- Hi it's Geoff here from DiscoverDoubleBass.com.
That is the home of online video bass lessons,
so if you want to learn more about the double bass,
that's the place to go.
And I'm joined today by the wonderful Katie Thiroux,
so Katie, great to see you here.
We've been filming, of course, all week about, basically,
looking at getting from the practice room to the bandstand.
It's called "From Beginner to Bandstand"
for jazz bass players, and Katie has filmed
some wonderful lessons and some wonderful material.
And we were just doing a little interview
and we had a few extra minutes before we wrapped
things up in the studio, and I thought,
the topic everyone loves to talk about,
bass players especially, is equipment.
So Katie, I'm gonna, if you don't mind,
ask you a few questions about what gear you're using,
what you'd recommend for your students.
So, question number one: French or German?
- French. - French?
Has it always been French?
- I just started on French and that's how it happened.
- That's your thing is it? - Yep.
- Okay, what about rosin?
You aren't bothered about it?
- Not so bothered, but I do love Pop's rosin.
- Yeah, old school, I like it. - Yeah, yeah.
- Strings, what kind of strings are you into?
- I like Evah Pirazzi, the light-gauge.
- Yep.
- You had that Oliv on the G string,
I do love that as well, yeah.
- That's a cool sound.
I've enjoyed the bass this week,
and it's had some D'Addario pizzicato helicore.
- Yeah, they sound great on that.
- Really, seriously, doesn't it?
- How 'bout Spirocores, are you a fan?
Is that a string that you've used much?
- I haven't, no, I haven't.
- Yeah, cool.
- You know, I'm not such a gear-head, that's the thing.
- Oh, you don't get sucked into the world.
- No, no.
- When you travel, do you use your own double bass?
- No I don't, and that's what kind of helped me
to not be such a gear-head.
I would love to travel with my instrument,
but, you know, the stress on my body
of carrying the 100 pound case with me everywhere
is just too much, so by the time I was getting to gigs
my arms were, like, all floppy and I was all stressed out,
so I just, kind of, got used to playing the instrument
that was there, and kind of, okay,
getting into the moment, and being okay with that.
And actually, having a lot of fun with it.
- And how about the double bass that you have at home,
what's your instrument, maybe you could tell us
a little bit about it and how you can about it.
- Yes, so I play a 3/4 sized bass,
and it's on the smaller size,
small shoulders and everything, nice and light.
- Yeah.
- And it was first my mom's bass,
and then my brother's bass, and someone gave it to my mom
who was sick and wanted someone to have an instrument
who they would use, so I was really lucky to have this bass,
because before that I was playing a plywood bass,
or plexiglass, actually, which,
you know, is not the end of the world,
as long as you have an instrument,
you can figure it out, but once I got that bass,
I was like, so happy, and I haven't had to look
for anything else, which has been nice.
- And what about pick-ups, microphones,
amplifiers, do you have any strong views,
you know, about what you use?
- Personally, I don't usually use a pick-up,
I usually just use a microphone.
I like an RE20 microphone or even sometimes
you know, just pop in any sort of mic
in front of it is nice, 'cause for me,
I don't personally like the sound of a bass through an amp.
There are some nice clip on microphones,
like DPA and AMT, but, you know,
again, it goes back to the sound that you like,
'cause for me, I'm more of an acoustic player.
You know, really pulling the strings.
But, you know, if I have to play through an amp
it's not the end of the world,
but I definitely like the acoustic sound.
- Yeah, that's interesting.
I think I come from a similar place,
well, I think most bass players do, don't they,
it's just such a wonderful sounding instrument on it's own.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
- Yeah, and so lastly, we've been filming this course
for beginner jazz bass players.
If you are new to the double bass
or if you are speaking to someone
who is new to the double bass,
what would you say to them when they are looking
for an instrument, what kind of things
should they be bearing in mind, perhaps,
when they're trying them out,
what was important to you when you found your bass?
That's a lot of questions as well, isn't it.
- Yeah, no it's cool.
Mostly, having it be comfortable to you and your body.
So the size, you know, for me, I'm not going to go
for a 7/8 bass or a full size bass.
So kind of having simple things like that in mind.
Also, string length.
You wanna make sure, you know, if you're a tall person
you can have a longer fingerboard,
but for me, that's gonna be a little bit more difficult.
And I really don't think that if you're beginning out,
you don't need to go search for that great, best instrument.
I always say, if you have something with four strings
and it's comfortable, you know, that's going to work.
There are some really great bass companies
that I like that make really nice basses
that are not that expensive, Shen is one of them.
You can get a myriad of different basses,
you know, hybrid, wood and fiber, and things like that,
so if you have a little bit of money to spend,
you know, a few thousand dollars,
if you're really, really getting serious,
but other than that, I just say something
that's comfortable for you.
- Yeah, I think that is fantastic advice, really.
I mean, once you can get past
the playability issues, if it's well set up.
- Exactly, yeah.
- Comfortable set of set strings.
- Yeah.
- I mean, pretty much any bass sounds good,
I mean, you know, to a point.
- It depends on you, and I know Ray Brown used to say,
'cause we're all looking for that sound,
and things like that, I know drummer and guitar players
go through that forever, but Ray Brown used to say,
it's all, you know, in your finger,
and you know, what you hear too, so it's kind of,
you're gonna bring the best out of the instrument.
- That's a great point to finish.
So, thanks Katie for joining me today.
If you want to learn more from Katie,
well, we've got a few lessons,
we've got a course knocking around,
and I'll provide links for those below.
Plus you can visit her website katiethiroux.com,
she has a jazz camp coming in Maui...
- Yeah!
- And you have social media,
all that kind of stuff, it's all there for you.
Thanks for watching and we'll see you next time.