dougal

+1 to getting lessons. I moved fairly quckly from EUB to DB: I don't think it taught me bad habits - I was after a classical gig, so I had to have an acoustic instrument. As indicated above, they are different instruments, and will react in their own way to Arco or pizz playing. How wrong can you go for £350? Resale on an almost new one shouldn't be that much less - if nothing else because of demand outstipping supply at the moment.

Sold him a Bongo. Excellent communication, fast payment. Lovely bloke. Deal with confidence.

Anyone else seen this? It's Contrabass conversations Gary Carr interview w/ video. The last 20 mins is him playing around on his bass. Fantastic stuff! Full screen version is here: [url="http://blip.tv/file/1089416/"]http://blip.tv/file/1089416/[/url] I can't work out how to embed the video.

Given that there's one place to play a given pitch on a string, a combination of roman numeral and finger gives you hand position: no matter what you call it The Simandl positions are explained here (see fingering guide): [url="http://musiced.about.com/od/lessonsandtips/a/doubleblesson.htm"]http://musiced.about.com/od/lessonsandtips...ubleblesson.htm[/url]

[quote name='planethead' post='252910' date='Aug 1 2008, 05:14 PM']Hello Steam Bassers (my friends electric!) Decided to brush up on musical theory scales etc so bought the ABRSM Book 2 Grade 6 - 8 scales for Double Bass. The author suggests fingering for the second octave as well as hand positions which he notates using roman numerals I, II, II etc - I cannot get my head around this. Assuming I'm as thick as a brick I would be grateful if someone can explain this system to me? Is position I from 1st fret to fourth , II from fifth to eighth etc - If so his fingerings would leave most of my digits looking like a balloon animal. TIASOB Ian[/quote] I [i]believe [/i]that the roman numerals are the string (especially if written underneath the stave) - I've just checked my grade 1-5 book and this looks like what they are. If you're looking for something classical guitar like to indicate the position then you won't find more than this. Unlike the guitar there isn't a universal set of positions - The 'first degree' is sometimes called the 'half position' (Simandl) or 'fist position first degree' (Nanny). There's also Rabbath, who has his own road map of the bass. Check out Jason Heath's blog about the differences: [url="http://doublebassblog.org/2006/11/rabbath-versus-simandl-comparative.html"]http://doublebassblog.org/2006/11/rabbath-...omparative.html[/url] Hope this doesn't cloud the water too much.

Mickey bought my Jazz. Lovely bloke, not much cop at reverse hill starts onto a curb parallel parking, but friendly, open & honest.

I'm in. GW #23 Carvin XB-75 Asbory Mini Bass. Wish peanut fretless Bongo 5 That is assuming I haven' parted company with #3 or #4.

Wanted a 24v one, lost the receipt. Meh! You pay the postage or pick up from Surbiton, Surrey.

Am I the only one who subscribes to Bassics? [url="http://www.bassics.com/html/bsc_home.htm"]http://www.bassics.com/html/bsc_home.htm[/url] It's output is somewhat sporadic, but covers the upright as well as electric. Bit more of a Jazz slant than I'd like, but well worth checking out the free issue on the link above.

I have the Zeller, though not bought from Footes (I went the second hand route). Be aware that when I went into Footes with exactly the same idea, the deal he offered wasn't the same (or as good) as advertised on the net: YMMV.

If you do decide to file, you could do worse than spending £3 on some welder's tip cleaners. They're very fine circular files. I used some to 'persuade' the 0.175 Warwick dark lord string to fit through the bridge on my Carvin - sounds like the same problem (just the other end). The other obvious solution is to buy tapered strings (as the finders are , I assume?) Have you considered what this is going to do to the nut? At best the nut will 'grip' the stringsd to make tuning jerky - at worst they'll sit above the slot & not seat properly.

Sold a BT-2C hipshot to the man. Pleasure to deal with.