Hat's off to upright bassists. A few weeks ago we went unplugged at church - acoustic guitar, upright bass, resonator, banjo, fiddle and mandolin. I had never played upright bass until borrowing one a week prior to services. It was a work out. My left hand and arm were killing me the first few days.
Great fun and happily for me, the bass lines were mostly 1-5 with chromatic passing tones in between.
We did use a stripped down drum kit even though we were playing bluegrass renditions of southern-church standards. Not too many bluegrass purists in Plano, so we avoided screams of outrage.
It's a long way from the skills required for other genres, but I had a blast nonetheless. The bass is still in my music room and is likely to stay there until I'm asked to return it.
After these past three weeks, I've noticed when switching to electric my left hand technique, strength and speed seem to have improved. Not to mention a 34 scale bass feels like a toy after the upright.
Fantastic experience and something that should be tried by everyone, even if you don't think you'll ever gig on upright.
Here's a pic. The banjo, resonator and fiddle players are blocked by a singer. And for the record, I'm watching the resonator player, not my hands! I loath iMag.
