How high is your bass?

[Richard Prowse]

Originally Posted by Sam Sherry

I came up in the Karr school -- I started studies with Leland Tolo, "the other guy" at Hartt when Gary was there and Gary & Tolo were kind enough to let me hang around some master-classes even though I was a rank beginner. I'm sure Gary would chuckle to see my posture now. Gary's approach to bass-height is part of a deeply worked-out ergonomically-based postural system which is all about maximizing the available musical palette, maximizing muscular efficiency and minimizing risk of injury. I was taught to play low-F with the first finger pointing at my eye. Different basses would be adjusted to different heights in order to achieve that result. Consequently, any pictures of Gary with the bass "looking high" are a better reflection of the size of bass than of any desire to "make it high" to project or otherwise. There are no doubt many others who can speak with real authority about Gary's physical approach to the instrument. I'm just a dubber as we all know and may well have it wrong. All errors are mine; please don't blame Gary, Tolo, Ken Smith or anybody else.

Thanks Sam. Great insightful post!
One question though - when the finger is pointing at the eye (on low F), can this be achieved by the bass being on an angle (sloping towards the player)?