Welcome to Gaia! ::

...Its depends what style you play...

i play upright in jazz band when we play a song with alot of walking or when the song calls for the warm accoustic-ness. otherwise i play electric. in concert band i play the upright with or without the bow (the bow is hell!) otherwise i like it, it's fun sometimes, i do not prefer it over electric, but whatever. rolleyes

lol I actually prefer playing arco as apposed to pizz on the upright. Do you use a German bow?

I usually play my upright only in concert band, because that's where we play a lot of classical and contemporary music that needs that particular tone of bass...but in Jazz I find that ballads sound a heck of a lot prettier with an upright, and in smaller groups the upright is better too smile Mostly in Jazz Band though I play with an electric jazz bass, and in combos I use the upright.

WRONG. The bow tires your arm out if you have bad posture. It can be the most comfortable way to play. I do know that with my 3 years of arco experiance in a concert band and my semesters at a state college (which I am starting my 2nd in about an hour) that if you dont know how to use it, yes you will get tired. Once I took my bass to college as a string bass focused, music education major, you learn the proper way to play the bass. AND let me warn you that if you play in the wrong posture, you WILL have complications in the future. I have a senior who plays with me at state, and has serious complications from playing the bass with bad posture. (squeezing tight, using a lot of wrist strength, bending over the bass to reach high registers, not lifting the elbow when playing, ect.)

I LOVE playing the upright bass, along with my 6 and 4 string. Amazing instrument. I purchased one though for a serious investment. I am going to use it in a career situation, so it was worth all of my money. I play on a French bow, with a flat backed upright bass. I play jazz, classical, and progressive rock. I CAN play anything though. xd

When I started on my upright for my first 3 years I didnt have a string instructor. I went on my own because I loved the sound it made. I did it all wrong, and sounded bad for the longest time, but you figure it out with a bit of proper techniques.

I don't think anyone really gives a s**t, but I'm a professional double bassist with master's degree in music. I play German bow, although most of my teachers throughout my life encouraged French bow grip.

You can't compare electric bass guitar with contrabass. They're not really the same instrument, or even in the same family of instruments. Beyond the string tuning, they essentially have nothing in common. Anyone who claims that playing electric bass helps in playing double bass (or vice versa) either doesn't know how to properly play the electric bass or doesn't know how to properly play contrabass (or perhaps both). You take hardly any skills from one instrument to use on the other, besides knowledge of the fingerboard (or fretboard, in the case of the electric bass).

Nevertheless, enjoy your double bass experiences.