Author: Rob
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The Elephant
Whether we like it or not, the double bass will be for ever linked with the large, lumbering and lugubrious elephant – much as the cello is with the elegant swan, or the tuba with Tubby! It wasn’t always the case however, and certainly in the 18th-century the double bass was an important and respected…
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When I Grow Up I want to Be a …
What did you want to be when you grow up? Amazingly, at the age of about 16 or 17 I wanted to be a publisher with a company specialising in music for the double bass, and do you know what? I achieved my dream and in two years time Recital Music will be 40 years…
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(Near) Silence Is Golden
As double bassists we have many pieces of equipment which are essential – the obvious ones are a bass, bow, rosin and case. Alongside these are other things which we use such as a tuner, a duster to clean the rosin off the strings, a mute and one of the most important things, which can be…
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Which Bass Rosin Should I Buy?
Not a problem, I’ll look online – BUT: suddenly I am faced with dozens and dozens of different rosins, so which is the right one for me? There are so many factors to take into account. If you are an orchestral player, you will probably need one of the stronger rosins but if you are…
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Metronomes
Firstly, let’s get the boring stuff about what a metronome is out of the way. Contrary to what the name may suggest these are NOT very small people living in the darkened tunnels of the London Underground. You will all know (I think/guess/hope/imagine) that a metronome is a device used by musicians to keep a…
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D’Addario EFT15
Acoustic Guitar Strings, flat tops, Phosphor Bronze, Extra Light According to the label. they have a warm, semi-bright tone. A semi-flat ultra smooth surface, perfect for slide playing, flat picking and recording, with reduced finger noise. Well the last part’s right, the finger noise is reduced from the beginning. First impressions on re-stringing them was…
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It’s All About the Performance, Stupid!
Look, I know you might find that title offensive, but it’s not all about you. In fact in this case it’s not even about you. But it is about me. OK….. it might be about you as well. It depends if you’re going through what I went through when I started learning music. learning to…
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Admira Guitars
He looked at me and said “You’re using harmonics?” I nodded. “I never thought of that. I’ve had it a few years and still can’t play. Take it, it’s yours”. That’s how I came to have a classical guitar that’s been in my possession for the last 30 odd years. It was an Admira and…
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iRig Blueturn
A very simple idea to deal with a very awkward problem: I’ve got my music on a tablet but I’ve got to the bottom of the first of four pages. Now what? How do I turn the page when both my hands are on my instrument? Well not being Zaphod Beeblebrox* and not wishing to…
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Roadie 3
I’ll be good, I promise, and try to avoid jokes about wind-up merchants, but I don’t promise nuffink. After all this is about a product whose whole purpose is winding things up. Well, strings anyway. On banjos, guitars, mandolins and ukuleles with breakdowns for different types of those instruments, And as if that wasn’t enough…