The Fabulous School of Music

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Upright Bass

What is an Upright Bass?

The double bass is the largest and lowest pitched bowed string instrument used in the modern symphony orchestra.  It is a standard member of the string section of the symphony orchestra and smaller string ensembles in Western classical music. In addition, it is used in other genres such as jazz, 1950s-style blues and rock and roll, rockabilly and bluegrass.

Like many other string instruments, the double bass is played either with a bow (arco) or by plucking the strings (pizzicato). In orchestral repertoire and tango music, both bowing and plucking styles are used. In jazz music, the bass is mostly plucked, except for some solos which are performed with the bow. In most other genres, such as blues and rockabilly, the bass is plucked. 

Teaching Philosophy

Adam Saylor is one of two teachers we currently have on the faculty that are graduates of the Fabulous School of Music.  While attending Berklee College of Music, Adam studied and excelled at Upright bass and now teaches it at the Fabulous School of Music.  He teaches all levels and styles and has no age requirements. Techniques covered are learning bowing and plucking techniques, hand positioning, reading standard bass clef notation and then reading chord changes and constructing walking bass lines. Some of the books used for upright bass study are “Ray Brown’s Bass Method”, “The New Method for Double Bass”, “The Latin Bass Book” by Oscar Stagnaro, “Walking” by Bruce Gertz (one of Adam’s teachers at Berklee) and the industry standard, “The Real Book”.

Adam will also focus on teaching theory and how it relates to creativity. The student will learn scales, arpeggios, intervals and their uses to create bass lines. Ear training, listening and analyzing are also a very important part of the student’s study. Adam’s philosophy is that all students have a voice and it is his job as a teacher to help the student find that voice.