# Me playing the bass



## PostMinimalist

Well I finally did it! I started putting stuff on youtube. I borrowed my brother in law's video camera yesterday and recorded the Elegy by Bottesini with a metronomic computerised piano accompaniment. I've been practicing a bit since Christmas and my plan is to record about 5 pieces by Bottesini and upload them to youtube. 
This is just a test case and things will surely get better as I learn more about video cameras, but please tell me what you think about my playing.

Me doing Bottesini on youtube
Enjoy!


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## Elgarian

I've no way of commenting on the technical aspects of this - heck, I'd give an arm to be able to play any instrument even half so well (though on second thoughts, if I did give an arm I'd have trouble playing anything at all, so scratch that).

I thought a few notes didn't seem _quite_ right, but it was played with feeling and I enjoyed listening to it. Is it enough to say that?


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## JoeGreen

That was very nice is Bass your main instrument?


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## PostMinimalist

Yes, the bass is my first instrument. There are a few blemishes but this was a first take (there wasn't a second!) at home. I'll be upgrading this stuff over the next few weeks and I'll keep the forum informed of the latest developments. My bass is in a club where I play at the week end but I'll record more after Monday when I get it back home. 

Thanks for the comments. All, positive and negative are welcome.
FC


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## nefigah

Quite excellent! Thank you for sharing your talent with us.

It looks quite difficult to play high notes


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## PostMinimalist

Thanks. On the bass, _all_ the notes are difficult!


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## David C Coleman

Thanks for that! Well I got about half of it until the that wretched buffering decided to stop ( yes I'll download it sometime!!)...Pity we couldn't see your face though....


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## marval

Well done, that was very good. Thanks for sharing with us.


Margaret


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## Elgarian

Here's an extremely naive question which I've never dared to ask for fear of looking plain daft. How do you know where to put your fingers? There are no frets (as on a guitar), and no markings. Yet your fingers leap about and land in the right places on the unmarked surface. The same goes with fiddles of all sizes. How do you know where they're going to land? (your fingers, not the fiddles)


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## PostMinimalist

That's an interesting question which doesn't have an obvious answer. When you start to learn a stringed instrument without frets like a guitar one of the major problems is exactly this. To begin with you learn to put your fingers down on the strings in the positions nearest the pegbox, usually considered 1st position. On the Bass the string length is so large that the distance between the tips of the first and second fingers, when you spread out your hand, are about the equivalent of a semitone! This distance decreases as the positions move towards the bribge. You can see this phenomena by looking at the way frets get closer together on the guitar as you go fron the head to the body. One of the most important things to master is how to mve between these positions adjusting to the slight differences in the physical size of the semitones in each. There are countless exercises which cultivate this ability and naturally they are the mainstay of many bass methods. The great player and teacher Franticek Posta (who was principal bass with the Czeck Philharmonic for over 50 years!) said, holding up his left hand locked into the familiar 'first position', "This is intonation!" What he meant was that if you learn your positions correctly you'll play in tune almost automatically. This is of course an over simplification but you can see how important this idea is when there are no frets to which to refer.
I hope this answers your question. The rest is just hard practice!
FC


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## Guest

Very good PM, enjoyed your playing, I notice you have a 5 string Bass, is that a late purchase or have you always had it, I had a Franklin 5 string 3/4 size that I used for Jazz + an old 'no name' 4 string that sounded so rich with lots of overtones used both for other work but found the 5 string much easier.


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## Elgarian

post-minimalist said:


> One of the most important things to master is how to mve between these positions adjusting to the slight differences in the physical size of the semitones in each. There are countless exercises which cultivate this ability and naturally they are the mainstay of many bass methods.


Yes, indeed - it's that continual decreasing of the intervals as one moves up towards the bridge that makes it seem impossible to the uninitiated. (I do play guitar - and actually that _heightens_ my notion of the impossibility of playing without frets.)

I have this feeling that no matter how much practice there may have been, ultimately any given finger at any given moment is launching itself into the air to come down on the string at _exactly_ the right place, time after time. What you're doing looks like a miracle to me, Fergus!

How precise does the placement have to be before a 'wrong note' is audible? I'd have thought even a millimetre would be too much - especially nearer the bridge. I'm reminded of Ruskin's insistence that when Turner painted his watercolours, his brush was moving to an accuracy of a thousandth of an inch. Now, one might quibble with the actual value, but the gist of what he says is right. Seems to me like the same sort of astonishing precision might be involved here. And that's just to get the bare notes out, let alone make them express anything.


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## PostMinimalist

Andante said:


> Very good PM, enjoyed your playing, I notice you have a 5 string Bass, is that a late purchase or have you always had it, I had a Franklin 5 string 3/4 size that I used for Jazz + an old 'no name' 4 string that sounded so rich with lots of overtones used both for other work but found the 5 string much easier.


Thanks, I'll get a rehearsed serious version of this and more bottesini etc, on youtube soon. I bought this 5stringer Rubner in London in 1983 for just over 1000 pounds (it's worth about 12,000 today!) and it's been my work-horse ever since. When I was playing professionally I was loaned a 5string Grunnert 'John Lott' copy from the orchestra, which was just an amazing instrument. I wish I had saved up and bought a Grunnert. I went to his factory and tried dozens of basses and he offered me some great deals but I was not in a position to commit financially so I still have the Rubner.

Today some new music arrived in the post so I'm off to practice!

FC


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## Krummhorn

Very nice playing, Fergus ... enjoyed watching your skill playing this instrument.
Wonderful intonation and tonal clarity.


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## PostMinimalist

David C Coleman said:


> Pity we couldn't see your face though....


Hi David, you can just about make me out in the other video!
See the more Bottesini thread...
FC


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