I bought my first double bass 6 month ago and been practicing like mad since may this year. I just turned 60 and never played the double bass before. And now I have a concert on Sunday, oct 15. Grieg, Debussy, Handel is on the menu. Wish me luck. 😅
Very Heartening to read. I am 60 this year and have been playing a few years now. Living in Australia, I have been learning pretty much on my own. I take lessons from my teacher in Quebec over the - but it IS hard to learn in isolation. AND SLOW TOO. If anyone want's to get together with me win Sydney (nsw 2023, please message me. Thanks Jason.
All these youngsters. I'm 73. My son, who plays bass, passed on his spare instrument to me early last year. I've been following online teachers for much of the past year. Progress is slow and I originally found the physicality of the instrument almost overwhelming. I'm finally getting to the point where intonation is occasionally good and usually tolerable. Learning jazz is a fabulous challenge, just need to keep the retention skills developing. Living in a small village leaves that great element of community involvement wanting, but overall I would say if learning the bass appeals to you, forget age, just do it.
Took up the double bass at age 66, with very minimal prior musical learning. Progress was slow but surprisingly steady. Fortunately I greatly enjoy practicing. Probably the main impediment to faster progress is a personality weakness. I have a tendency to force my way through difficult new passages, rather than stopping, analyzing and carefully learning the passage without playing it too many times with errors. Those errors get locked into muscle memory! Anybody know where I can get a personality transplant?
I have 25+ years teaching bass and some of most treasured experiences have been while working with adult learners. Now its me, learning other instruments and skills and I plan to continue this path for the rest of mi life. I would be very happy to lead a bass camp exclusively focused in adult learners!
I appreciate this video very much because I am in exactly the same situation! Thank you very much for referring to the Bass Camp NRW! All thumps up for C.C.!
I believe anyone have normal physical and mental abilities can take up learning a musical instrument, regardless of age. I started on clarinet in 4th grade (fall of 1961), added bass clarinet in 7th grade, and then decided to take up double bass in 9th grade. Like Gabrielle, I found that the double bass opened up a lot of interesting opportunities that didn't seem to exist with the clarinet (which are probably even more common than flutes). However, I had always had an interest in brass, so shortly before my 69th birthday, I bought a used trombone off eBay, and had a lot of fun with it. To make a longer story shorter, I added 4 more brass instruments, and now at 70 I just got finished practicing a contrabass tuba I bought from a high school band director. I love the sound of the open A string on my double bass, and the 'home base' Bb on my tuba as well.
The learning part is not the issue, it's retaining what you've learned for more than a week that is difficult, when you pass 60. Like everything else that starts to go the older you get, dexterity, recall, and overall execution can be very limited the older you get. That will ultimately determine at what rate you progress, and to what level of proficiency you attain. Irrespective of how much you "practice", which sooner or later bumps you up against that wall of somewhat diminished returns. Not saying you can't learn to play the upright or electric for that matter to some degree. However, you'll never be the player that some dude who started at ten, has become at the same age as you.
In depends on what condition one is in--genetics, diet, and many other factors that affect how well one ages. I'm 70 and still going along at full speed. I agree that factors related to age eventually affect everyone, but 60 is still quite young.
Gerard Stroh!! Double Bass HQ!!! I started Bass about something like 12 years old and I been injoying Double Bass but the sad news was I had to give up the double Bass for about 36 so years because of money But that Change When I Got My Stagg Stick Electric Bass about 10 years ago and I said I need to Get A Acoustic Double Bass at Musicians Friend and I am Loving it and Now the Next Step is to Get A 4/4 size solid wood Carved Double Bass so That is going to Make it Happin this Year!!! It is never to late to Learn the Double Bass!!! From Gerard Stroh!!! Bye!!!
