A young players out of D.C. with a funny story of how he got into playing the bass.

Intro:

Edited Promo:

Henry Franklin plays sitting

Sitting:

• No balancing required. Since the bass is held up mostly by your legs and at the bout, there’s no balancing involved. Balancing while playing standing becomes less of a conscious effort as you get used to it, but many years later as a bassist I still notice how taking balancing out of the equation is noticeable.
• Easier to play in pitch. The pitch location relative to your body stays constant. Because the bass doesn’t move or twist, it’s easier to play in tune than standing. Using the same stool, same length endpin, and anchoring the endpin tip at the same distance, the location of each pitch is virtually the same. This is even more true when playing in thumb position.
• Puts you at a better angle when bowing. When sitting on the stool, you’re behind the bass rather than to the side of the bass. This makes for a more natural angle for bowing
• Less Fatigue. I can sit for far longer than I can stand for. This is obvious. Also, there is less fatigue on your arm. When you stand, your hand holds up the bass.

Dave Holland plays standing

Standing:

• Volume and sound. Less of the mass of the bass is against your body, your bass will resonate more, which results in a louder and more open sound. You can minimize this when sitting to some degree, depending on the angle of the bass and how much weight your body is supporting, but a bass usually sounds better and louder to the listener when you stand.
• No need for a stool. It’s more of a practical and convenience consideration, but toting around a stool is another thing that you have to carry or go back for. I never assumed that a venue has a stool available, because often they didn’t. When I switched to playing standing, not carrying around a stool was liberating. I tried every type of portable stool in existence. Even the most portable stool is a lot more effort than no stool at all.
• Freedom to move. When standing, you can boogie if you feel compelled to. Behind a stool, you’re limited to head nodding. That sounds silly, but what/how we play is influenced by how much we get into the music. If moving gets you into it, it will affect your playing.

Rufus Reid with Laborie outfitted bass

Trying to Make Standing Work

I’ve never been able to play with complete comfort on a conventional bass endpin while standing. I like the advantages, especially the improvement in the bass’ response so I looked at ways of making the bass more comfortable standing.

When I switched to standing, I had the basses converted/setup for the Laborie endpin. That made balancing the bass far easier and reduced the amount of weight on my hand. Not too many bassists outside of the orchestral/solo circuit use the Laborie setup. Rufus Reid is likely the most notable. The most basic setup will run about $250 to buy the endpin and have a luthier properly drill a hole to install it. Do NOT do this yourself without proper guidance, tools, and knowledge! If you don’t want to drill, you can spend a lot more and have the KC Strings block installed as I did on the German bass. Part of the logic for me is that I could convert the bass back if some day, I just didn’t want to stay with the Laborie. However to this day, I absolutely have to have it and have a similar setup for my other bass.

I’ve never tried an angled endpin (an endpin bent at an angle), but I’ve known some people who swear by it as a low cost alternative. This is another way to try it, but some people say that you lose some tone and the endpin tends make the bass feel like a pogo stick. It’s more of a transitional solution for those saving up for a Laborie or those just trying to get a feel without committing to it.

Angled Endpin (courtesy of Slava Music)

Conclusion

Never say never. I can’t say with absolute certainty that I’ll never go back to sitting while playing. Right now, I like the Laborie setup a lot which makes standing while playing a lot easier. It’s closest to the best of both worlds for me.

For some beginners that have been having difficulties with intonation and coordination, I actually have recommended that they start off sitting just to take a few variables out of the equation. It actually helped. Some stayed with sitting, while others moved to standing. It’s a personal preference call.

Whichever way you currently play, sitting or standing, I encourage you to experiment with both to see which works best for you.

This video was shared to me by a reader. Don’t worry kids, this does not happen frequently enough to worry about.  However if you abuse the bass or buy a cheap bass/poorly constructed bass, the chances are far greater. (Not that we can assume this time that this bass was abused or was cheap)

What about notable female bassists? Did I miss something? Certainly there have to be at least some….

• 

  Lawrence, said:

  I’m open to suggestions on female bassists.

  I believe that there are many currently emerging that will become notable within our community in the near future.  Talent should be recognized regardless of gender or race. Rather it should be because of an individual’s accomplishments and deserved recognition. For example, creating the category “Female Bassists” implies unequal footing with male bassists. Adding a female name for the sake of adding a female name diminishes the recognition of accomplishments of female bassists in the future, thus is counterproductive. A bassist should be recognized regardless of their gender or race, likewise they should not be recognized primarily because of their gender or race.

  I’m not a big proponent of the Grammy’s, but they did two things that I applaud this year: The first was awarding Esperanza Spalding, and the second was  the announcement  that they are going to do away with separate male and female awards (i.e. Best Female Album). If we believe that women are not inferior to men, then we should not create a handicapping system that recognizes their accomplishments separate from men.

  I have no doubt that there were women in that past whose enormous bass talents never reached their potential due to social inequity and lack of opportunities. Tragic as it is, they never became influential or notable in our community. Looking forward, it’s promising that we are seeing bassists (who happen to be female), emerging and accomplishing much today. They will influence the future the way our predecessors did in the past.

I was in need of a new cello endpin socket for a custom Laborie project that I was putting together. Fortunately I received a $20 VISA gift card from AT&T to pay for that part, so I did a search on Google to see if I could find an endpin socket for that price. I stumbled across Jack’s Music’s website which had the part advertised within the balance that I have on that card.

I placed the order on Jan 25th and they charged me the money immediately. A week goes by and I hadn’t seen any updates to the order status so I email them to see what’s going on. I receive a email stating:

Okay, that’s fair, sounds like a problem with the distributor. Okay you didn’t actually carry the part that you advertise, perhaps you should state that the item is a special order item, and perhaps shouldn’t charge me until the item ships. Perhaps you should inform a customer to expect delays and that it could take weeks to get the part in.

So I wait a week and hear nothing. I email again and hear nothing for a week. Then several days later I receive the message

Even ATM machines are more polite these days. Say what you will about call centers in India, but at least they’re more polite than a music shop in Michigan.

Several days later, I still have not receive the credit and the Visa gift card is now expiring. I called up the credit card company and they said credits take up to 7 business days at most. It’s been 9 business days and no credit. Since the card now has expired, there’s nothing that Visa can do for me.

Just out of curiosity, I called up Engelhardt to see if they have the endpin sockets in stock. There was no difficulty in reaching Engelhardt and getting an answer and they were polite and helpful. They said that they did, and that I would have to order through a music store. I asked them how long it would take to get one to the store, they said it takes a few days to process, but they can definitely get it out since it is in stock.

So looks like now I’m paying out of pocket for the endpin socket.

—–Update—-

In all fairness, I emailed them a copy of my post and they once again got back to me only after I emailed them. I guess I didn’t get the credit after all, they once again didn’t inform me of what’s going on:

Very heart warming. I’m less cynical of the Grammies which has actually recognized talent over popularity….this time. I’ll be straightforward and admit that I didn’t watch most of the Grammies; getting some sleep was needed, but none the less, what I did see was entertaining and made me a bit more open-minded about The Industry.

Interestingly enough as a side note, I saw a spike in page visits in the last 24 hour period. I’m speculating that between Esperanza and the appearance of our beloved bass even among performing acts, interest was generated and people Googled to find out more about the upright bass.

—

On a side note, a bunch of (presumably female, teenage) fans had edited Esperanza Spalding’s Wikipedia page in their hormone driven, pubescent angst filled disappointment that Justin Bieber didn’t clinch this award. It’s actually really funny after you’re done shaking your head. Some of the vandals wrote such comments as: ”SHE IS F****** REATARD,”(SIC) and “JUSTIN BIEBER DESERVED IT GO DIE IN A HOLE.” (lack of punctuation is correctly quoted). After which the vandals slammed their bedroom doors a few times, texted their friends with morbid thoughts about how to exit this cruel world(OMG), and cried their eyes all night about about how life’s not fair and that Esperanza ruined their lives (accompanied with flying objects). Okay, I added that last part.

Reader’s comments, overwhelmingly siding with Esperanza, are entertaining too.
http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/02/14/6052555-bieber-fans-go-on-grammy-fueled-wikipedia-rampage

Bassist with Eliane Elias (wife), Lyle Mays as well as recorded with Stan Getz, Joe Lovano, Michael Brecker, Gary Burton

So what is “The Upright Bass Sound”? Is it the sound that we associate with the recordings of Paul Chambers, Scott LaFaro and Charles Mingus when there were only gut strings, no amplification, and recordings were through vintage microphones shared among band members? Is the “upright bass sound” Ray Brown and Ron Carter on steel strings in the early days of bass pickups and amplification? What about the newer, more accurate sound because of advances in bass amplification and reproduction or growing popularity in other types of strings; where do those fit into the picture?

I can’t emphasize this point enough: This discussion isn’t about talent, it’s about timbre and sound. It’s also not about who or what sound is better, just how things have changed over the years. High caliber players sound fantastic regardless of what they use and the limitations of what they are faced with. What we are discussing is the actual sound of the instrument itself. No matter what the tone, I could listen to these guys for hours and they are largely the reason why a lot of us fell in love with the instrument.

To simplify the categories for the purpose of discussion, I’ve divided them up to three eras

• Pre-1970′s: Mic on a Stick era
• 1970′s-1990: Basic piezo and multipurpose amp era
• Post 1990: “Designed to sound like the bass only louder” systems

Here are some clips for reference that I will be discussing.

Paul Chambers

Scott LaFaro

Charles Mingus

Ray Brown

Ron Carter

Dave Holland

Eric Revis

Carlos Henriquez

Like most bassists, I love trying “better” (i.e. more expensive) basses and products. There has to be a reason why something costs more right. If it costs more, it must be because most people want it, therefore supply and demand say that it’s worth more. If it costs more, it must be better. Even when I had a good bass, it wasn’t too long before I’d start eying more expensive basses. I went from an old plywood bass, to a French bass, and it perpetuated to the point that I had a nice 19th century Italian bass, unlabeled, but still a beautiful instrument.

My first good bass was an unlabeled 19th century French bass. There were some “appraisals” about who the luthier was, but it’s all just an educated guess. I had it later in college and it was a fine bass, but it needed work to get it to its potential. Unfortunately work=money. When it finally was where I wanted it to be I was pretty much broke (being broke is synonymous with being a young musician anyhow). When one of life’s big tragedy hit, the family came first and ultimately I had to give up the bass. It’s not all altruistic, I made some regretful decisions to trying to keep the bass, but to the point the bass was the only thing I had of monetary value. I was sad to see it go, but that’s part of life; back to a plywood bass.

Years later, when things improved, I had my appetite for an Italian bass. I fell in love with an unlabeled early 19th century Italian bass. Having the Italian Bass was nice for the first few years, but having one can actually be a burden. It was temperamental; sometimes it would sound nice, other times it woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It felt delicate, which can be a good thing, but also a bad thing. I loved how it sounded, it wasn’t the most playable bass because it was both temperamental and its violin corners were beautiful but not the most ideal. This is not representative of all old Italian basses, but it’s not unusual that each have their own character for the better or worse. As the orchestral auditions and low paying orchestral gigs lost priority, so the Italian bass started seeing the outside world less. No way was I going to take it to any of the tight “stages” for the club and restaurant gigs; basses that have endured that circuit have their share of battle scars, so instead, it gradually became a museum piece than a instrument.

When I was fully committed to other genres of music, I decided to get a nice German Bass that I could take anywhere. The bass is a workhorse; a circa 1920′s German bass with no history associated with it. No label, no heritage. Plays well but probably need a new fingerboard soon, but it can wait. It looks lovely and has a beautiful grain, but it won’t stand out in a bass shop. It sounds very nice, but nothing spectacular; not much different than any other good quality German bass out there. I’m sure that other people tried this bass before moving onto purchase other basses which they preferred. I had intentions of buying a different bass that sounding good on paper, but didn’t make the cut. When I tried the bass, I didn’t immediately think “I’ve got to have this bass”. I set it aside and moved on to try other basses. At decision time, I was wrestling between this one and another for a couple of hours. I finally decided upon this bass, and was giddy about having another bass to get acquainted with.

When another of life’s difficult situations arose (which usually coincides with bills and payments) I decided to sell the Italian bass. To my surprise, I didn’t miss it nearly as much as I thought I would. Yes, it’s hard parting with any bass, but nothing feels amiss. The German bass actually pairs with me nicely. I try to take care of it as well as possible, but I don’t feel like a historic preservationist as I did with an Italian bass; I can go out an be a musician. It can go wherever I need to be, whether that is a small corner of a cafe or a nice concert stage. I don’t doubt that this is a keeper for many decades to come, maybe until it’s time to lay down a bass for the last time and I would have no wants of another bass. Even though I’ve owned “better” basses, this is my favorite. The reason isn’t quantifiable, it just is so. Sometimes you have to go full circle to figure out what you want in life, but it would have been far cheaper had I figured it out at the beginning.