Jezyorkshire

Just wondering if i decide to upgrade my Romanian bass at some point on the cost of maintenance on say an old German 1900's fully carved or similar?

It’s all very well giving advise about string height and strings but we are all physically different , Mittels a centimetre of the board for some one new to the bass could be the end of playing a few months down the road when they develope RSI etc

playing pizz are you playing right at the end of the fingerboard, on my bass the E is a little darker than the other 3 and it requires a bit more attack but it also requires a slightly different angle with it being where it is if that makes sense, Jez

I’ve just ordered some Spiro Solos but tuning them to normal orchestra pitch which comes in a little under the tension of the lights

I have ordered some 3/4 Spiro Solos to tune to orchestra pitch, these will work out at a little below weichs in tension so should be good

thanks mate, i have listened to them on youtube ant they sound pretty good

was also thinking of the Velvet Blues which are 55Ibs tension on each string which would be nice to have an even tension on each string, was wondering how the Innovation Silver Slap compare in tension?

Just bought a used Double bass , its got Thomastic superflexible strings, only played it for one day and i can tell its too much tension, i need to avoid injuring myself as i haven't played for a few years due to severe rsi issues, does anyone know what the tension is for the Innovation 140SLP Silver Slap Double Bass Strings?

i agree, life is too short man, the problem is an inability to see the difference between the level that the OP is at and as you say " orchestral musicians sight-reading and playing often very difficult pieces full of emotion as an example"

so you cant even admit that you took my words completely out of context? I wonder what the OP thinks to the replys as he hasn't actually posted since starting this thread? which would be more relevant?

you are taking my words out of context, the context is that he wants to learn to play some bass lines from certain songs or books that could be learnt by ear, if you learn to play with dots only as a developing player you dont acquire the emotional content and nuances from the performance on the recording , this can only be done by copying by ear these elements, you are taking it completely out of context as anyone in an orchestra playing at the level you intimate are developed players with the musical sensibilities to play with those elements in context of their performance, he says he hasn't been playing bass long, my advice is as someone who has spent a lot of time acquiring the emotional content and nuances of players i like, using my ears, i can read, i have read some hard parts in my time but learning those elements enables me to know how to interpret a notated piece if i know the language of that genre from using my ears.

That’s shite mate, hope things improve man, Jez

Thanks mate, prevention is easy , just do a bit of working out to avoid injury, get some advice on which muscles in particular you need to keep in good shape for playing and stretches as well

Hi mate, when we spoke I was having physio on my left arm, shoulder and neck, I did think it would sort it but I also found I had golfers elbow in both arms! That was a while ago, I’m now having physio on the right due to pain as described in post above and it looks promising that I may play double again if I diligently do what the physio recommends, I am seeing improvement just after two weeks and the physio is taking into consideration getting me into physical shape to play double again. I am still playing sax, have just started playing with a big band to get out playing but it’s probably only short term as I may be moving, I’m in Todmorden at the minute but we are looking to move somewhere less wet and cold! Hope you are well mate, hope the Duke is working out well for you, yes it’s not good not being able to play music, hence why I started this post to highlight what can happen.

The symptoms started with what seems like carpel tunnel but actually originates in the neck area, pains in my wrist when arm extended such as playing bottom F area for more than an a minute or so, tension in arm and shoulder, this creeps up on you and to some degree you normalise it until it becomes really bad, trouble is before that point the tension etc goes away over the next few days when you stop playing , I was doing Corporate functions on electric and the tension in my arm/shoulder and upper body and neck was ridiculous and made me feel unwell but it went away couple of days later. Other symptoms I had later when I played double bass was that I started having trouble playing bottom G with my little finger, I couldn’t keep the note down and as it got worse i eventually couldn’t get the note out at all, I was Probably using the wrong muscles to compensate, I did nothing to address my fitness, no exercise or stretching those muscles that are needed to play the instrument, just carrying the weight of my Fender Jazz made me feel unwell over the course of a gig but it’s something I just accepted. When I started physio a couple of weeks ago on my right arm as I have been having trouble with pains in my shoulder it was found that my right upper arm muscle severely knotted, the physio put it down to years of use playing instruments, I am also starting to develope rounded shoulders like you see old people get as my back muscles are in shocking condition

Thanks man, my back muscles are really weak so physio got me doing exercises to build up using 2kg weights for now, I have to warm the top of arm/shoulder with hot water bottle then stretch arm holding a long broom handle up and to side then doing exercises

Sold my double bass a while back, been playing electric for about 35 years, just recently sold my fender jazz, thought I would never play double again due to wear and tear over the years, had a frozen shoulder, flipped my left arm up over playing the double, had 18 months of sports massage therapy to try to get back to playing, hasn’t worked, recently had to go see a physio over right arm n shoulder pain, it’s proper knotted up, said that the issues I have had in the past haven’t been resolved and it’s all the years of playing, good thing is that the physio thinks I can get in good enough condition if I follow advice, been going two weeks and can feel the difference, it’s painful but getting better. Im saying this as a warning to any one who might be aware that they aren’t in the best condition or are having pains, get checked out by a physio, and I don’t mean the NHS, it’s a waste of time, I ignored for a long time symptoms that should have been a warning to me and it stopped me playing to the point were I thought I would never play again and I sold most of my gear, I won’t play electric again as I can’t stand the weight round my shoulder but am hoping to get fit enough to have a go at double again, prevention is the best thing, get those muscles that we need to play in the right condition or you may end up where I was, regards , Jez

The OP says that the reason he wants to read is so he can buy Bass transcriptions, which I took to mean that the ones he would be buying are for bass lines he wants to learn? That inferes he struggles with doing it by ear maybe ? Maybe he will comment? In my opinion if that’s the case developing his ears and maybe some understanding of theory would be the best thing , theory from an angle of being able to analyse how bass lines are constructed and the harmonic language that is used to create the right effect and connecting this to an aural understanding of this language

Time would be better spent learning by ear in my opinion, I can read but reading doesn’t give you the emotional content and subtleties

Did you get sorted mate?