endorka

[quote name='thisnameistaken' post='1209103' date='Apr 23 2011, 12:27 PM']Jennifer - in terms of the gigs you do, do you find everybody is still using the fifth edition?[/quote] It depends mostly on the age of the musicians. Younger ones will tend to have the new editions, older musicians will have the previous editions. I've noticed that more or more are using the iphone / ipad real book these days though. Jennifer

I think the criticism stems from the fact that some tunes that were in the original "illegal" edition are no longer in the new "legal" edition, presumably due to licensing restrictions. The US and European versions have different songs. I have a US copy, which I am told has more/better songs. Might be worth checking out before you buy. Jennifer

I saw these guys last week and they are great, would recommend seeing them if you can! Jennifer

Is there any structural or functional purpose to a singlecut, or is it just a cosmetic thing? Jennifer

And you would have enjoyed it too! Great musicians, good sound, and Pete has to be one of the most laid back bass players I have ever seen! Jennifer

Glad to hear it was a good night! I'll be along to the one in Glasgow tonight. Looking forward to hearing "The Dan", as they say! Jennifer

As others have pointed out, not having written notation is far more common in most forms of the music than having written notation. Written notation is prevalent in classical music, musical theatre, some jazz and brass band music. As far as I know, you don't get it much anywhere else. This doesn't bother me at all. For simple folk tunes it is usually easy enough to pick these up as you go along. For more complex tunes, or if you want to save rehearsal time, then just get the guitarist to record what they are doing beforehand, and you can work it out by ear in advance. Jennifer

[quote name='Happy Jack' post='1200452' date='Apr 15 2011, 11:16 AM']Hmmmmmmmmmm ... so, tell me Jennifer, is there a Mr. Endorka?[/quote] I am already happily spoken for [quote name='Monckyman']I reckon the cheapest/most elegant solution to the endpin is a retap and larger screw. I don`t fancy trying to hoik that thing out of there.[/quote] Quite right. I had to remove the original endpin from my double bass some time ago because it was a poor quality one. The full assembly was really wedged in, and removing it was a "concerning" experience, to say the least. Jennifer

[quote name='Monckyman' post='1200021' date='Apr 14 2011, 10:07 PM']Jennifer, that bridge looks really well fitted. did you use your old bridge as a template?[/quote] Thanks! I did not use the old bridge as a template as it was poorly fitted, I started completely from scratch for this one. For example, the fingerboard on my double bass is a bit off centre, and Chuck's book tells you how to cut the bridge to compensate for this - that is why one leg on the bridge is longer than the other. The old bridge did not take this into account. Fonzoooroo: I'm impressed that you can do this job in 60-90 minutes. With some better tools I could have done it quicker than the 6 hours it took me, but even then it is still quite labour intensive. I don't have a good belt sander, so the initial cut of the bridge feet was not great, and consequently it took quite a lot of scraping away at them so they fitted flush to the body of the instrument. Jennifer

[quote name='bob_pickard' post='1199694' date='Apr 14 2011, 06:03 PM']new bridge is about £200 for a decent one - fitting and set up would be about 100-150 on top so probably not worth it unless you can get cheaper parts on ebay and do it yourself....[/quote] I bought a reasonable bridge from [url="http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/"]http://www.touchstonetonewoods.co.uk/[/url] for £40. No adjusters, but it is harder to fit a bridge after the adjusters are installed, something that was important as I fitted the bridge myself and I didn't want to place additional difficulties in the way. I used [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Setup-Repair-Double-Optimum-Sound/dp/1892210061/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302806367&sr=8-1-spell"]Chuck Traeger's book[/url] as my guide. This costs £80, but it has paid for itself already several times over in repairs & modifications I've made. This new bridge has made a huge difference to the sound. I could have done a few more cosmetic tweaks, such as levelling off the bridge feet, but this wasn't a priority. I'd say it took no more than 6 hours to fit, so if you confident with DIY skills this could be an option. The book would be useful to your other repairs as well. Jennifer [attachment=77524:double_bass_bridge.jpg]

[quote name='hubrad' post='1194530' date='Apr 10 2011, 01:03 PM']I have an AI combo too, which makes for a great natural sound pretty much anywhere in the room except for your own position - the downward-firing speaker rather seems to spread the sound past your ankles, so folks at the back will get a great bass sound but you have no idea what you're playing![/quote] Would it then be correct to say that the downward firing speaker is completely redundant if your double bass is also going through the PA? Jennifer

[quote name='TheRev' post='1194365' date='Apr 10 2011, 10:34 AM']Personally, I've not found stuffing or covering t-holes to make a huge difference, but it certainly can't hurt.[/quote] I think the effectiveness of this will vary from instrument to instrument. My DB has a carved top & back, which are apparently more resonant than a ply instrument, and consequently will be more prone to feedback, so maybe stuffing the f-holes makes a bigger difference in my case. I don't always use it as a "total feedback killer" as such, more often if the instrument is getting a little bit prone to feedback on stage, or if the body of the instrument is picking up other sounds onstage and transmitting them through the pickup, I find that stuffing the f-holes will stabilise and clean up the sound a bit. I'm not sure about the function of a downward firing speaker: is this for the benefit of the audience or the player? Jennifer

Have you tried stuffing the f-holes with cloths? Also wrapping a cloth round the strings on the tailpiece side of the bridge, and putting another between the tailpiece and the body of the double bass. Each of the above addresses a specific area of the instrument that can feedback. It is also possible that it is other instruments causing the feedback indirectly, e.g. if a keyboard player's speaker and/or monitor is facing the body of your double bass, some notes from the keyboard may cause your bass to resonate and start the feedback, whereas the double bass itself would not feedback. The same can apply with guitars. Jennifer

Sounds good, I'll try to get along to Glasgow. Jennifer

[quote name='fatback' post='1189951' date='Apr 6 2011, 12:10 AM']But I was thinking more of the production values in publishing terms, and the care taken with the text and pictures.[/quote] I think we are in agreement about the pictures - they could certainly be clearer. In the photos of 4th position, for example, it is not clear whether the players arm is resting on the body of the instrument or not. [quote]Also the attention paid to any kind of sound teaching principles in the way the material is organised. ... Even if the book is for use with a teacher, it's pretty poor stuff at the price.[/quote] Here I must disagree. While I have not completed the book yet, thus far the organisation of the material has been excellent. The pieces get only progressively more advanced, and there have been no sudden leaps of difficulty that leave one perplexed and/or demoralised. The use of natural harmonics as part of the pieces will help the student develop good tuning even if they are not playing along with an instrument that gives a reference pitch such as a piano. The use of well known melodies will also help with this because most people know how they should sound. The same cannot be said for the chromatic exercises at the start of Reid's book, or the atonal pieces in Simandl. All of the fingerboard - the lower positions, neck heel, and thumb position are presented as equal in difficulty, and to mind this approach is genius. Up 'til now students have worried themselves sick over playing in the high positions, and here you have beginners playing melodies there almost immediately. On the double bass! This is revolutionary stuff! That there is no actual material covering how to play the instrument in terms of bow strokes etc. is (I suggest) a feature rather than a bug. For classical training the assumption is that you will have a tutor showing you this stuff; it is too complex and tailored to the individual student to describe in a book alone. This book has broken the "block" I had about playing in thumb position, and it did so almost overnight. For £13, less than the cost of a half hour lesson, I'd say it was very good value for money. I still find our difference of opinion on the content puzzling; it's almost as if we are referring to different books :-/ Jennifer

Our difference in opinion is fascinating, and I wonder if it would be illuminating to pursue it further? If you are referring to Rufus Reid's "Evolving Bassist" book, I have that too. And while the text is a little better in it, it is certainly not sufficient to get a complete beginner using the bow properly. And I think therein lies the rub; Rufus Reid's book is primarily a jazz method, and therefore the audience will be largely pizzicato based, and presumably older players already with some experience. From what I recall, the Reid book starts off with a bunch of open string bowing exercises primarily with the goal of improving your string crossings. It is an exercise with some utility, but is incredibly tedious and not musically inspiring at all. The next significant part involves playing chromatic notes all over the fingerboard in all the positions; again it is useful, but you have to take a "I'll do this because it is good for me in the long run" approach. On the other hand, the Vance book starts with tunes that will be familiar to kids, that they can get some musical enjoyment from right away. It is geared towards classical training and the use of the bow, and there is simply no way a beginner will be able to learn how to use a bow properly without the guidance of a teacher. There are just too many variables and an almost infinite amount of ways to do it incorrectly, but very few ways to do it well. It is my conjecture that because of this, and that in classical education circles the tutor/student relationship is assumed, classical method books for the beginner will not even attempt a "teach yourself" approach. It would be an exercise in futility. I think what I am trying to say is that I remain unconvinced that the Vance vs. Reid book comparison is a valid one. A more valid comparison might be Simandl book one and Vance, and they both contain badly reproduced photographs and sparse text, I suspect for the reasons detailed above. Jennifer

[quote name='fatback' post='1188384' date='Apr 4 2011, 09:42 PM']I have to say from a publishing point of view Vance is a disgrace though. Pictures that look like photocopies and, from a beginner's point of view, very poor text. What people get away with in music teaching amazes me.[/quote] The quality of the photos is variable in my copy; the photos on pages 6-9 seem too bright, the contrast is borderline, and false contours in the shades of grey are evident. The photos on p15 appear poorer. Nonetheless, they are all sufficient for the purpose of showing what needs to be shown. The print quality of music and text seems very good to me, although if you were referring to the content of the text, that is admittedly sparse. On the other hand, there is no way a beginner could attempt the material in this book without a tutor's guidance, so I am assuming that the text is more for reference and guidance of the tutor than the student. This is commonplace in teaching methods for the double bass. One of my main criticisms of the book is that I think it should have more photos of the other positions; only 1st, 3rd and 4th position are shown in the book, but there is music containing all 6 positions. Jennifer

Thanks for the info Hector, I'm going to order the Vance books 2 & 3. If it ain't broke don't fix it! Vance book 1 so far consists mainly of simple folk melodies and nursery rhymes played in the positions. I'm more than halfway through, and while there has been some shifting, there have been no pivots yet. It makes use of the open strings and natural harmonics as part of the melodies to help keep you in tune. I am finding it very useful because I am trying to "reboot" my double bass technique from first principles, and also because the relatively simple left hand work is allowing me to focus on bow technique, articulation, string crossing, dymanics and so on. I am really enjoying spending time working on how to make tunes such as "Lightly Row" more musical and expressive. It certainly beats trying to do this kind of thing exclusively with scales. From what you have said though, I expect you would find it too elementary. If you teach or plan to teach double bass however, it may be worth investing in. Jennifer

[quote name='Hector' post='1141163' date='Feb 25 2011, 02:10 PM']Jennifer, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Vance book once you've had a go with it. I'm working direct out of Rabbath, and wouldn't mind comparing if it's ok with you?[/quote] I've been going through the Vance book for a short time now, and first impressions are excellent. It gets you onto thumb position and the neck heel almost immediately, and it is surprising how enjoyable this is in comparison to other methods. I'm not at all strong in thumb position, and other methods I've tried have been frankly terrifying, but this is a great and very musical approach. I'll post a more complete review once I've completed the first book. Am considering getting the other two as there is a delay of three or four weeks in ordering, but wondering if it would be best just to go straight for the Rabbath nouvelle technique book one instead. Jennifer

[quote name='Hector' post='1186535' date='Apr 3 2011, 09:56 AM']... Happened to me yesterday with some aspects of my bow arm, my tone suddenly became warm and smooth and I could play lovely arco phrases.[/quote] Quite! It is sometimes hard to believe it is yourself playing, but you know it is. When this happens I try not to start thinking about it too much because the magic will go! :-) Jennifer

[quote name='Doddy' post='1185794' date='Apr 2 2011, 01:47 PM']I think that is an important point. There are a lot of times when during the bass solo the only thing happening is very light hi hat playing. I personally like it when the rest of the band comp behind the solo.Bring the volume down a little if it's an upright solo,but keep the intensity and swing. I find I can solo better that way as I can play off the other instruments,rather than being left to my own devices.[/quote] My experience is completely the opposite. Unless they are going to provide a perceptive and skilled accompaniment, I'd rather they just stayed out the way. Particularly the hi-hat. My preference is for soloing over ballads, I find it is the arena in which I can make the double bass "speak" most, and where its low register and volume are the least detrimental. Jennifer

[quote name='Bilbo' post='1180941' date='Mar 29 2011, 03:53 PM']I tried one of those Steinberger NS EUBs last night. Not a total dog but, boy, am I pleased that I stayed focussed on the real thing? I know that, if I had gone down the EUB route, I would immediately have continued to covet a real double bass. As it is, I will not be looking to buy an EUB anytime soon.[/quote] One of the major problems I have on the NS WAV is the lack of a neck heel. NS Design apparently make something you can stick on that works like one, but they were never available when I tried to buy one. It's a shame really. Most people think the problem with EUBs is the sound. I thought the sound of the WAV was excellent, but the neck heel and stability are the main problems to my mind. Jennifer

Great colour! Jennifer

Nitromors! Evil stuff that! That's great that you are getting along to the concert tomorrow night. It's double bass all the way through for me this time though, no bass guitar, yellow or otherwise! Jennifer

[quote name='Slipperydick' post='1175989' date='Mar 25 2011, 02:53 PM']I bought cheap one off ebay about 3 years ago for bits. ... Its pretty good really if a bit on the light side,[/quote] Mine is pretty light too, I see this as an advantage! Jennifer