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If anyone asks, I'm a bass player, through and through. That being said, I've spent much of my time playing other instruments as well. Mom was a school music teacher and a pianist, so we always had a piano in the house growing up. When the school started kids on band instruments in 4th grade, like a surprising number of bassists (in my experience) I picked up the trumpet; later, I moved on to playing Mellophone and French Horn in high school. I also own a home studio where I record mostly ori …

Sometimes a fresh look is all you need. Conventions. Patterns. We're pretty much all creatures of habit. From the music we enjoy, to the "licks" we play when we improvise, to how we approach problem solving; we often fall back on the familiar, the tried and true... basically, that which seems obvious or comfortable.It's only natural; cognitive scientists have studied the brain and found that our incredibly complex mind often resorts to "shortcuts" and conditioning to quicken decision-making. It' …

It's not what they were designed for, but here's how to do it. The electric upright basses from NS Design have become one of the more popular options for bassists, and for good reasons. Ned Steinberger's clean, modern design aesthetic is attractive and ergonomic.Are they a perfect "portable" substitute for your full-bodied acoustic upright? No, not really. And I suspect that they weren't really intended to be. The way I read it, Ned wasn't trying to "recreate the upright" in a smaller footp …

"If a man made it, another man can fix it."There's a strongly held opinion that the setting up and repair of the doublebass is some sort of a "mysterious art;" that things that involve making some sawdust on one's bass should only be done by professional luthiers. And yes, there is definitely some merit to that point of view -- there are jobs that require an in-depth understanding (and quite often, expensive, specialized tools). And, as I have learned from experience, some of the bigger, more co …