Sunday, January 21, 2007

Introducing...Count Bassy!


I would like to introduce everyone to my new bass, Count Bassy.

Yes, at the ripe old age of 29 and 11/12 I have decided to start playing the bass again! Count Bassy is a beautiful 3/4 Korean-made student bass that I bought from a guy in Hollister off of Craigslist. He has a beautiful sound and is only a little finicky in cold/wet weather.

I want to learn jazz bass, but I am not sure if it would be better to formally learn classical bass and jazz bass at the same time, or just learn jazz bass. Does anyone have any advice?

I am waiting to get an instructor until after I hear back from the State on whether or not I passed the Professional Engineer (PE) exam. I will find out in a couple weeks. If I didn't pass, I need to start studying again (sigh); if I did pass, I get to start bass lessons!

In the mean time I am relearning all of the scales and doing some simple tunes in my old student books from high school. I am not really using the bow as the bow that came with the bass is crappy. So I am plucking a lot and trying to get my callouses built up. So right now Vince is putting up with a lot of crappy, out-of-tune scales, until I get up to par.... :) I need a metronome. Do any of you Bay Area folks have one you don't need? I found one on Craigslist that I might go check out next weekend too.

Happy Music, everyone! Count Bassy has a mellowing affect on me. I am glad to have some music back in my life.

3 comments:

Charles Céleste Hutchins said...

If you can make it to Oakland, I recommend Damon Smith as a teacher. http://www.balancepointacoustics.com/

He not only teaches, he'll be able to help you get gigs!

Anyway, afaik, there's no reason you can't do jazz and classical at the same time. I have even less experience with classical upright than jazz, but the exercises are the same.

One nice technique for figuring out finger positions is overtones. Every place where you stop the string is also a nodal point for an overtone. When I was learning hand positions, I would spend some time playing on overtones first.

Also, I was darn lucky with a bow because I went to the store to change my french bow for a german one and they accidentally gave me a bow worth about $200. It was very nice. I returned it when I returned the rental instrument.

You should be able to find a new metronome for very cheap at any music store, no?

Man, playing instruments is fun. I wish I had something fun to play around here.

Congratulations!

Charles Céleste Hutchins said...

oh, i just re-read your post. Learn whatever kind of music you want to play. All that stuff about the "right" order, etc is mostly bullshit. The physical chops are the same for jazz or classical, but interpretation is way different. Concentrate on what you want to do.

Also, you should make mitch jam with you! :)

marshlady said...

this is great! I can't wait to come over and hear it.

-Carol