tinyd

That action is at the higher end for a steel string "jazz" setup. Not badly so, but it might be worth considering getting a setup and/or adjustable bridge when you next have some money after buying decent strings

That's kind of the same as me alright, except I don't use a PA, so I have to try and get the balance right through my amp. The problem with too much treble / mid for the player IMO is that for walking bass especially you lose some of the "pulse" which is such a feature of DB, and because of the way that the DB notes "bloom" after being struck it impacts the music's swing/timing in a significant way. There's a good reason why so few "straightahead" jazz players use BG even though it would be so much more convenient (there's obviously a looks thing, but I can honestly say that avoiding hefting a massive piece of wood into some of the smaller spaces would override any fashion reasons for using DB). Anyway, I'm hoping that when I get an Fdeck it will tighten up the bottom end a bit....

On the Stax side of things, Green Onions is a good one (although I just found out from wikipedia that Lewie Steinberg played bass on this, not Duck Dunn as I'd always thought).

Played my third gig last night with the PJB C2 cab (plus small Warwick Gnome head) and I was able to hear myself really well in the drum/bass/piano/vocals lineup, even though the cab was on the floor at my feet right next to the kick drum. In terms of hearing, I find I have to overcome my natural dislike of the high-mid sound from the piezo pickup - I usually have mids turned way down but I've started tweaking it upwards a bit. It sounds a bit nasal when the bass is playing on its own, but "in the mix" it helps me to hear my own intonation while not really detracting from the overall sound.

I don't experience those volume differences but the Realist is very bassy and I tend to knock all the EQ way down on the amp. I've just ordered an Fdeck to see if that smooths things out a bit ...

I used to have a rev solo and while it sounded natural, it didn't cut through. I use a Realist Copperhead now and it's much better. Not quite as "hi fi" but pretty loud and I never have feedback issues with it. I also recently switched to a PJB C2 cab (5 inch speakers) and this cut through better than my old GK MB150 did. Obviously there are lots of combinations, but I reckon a louder pickup might be a good place to start.

I like the "not the X..." idea! I think in terms of standing out, you just need to stand out from the other bands in the local area, so if there are already tons of Dave Smith / Barry Johnson Quartets then it's probably not great. But if there aren't, then this kind of name might help single you out as a jazz(y) band.

I think The <something> Quartet/Quintet is a generally good way to signal a degree of jazziness...

I've seen his videos alright - he gets a great sound and the ubass definitely works for him in those cramped restaurant gigs! I can see how ubasses can work in gigs, and I haven't ruled it out in cases where I'd have to take public transport and/or tiny space for the gig itself, but I just haven't come up against that yet and probably won't...

This is a good one, reminds me of my uke bass purchase. Good for noodling while watching the telly, but not something I could ever imagine using at a gig (even though I convinced myself that I might when I bought it).

Mild disagree on this one - DB strings are expensive anyway, but getting the right ones definitely does solve the problem of the bass not sounding (or playing) right IMO

This has a really strong "one" which contrasts really nicely with the syncopation on bars 3 & 4

I tried one of the 3Sigma ones with my DB but it didn't make enough difference to the amplified sound to be worth bothering with. But since a DB amplified already sounds quite a lot like a DB (😀) it's not surprising. But I'd expect much more impact with an EUB alright.

I posted this video a while back in another thread. The sound he achieves at the end of the video is pretty good IMO

I can see how it might knock your confidence, and I'm sure that the session player is objectively "better" than you, but that doesn't mean that your initial playing wasn't good enough - it could just as easily mean that the singer heard something else in their head afterwards and got someone in to quickly record it. You've been playing live, you're an experienced musician on other instruments, and it doesn't take *that* much experience to be able to play decent bass for most genres of music anyway, so I wouldn't doubt yourself too much.

Good suggestion! Older Afro Cuban music has more double bass (as opposed to Baby Bass) e.g.

I'm based in Galway so I don't know much about what's available in Dublin or Belfast, but it might be worth getting in touch with this shop - they may rent instruments (or know somebody who does) https://www.crehans.ie/musical-instruments

Great choice! For those who haven't seen it this is a good illustration; https://youtu.be/K3lgmnsTdcA?si=xxs4aKL7VXxSblbF

This is a nice video with the man himself talking about it

Yep, I've found this as well - in my case I'm using it for DB so I want a less punchy tone, so I'm keeping gain down to less than half way (this isn't close to causing the compression to kick in) and using master to control overall volume.

It's satisfying how the number of "steps" tallies pretty closely with your calculation about the BPM and duration of the music! Only way to know for sure is to play a three hour bebop set at 250bpm and see if the numbers go correspondingly higher

As other people have said, work on your left hand shape, and make sure that you don't squeeze the strings with your hand muscles. You should be aiming to use your arm muscles to pull the strings down onto the fingerboard. Also, don't be in a rush to get higher up the neck - you can create a lot of music by staying in "half position" (i.e. first finger on the F on the E string).

I never read dots on a gig, but I do read chord charts a lot and I tense up slightly if I see a G# chord as opposed to Ab, so my bass (i.e. me) definitely sounds worse in sharp keys

I can see how the bass might "prefer" certain notes in that it resonates better and so on. But I can't see how this might be the case for flat keys vs sharp ones in general. As you say, you're more comfortable in certain keys than others (as most of us are) and so your hand shape, fingering etc might be subtly better and therefore you stop the notes more cleanly?

One left hand tip that I found helpful when starting out on DB is not to squeeze the string down against the fingerboard - as @Burns-bass says, the thumb is just a guide and you should be able to get a usable note without your thumb even touching the back of the neck (not saying you'll ever actually do this when playing normally of course). To achieve this, you need to use the weight of your arm and your shoulder muscles to pull the string down, rather than your hand muscles. I also recommend starting with the Simandl fingering method - you can modify it later but it's a good way to get your hand shape sorted out initially.