neilp

Rod Stewart is what you get if you try to buy Steve Marriott from Lidl

The bowing is a practical compromise. The only way to play this musically on the bass is to regard the slurs in the manuscript as phrasing marks rather than bowing! There are other versions you might like to listen to as well. Joel Quarrington tunes his bass in 5ths, so the whole thing makes more sense for him. And the great, sadly missed Rinat Ibragimov is always worth listening to

Another extraordinary musician for you:

Vocalise is a very enjoyable start to the thumb position adventure. Pretty simple, a lovely melody and easy playing. I have to say I do love orchestral playing too, and that's where the cash is!

That's where all the good stuff is, up there in the rosin dust. Phoebe is a Goddess, and a really cool human being too. Simandl and Petracchi are all you need....

My current absolute favourite bassist is the fantastic Phoebe Russell

Jerome Davies looks after my lovely 19th century bass, and he's a top man

The Stones - just an overpriced Stones tribute act now. Nothing new since Exile on Main Street. Just the same old same old. Good luck to them, but I won't be indulging McCarney - I'm biased, I never liked him. Fakey McFakerson IMO. But he's done nothing worth hearing for decades either The oldies I still want to hear? Springsteen (not the same as the 80's, but the changes are good and the flame still burns), Robert Plant (seems to get better and better. Thank you Alison Krauss for reining in the extremes of his style), Kate Bush (a Goddess, now and always) and Tom Jones

You're right - the Bottesini is great fun to play - all Bottesini is! Rinat was an extraordinary musician and teacher, I studied with him when he was a young man. All of this virtuosic stuff seems impossible in the early stages, but if you learn the basics thoroughly, it's surprising what diligent practice can achieve!

That's dead. Get a new bridge fitted. It will destroy itself (and quite possibly the top of the bass) sooner or later. Don't try to bodge it, it's only likely to make the inevitable destruction worse

At a final pre-gig run through with a recent band, I mimed almost the entire set to try to make the point, and the keyboard player just said "but if i don't play in that octave it will just sound thin and gutless". I tried to explain that "if the bass was doing the job it's there for..........", but I got nowhere, so I played the gig then quit.

Where are you based? A teacher is probably the ideal way forward, I'll help if I can. It's not "inappropriate" to play both bows, but it's certainly not necessary or even advisable. Realistically, unless you are a full-time player (student or pro) nobody has time to master both German and French. I'm a French bow player, by choice having tried both in my student days. I find the french bow easier to get a relaxed hand and arm, but a lot of the choice is down to personal preference. In the end it may be very slightly easier to draw real power from your bass with a German bow, and very slightly easier to do some of the more delicate and subtle effects and strokes with a French bow, but it can all be done with either! Best advice I can give is pick one and devote all the practice time you have to that one. Either one, you choose!

I own a Wal Mk 1 fretless, and its a phenomenal instrument, and in my opinion worth every penny of what I would have to pay to replace it. If you want a Wal, you have a choice: order one today and wait the 3 years that I believe is the current lead time, or pay what the second hand market wants. It's not logical to say a second-hand Wal "isn't worth it", because by definition it's worth whatever it sells for! You could argue that a new one is overpriced (I wouldn't, but you could), but the market sets the price for a used one

But we aren't talking about a much messed with 19th century instrument, are we?

That bridge is a bit of a horror show! It will probably steam flat again, but you should really take a LOT of thickness out of the top of the bridge and scrape/plane the sides nice and smooth - otherwise all those dings and gouges will attract and absorb dirt, grime, rosin etc. As far as placement goes, the bridge should be EXACTLY centred on the inner notches of the f holes. That is the way the geometry of the bassbar, soundpost, top graduation etc is designed to work. For the money a decent luthier will charge for a bridge, I wouldn't faff about trying to do it myself. Sandpaper on the top doesn't work. I've never seen anyone get a bridge properly fitted like that. Roughly, yes, but it's the last little details that really make the difference

These are the only straps I use these days: Levys Garment Leather Bass Strap BK – Thomann UK There used to be a brown and a tan option which both seem to be out of stock or unavailable, but anyway, they are beautifully made, the suede stops them slipping, and they're the most comfortable straps I've ever used Neil

I've managed to have a Friday night off to go to Brighton and see Larkin Poe on 6th May. Can't wait

In reality, if you want a top quality bow, you won't be looking at carbon. Thwaites, Turners etc do not deal in mass produced bows, so no, you won't be able to get a carbon bow from them. I'm not sure where the "massive mark up" theory came from either. There isn't much margin to be had in either a good new bow from a named archetier, or an antique named bow such as a Pfretschner. Everyone in the trade knows the value of these things, so unless you're talking about Sartory, Peccate or Tourte etc, there's not much margin by the time a good rehair is taken into account and they've been shipped out on trial a couple of times! A good carbon bow is absolutely fine - I have one myself as a backup, for outdoor gigs and col legno heavy pieces - but a well made Pernambuco bow is a different thing entirely.

Not entirely sure that's true, is it? I may be wrong, but I thought the Elite I and II were built elsewhere in Japan? If not, I stand corrected, but the quality is not quite the same whatever...

Depending on your budget, it might be worth giving Bill a call at Thwaites.com. They probably have more at the higher end, but that may be where you are looking!

I use 2 mics - an AKG D112 and a Rode NT1A large diaphragm condenser. The mix of the two signals works really well for me. The AKG is pretty much an industry standard for bass frequencies and is bombproof, which is a big deal for me. The Rode is a Neumann U87 clone, and is absolutely spectacular value for money. It's a very accurate, transparent mic, but very smooth too.