(Part 2) Best products from r/doublebass

Hey! would seriously recommend Storch-Hrabe 57 studies (The first is a perfect piece for students and I always catch myself humming it from time to time) https://www.amazon.com/Storch-Hrabe-Studies-Published-International/dp/B0049BN666

Being a Rabbath fan boy I'd definitely pick up his 'nouvelle technique de la contrebasse' series, the 2nd book has some incredible pieces and are extremely melodic. Going up from those would be better suited to more advanced students.

There are a ton of Paul Chamber arco solos, but the scratchy gut tone is an acquired taste for some. Michael Moore, Lynn Seaton, John Goldsby, and Red Mitchell are other artists to look into. Martin Wind is another guy to check out; I like this particular recording quite a lot. John Goldsby's book on the subject is a great resource as well. It contains mostly exercises based on scales to teach articulation, but the transcribed solos in the back of the back are worth the price by themselves.

yea, they sound nothing like a real double bass in my opinoin unless you drop about 3k for somthing like this. the solid body ends up sounding like a fretless bass guitar. I almost got one but then all my friends who play upright said they are kind of a joke which i agree with now that im not as much of a newb.

The core 4 (imo) are
Hal Robinson's Strokin and Boardwalkin

Petracchi's Simplified Higher Technique For Bass

Zimmerman's Contemporary Concept of Bowing Technique

Rabbath, Billé, Simandl, and Nanny all have useful materials for a starting double bassist as well. The goal is to make sure it sounds good and feels good - no book can help as much as a teacher who knows your strengths and weaknesses, but these are the ones I've found most helpful.

3 hours would be great. It's mostly important that most of your practice is strategic and goal-oriented. There are good books out there about practicing well; check'em out.

Things you'd do well to practice/learn about other than sheer technique on your instrument: theory, ear training (be able to identify intervals and chords by ear), transcribing (writing down music by ear), walking bass, sight-singing and rhythm skills.

One good book I was fortunate to discover in high school (maybe early college?) is Chuck Sher's The Improvisor's Bass Method. It doesn't hold your hand too much, but it'd give you lots of ways to practice and think about scales as well as ideas of things to look for more resources on online.

AIRCARE MA1201 Whole-House Console-Style Evaporative Humidifier, White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004S34ISA/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_IN0BybHSHSVJB

Or something like it. Get cool mist. Warm is too hard to maintain.

The one in the link above is ugly, but it's big enough to really get the humidity you want (30-40%) when it's really dry.

I had to scrap mine and ended up trying others - now I have to have 2 to replace the work of that one.

This one also rated well, but I don't have personal experience with it.
Honeywell HCM350W Germ Free Cool Mist Humidifier, White https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002QAYJPO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_NP0Byb48FZVET


Dampits CAN make a tiny difference if you use them properly and with a cover. But, generally, that's only for a little extra protection. Drop the money on a real humidifier especially with all your other instruments.

Lastly, don't overhumidify - you'll get mold.

If you're looking for a stand and not a corner, this is the best stand I've ever found. It has the benefit of working with a case (at least, it should, it's wide enough), and is very stable.

https://www.amazon.com/Stands-14100-Upright-Bass-Stand/dp/B004W1Z0FI

One of my favorites is "Robert Oppelt & Friends": http://amzn.com/B000M06NNG

I also like Ed Barker's Schubert/Vivaldi/Hindemith album: http://amzn.com/B0000049KL

A jazz favorite of mine is Ray Brown's "This one's for Blanton": http://amzn.com/B000000Z03

At least a handful of lessons. If your school has an orchestra program, ask that teacher if they could give you a few-even if they weren't a bass major, they will be a better start than going without any type of instruction.


As far as books,Simandl is one of the main schools of playing. I started with Simandl and then supplemented it with the Michael Moore Bass Method. The catch, I studied each of those under the guidance of a bass teacher. Initially in high school (I was in the band program, took lessons from the middle school orchestra teacher-an actual bassist), and then in college. From there, it was a hodge podge of others when my teacher deemed them appropriate ranging from Petracci to Ray Brown.

http://www.amazon.com/Strathclyde-Concertos-7-8-Davies/dp/B000003VY2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1320081331&sr=8-1

This is the only recording of it. It's not on Spotify or on Naxos. It is a beast. I worked on it with Quarrington a little before giving up (his idea, not mine- turns out he was performing it several months down the road and needed a guinea pig.) We spent a good half hour trying to figure out a few measures of rhythm. I am consequently, not a fan of that work.

I have one of these ingles stands which I got for $20 on craigslist. It doesn't fold as small as some, but it works really well for the price. Upton sells ones like OP made for $175 which seems a bit absurd to me. One of my basses came with a stand like this from the prior owner, the end pin sits in a cup at the bottom and the little arms hold the body in place. It feels really unstable and the angle of the endpin in the cup damaged the rubber tip. It folds up really small so I keep it in my car for emergency gig use, like if we're playing somewhere where I really don't want my bass on the ground and I don't have a towel or something I can use the stand, but it's honestly never come out of my car since I put it there.

The Snark SN-5 is the one to get. They have more lights/resolution. Buy a few, they are easy to loose, and they are less effective when the rubber foot pops off.

Yup Helicore is a pretty common string for student instruments.

After tearing through several endpin tips, I starting using a rock stop instead. It'll last a lot longer and I've found it does a better job keeping traction on most surfaces.

xieyi by Anders Jormin good album, mostly upright with some horn interludy type things

Here's a link for a great stool. Its a little pricey, but its compact, light, and adjustable.