Tell us about your bass journey!

A big and warm welcome from us all at tonebase, to the brand new shiny DOUBLE BASS platform! 

I'm super excited to connect with you all here, and for everyone to get to know each other a little better while discovering everything that this wonderful platform has to offer. To kick things off, I'd love it if you shared a little about yourselves - just drop in some answers to some or all of these quesitons here:

1. What do you love about the bass? 
2. How long have you been playing for? (Maybe you've taken a break and are getting back into it - let us know!)
3. What kinds of music interest you? (classical, jazz, folk, orchestra, solo, bluegrass, etc)
4. Anything else you'd like to share!

Don't be shy here, the more you can share the more I can help to understand our tonebass Double Bass community better, and orient our future discussions, courses, and livestream offerings to serve you all!

Cheers,

Travis Harrison

Double Bass Consultant, tonebase

8 replies

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    • Double Bass Lead, tonebase
    • Travis_Harrison
    • 3 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    I'll kick things off!

    1. I love so many things about the bass, but my favourite thing has to be the resonance it makes. I love the big, deep, rich sound - especially when we get to play bass lines in chamber music or in the orchestra that make it feel like we're "lifting" the whole ensemble with our sound!
    2. I've been playing the bass for over two decades now, and I'm getting better every day...
    3. Chamber music is my favourite, but it all goes in cycles - I try to keep the philosophy that "my favourite music is what I'm playing this week" - but these days I'm gravitating more and more towards solo Bach, or small ensemble folk music (like the music Paul Kowert shares with us in his courses!)
    4. I'm just so excited to see how you all engage with this platform - from the courses, to social features, to the regular live streams - my hope is that you all feel this is a safe and diverse space that celebrates the greatest features of our instrument, and inspires you to reach your goals as a double bass player and musician.

    - Travis

    • Mathew_Watt
    • 3 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi all, just signed up, live in York (UK). Been playing electric bass 25 years, just bought an NXT5a (don't have space for an acoustic sadly). I love the sound, feel, vibe of the bass. When playing electric I really enjoy funky bluesy type stuff, on my stick bass really digging swing, jazz, blues. I am here to build up my skills and stop playing like an electric bassist.

      • Double Bass Lead, tonebase
      • Travis_Harrison
      • 3 mths ago
      • Reported - view

       Fantastic! Welcome to tonebase! I'd love to hear about how you find application of the "acoustic"/upright bass videos here to electric. Did you check out the videos from Paul Kowert and Rufus Reid?

    • 4in
    • 3 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    1. J'aime le son profond et l'objet: sa taille m'a toujours fasciné et j'adore les son bas. 
    2. J'ai acheté ma basse en 2004, mais je n'ai pas toujours été consistante: blessures au dos et pouce, trop de travail, d'autres projet d'art visuel en parallèle, trop de travail et déménagement m'ont fait prendre de grandes pauses.
    3. J'aime jouer du classique, j'ai surtout été dans des ensemble de ce genre mais j'aime aussi le jazz mais je suis intimidée par le fait qu'il n'y ai pas de partition explicite et qu'il faut broder avec des suggestions d'accord... mais j'essaie de développer la technique de Walking bass et j'aimerais que ma prochaine participation à un groupe soit dans ce style.
    4. Pensez-vous que la contrebasse soit un des instruments où la stature physique est très importantes? Les gens sont toujours étonnés que je joue d'un instrument alors que je suis très petite, mais ce n'est pas ça qui va m'arrêter. Aussi, quels sont vos trucs pour le transport? Je trouve aussi que c'est tout un défi!

      • Double Bass Lead, tonebase
      • Travis_Harrison
      • 2 mths ago
      • Reported - view

      Salutations 
      Mes excuses, votre message m'a échappé ! Bienvenue ici. Pour répondre à votre quatrième question : transporter une basse est toujours un défi ! C'est comme déplacer un meuble avec vous en permanence. Quelle distance allez-vous parcourir et dans quel climat vivez-vous ? Idéalement, vous pouvez utiliser une voiture (hayon) pour la plupart des déplacements ; mais parfois, ce n'est pas possible ! De nombreuses personnes apprécient l'utilisation de roues ; pour ma part, je mets toujours simplement la basse dans l'étui et je la mets sur mon épaule - mais je mesure aussi 186 cm et ce n'est donc pas un problème !
      Le meilleur conseil que je puisse vous donner est de prendre votre temps pour déplacer quoi que vous fassiez - c'est une cargaison précieuse :)

    • Mike_Brown
    • 2 mths ago
    • Reported - view

    Hi everybody! I am excited about this new platform and learning from all the amazing people here!
    I love everything about the bass and how versatile it is. It is truly amazing how many textures / sounds can be created and the pitch range that can be achieved with this beautiful instrument.
    I have been playing bass for a very long time, and I am always working to get better! I love all music and have really been into improvised music as well as extended techniques and modern classical music. I am currently working on getting my classical technique to the next level and really focusing on improving with the bow.
    Looking forward to this journey!

    Mike

      • Double Bass Lead, tonebase
      • Travis_Harrison
      • 2 mths ago
      • Reported - view

       Welcome Mike! I hope you find what you're looking for here, and please reach out if you'd like some help getting oriented. We have a few courses aimed art the bow, and one of the best things I can recommend is the Two-Week Intensive I'll be starting up next week! Definitely sign up for that, it will focus on bowing exercises.

    • Theophane_Diaz
    • 1 mth ago
    • Reported - view

    Hello everybody !

    I am really excited too about this plateform. I am a French double bass student based in Paris.

    I love bass because of the sound it produces and because of all the different styles we can play.

    I begun to play double bass 5 years ago with a big passion and the passion is still here.

    I am currently studying classical, baroque and Jazz music with amazing professors. I am a double bass teacher for young levels too and I am searching in this plateform to develop my skills : musicianship in all styles, technique and pedagogy. 
    And I want to enter in a professionnal orchestra at the right time, when my level is good enough of course.

Content aside

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