Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

Check out this great clip from YouTube of a performance of the Super Mario Bros theme on an 11 string bass!

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Maurizio Ortolani e-mailed me today about a recent podcast from the NAC podcasts. The fabulous double bassist Joel Quarrington was interviewed this week on the National Arts Centre Orchestra of Canada. This is a great podcast interview that is an essential listen for any classical musician. I just found out about [...]

All double bass players need a decent gig bag. Unlike the other members of the stringed instrument family, double bass players carry instruments in soft cases about 90% of the time. Having a durable, well-padded soft case is essential for any bass player.
As far as bass bags go, I definitely think that the [...]

Matthew Wengerd posted a great video of the Ray Brown trio playing Summertime. Ray, along with Jeff Hamilton on drums and Gene Harris on piano, really tear it up here. This is a great take on a classic tune. Check out his post here, and check out the video below:

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This post contains thoughts and observations about playing Gary Karr’s former double bass. Read the first part of my “Amati” bass story here.
 
When I first picked up the Amati bass from Aaron Reilly at the Guarneri House, I couldn’t wait to get it home and start working on my recital program. I pulled [...]

Matthew Wengerd sent me a link recently for jazz bassist Sigi Busch’s website. This site is definitely worth a visit. It has a lot of audio resources available, including many MP3s of his jazz performances and several MIDI practice files available for downloading. Here is his downloads page–check out what he has [...]

A cardboard bass? Peter Tambroni sent me a link about this. Believe it or not, this actually appears to be for real. For around $50 you can order a kit from Bogdon Music to assemble a two string bass. The sound is not half bad if this YouTube video is for [...]

I recently read a very thoughtfully written article on ActiveBass.com about practicing methods. Written by Joe Solomon, this article approaches practicing from an improviser’s perspective, but it includes valuable advice for any performing musician:
” I don’t know, I have all these great solos in my head, but I just can’?t [...]

The very first double bass soloist I ever heard live was the extraordinary double bassist Gary Karr. I was fifteen years old and had only been playing the bass for a year. Gary Karr was playing with my hometown symphony orchestra (the South Dakota Symphony), and my teacher Charles Kreitzer had gotten me [...]

Catalin Rotaru at Arizona State University has some great online recordings (MP3) of himself playing some excellent double bass showpieces. Click on any of the links below–they will take you to Catalin’s recordings. Catalin previously taught at the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. I teach at the University of Wisconsin - [...]