Ergo electric upright bass

ichadwick

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Anyone have any experience with one of these uprights? There's one for sale locally and I'm interested. Tried it out yesterday, just tinkered a bit. Liked it but it's very different from anything I've ever played. Can be bowed - a skill I lack - or plucked. This one is a five-string, too.
 
These look really cool. How does it play?
 
It doesn't play. I have to pluck it.

Okay, seriously... it's beautiful and fun. It's got a HUGE distance between strings and fretboard compared to most of my ukes. It requires Deach's "kung fu" grip beyond the fifth fret. And my hands wander from their 3rd-fret anchor point too often, so I need to put some sort of tactile marker on the neck to help fix the position if I want to stay in tune. I have some stick-on fret markers I also need to apply because I'm used to looking at the fretboard when I play and the fret dots are so small they hide behind the strings.

Sound is wonderful, build quality is superb. I love this instrument. Just need a LOT more practice. I understand how to play it intellectually, I just need to get my fingers to appreciate how well my brain appreciates it. But when it all falls together, it's a huge delight to play.
 
so do you have to finger it like an upright i.e. two fingers at a time for most of the notes, so you can push the strings down hard enough. Sounds like you're really taking to it nicely though. Any videos?
 
Actually I generally use one finger per string, but press REALLY hard. I'm gonna get callouses the size of baseballs, I'm sure.

My biggest problem is getting used to the scale. I get a run figured out then practice it, but my hands tend to wander and I usually undershoot the note I want when that happens. Because it's fretless, a very small inaccuracy can have a big effect.
 
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