Classical or Jazz upright bass?An
editorial on how versatility can make for a more interesting and successful career
in playing the upright bass.When I was 18 years old, I new that I wanted
to play the bass (somehow) for a living. It evolved from starting on the
electric bass when I was 15 all the way to playing Strauss' Also Spake Zarathustra
on the upright bass when I was in school at Indiana University, just 3 short years
later! To make a very long story short, playing both Jazz and Classical
upright bass made me an even better musician than I if I had chosen just one genre
or style. For one, by playing both Jazz and Classical, I had my upright
bass in my hands that much more and therefore learned the instrument quicker
and more in depth. I think that really successful upright players,
love the instrument itself equally as much as any other genre of playing.
In other words, I was happy if I had my bass in my hands! Not only did I
end up practicing more, whichever genre I was studying more of at the time, would
always carry over and reinforce what I needed to know and learn on the other.
Let's give a basic example: No Jazz player will ever succeed unless he has
a groove and pulse. Jazz players call it "keeping time".
It's the concept of maintaining a good steady pulse throughout and supporting
the group of people you're playing with. What I found is that all the
Jazz playing that I did established this pulse feeling to my core to the
extent that I keep it with me now whenever I play, whether it be classical or
jazz. It works the other way 'round as well. Studying classical
will surely help your jazz playing. I think music is certainly universal:
The simple truths in music hold true no matter what it is you're doing.
Music is music! Why upright jazz-classical bass
players work more than anyone else:This leads us into another great issue:
Why just narrow your scope of playing to just one or two genres? For high
school upright bass players, all the way up to professional upright bass players,
being versatile can make the difference of whether or not you can make a true
living at playing the upright bass at a professional level or not. There
are lots of smaller, regional orchestras that pay a small, but consistent pay.
With their 8-15 week seasons, and with enough jazz gigs, many bass players can
find their "niche'" this very way. What
kinds of upright bass setups are available for the Jazz-classical players? This
has to be where the biggest change and advancements have been in the past 5-10
years. For one, there has been such a mass improvement in the way the upright
bass is set up: Including new technical improvements with upright bass strings,
upright bass pickups, and the general way basses are set up to play. With the
newer, high quality steel strings, have enabled upright players a luxury of much
lower string action and height. Nowadays there are strings that can actually
"work" in a classical setting AND a jazz setting. With the advent
of the metal wound synthetic strings, like Pirastro's Evah Prazzi or Obligatos.
Some players prefer a mix: The Pirastros on the top G and D, with a more "growling"
Thomastik Spirocore E. (We hope to have a page just dedicated to specific
set ups at a later date). Upright bass is an extremely versatile instrument.
Every symphony needs at least 6-9 bass players and every acoustic jazz or bluegrass
group uses an upright bass. There is no other such instrument that holds such
an integral importance in such a wide spectrum. Learn it all, then play
it all! You then will have a musically rich life as well as a successful
profession. -Steve Koscica | 
