering pattern for a major scale on one string, or across one position and just play it until you don't have to think where the next note is. I've also found naming each note to be very helpful - even on keys like C Major or F Major (with few or no accidentals) - it helps to build a reference to the note you're just played and the one you're about to play. It's very easy to get lost on that fingerboard. And it's sure helping me through C# Major, etc. Visualising each note and the ones around it also helps me a lot - picturing what notes lie under each finger on each string. I think on another post you mentioned feeling like this might make you feel confined to playing only in that position or not having a full octave available in one position. Well, sometimes that's just the way it is. I know I'm a long way off being able to play mu upright with the same fluidity as my electric. In this regard the two instruments are only similar in name - they're both bass, sure, but that doesn't mean you should expect to play on one like you do on the other.

I've found the markers to be a life saver on some gigs - particularly those ones where the sound is too loud/gawd-awful or just plain mud. If I can put my finger on one note and know for sure, without hearing it, that I'm in tune, then that goes a long way to getting back on course. I'm talking about the really horrible gigs in the extreme, but they do happen to nice gigs too. I played in a beautiful church in Koln, Germany this year - for the voices and acoustic guitar it was pretty - for me, it was a sea if in-distinction. To add to what Jennifer has suggested - one thing I've found useful is to get a drumbeat and a keyboard/guitar loop going on Garageband, or something similar - and play along with that. Even if the harmony instrument is playing something interesting/boring/funky, as long as it's in one key I just practice scales and arpeggios against it, moving between the major and relative minor. Another benefit is that, coming from the bass guitar world, I find playing along with a drum machine/metronome to be quite valuable as there are physical timing difference between the two instruments - both in the muscle speed/dexterity it takes to produce a note from your fingers and also the time it takes for the instrument to produce it. In other words - those funky 16th lines that come so easily on a fretted bass guitar are a lot harder to play and hear on an upright and they also require a different way of playing.

There is undoubtedly a stigma about using side markers on an upright. So what. I could care less. The guy/gal that has hired me could care less that I've got side markers on. However, they sure do care if I'm playing out of tune. As much as I'd like to be a purist and be talented enough to not even look at that three foot long fingerboard and know within a millimeter where exactly to put my finger to play A on the E string or a high Bb flat on the G string - I'll happily admit that I have had, do have and will continue to have some trouble with it as long as I'm playing in some of the less luxurious venues in this country, crammed up tight beside perpetually ringing cymbals and guitarists that believe the only way is up. Also, maybe it would be different if I'd started playing upright first and bass guitar second, but I didn't and so that's the way my learning has developed - I associate certain notes with certain dots on the neck. Shoot me please, I'm not worthy to live.........

I agree with you Fatback, that the bow by itself doesn't improve your intonation. If you can't hear that you're out of tune it doesn't matter if you're out of tune playing arco, pizz or with leftover pizza. To me the bow is more like a magnifying glass showing me what the note really is. As has been said before - playing pizz allows a lot of error as the note does not sustain as long or as clearly. As there is less harmonic content and more fundamental, it's very easy for the leading edge and pitch of the note to get lost amongst other instruments. Given that our common goal (unless you're aiming for unaccompanied solo performances) is to play with other musicians, then it's good practice to figure out a way to play in tune with them. I don't think anyone will argue that it's impossible to obtain good intonation by only playing pizz - but I would argue that it's easier and a more efficient use of your time practicing with a bow to obtain good intonation. Like I said before - the material you study (often classically orientated) with a bow is excellent training for your left hand to learn the proper shapes to get around the bass. I work from the standpoint that if my forefinger is stopping an A on the E string then my middle finger has Bb under it on the same string, Eb on the A string, Ab on the D, etc. I don't consciously think like that when playing bass guitar but I do very much when playing upright. If I start a phrase on the wrong finger it can completely derail me. With improvising, I've found it a great help to know what notes are available within one position as that can determine what kind of line/phrase I'll be able to play. All of this has come from practicing with a bow. Sure I could have gotten there without it, but I believe I got there sooner with the bow. Call it a musical version of a lazy man's burden.

I wouldn't say it's a necessity to learn to bow - but I do believe that I've benefited from it. Working through the Simandl book and other classically based books has made my left hand play in a way that I don't think it would have if I had been learning the upright through playing tunes I love - which is how I learned to play bass guitar. So by default learning to play with the bow has taught my left hand to play better. Playing upright for me depends so much on muscle memory and fingering patterns, and I truly believe that the sheer repetitive nature of playing classically based pieces has helped me to play in tune more than had I not done it. Having said that - I still wouldn't bother playing along and looking at a tuner to check your intonation. It's not something you do on your fretless bass guitar why do it with the upright? I know when I was starting out on upright I had a hard time telling if I was playing in tune when I was practicing by myself. Easy way to change that is to practice along with songs you know - then you'll hear if you're hitting the note bang on. Also beneficial are the Jamey Aebersold Play-Along books - and other books like that, like the Music Minus One books - you can get to hear your bass up close with just one other tuned instrument and use that as your reference point. And again - having said that - I still, and quite proudly, have a marker for the A note on the E string. Sometimes it's just damn hard to hear the upright clearly live against cymbals and guitars battering away. Having a visual reference makes life a lot easier live. From that A marker, then you have to rely on your muscle memory and fingering patterns - which you'll have drilled into your brain from all that bowing practice.......