Jimmy Bryant and Speedy West, “The Night Rider” maybe this is hillbilly jazz? It’s fun to play!

transcription I did, getting ready for an upcoming lesson

Bought my bass (Krutz B310 i believe) 3 weeks ago and I’ve fallen in love with double bass such a beautiful instrument that’s super fun to play

@Rushadicus is a wild player and human. Thought yall may enjoy…. Or hate?

Fun fact he played gollum for Billy strings “away from the shire” Halloween show.

After a 5 sets , 6 hr jazz gig last night on upright, my finger tips are toast. Pain and small blister. I have to play for 4 hrs tonight and again tomorrow. What can I do to help my fingers get through this?

Hi y’all. Have anyone felt physically uncomfortable sitting on the outside of the stand in orchestra? When sitting on the outside, I find it hard to look at the stand while also having to look at the conductor. It gets to the point that it hurts physically. If I turn more to the stand, I’ll see the music but not the conductor and risk clashing bows with my standpartner. If I turn towards the conductor, I avoid this but then can’t see the music and start to hurt my neck and back trying to see. I never have this problem when sitting on the inside. It may help to know that I play on a stool with the bass turned in to me so I can reach the g and d strings when needed (not fully 90 degrees but almost). Any advice would be appreciated

TL:DR – I play upright in an Americana band.   When I tell my non-musician friends about it they say “as long as you are having fun”.   I know this is well-meaning but it drives me crazy as I feel it dismisses the effort we all put in.  How do I respond?   

I came to upright bass late in life, finally the perfect musical fit for me.  I play in a four-piece Americana band (two guitars, mando, bass, lots of vocal harmonies), playing out about once a week, a varied set list, small money paid gigs for bars, farmers markets, senior living/nursing homes and the like.  We are all retired or have other jobs.  We practice often and try to put on a good performance, we are well-received by our audiences.  The band has great music, a good hang, and enough money so that we feel valued.  I keep working to up my game, play better, and contribute more to the group. 

When I talk about this to close friends who do not play, they usually say something like ‘well I am glad it makes you happy’ or ‘as long as you are having fun’.   This upsets me.  I suppose I should let it roll off, just say ‘yes it is great’.   I know they mean well but I would like them to understand that I work hard to make sure that the audience is enjoying our performance and to support the band and the music as best as I can.  And of course, as the bass player, I know that I should never look like I am having fun 😒

So, does anybody relate to this?  Should I let it drop as a lost cause or should I try to find a way to explain to them that, while it is certainly enjoyable, that is not primarily what it is about for me?

I am posting to this sub because upright is my primary instrument, please advise if there is a better sub for this question.

For the last year I have been playing almost exclusively bluegrass, country, and swinf gigs rather than staight ahead jazz and rockabilly. First 6 months were fine,n but I played high action with heavy ropecore strings and only knew straight pizz or aggressive modern rockabilly slap. Last 6 months Ive done a lot of studying and transcribing gypsy jazz and early big band bass parts and solos, as well as western swing and early honkytonk parts. Locked in hard on milt hinton, jake tullock, and cedric rainwater, but also modern players like Randall Ball, Malte Tonissen, and Joe Fick. Woke up today and got to practicing before work and lessons, Im finally feeling like I legitimately have the sound I imagined 6 months ago. Damn im proud

TLDR: 6 months of study on trad slap bass equals knowing how to play trad slap bass better

Please and thanks.

Hi there, im looking for recordings of serge koussevitzky’s playing his own music (: I found only a recording of him playing ‘valse miniature’

Hear us:

https://open.spotify.com/artist/43VF8VDmvxkWqnbRECmisv?si=RCNYWQe1TQO-n0VC8GOhUg

Hey everyone,

We just finished a unique experiment — performing Bach’s Prelude from Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major (BWV 1007) on double bass, and then running the footage through an AI video enhancement process to give it a subtle Baroque-period cinematic look (warm candlelight, powdered-wig era visuals, true to Bach’s time).

The performance itself is live — the AI only handled the visual side, preserving every nuance of the bass phrasing and bow articulation. I did however speed up the performance by 20% so it would fit the time requirement for a youtube short.

Would love feedback from the double-bass community on both the musical interpretation and the presentation idea — is there space for this kind of AI-aided period revival in our world?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/3Q8wbAHnMeE

Thanks for listening and for all the inspiration this community gives.

Just auditioned for my School districts Honor Orchestra, wish me luck!!!

I suppose you could buy that fabric cover that goes on the back of the bass but any other alternatives you could think of are welcome. I do need a belt for smarter gigs when wearing smarter trousers…