Re: Have you guys seen these?

Oci-One Kanubi <rhopley@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

But trust me: there is
a published body of opinion supporting my initial joke: the guy (if he
was in playing position) was holding it -- OK, not really "wrong",
but... suboptimally.

If you read my posts again, you'll see I'm mostly explaining why there's
a disparity between what everyone does, and what you stated was
'correct'. Ah, actually it looks like one of my posts never got sent -
I'll do it again then.

You are correct that classical guitar technique, and for other similar
sized instruments such as Oud, are played with the instrument resting on
a raised left thigh. It's also therefore quite likely that early
teachers of the bass who came from a guitar background would play and do
it that way. I've no doubt, therefore, there is published material
saying this is the 'right way' to play - everyone else is going 'huh'
because it's uncomfortable to play most bass guitars that way.

I don't often play bass sitting down, however I play other instruments
sitting down and usually rest the instrument on the raised left leg as
described. When I played bass for a show last year and had to sit (we
were inside the set, a trojan horse, so there was no headroom) I
initially tried playing the bass on the left thigh - but it was too
uncomfortable.

http://www.tearne.com/Photos/Bass/derek_paris_hutch.jpg - of course I'm
sure this shows all manner of poor technique - so I'm not suggesting
anything is particularly 'correct' - but given the choice of the two
uncomfortable possibilities for playing sitting down this is the one I
(and by the sound of things, most other players on this newgroups)
picked.

Now, it could be that all the people posting to this newsgroup,
including myself, are no talent hasbeen/wannabees with no technique - so
check these pics out. My process of selection was googling for
known/prolific session players who there might be pictures of sitting
down.

Carol Kaye
http://www.carolkaye.com/www/assets/carolkaye_1974-lib.jpg
http://www.vintagerock.com/img/nammpics/carolkaye.jpg

Bob Babbitt
http://www.lonnielee.com/images-news/Nashville-Bob-relaxwithbass-s.jpg
(there are blurrier pics with him actually playing).

Oh, and the inevitable YouTube link (Anthony Jackson)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0R7ZAGb6P0
http://jamespaulsain.com/photos_basses/jackson.jpg

Leland Sklar
http://www.sessionplayers.com/htdocs/rosterImg/LelandSklar.jpg

Heck. Go check out the rest of that site -
http://www.sessionplayers.com/

These players, from the short to the tall, are *all* resting their bass
on their right leg as bog intended. I haven't left out any pictures
that didn't support my argument - I simply didn't find any.

But now I'm perplexed. I typed: "I wanted to learn what it sounds
like and how it plays" . In reply, you scolded me: "[u]nless you get
a chance to play or hear one you have absolutely *no idea* how it
sounds or plays" and "[w]ithout hearing what it sounds like how can
you even begin to speculate how it might stack up ...?". Derek, I
said "I wanted to learn what it sounds like and how it plays", in my
introductory paragraph. What part of that did I express badly? Geez,
dude!

That's exactly right. You are really interested in these basses, but
haven't heard one. Furthermore you haven't even heard of anyone that
has heard one. But it's all good so far.

And the "how it plays" part of
the question can be answered by doing that "shop[ping] around" of
which I spoke, to find a Gibson/Epi that simply plays well, without
reference to how well the Birdsong plays.

Yes. Indeed. No problem with any of that. And yet you speculate that
a gibson might play 90% as well as one of these.

You even say yourself that you have no basis for this speculation.

This is really what I'm astonished by. The only possible metric you can
be using to compare the two is price alone, and are assuming that the
expensive one must be better.

This company has been making basses for about 2 years. There is
information on the website about the principals experience in the music
industry, working in music shops etc, they talk about being musicians
first. But there's nothing about their experience in luthiery (one of
the helpers made a bass when he was 14) - or even furniture making or
other cabinetry.

At this stage of the game I wouldn't be assuming that you *might* be
able to be a gibson that plays 85% as good. I'd be wondering the exact
opposite. Would it come even close to the playability of a Gibson?

Now, it may be that they are extremely good instruments - but there's
really no way of knowing - even wish basses look good in photos. For
the price instead of thinking "I want one of those!" I'd be thinking
"Hmm, I'll get an excellent local luthier I know with 20 years
experience to build me an instrument that looks like that".

Compare that to http://www.budlecompte.com/about.asp - although this guy
has been making basses only a little longer there are a couple of
significant differences. He's been making things all his life and has
impressive woodworking facilities and both woodworking and CAD skill.
The expertise in building/designing things is clear up front.

Given a choice of the two based on their internet presence alone I'd
pick Bud Le Compte to make me a bass.

--- Derek

--
Derek Tearne - derek@xxxxxxxxx
Many Hands - Trans Cultural Music from Aotearoa/New Zealand
http://www.manyhands.co.nz/

.

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