Girls on Bass

At last female bass players are emerging! As a male bass player and music teacher I'd like to present some of my observations regarding the emergence of female bass players over the past 32 years. (That's how long I've been teaching music).

In 1976 there was hardly a female bass player in sight. This applied across the board, in any music genre. Things were changing, however, in all walks of life. Emancipation of both males and females was a priority in many minds. Especially art forms were undergoing the (r)evolution instigated in a huge way in the 1960s, and music was a driving voice.

The bass guitar had only been commercially available for about twenty years - just one generation. It is a lot less cumbersome than the double bass, and apparently more suited to petite hands. The double bass, however, after being set up correctly, is only slightly more physically demanding. Both instruments fulfill the same function in almost all musics: to provide the centre of rhythm and pitch.

My main comparative observation - so far - has been that females intuitively have a superior sense of both rhythm and pitch (sorry guys). That's a killer combination, because the result is usually melodic bass playing (I'm in heaven!).

In my teaching, I've gone from zero female bass students to about 15%, which roughly equates to the real world of music performance and recording. I would love to see this percentage increase dramatically - because I love bass and I know what girls on bass can do.

Besides being an innovative and highly respected music educator, George Urbaszek plays double bass, guitar, bass guitar and bassitar. He has over 3000 performances and 120 recording sessions to his credit and has toured Australia, Central Europe, Canada, USA and the Pacific Islands.

George has performed with artists ranging from Rolf Harris through to Judith Durham, Beccy Cole, Marina Prior, George Washingmachine, Thelma Housten and the New York production of Porgy and Bess. His former students include Brendan Clarke (winner of the Australian National Jazz Award), Kim Khahn (Robbie Williams, Mel C, Natalie Imbruglia) and Rory Quirk (John Butler Trio).

After lecturing for thirteen years in the Jazz Department of the Australian National University, George is now residing near Byron Bay, Australia, where he works from home teaching students from all over the world using an innovative approach of step-by-step online bass lessons. These lessons cost as little as US $3.46 each and are available at http://www.creativebasslessons.com

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