I want a degree in Music Education and I have to learn to play all the strings instruments. Viola and Cello are fun to play but the bass is giving me touble. Everytime I tune it doesn't do anything and then it suddenly goes up an octave to high. My hand is also kind of small for a full-size bass and that's the requirement. Can anybody help?

Are you talking about bass guitar? I played 2 bass insterments before I started playing trumpet I'll give you some advise if your insterment isn't staying in tune get rid of it and buy anew one. That will help alot.

Are you talking about bass guitar? I played 2 bass insterments before I started playing trumpet I'll give you some advise if your insterment isn't staying in tune get rid of it and buy anew one. That will help alot.


I mean the String Bass.(Double bass/Contra Bass) And I can't buy a bass! Those things are expensive! I've no use for it either since well..I'm a professional violinist and I just need to learn bass for my professor..

All I know about bass is that you have to shift A LOT. I know that from watching the bases in my orchestra.

lol
Well.....playing the String bass can be quite tiring at first....Yr fingers will feel pain....especially yr left hand......and unlike cello or any other smaller instrument....U will have to move fester...tunning also can piss people of in the beginning.....take a tunner and tune all yr four strings.....G,D,A and E......and watch yr position.....to me......tuning the bass can be damn annonying

I am a string teacher (just finished my degree in music ed) and also had to learn the cello and bass. The school provided the instruments that we learned on, however, and they were decent quality beginner instruments. I played on a three quarter size bass (but I have long fingers).

In tuning, the bass is really finicky about jumping octaves; the bass strings produce overtones very readily and it's not your fault they jump octaves. That's just what a bass does. You have to get a firm grip on the string and keep the bow moving. Also, tuning in harmonics is MUCH easier than trying to tune in the natural octave of the bass unless your hearing is attuned to that range.

If you need to have a bass for practice, see if the school rents them out--mine actually has their own rental service--and if not, check out local stores like Williamson and Brook Mays to rent a cello or bass. It's much cheaper than buying one.

I mean the String Bass.(Double bass/Contra Bass) And I can't buy a bass! Those things are expensive! I've no use for it either since well..I'm a professional violinist and I just need to learn bass for my professor..

OH. Well anything else.

I am a string teacher (just finished my degree in music ed) and also had to learn the cello and bass. The school provided the instruments that we learned on, however, and they were decent quality beginner instruments. I played on a three quarter size bass (but I have long fingers).

In tuning, the bass is really finicky about jumping octaves; the bass strings produce overtones very readily and it's not your fault they jump octaves. That's just what a bass does. You have to get a firm grip on the string and keep the bow moving. Also, tuning in harmonics is MUCH easier than trying to tune in the natural octave of the bass unless your hearing is attuned to that range.

If you need to have a bass for practice, see if the school rents them out--mine actually has their own rental service--and if not, check out local stores like Williamson and Brook Mays to rent a cello or bass. It's much cheaper than buying one.


Oh, ok I'll try that. You're a strings teacher? I have a bachelor's in Music Education but I want a Masters in perofrmance and a Doctorates in Education or Theory or Performing..i can't deicide!