Quote:
Originally Posted by Vince Mendoza
Thanks very much for your reply, Ken. It was very enlightening, to say the least. I've always wondered what these great jazz bassists played and could never get any answer on the Internet until now.
Just a couple more questions here, however:
1. What is a "Germanic Shop type bass"? Are they basses made in the style of a particular school of bass-making, perhaps with German origins? And were they laminated or hybrid basses?
2. You mentioned that "for that short jazz-pizz sound/attack, the greatest Italian Orchestral bass is not always best." In your opinion, is a laminated or hybrid bass more preferable for jazz then?
3. Having played both upright and electric bass, did you personally find it difficult to move from upright to electric? And could one realistically do self-study with the upright? Although I read music and am well-versed in theory, I'm self-taught on the electric.
Thank you for your help.
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I see #3 as really 3 and 4.. so let's begin. I will use numbers to refer to each question and have 3a and 3b.
1)
Germanic Shop Basses and similar Basses were made in Shops and Factories all over Germany as well as the Czech Republic, Czechoslovakia, Bohemia and parts of Austria bordering Germany and Czech. Read my section on these styles of Basses in the Link above. Also, I am referring to fully carved Basses. Laminated or Hybrids were also made in the same generic shapes but I have not referenced them in this thread yet.
2) Going from great Italian Basses to Laminated and Hybrids is like going from Earth to Jupiter in a single leap. Anything with plywood will be lacking that free wood vibration. Hybrids in general are mainly a 20th century introduction. As far as Plywoods go, Google YouTube for Milt Hinton and Slam Stewart. They both used American made Kay Basses. I don't know how they made those Basses sound so sweet. Might as well been a master grade Italian..
3a) I played the Electric Bass mainly with the same technique that I play the Upright. There are some things though that are completely different technically but I do not approach it as a Guitar by any means technique wise.
3b) If you want to play this large life sized Violin looking instrument we call the Double bass and enjoy it, study it properly and get a teacher that is Classically trained if not a Symphony player directly. I cannot stress that enough. The technique is so much more refined. The Great Jazz players like Reggie Workman , Stanley Clarke and Eddie Gomez were all Classically trained. This I know for a fact because I know them all personally and who they studied with. From the looks of it, Paul Chambers and Ray Brown were also Classically trained. How you train and how you play may be very different but if you don't train well, you playing may suffer for it or rather from a lack of it.
