Rabbie

I had the same problem with a bassmax, turns out it was damaged. But in my case it was crackling all the time. Many apologies for stating the obvious but firstly make sure it's nothing to do with the leads, the preamp or the amp. After that, check that the transducer is not picking up rattles from your bass, strings or other fittings and amplifying them. If all this fails, and the pickup is fitted properly, then I'm afraid the pickup is broken. Hopefully other people may have more illuminating ideas. Hope you get it sorted.

I really enjoyed the lessons and the website too. Excellent resource for beginning double bass. You are a great educator: your style is easy-going and friendly, yet always knowledgeable, enthusiastic and never patronising. Online learning is here to stay and I think you have devised a wonderful site for those who want to learn the double bass but may not have the money or time for a tutor just yet. Really very well done Geoff.

A change of string from medium to weich will help your purposes without involving any change of setup or technique (which you would need if you decided to switch to let's say guts). Just to throw another idea on your table, why don't you try Velvet Blues: they are excellent strings for the use you make of the db. The Blues are light in tension yet they have excellent tone and they are surprisingly loud. As an added bonus they are amongst the cheapest quality strings you will find (about £120 me thinks). I had them on one of my basses for a while and I loved them for long gigs especially. I only stopped using Velvets when I decided to make the switch to guts. Evah Pirazzi weichs are also great. I was never a fan of Spiros, weichs or otherwise just because all that growl is not my cup of tea. Sorry to confuse you more, just thought the Blues would be worth a look for you.

The way my bowing is, it wouldn't matter if I rubbed fairy dust on it...but thanks very much for the tip top tip.

The double bass does something special to people watching it being played. Somehow it seems to have a 'cool' factor and 'happy' factor that just help building a really positive vibe. I have done many many gigs and so far the response has always been brilliant. Apart maybe from some uppity jazz gig where the audience remains 'intellectually grumpy' throughout. My favourite have been family friendly gigs or workshops in school. The big bass just fascinates the wee children visually and as soon as you play a grove it makes them bop and dance, which is just fantastic to see. Aye Pete, relax and you will love gigging the double bass!

[quote name='FLoydElgar' timestamp='1375883689' post='2166893'] SCALES, SCALES, SCALES, SCALES, SCALES3 OCTAVE SCALES, 3 OCTAVE SCALES... ad infinitum... [/quote] + 1 and arpeggios....and a bit of luck on the night...sometimes you nail it and sometimes you don't.

Twinkle twinkle little star and Teddy bear's picnic are great tunes. Nothing to be ashamed of...au contraire...I wish I could write something half as good as them.

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...

Love the tribute video about Dennis Irwin's bass on his page. Great player too.

I feel your pain. I get some great gigs as an upright player in popular music, I am happy with my playing and intonation in the non-academic musical genres. Then now and again I pick up the bow and I feel like a total plonker! I am useless at it! And you are totally right, bowing does not help intonation when you go back to lets say rockabilly, because it is a totally different standing and hand techniques. Still, surely a great bass player could do both? I say good for you for wanting to develop in that area! Best of luck if you go for it!

Hot playing Bilbo, very impressive indeed.

May I add, the setup calls for high action and stamina if you you want to be heard acoustically. Even with the amp, the tone is in the fingers of course. If you prefer low action I wouldn't bother: too floppy.

Guts

I currently use the A and E and really love them for all of your purposes (but I do hardly any bowing). Don't know about the D and G.

I believe the performance of some classical stuff require a 'con sordino' approach, in which case you'd nee a mute preferably made of ebony. I have never seen it really. The thing is: performance mutes soften the sound of the bass, but they are not designed to reduce the volume by too much. In the real world of gigging in every style there ain't a lot if use for a mute, even if dont play with animal the drummer. You may want a rubber one for home practice if you live in a flat, but for all the rest I prefer teaching my fingers some dynamics. That's my take on it anyway.

I Agree with Geoff. Not that I post often enough to have any say, but I play every style (bar classical), so I find that separate sections would be a bit hard work to keep up with. I agree with the special section for luthier work, that would be handy. Everything else I think it's better together as it is quite easy to follow as it is.

Get guts

+1 for the "depends on the strings and the style" school of thought. I am a gut string player and my action currently is 10-11mm G, up to 13mm E. High it may be for most...probably still low for Willie Dixon.