Double Bass Gear - Larry Grenadier Interview Pt.3

► Interview Part 1: discoverdoublebass.com/lesson...
► Interview Part 2: discoverdoublebass.com/lesson...
► Backstage performance of 'Pettiford' discoverdoublebass.com/lesson...
In the final part of this interview with Larry Grenadier, we discuss all things bass setup. Larry talks about his three double basses, where they're from and advantages of each including his travel bass. We also discuss all things double bass gear, including extensions, mics, pickups and, of course, strings!
For links to what we talk about, follow this link:
Interview questions:
00:00 Do you travel internationally with your own bass?
01:03 Larry’s three different basses
02:03 How do you find switching between the basses?
02:36 How do you find playing with extensions?
04:34 Playing at the ISB conference
05:01 Where did you get this Eastman travel bass from?
06:33 What strings do you use?
07:40 Bass set up
08:11 Pickups and mics
10:02 Studio set up
10:27 Strings for playing arco
12:12 Gerold Genssler and choosing strings
13:15 Any particular sound from a recording that you’re proud of?
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[@thewordnerds]

Thank you! When I heard that he is playing an Eastman hybrid on tour, I instantly got over my bass-upgrade envy. My little old Shen S150 hybrid instantly did not seem so puny or cheap. It does the job just fine; it certainly is not keeping me from improving as a bassist, that's for sure!

[@EJHDad]

Perfect finish to the 3 part interview!

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

Thanks for watching and great to hear you enjoyed it :-)

[@BrunoMigliari]

Great interview (all three parts of it).

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

Thanks for watching Bruno 😀👍

[@garryfimister6878]

Great interview Geoff,love the enthusiasm.I also have boxes and boxes of strings.

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

Thanks so much! It doesn't take much for me to get excited about bass gear :-)

[@garryfimister6878]

@@DiscoverDoubleBass I met Larry a few years back here in Barcelona.I was playing in a club, and the sound engineer told me Larry was playing the following night and would be using the club bass which was horrific, so I brought my old French bass with gut strings for him to use if he wanted.He is a super friendly and sincere guy which comes across in this video.

[@jonathandoublebass]

Thank You!

[@hirotanaka]

really enjoyed this

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

Thanks for watching 🙏🏻

[@bartoszazarski9746]

Great interview.Thanks Geoff! Same here - I went through different strings and ended up with Spiros again... This time with 3/4 Weichs on the bottom and 4/4 Mittels on the top - strange combination but works excellent on my old 3/4 Tirol bass!

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

I’ve not tried the 4/4 spiros but I like the idea of the lower tension on a 3/4 bass.

[@Tiddleypidlei]

Great interview, I love Larry Grenadier. Now if Discover Double bass good get Miles Mosley, Esperanza Spalding, or Christian McBride to make a course. I would just throw all my money at the screen and scream “take it, take it all!”

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

Thanks so much for your kind words 👍

[@bassviolin8180]

@@DiscoverDoubleBass +1 for Miles Mosley, Esperanza Spalding, AND Christian McBride

[@lowtone9]

Larry Grenadier is the top for me. Unless...maybe Dave Holland? Nah, that's too much.

[@stringmatrix]

Thank you Geoff for this inspiring interview! I love his answer about being inspired differently by different strings. That's so true. There is no "best bass string". I play flatwound gut (Oliv + Genssler mixed) and I love it. But when I pick up a bass with something growling like Spiros or even Obligatos, it's "another kind of fun" and it's inspiring. Same thing when I play plain gut G and D. So I totally agree with Larry - although I personally do stick with one set over a longer period of time.

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

Thanks so much! I've also got a lot of inspiration from checking out your String Matrix! Such a cool project.

[@stringmatrix]

@@DiscoverDoubleBass Thank you very much, your feedback means a lot to me!

[@lochlanboebel394]

I had an oliv G once with Spirocores and loved it. Then I saw a Ron Carter masterclass and he was super strict about NEVER mixing strings on the same bass. It throws it out of balance and it's important to get the exact response from each string on the bass. I haven't mixed strings since!

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

Yes, I can also find it a bit distracting mixing sets....but then I just love that Oliv G! :-)

[@lawrenceofarabia5299]

Phenomenonal!!! Is what your pesentation did for me as a lesson. Interesting the chinese 3/4, a very nice broom larry holds, I'm always searching for well aiding pickups, different locations to place them on ,, different parts of the bridge. I'm currently on the lookout for an alumunium mop since I really dug one I found, recently I happened to stumble upon this younger pawn laboring on one. This instrument may require a much lower action. Would would be your reccomendations for preamps, mics for an aluminum acoustic made broom?

[@dinglebass]

wonder when that was, because Ron Carter mixes strings every once and a while. My friend who took a lesson with him said he had labella black tapes on the top 3 and a spiro medium E. Also its not like every set of strings has the same tension as another. An evah pirazzi light E is less tension than the light A string, so a full set might not react like a different set of strings. Just something to think about. Many great bassists have mixed in the past.

[@harrisonwardley2087]

Wonderful interview thanks very much. When you say his set up is "fairly moderate", are we talking about 4-5 mm on the G?

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

Yes, I think so.

[@ebgbass]

Great Interview! Did you talk about how he attaches the Schoeps to the bass by any chance- Thanks!

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

I'm pretty sure he uses a H Clamp. but I didn't see it when we filmed the interview. exploraudio.com/categories/instrumounts-h-clamp-/1/

[@ebgbass]

Thank you Geoff, I recently purchased the Joseph Conyers course and it is truly fantastic!

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

@@ebgbass that's great! I'm so pleased you are enjoying it. Joe is such an amazing teacher and player. His passion for music just bursts out of him! :-)

[@orensr]

What is the Paul Motian record he mentions at the end?

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

On Broadway Vol 4. 👍

[@ibassnote]

I think spiros are really the baseline. The E and the A are near perfect. I was a gut D and G guy. Then an Oliv D and G guy. Then an all spiro guy. I settled on Spiros because they do the most things well.

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

Agreed! I always tend to end up back where I started and go back to the Spirocore.

[@ibassnote]

Discover Double Bass they just work!

[@andrewmalynowsky5454]

Yes benedictgpuglisi.com does amazing work!

[@DiscoverDoubleBass]

Agreed. He's a wonderful maker and his basses are incredible.