Interesting way to play bass guitar

[Tom]

At last evening's ukulele practice we were joined by Jim Peddicord playing bass guitar. Jim was a touring professional musician for 35 years, before settling down in a nearby community. He plays trombone in the Summerset Big Band, and is also Music Director for the band. He co-directed a joint Veterans Day concert of the Summerset Big Band and the Summerset Singers, the 85-strong choral group directed by our ukulele band director.

Jim will be playing bass at our June ukulele concert, and came along last evening to calibrate and practice with the ukulele band. It was interesting to see that he places his guitar vertically in a stand, and plays it like an upright bass.

Sorry about the grainy picture; I tried to improve it in PSE. I had only my cell phone with me last evening, and for some reason the flash wasn't working.

Edit: Fixed typo and added link.

[carson]

Tom, I think the grain went down the drain; looks like a perfect picture to me.

[SeilerBird]

My guess is that he has a bad back or bad knees and can't hold the weight of a bass guitar for an entire performance. They are very heavy.

[Tom]

He has no problem holding a trombone or a baton for a concert

[Larry N.]

Tom, I think the grain went down the drain; looks like a perfect picture to me.

I see the grain in there, Carson, but you have to look close. Tom, it looks fine to me, for a web pic. Thanks for posting that.

[SeilerBird]

The photo is extremely grainy but when you view it in a small size you can't see the grain. Push and hold the Control key and push the + key a few times and the grain becomes very obvious. But for posting on the web it works just fine.

He has no problem holding a trombone or a baton for a concert

.

I don't know whether or not he plays it upright because of the weight or not. It is just the only reason I can see to play it that way. You should ask the guy why he plays it like that.

[Tom]

I need to figure out why the flash didn't come on; That's happened a couple of times with my phone. There's not a lot of light in that large room, and he was in a 'dark' corner. Having the bookshelf light on probably helped confuse the camera and made things worse.

I snapped the shot between numbers, so I literally had a few seconds to get up from the front row, squeeze into the second row, snap the pic, get back to my seat and start playing the next number. I knew if I waited until the break or the end of practice, he'd be dis-assembling his gear, and I'd miss the Kodak moment.

My "trombone and baton" comment, although accurate, was in jest and somewhat tongue-in-cheek. I don't know if he has a bad back, or if he previously played upright bass. I'll ask next time I see him.

FWIW here's Jim playing trombone with the Summerset Big Band he directs. This was cropped from the original picture taken (by a non-photographic friend) from the balcony level at a theater, with the house lights down and without a flash. I adjusted the lighting in PSE, which probably made the image worse. He cleans up well 

I see other talented musicians in the picture; The guy playing drums (Mike Spellman) is a member of the Summerset Singers choral group, and also has his own Sinatra show.

[SeilerBird]

An auto flash will only come on in low light. During the last few years cameras have gotten much better low light performance so flashes are used less often. This is the way it will work in Auto-flash mode. You should check to see if your camera has an "always on" flash mode. In other words the flash will flash no matter what the lighting situation is.

[Tom]

Good point Tom, thanks. I've used the camera on the phone so little that I haven't taken the time to figure out how to use it. In my point-and-shoot style, I'm usually fumbling around trying to figure out which on-screen buttons to press, while worrying about missing the shot. Somewhere around here I have a good how-to for this phone camera (methinks it's on my tablet); Time for me to read it 

[Tom]

A quick look at camera settings, I see several options that could have been changed to help improve things. I need to experiment to see the effects of each.

Flash set to auto.
ISO set to auto.
Exposure set to 0.
White balance set to 0.
Metering: Center weighted.

[SeilerBird]

Everything is set correctly except the auto flash. If most of the photos you take are indoors or portraits you would be best served by setting the flash to "always on". Then if you wish to take an outdoor scenic photo just turn the flash off. However if most of your shots are outdoor scenics then leave the flash on Auto and only turn it to "always on" when you do a portrait or shoot indoors. In other words set the flash so you don't have to change the setting very often.

[Tom]

Thanks Tom. One thing I forgot to mention is that the phone camera also has a 'scene' setting, with various options.

[SeilerBird]

Scene settings are really cool and convenient. The biggest problem is that you must read the manual and learn about all the different settings so that when you go to take a photo you will know which setting works best. I think that the huge majority of the photos most people take work best on Auto mode. As an amateur just learning how to turn the flash off and on at will is the most important thing you can learn to make your photos come out better.

[Tom]

First I have to figure out how to turn the phone on at will 

[Tom]

... he places his guitar vertically in a stand, and plays it like an upright bass.

My guess is that he has a bad back or bad knees and can't hold the weight of a bass guitar for an entire performance.

Just an FYI ... last night, at our final pre-concert rehearsal, I got a chance to ask. Jim explained that he used to play an upright bass, and having the bass guitar held vertically allowed him to play it like a bass, rather than like a guitar.

Interestingly, he held his guitar the 'regular' way (horizontally) last night.

Edit: Almost forgot that Jim also mentioned it's easier for him to switch between bass and trombone when he's playing in The Summerset Big Band that he directs.

[Tom]

Sadly, we just heard that this wonderful musician and band director passed away earlier this year. Jim was a heavy smoker, and you could hear him wheezing after walking up a slight gradient. I never understood how, with his lung issues, he was able to play trombone in his 'big band'.