Italians having fun

[ilan]

Now that I have my old upright back home, I intend to find out. But I'm pretty sure it's the palm and fingers, you smack the string against the fingerboard, and I can tell you it hurts at first.

[morrow]

It's sometimes called the ungentle art .
I've heard that some of the old time rockabilly slap guys had their right hands wear down to just a nasty little hook .
I play upright , but my slap skills are non existent .

[patman]

I have found that tone has to be very dark, and string height has to be higher than I like to play, in order for it to sound right. I pull the note with my index finger and middle finger, and do the slap with the index side of my palm.

It hurts, and I don't do it terribly well.  Sounds like crap on my WAV bass. Your mileage may vary.

[uwe]

I see all their new videos when they post the link on Facebook. I watch the ones in Italian too just to admire what good players they are.

Keep us supplied, per favore. Do they ever sing something in Italian?

[Dave W]

Keep us supplied, per favore. Do they ever sing something in Italian?

This is from February but they just posted a link to it on FB last weekend.

[ilan]

How the heck does upright "slap" work? It looks like she's pulling the strings hard for the 1 and 3, but I can't quite see how she hits the percussive off-beats. Is it the thumb or the palm or the fingers or what? And what do you smack - muted strings? Wood?

Go to about 01:57, slow down the playback speed to 50% and watch her right hand. 02:48 shows another angle.

[slinkp]

Wow, that's.... an intense way to play an instrument.  I remember my brief foray into (jazz) upright when I was 17... I fought the instrument for 3 months and I lost!
I cannot imagine plucking and hitting hard enough to get those sounds.

[uwe]

This is from February but they just posted a link to it on FB last weekend.

Molto cool. Gypsy Swing and C&W all rolled into one.  And I love his Italian delivery - her harmony vocals sound even better in Italiano too.

Very talented with her playing hand. Signora Palma and her five sweet daughters!

[Dave W]

If you have a Spotify account:

[OldManC]

The bass work here is super clear, and the camera appears to be slightly closer, so you get a better look at what she's doing. Love these two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnEPkwD_bq4&feature=emb_rel_end

[Dave W]

New today

[morrow]

A local friend of mine that does work on upright basses recently posted one of their videos on his Facebook page . I replied "oh those crazy Italians" and was immediately flagged for violating "Facebooks Community Standards" and using "hatespeech"
Got a 24 hour ban .

[Pilgrim]

A local friend of mine that does work on upright basses recently posted one of their videos on his Facebook page . I replied "oh those crazy Italians" and was immediately flagged for violating "Facebooks Community Standards" and using "hatespeech"
Got a 24 hour ban .

Doesn't that show how nutty we've gotten? They protect the hateful and misleading posts that are political, but flag something like that.

Ah well, soldier on and find cold beer.

[Rob]

A local friend of mine that does work on upright basses recently posted one of their videos on his Facebook page . I replied "oh those crazy Italians" and was immediately flagged for violating "Facebooks Community Standards" and using "hatespeech"
Got a 24 hour ban .

It could have been worse.  If they hadn't banned you you would spend more time there.

[uwe]

A local friend of mine that does work on upright basses recently posted one of their videos on his Facebook page . I replied "oh those crazy Italians" and was immediately flagged for violating "Facebooks Community Standards" and using "hatespeech"
Got a 24 hour ban .

Perhaps you should have tried something more innocent like "And another whopping performance from these olive pluckers!"  Learn from me, I always go out of my way to avoid ethnic slurs.