I'm an upright jazz bassist and i would recommend a tip, don't try to use the chicken wing technique. Just focus on building the strength in your fingers and you can alternate between your two fingers you just have to work on pulling the strings harder. Because if you fling your arm like that, you are going to end up hurting yourself later on down the road. The main goal is to play as relaxed as possible. Also don't hold your left arm out perpendicular to the to try and fix intonation, slide your hand slightly up or down depending if your are flat or sharp. You also have to be aware of the amount of pressure you are holding the strings with because yes you use the body as a fulcrum but you also have to develop hand strength. I used to play electric before i made the switch to pursue my studies but this stuff my professor taught has saved me a lot of trouble, I hope this helps anyone!
Jacob Abolos As a classical bassist I've always been encouraged to keep the elbow of my fretting arm up at an almost 90° angle. I will admit when holding notes for several bars (which happens annoyingly often) it'll droop. However it's interesting that you advise against that as it's what I've been taught by several teachers.
Hey Daniel, I did not mean to say don't play with a perpendicular arm. I meant to correct how he was holding his arm way above perpendicular to fix his intonation. It has been about a year since I wrote this and I have learned a lot more since then, but I do appreciate you catching that wording mistake of mine!
As a classical and jazz double bassist, I'd recommend starting with Francois Rabbath's technique rather than Simandl's technique. Rabbath takes you to high positions early so you don't get stuck in half and first positions for years before moving up higher. He also uses a greater variety of left hand positions so you can make freer choices in how you play rather than the very mechanical blocky technique Simandl can sometimes lumber you with.
doublebassblog.org/2006/11/rabbath-versus-simandl-comparative.html This article has a good sum up of the two methods. TLDR: Simandl and Rabbath are NOT good for beginners. Beginners should consider George Vance's Progressive Repertoire because it contains fun recognizable tunes and also starts players in high positions early, like rabbath. Rabbath is good for solo music. Simandl good for orchestral playing. I also think that Rufus Reid's Evolving Bassist is pretty good for players interested in jazz. Mostly a resource book, not a method, but it can be helpful.
+Vincent Bourgon That's a great option for a cheap start - try and find a used Vintage Modified PBass...They are a million times better than the Affinity
In my late teens I was playing fretless electric in an alt/rock band, and decided I wanted to study music Ed in college. I thought to myself: “I need to play a classical instrument to get into my college’s classical music program; I already play the fretless, so double bass shouldn’t be that hard....”. I had NO IDEA how much work I was about to put in to get proficient on that awesome instrument! It really is a different beast. I made my audition on the third try, worked my tuchus off to try and catch up with folks that had been playing their whole lives, graduate pd well, and now teach Orchestra and Music in a rural public school! It was worth it, but just picking it up from electric is super different!
As a former double bass student myself, I feel like this video should include something the strings class where I learned to play did and something that appears to be standard practice for novice violin family players in a classical academic setting: taping the fingerboard. We had white tape strips on the fingerboard on all the notes up to third position or so showing us where to place our fingers. As we developed our muscle memory, these tapes were removed.
I'm a guitarist and memory of positions aquired while playing my main instrument was enough to get the basic idea of where to put my fingertips on cello's fingerboard. Once you play an instrument with a neck for long enough, you don't need any tape on a fretless.
As a professional bassist, I'd say steer clear of visual tricks like tape- even for total beginners. My trick for consistent intonation is to always use the same stool and spike stop, so all the distances and angles are consistent and then use your ears and muscle memory to build up your intonation chops. Your eyes need to be on the other musicians you're playing with not your own instrument.
Jake Pup Many world class bassists put a small white dot to mark the G harmonic (the first octave), and many even The second octave. So don't be weary of putting a small thing for your fingers to feel, especially in the upper register.
My bass teacher has been playing for many many many years and I'm personally going on my 6th year playing and we both make little pencil marks all over the side of the fingerboard with notes where we struggle. While yes it's important to build the muscle memory and such, the visual cues are an excellent way to start learning and keep track, esp. on new instruments or if you're like me and going back and forth between several instruments (I don't have the means/time to be transferring my bass back and forth daily)
X88X Sorry for the late reply, but most piano players (including me) tend to be constantly changing between keyboard and piano. Most piano players practice on a piano on keyboard, but end up playing on piano for concerts, and keyboards for gigs. This causes you to adapt to both quick. Also, there isn’t really much change between a good keyboard and piano, as good keyboards are weightless. Also, for the cheap keyboards, you just play piano all the time.
Adam, you are a beast and a remarkable teacher. I came across this video as I'm actually a trained upright player that got into electric after the fact. If you raise your endpin by about 1-2 inches, your intonation will improve. Consider how that impacts your reach and the angle on your left wrist. You posted this 3 years ago and seems to be perfectly happy without this knowledge BUT I thought I'd pass that along. Thanks for putting yourself out there!
As a double bass player who then changed to bass guitar I fully enjoyed listening to the different tips and points that you brought up when using a fretless instrument and how so much of it is about muscle memory. A lot of what you said I haven’t really noticed, as I went from double to electric but I found enjoyable to listen to and think about. Great job listing the incredibly important factors of changing instruments and the things that helped you. Cheers
I'm a guitar player and I've found most of youtube inspirational and informative videos musically (for me, at least) are coming from bass players. I'm a huge fan of Adam and also Scott bass lessons when they cover topics like music theory, business, gigging, composing and practicing. Thumbs up Adam Neely! Keep up the good work.
I play Upright bass in my school band and I've been playing normal electric bass/guitar for years, it took about an hour to get a good feel for it but now I've been playing for about 2-3 months and I'm really enjoying it! It's very inspiring if you're a little bored with other instruments
@@localmusiclover605 I’ve been playing for guitar for basically a year, and I started learning the electric bass after the jazz band’s bassist kept being late. I can play Caravan 100% but that isn’t really that hard
Thanks, Adam. I’d also note that one key to getting a good tone on upright has to do with the positioning of the thumb on your fretting hand. You want to place the very tip of your thumb on the back of the neck, no flat thumb like you would on electric. It helps to imagine your hand as a clamp, where the very tips of your middle finger and thumb would touch if you closed the clamp.
Quick tip for switching from electric to upright: Try out solo strings, for example Thomastik Spirocore Solo. They're designed to be tuned a whole tone higher than regular tuning but if you tune them down to EADG you get a great sound for Jazz and a really friendly string tension!
I picked up playing bass decades ago because I was enamored with jazz upright players. I thought the instrument was a beast. I got an electric bass guitar, went the rock route, though I always aimed to make my bass sound like an upright. A few years ago I decided it was time to learn what I really wanted to play - the beast! I brought both to my band rehearsals, and my guys banned the bass guitar from appearing again. They said I played better on the upright. I'm not a great player on the upright, but I think I didn't want to embarrass myself so I put my all into it and made up for where I lacked. Just before our first gig we lost our drummer, so I changed some of my playing to provide a stronger beat. Folks loved it. That was a few years ago. My guitars are in storage, but my upright is in the house, and my go to instrument. I love the sound, the feel, this big thing that's like having a person next to me, the way it moves with me, and when I play something on it I feel like I've really accomplished something, and I continue to feel inspired by it. BUT, that being said - its not for everyone. Its a challenge to play. I struggle with the higher parts of the neck, while the sound isn't for everyone.
This video (actually, your entire bass lesson series) was my savior, as a chick that spontaneously decided to switch into orchestra after being trained only on a woodwind instrument and maybe 6 months with bass guitar.
I started the bass when I was asked to play for my schools jazz band, and I didn’t even know how to play the upright bass. But at our final concert, I got the mvp award for the entire jazz band, and now I’m moving on to the electric bass as well
so I was curious about upright basses and decided to surf youtube. Saw the title, without noticing the channel, 40 seconds into the video "hey, is this Adam Neely?? OMG". You came a long way 👏👏👏
Apply generous quantities of rosin to that bow and don't be afraid to dig in a little. You want it to grab the string so that the hairs don't simply slide over the surface. Think of it as if the bow were continously plucking the string really quickly. Thank you for all the music education videos, they're much appreciated. /BASS 😊
I have a Geneva Violins-badged version of this bass and love it. The stock strings were junk, swapped them out for a set of Helicore Orchestral. People in the comments like the "growl," but I didn't want it, raised the bridge quite high and now no growl and still very easy to play. There are times when lugging an acoustic around is just too much, and this instrument fills in nicely. Like the demo guy here, I play it without the bolt-on side pieces and have no trouble controlling it.
2 cents from someone who started upright bass 4 years ago (playing both classical and jazz) after having played electric: The "chicken wing" technique is going to tire you out faster or even injure you. Jazz bassist Christian McBride talks about it in one of his videos (someone posted a link a few comments down). It's more important to build stamina/ strength in your right hand and fingers. And sure, using your index and middle finger at the same time will help you play louder, but you can only play so fast doing that. Building strength in individual fingers will give you the ability to alternate your first two fingers in the right hand. Also, there are different styles of pizz in upright bass. The one you demonstrated is a typical "jazz" pizz. A classical pizz would use your fingertip or the pad of your finger (depending on how loud/ forceful you want to play). For bow work, there are so many pros and cons to both German (what Adam plays) and French (what you'd see on a violin of cello) bows and I could write a whole essay going into that. With German, it's easy to hold the bow and do a jazz pizz at the same time, but switching between bow and pizz takes more time than it would with a French bow. When playing with a bow, no matter the type, you want to use the weight from your arm/ shoulder to produce sound. It's a good idea to swing your right arm around and get it feeling heavy right before you go to play with a bow. Whatever you do, never press the bow into the string- it'll sound too gritty, not to mention build up tension in your arm. Be sure to use rosin for your bow. I'd reccommend Pops Rosin (be sure to wrap it in Seran wrap in the winter so it doesn't dry out), but Kolstein Soft or Nymans are both great choices too. It's worth trying a few out and even using more than one at the same time- they're all less than $20 on Amazon or any other upright bass store. For practicing intonation, everyone has a method they like and will say it's the best. The two main ones are Simandl and Rabbath. Lots of people have written lots of stuff on the pros and cons of both (just like bows). It doesn't matter which one you do, but it's usually best to choose one and stick with it, rather than flip-flopping between them. Be sure to always keep your hand strong and your fingers curved for a good tone and good intonation. Also, don't be afraid to pencil in where notes are on your fingerboard- it erases pretty easily. Upright bass is super fun and a great tool to have in your tool box! I hope that was informative for someone
I'm an electric bassist. my jazz teacher is trying to convert me with one of the school upright bass. I need all the help I can get on this! keep up these videos are very helpful!
Our school stand up has high resistance which, of course, means the moment I joined jazz my fingers blistered faster than I’ve ever seen a blister form my whole life.
I'm 14 and been playing bass guitar since I was 3 and I switched from violin to upright and got really good at it to where I got into my highschools chamber orchestra which is the hardest music group to get into
Wtf, I'm a bass player, I'm studying piano and solfeo to enter in the music college to study upright bass and UA-cam recommends me this video. Why tf is this shit so smart.
I'm going through this right now. I got loaned an upright-I am a diabetic self isolating during Covid 19. My band wants to see about using it from time to time. Hell of a learning curve.
As another recommendation Adam I'd suggest playing with the distance between your bow and the bridge of the bass, generally you want to be playing closer to the bridge when you're playing louder and I think what you were doing with the bow in the video could have a much richer tone even on an admittedly crappy bass just by playing a bit closer to the bridge than you were!
im a very recent subscriber to your channel and i couldnt be more thankful to have found myself here. you are concise, well spoken and are extreme brain candy.
assuming you haven't played a larger stringed instrument then? on such densely gauged strings it really is like sawing wood, you have to put in a lot more force into your bowing to get such a thick string on such a long scale length vibrating
@@isetta4083 classical double bassist here, there's still more refinement involved lol and relaxation is key, so while it is fun to think about sawing wood, you don't wanna think about it in that way, otherwise your thumb joints are gonna disintegrate, fun times
I'd suggest Duncan McTier Exercises for helping intonation. They've helped me a lot. funny thing is I actually learned and teach bass guitar on that exact simandl book. As a note, that pizz. style is sometimes called a "jazz pizz." because classical players usually try for a more resonant, less percussive sound. Now, as for bow work, make sure your bow is tight enough and that there is enough rosin on the bow. you shouldn't have to hold the bow on the string, the rosin is what makes it stay on the instrument. You can get a decent sound out of a crappy bow if you do have good technique, enough rosin and tight hair. I got into all 3 schools I auditioned at on a 150 dollar carbon fiber bow. don't buy a wood bow unless you are willing to spend upwards of 800-900 dollars. Carbon fiber bow technology is actually really good right now and you can get a very well balanced bow that will last and get you plenty of sound for under 200 dollars.
You should stand as straight as possible, and have the endpin adjusted to something comfortable relative to your height (I like the nut around the top of my head).
Yeah, I finally learnt a few things about posture :) The biggest lesson I learnt was to take it slowly. The upright bass uses muscles you never usually use, and you have to strengthen those muscles little by little, like a physical workout actually. I did too much, all of a sudden, and it ruined my sciatic nerve...
Fadzli Zahari I play bass in an orchestra setting and I play hours on end so even though I am younger, I really recommend going to a few private lessons because holding it wrong can really mess up your back or a lot of other things in the long run.
Also another book for beginning students to check out are the Vance Progressive Repertoire books to get into the pivot technique for DB (which is part of Rabbath technique/approach to the left hand)
This is one of your most informative videos. I am in the same boat as a wanna be upright bassist. I will practice more intonation exercises with the bow going forward. That and walking with a metronome.
Maybe do a gig vlog when you play upright bass if possible? I don’t think that you’ll play upright that often but it would be really cool to see you in action
Adam Neely It's good to use a French Bow cause you can hold it like a Violin. You can also tune a Double Bass in Fifths with Fifths tuning strings cause you'll get a more playable range.
I pretty much started on upright, after having played guitar for several years. Somebody shoved one in my arms , showed me I,IV,V snd away we went. I still use "the grab it any way you can" fingering system, lol. But I've put a lot of miles on the big dog over the last 20-25 years and I like to think I've learned a thing or two. I usually pluck/pull the string with the side of one finger. 2 fingers does sound fatter, but gotta save that other finger for the 3rd set. I put a few side dots on mine, more for orientation than to find the actual notes.
Thanks so much for the awesome lesson! That's exactly all of the things I needed to know as an electric bass player wanting to buy and learn and upright bass! God bless!
Go find a local community orchestra to play with. They will greet you with open arms (as well an instrument if you don't have one of your own) - bass players are rare. I'm the only one for my community orchestra and I hadn't played in 35-40 years when I joined them. Rapidly reaquired my skills back from high school (I was an all state bass my senior year in High school), but my strength and stamina are still working back up to then (2 years later).
Adam, you have a phenomenal approach to all aspects of what you do, you always have great practical advice and your videos are always as amusing as they are entertaining and informative. I'm sorry, I suck at compliments, but I'm sure there's some in there for ya. Please keep up the good work, I'm learning good things. Maybe if you did a video on how to write compliments on UA-cam comments, that would help me out, too.
I loved playing the upright bass back in college as a drummer who was a music education major. It was a lot of fun...well, other than that whole ordeal where I had to lug the big muh-fuggen thing around for a half of a semester. However, it make the cello seem a whole lot easier to haul during the second half of the semester.
Yeah, I started out on cello before adding double bass in orchestra between 6th and 7th grades. A decent cello player can do surprisingly well on a double bass at that point - not many bass players have the cello player's sense of melody and how to make fingers fly for another few years.
I learned upright bass first in middle school school orchestra then picked up the electric bass on my own in high school. I remember when I discovered the electric bass guitar had the same exact tuning as my trusty doghouse I was like....MIND BLOWN. Also, I can always tell when an electric bassist switches to upright without formal training is when they use their 3rd finger. You're gonna get carpal tunnel doing that! It's not a cello! The distances between notes is much further. Make sure you use the 4th finger (pinky) instead to avoid destroying your hand- unless you're up in thumb position!
(I'm making these comments before I watched it) I remember finding one in a shop and trying it out, it was surprisingly similar, it was tuned in the same so it's not incredibly confusing. If you already play and are pretty good at the muscle memory thing (thankfully I played and it didn't sound shit, it actually worked out fine, in terms of scale length it felt like playing a enlarged fretless). Either way, very very cool instrument.
My friend, I cannot say enough about your great videos! Even when things are so far beyond me, you always manage to keep things fun and incredibly interesting. Now, that I have your attention, I've really got my heart set on a Marleaux Diva. Before I take that 3k+ leap, I would love your opinion, if you have one. Thanks!
For pizzicato technique, I would say to not whip your hands/arm at all. Just get more finger on the string, say from the second knuckle down. You'll get a huge sound and save energy by not flopping your hands/arm around.
If you tuck your RH thumb under the finger board you can sort of pinch the strings for a louder sound. If your thumb moves it won't sound louder but if your thumb stays there and you pinch it will.
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had to watch electric bass for guitarists so i could watch upright bass for electric bassists
Q Tube that’s amazing
Next watch guitar for upright bassists and you'll reach a new level of understanding of the guitar
Inception
Nice xd
Wow dude, switching from guitar to upright bass? It would be easier to flip genders and start hormone replacement
I'm an upright jazz bassist and i would recommend a tip, don't try to use the chicken wing technique. Just focus on building the strength in your fingers and you can alternate between your two fingers you just have to work on pulling the strings harder. Because if you fling your arm like that, you are going to end up hurting yourself later on down the road. The main goal is to play as relaxed as possible. Also don't hold your left arm out perpendicular to the to try and fix intonation, slide your hand slightly up or down depending if your are flat or sharp. You also have to be aware of the amount of pressure you are holding the strings with because yes you use the body as a fulcrum but you also have to develop hand strength. I used to play electric before i made the switch to pursue my studies but this stuff my professor taught has saved me a lot of trouble, I hope this helps anyone!
Jacob Abolos As a classical bassist I've always been encouraged to keep the elbow of my fretting arm up at an almost 90° angle. I will admit when holding notes for several bars (which happens annoyingly often) it'll droop. However it's interesting that you advise against that as it's what I've been taught by several teachers.
Hey Daniel, I did not mean to say don't play with a perpendicular arm. I meant to correct how he was holding his arm way above perpendicular to fix his intonation. It has been about a year since I wrote this and I have learned a lot more since then, but I do appreciate you catching that wording mistake of mine!
Thanks, that's great to know! God bless!
As an electric bass player learning upright due to school concert band this is very helpful!
@@maewuzhere double bass in concert band?? might as well just sit there... no way ur getting heard under trumpets
How musicians see upright bass: it’s an upright bass
Non-musicians: *t h i c c violin*
I play the bass and that's how I see it
The giant's violin
more like reverse violin from the inverse strings and size
No, real musicians would see it as a contrabass violin
Nonono, it’s the other way around. I play the violin, and the bass is indeed a T H I C C violin.
I fully expect to see a dead-pan bass fishing lesson from you.
Until next time
BASS
And I will be disappointed if it does not come
🅱️ass pro shops
As a classical and jazz double bassist, I'd recommend starting with Francois Rabbath's technique rather than Simandl's technique. Rabbath takes you to high positions early so you don't get stuck in half and first positions for years before moving up higher. He also uses a greater variety of left hand positions so you can make freer choices in how you play rather than the very mechanical blocky technique Simandl can sometimes lumber you with.
Not if you're a beginner.
doublebassblog.org/2006/11/rabbath-versus-simandl-comparative.html
This article has a good sum up of the two methods.
TLDR:
Simandl and Rabbath are NOT good for beginners. Beginners should consider George Vance's Progressive Repertoire because it contains fun recognizable tunes and also starts players in high positions early, like rabbath.
Rabbath is good for solo music. Simandl good for orchestral playing.
I also think that Rufus Reid's Evolving Bassist is pretty good for players interested in jazz. Mostly a resource book, not a method, but it can be helpful.
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im binge watching your videos and i dont even play bass
I so goddamn want to tho
get a cheap bass, it's super fun
ya im looking into used squire p-basses
+Vincent Bourgon That's a great option for a cheap start - try and find a used Vintage Modified PBass...They are a million times better than the Affinity
Same here! I'm here for the music theory, and for the rock-classical fusion. Also, the bass lessons intro never fails to make me smile.
In my late teens I was playing fretless electric in an alt/rock band, and decided I wanted to study music Ed in college. I thought to myself: “I need to play a classical instrument to get into my college’s classical music program; I already play the fretless, so double bass shouldn’t be that hard....”. I had NO IDEA how much work I was about to put in to get proficient on that awesome instrument! It really is a different beast. I made my audition on the third try, worked my tuchus off to try and catch up with folks that had been playing their whole lives, graduate pd well, and now teach Orchestra and Music in a rural public school! It was worth it, but just picking it up from electric is super different!
5:14 "what am i doing with my life"
"i wish i was home playing my P bass"
Hossein Nazeran Pour lol
"This is just a crappy plywood bass" and it still sounds good, even on a recording. Shows that tone is in the fingers! Nice one.
As a former double bass student myself, I feel like this video should include something the strings class where I learned to play did and something that appears to be standard practice for novice violin family players in a classical academic setting: taping the fingerboard. We had white tape strips on the fingerboard on all the notes up to third position or so showing us where to place our fingers. As we developed our muscle memory, these tapes were removed.
I'm a guitarist and memory of positions aquired while playing my main instrument was enough to get the basic idea of where to put my fingertips on cello's fingerboard. Once you play an instrument with a neck for long enough, you don't need any tape on a fretless.
As a professional bassist, I'd say steer clear of visual tricks like tape- even for total beginners. My trick for consistent intonation is to always use the same stool and spike stop, so all the distances and angles are consistent and then use your ears and muscle memory to build up your intonation chops. Your eyes need to be on the other musicians you're playing with not your own instrument.
Jake Pup Many world class bassists put a small white dot to mark the G harmonic (the first octave), and many even The second octave. So don't be weary of putting a small thing for your fingers to feel, especially in the upper register.
My bass teacher has been playing for many many many years and I'm personally going on my 6th year playing and we both make little pencil marks all over the side of the fingerboard with notes where we struggle. While yes it's important to build the muscle memory and such, the visual cues are an excellent way to start learning and keep track, esp. on new instruments or if you're like me and going back and forth between several instruments (I don't have the means/time to be transferring my bass back and forth daily)
Mindlessly Generic that's the way to do it
I went the opposite way, I got trained on bass and then picked up electric. Took a lot of work to play with less force on electric
Yeah it's like switching from a real piano to an electric keyboard.
The King of all Awesomeness yeah I almost snapped the strings on my first electric lol
X88X Sorry for the late reply, but most piano players (including me) tend to be constantly changing between keyboard and piano.
Most piano players practice on a piano on keyboard, but end up playing on piano for concerts, and keyboards for gigs. This causes you to adapt to both quick. Also, there isn’t really much change between a good keyboard and piano, as good keyboards are weightless. Also, for the cheap keyboards, you just play piano all the time.
As a person who plays double bass in my imagination, I highly recommend you go on playing. Practice makes perfect.
In my school band, the bass player once ripped the callous off his fingers when he transitioned to acoustic from electric.
Adam, you are a beast and a remarkable teacher. I came across this video as I'm actually a trained upright player that got into electric after the fact. If you raise your endpin by about 1-2 inches, your intonation will improve. Consider how that impacts your reach and the angle on your left wrist. You posted this 3 years ago and seems to be perfectly happy without this knowledge BUT I thought I'd pass that along. Thanks for putting yourself out there!
Keeping your elbow Parallel with your wrist is suuuuper important and most beginning upright bassists forget this. Thanks Adam great vid
As a double bass player who then changed to bass guitar I fully enjoyed listening to the different tips and points that you brought up when using a fretless instrument and how so much of it is about muscle memory. A lot of what you said I haven’t really noticed, as I went from double to electric but I found enjoyable to listen to and think about. Great job listing the incredibly important factors of changing instruments and the things that helped you. Cheers
that totally emotionless look when you're playing live XD
Sham Maárif it’s usually when you’re reading deep into the charts, or a bass face
When you played the major scale on the double bass, I immediately had flashbacks to Blues Clues lol.
for years I had learn lots of things with Adam videos and still
But I got to say, this dude its stunningly beautiful
I wish I could afford an upright! They sound so amazing!
Yousif Abuhamad you can make payments, or rent one
Does Zzounds have them?
Has anyone used Zzounds payment system? I wanna know if it is legit...🙄 asking for a friend.
A music teacher on youtube with a GOOD PERSONALITY! That's rare as hell
Mean while a classical bassist is watching him with the bow and saying to himself, “You poor fool.”
I'm a guitar player and I've found most of youtube inspirational and informative videos musically (for me, at least) are coming from bass players. I'm a huge fan of Adam and also Scott bass lessons when they cover topics like music theory, business, gigging, composing and practicing. Thumbs up Adam Neely! Keep up the good work.
This guy knows his shit. I've learned things from him and I've played nearly 15 years.
Never have I seen tutorials or lessons that are as inspiring and down-to-earth as yours. Thanks!
Upright looks sexier than electric
It is
Takes a better picture.
Hella *T H I C C*
Of course it does, it's erect.
As an electric player I agree
I play Upright bass in my school band and I've been playing normal electric bass/guitar for years, it took about an hour to get a good feel for it but now I've been playing for about 2-3 months and I'm really enjoying it! It's very inspiring if you're a little bored with other instruments
I’m about to make the jump from electric bass to upright for my school’s band, anything you would recommend?
@@rxnr556 How long have you been playing? What's the "hardest song" you can 100% play?
@@localmusiclover605 I’ve been playing for guitar for basically a year, and I started learning the electric bass after the jazz band’s bassist kept being late. I can play Caravan 100% but that isn’t really that hard
Rufus Reid's book does an excellent job explaining/illustrating left hand and arm mechanics for people switching from electric to upright.
Thanks, Adam. I’d also note that one key to getting a good tone on upright has to do with the positioning of the thumb on your fretting hand. You want to place the very tip of your thumb on the back of the neck, no flat thumb like you would on electric. It helps to imagine your hand as a clamp, where the very tips of your middle finger and thumb would touch if you closed the clamp.
Ive played upright for 2 years and still your tips at around 2:00 hleped so much
Quick tip for switching from electric to upright: Try out solo strings, for example Thomastik Spirocore Solo. They're designed to be tuned a whole tone higher than regular tuning but if you tune them down to EADG you get a great sound for Jazz and a really friendly string tension!
I picked up playing bass decades ago because I was enamored with jazz upright players. I thought the instrument was a beast. I got an electric bass guitar, went the rock route, though I always aimed to make my bass sound like an upright. A few years ago I decided it was time to learn what I really wanted to play - the beast! I brought both to my band rehearsals, and my guys banned the bass guitar from appearing again. They said I played better on the upright. I'm not a great player on the upright, but I think I didn't want to embarrass myself so I put my all into it and made up for where I lacked. Just before our first gig we lost our drummer, so I changed some of my playing to provide a stronger beat. Folks loved it. That was a few years ago. My guitars are in storage, but my upright is in the house, and my go to instrument. I love the sound, the feel, this big thing that's like having a person next to me, the way it moves with me, and when I play something on it I feel like I've really accomplished something, and I continue to feel inspired by it. BUT, that being said - its not for everyone. Its a challenge to play. I struggle with the higher parts of the neck, while the sound isn't for everyone.
as a classical violinist I just got into both electric bass guitar and upright bass and this video was so helpful thank you
You have a leg up. coming from violin to double bass. It's all about muscle memory but you know that already.
@@josephtravers777 yeah i love it
@@KnoxGaming1892 IOW, don't get too comfy on bass guitar lest you lose good intonation on double bass. Two completely different instruments.
This video (actually, your entire bass lesson series) was my savior, as a chick that spontaneously decided to switch into orchestra after being trained only on a woodwind instrument and maybe 6 months with bass guitar.
I started the bass when I was asked to play for my schools jazz band, and I didn’t even know how to play the upright bass. But at our final concert, I got the mvp award for the entire jazz band, and now I’m moving on to the electric bass as well
so I was curious about upright basses and decided to surf youtube. Saw the title, without noticing the channel, 40 seconds into the video "hey, is this Adam Neely?? OMG". You came a long way 👏👏👏
strange how it sounds lower but its the same.
Fewer harmonics.
Rufus Stanier Umm... no? Acoustic instruments with a hollow body generally have a deeper and bassier tone.
Actually, the upright bass is one octave lower than electric bass.
Ryan Sullivan wich correctly speaking means less harmonic content.
Chris B it definitely is not
I like how you keep the pace even struggling with a demanding instrument :D
Apply generous quantities of rosin to that bow and don't be afraid to dig in a little. You want it to grab the string so that the hairs don't simply slide over the surface. Think of it as if the bow were continously plucking the string really quickly. Thank you for all the music education videos, they're much appreciated. /BASS 😊
My bass teacher thinks you need to practice with a bow more
no shit!
+IPA SOLE Looks like you don't get the joke
***** m
Någon frågar its true. Sounds like he needs more rosin too.
The bow is more fun 👍
I have a Geneva Violins-badged version of this bass and love it. The stock strings were junk, swapped them out for a set of Helicore Orchestral. People in the comments like the "growl," but I didn't want it, raised the bridge quite high and now no growl and still very easy to play. There are times when lugging an acoustic around is just too much, and this instrument fills in nicely. Like the demo guy here, I play it without the bolt-on side pieces and have no trouble controlling it.
Get some more rosin on that bow STAT! Also good helpful tips you have!
2 cents from someone who started upright bass 4 years ago (playing both classical and jazz) after having played electric:
The "chicken wing" technique is going to tire you out faster or even injure you. Jazz bassist Christian McBride talks about it in one of his videos (someone posted a link a few comments down). It's more important to build stamina/ strength in your right hand and fingers. And sure, using your index and middle finger at the same time will help you play louder, but you can only play so fast doing that. Building strength in individual fingers will give you the ability to alternate your first two fingers in the right hand.
Also, there are different styles of pizz in upright bass. The one you demonstrated is a typical "jazz" pizz. A classical pizz would use your fingertip or the pad of your finger (depending on how loud/ forceful you want to play).
For bow work, there are so many pros and cons to both German (what Adam plays) and French (what you'd see on a violin of cello) bows and I could write a whole essay going into that. With German, it's easy to hold the bow and do a jazz pizz at the same time, but switching between bow and pizz takes more time than it would with a French bow. When playing with a bow, no matter the type, you want to use the weight from your arm/ shoulder to produce sound. It's a good idea to swing your right arm around and get it feeling heavy right before you go to play with a bow. Whatever you do, never press the bow into the string- it'll sound too gritty, not to mention build up tension in your arm.
Be sure to use rosin for your bow. I'd reccommend Pops Rosin (be sure to wrap it in Seran wrap in the winter so it doesn't dry out), but Kolstein Soft or Nymans are both great choices too. It's worth trying a few out and even using more than one at the same time- they're all less than $20 on Amazon or any other upright bass store.
For practicing intonation, everyone has a method they like and will say it's the best. The two main ones are Simandl and Rabbath. Lots of people have written lots of stuff on the pros and cons of both (just like bows). It doesn't matter which one you do, but it's usually best to choose one and stick with it, rather than flip-flopping between them. Be sure to always keep your hand strong and your fingers curved for a good tone and good intonation. Also, don't be afraid to pencil in where notes are on your fingerboard- it erases pretty easily.
Upright bass is super fun and a great tool to have in your tool box! I hope that was informative for someone
Very good video! I'm just like you, I started in the double bass for the purpose of playing electric bass. I still get the occasional upright gig.
I'm an electric bassist. my jazz teacher is trying to convert me with one of the school upright bass. I need all the help I can get on this! keep up these videos are very helpful!
Our school stand up has high resistance which, of course, means the moment I joined jazz my fingers blistered faster than I’ve ever seen a blister form my whole life.
I'm 14 and been playing bass guitar since I was 3 and I switched from violin to upright and got really good at it to where I got into my highschools chamber orchestra which is the hardest music group to get into
This intro was the reason i started watching Adam 😂
Wtf, I'm a bass player, I'm studying piano and solfeo to enter in the music college to study upright bass and UA-cam recommends me this video. Why tf is this shit so smart.
god you look happy to be there
Focus & pleasure don't exactly always correlate in body language.
He has to read the music
You're the man, never thought you would talk about simandl.
Man i don’t play the electric bass or the upright bass but i still watched this video from beginning to end
I'm going through this right now. I got loaned an upright-I am a diabetic self isolating during Covid 19. My band wants to see about using it from time to time. Hell of a learning curve.
Can this guy litterally play every single instrument in existence?
guess he can't play mukkuri.
I didn't know what mukkuri was until I just googled it...glad I did!
It's freaking hard to get anything out of it :(
but can you play bukkake ?, ancient japan instrument.
+Barış Karasakız The West calls it a "Meat Flute"
The fact that there were no 'um's in this tutorial was reason alone to subscribe.
As another recommendation Adam I'd suggest playing with the distance between your bow and the bridge of the bass, generally you want to be playing closer to the bridge when you're playing louder and I think what you were doing with the bow in the video could have a much richer tone even on an admittedly crappy bass just by playing a bit closer to the bridge than you were!
im a very recent subscriber to your channel and i couldnt be more thankful to have found myself here. you are concise, well spoken and are extreme brain candy.
Just very helpful Adam (buying my firtst upright bass and touching such for the first time in the process of start learinig); many thanks man!
"Its like sawing wood"
The classical violist inside me shivered.
Still, incredible for an electric bassist!
assuming you haven't played a larger stringed instrument then? on such densely gauged strings it really is like sawing wood, you have to put in a lot more force into your bowing to get such a thick string on such a long scale length vibrating
@@isetta4083 classical double bassist here, there's still more refinement involved lol and relaxation is key, so while it is fun to think about sawing wood, you don't wanna think about it in that way, otherwise your thumb joints are gonna disintegrate, fun times
@@isetta4083 a really good bow helps a ton
One thing I did when learning upright bass was marking out where the frets should be with tape to train for that muscle memory
I'd suggest Duncan McTier Exercises for helping intonation. They've helped me a lot. funny thing is I actually learned and teach bass guitar on that exact simandl book. As a note, that pizz. style is sometimes called a "jazz pizz." because classical players usually try for a more resonant, less percussive sound. Now, as for bow work, make sure your bow is tight enough and that there is enough rosin on the bow. you shouldn't have to hold the bow on the string, the rosin is what makes it stay on the instrument. You can get a decent sound out of a crappy bow if you do have good technique, enough rosin and tight hair. I got into all 3 schools I auditioned at on a 150 dollar carbon fiber bow. don't buy a wood bow unless you are willing to spend upwards of 800-900 dollars. Carbon fiber bow technology is actually really good right now and you can get a very well balanced bow that will last and get you plenty of sound for under 200 dollars.
I really needed this around 2004.
I play classical double bass, I recommend to keep a straight arm at first while using a bow.
I double on double bass, this is a great video to get started, especially the left elbow raised tip for intonation.
Great vid as ever.
1:35 Hey, i played with those guys from the royal danish orchestra! We played Schumann's symphony no. 4 in the danish opera house :)
Fantastic lesson. I will spread the word.
Nice tips but too bad you don't mention posture. Coming from electric bass, I wrecked my back with this instrument...
You should stand as straight as possible, and have the endpin adjusted to something comfortable relative to your height (I like the nut around the top of my head).
Yeah, I finally learnt a few things about posture :) The biggest lesson I learnt was to take it slowly. The upright bass uses muscles you never usually use, and you have to strengthen those muscles little by little, like a physical workout actually. I did too much, all of a sudden, and it ruined my sciatic nerve...
Anna Moan Oh i play rockabilly and have My bass between My legs. I think you should find your own way to Hold it. Everyone is different.
Fadzli Zahari I play bass in an orchestra setting and I play hours on end so even though I am younger, I really recommend going to a few private lessons because holding it wrong can really mess up your back or a lot of other things in the long run.
Also another book for beginning students to check out are the Vance Progressive Repertoire books to get into the pivot technique for DB (which is part of Rabbath technique/approach to the left hand)
This is one of your most informative videos. I am in the same boat as a wanna be upright bassist. I will practice more intonation exercises with the bow going forward. That and walking with a metronome.
Happy to have an upright lesson from you. Thanks!
Maybe do a gig vlog when you play upright bass if possible? I don’t think that you’ll play upright that often but it would be really cool to see you in action
Adam Neely It's good to use a French Bow cause you can hold it like a Violin. You can also tune a Double Bass in Fifths with Fifths tuning strings cause you'll get a more playable range.
Still have my Simandl book from college, forty years ago! All kinds of notations changing upright fingering to electric fingering.
I pretty much started on upright, after having played guitar for several years. Somebody shoved one in my arms , showed me I,IV,V snd away we went. I still use "the grab it any way you can" fingering system, lol. But I've put a lot of miles on the big dog over the last 20-25 years and I like to think I've learned a thing or two. I usually pluck/pull the string with the side of one finger. 2 fingers does sound fatter, but gotta save that other finger for the 3rd set. I put a few side dots on mine, more for orientation than to find the actual notes.
It sounds like a bit more rosin would help you out there...
Mainly just the angle \ is bad / is bad - is good
@@WillTheBassPlayer gotta be parallel. Always... I still remember being told that repeatedly...
Thanks so much for the awesome lesson! That's exactly all of the things I needed to know as an electric bass player wanting to buy and learn and upright bass! God bless!
thats the BEST intro on youtube
I love the music intro. Lovely harmony. Sweet. I almost get a heart attack when I heard it. I want a song/piece with that haha. Thank you.
this video made me literally cry. I miss playing double bass so much
Go find a local community orchestra to play with. They will greet you with open arms (as well an instrument if you don't have one of your own) - bass players are rare. I'm the only one for my community orchestra and I hadn't played in 35-40 years when I joined them. Rapidly reaquired my skills back from high school (I was an all state bass my senior year in High school), but my strength and stamina are still working back up to then (2 years later).
Thank you! Your videos are the best on UA-cam. Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Blessings, Adam Neely!
i love the double bass its so nice and deep
Guys... we need to get this guy big on UA-cam.
Adam, you have a phenomenal approach to all aspects of what you do, you always have great practical advice and your videos are always as amusing as they are entertaining and informative. I'm sorry, I suck at compliments, but I'm sure there's some in there for ya. Please keep up the good work, I'm learning good things. Maybe if you did a video on how to write compliments on UA-cam comments, that would help me out, too.
I loved playing the upright bass back in college as a drummer who was a music education major. It was a lot of fun...well, other than that whole ordeal where I had to lug the big muh-fuggen thing around for a half of a semester. However, it make the cello seem a whole lot easier to haul during the second half of the semester.
Yeah, I started out on cello before adding double bass in orchestra between 6th and 7th grades. A decent cello player can do surprisingly well on a double bass at that point - not many bass players have the cello player's sense of melody and how to make fingers fly for another few years.
Amazing how much wisdom you imparted so quickly! Bravo!
I've played upright bass for a few years and just started bass guitar
This was incredibly helpful to me. Thanks Adam!
I learned upright bass first in middle school school orchestra then picked up the electric bass on my own in high school. I remember when I discovered the electric bass guitar had the same exact tuning as my trusty doghouse I was like....MIND BLOWN. Also, I can always tell when an electric bassist switches to upright without formal training is when they use their 3rd finger. You're gonna get carpal tunnel doing that! It's not a cello! The distances between notes is much further. Make sure you use the 4th finger (pinky) instead to avoid destroying your hand- unless you're up in thumb position!
i liked him the moment he explained that scenario, plus the intro was cool, but i can relate to that scenario
I love watching these videos on instruments (that I can play) other than elec bass.
I love playing electric and double so much.
Thank you for the video! It was very informative.
I'm switching for jazz band so thank god I found this video
(I'm making these comments before I watched it)
I remember finding one in a shop and trying it out, it was surprisingly similar, it was tuned in the same so it's not incredibly confusing. If you already play and are pretty good at the muscle memory thing (thankfully I played and it didn't sound shit, it actually worked out fine, in terms of scale length it felt like playing a enlarged fretless). Either way, very very cool instrument.
My friend, I cannot say enough about your great videos! Even when things are so far beyond me, you always manage to keep things fun and incredibly interesting.
Now, that I have your attention, I've really got my heart set on a Marleaux Diva. Before I take that 3k+ leap, I would love your opinion, if you have one. Thanks!
First itme I ran into one of your videos. It was very nice. Thank you for sharing.
Gotta love the double bass
Adam Sir, great stuff !
This is super helpful man! I’m in the market for an upright as we speak!
For pizzicato technique, I would say to not whip your hands/arm at all. Just get more finger on the string, say from the second knuckle down. You'll get a huge sound and save energy by not flopping your hands/arm around.
If you tuck your RH thumb under the finger board you can sort of pinch the strings for a louder sound. If your thumb moves it won't sound louder but if your thumb stays there and you pinch it will.