hi it's Geoff Chalmers here from
discoverdoublebass.com and i'm at the
Barbican Centre in London joined by the
wonderful Larry Grenadier of the Brad
Mehldau Trio - and in fact we might be able to hear Brad's drummer Jeff Ballard  out in the
background he's oh he's doing a little
bit of a of a sound check so we might be able to hear
some stuff so Larry thanks for joining me
today and it's cool to see your bass I
was wondering what you'd be traveling
with for this evenings concert yeah and
do you always play the same bass when
you play live or does it depend on how
far you're traveling and if it's
overseas I try to always bring my bass
bring a bass that I have it I have three
basses right now I try to bring all right
this is a Chinese base an Eastman yes
that the neck is detachable it goes in a
smaller case so this is the bass I
really travel with if I do bring the
bass which I try to always make it
happen if I can it's it's just nice to
have the your instrument set up the way you want and you know consistent sound and
be able to practice during the day if I
want to so before we talk a little bit
about the different basses we you play
through your really renowned for the
German bass that you've owned since the early ninetiesI think I bought it in 1994 and
where did you get that bass from San Fransisco yeah it's a cool instrument it's a
really yeah it's you know I don't really
know much about it it's just one of
those basses that sounds good and it's
pretty you know and it's yeah it's it's
like a big 3/4 you know it's kind of but
it's not a high shouldered bass it's
easy to play string length it's not
particularly long
I only you know before that I had one
bass that I bought in 1984 to the day I
found out later that I bought that the
German bass to the day ten years or from
the same guy and just by chance I was
just visiting San Francisco and Wow
bought this so I haven't had that many
instruments and then a few years ago
I bought this because I wanted to have a
bass that I could travel with and then a
few years all right
maybe around the same time I bought a
bass from Ben Puglisi in Melbourne
Australia yeah
so I have three basses so I'm kind of did
you how'd you find switching between
them is it something you whatever just
get on with it play yeah pretty much I
mean you get to know them and they all
have different personalities and
fint attributes and I I kind of liked
switching around they know if I'm home
practicing it's kind of fun to jump
around because they all inspire me in
different ways they're kind of all set
up a little differently stirring wise
yeah and you know so to me it's kind of
it's it's a very it's a luxurious thing
actually yeah I don't really just sit on
one bass I'll move around it's a nice
thing it's nice thing to have I was
thinking on your German base it doesn't
have an extension but I think you'll
want from the beautiful bass you play by
Ben Puglisi it does isn't it hope you
found yeah it does it well it did it did
for a moment it kind of broke I was
gonna say how did you find playing with an
extension and is that something I loved
it I never used I never had played
really I never had a bass with an extension it's great I mean I'm kind of I'm
missing it now you know I've got a
removable extension on my bass I mean
it's it but the reality is I hardly I
put it back on okay you know because I
sort of take it off and it's you you the
nut is cut just a little bit on the
e-string side so you can kind of knock
the corner of the nut off and then
basically screw on the extension it's a
beautiful thing made by Luke you in the
UK called Martyn Bailey so I'll provide
a link to that and it's and I found that
I was playing more more classical stuff
at the time and I found that it was just
really a fun thing but in the end I
liked when I went back to playing jazz I
found that I liked the simplicity of the
without there for me I don't know it
just went there but I wondered whether
it's something you'd thought about
exploring more a little bit you know I
always I would find myself tuning down
the E string yeah for certain moments in
the night and you know but then you have
to readjust your thinking about how your
fingering everything else with an
extension you don't have to do that it's
really nice and I think if the bass can
take it why not
it's you know I mean all electric bass
players are kind of dealing with that
low-end now so I I enjoy it must be cool
thing to throw in a band
especially with you know playing with
the Brad Mehldau Trio for 25 years
you know you suddenly throw down one of
those low C's all right they're gonna
know you know is that coming from it's
very fun so I appreciate that you know
and then obviously like just
exploring different tunings in general
it's been
really opening up the different
vibrations coming from the instrument
and my reaction to those vibrations so
you've got the German bass we have the
beautiful bass by Ben Puglisi did you
play that at the ISB recital yes I
played I brought both I brought that and
the German bass
I was kind of going back and forth yeah
oh wow I guess if you're playing a
convention full of bass players you're
gonna want to feel comfortable but yeah
I think as it was in Rochester yes yes
ah no it wasn't it was in Ithaca so I just drove yes beautiful place yeah
I loved it
okay and this bass where did where did
you get this Eastman from this I got
from a luthier who used to be in New
York but now has moved out of town his
name is Arnold Schnitzer yeah he's one
of the all-time favourite bases I played
is his Ergonomic bass which I actually
played I think possibly at that convention
and I just there was something about the
way that it the midrange the way that it
just I loved it so you think he's a good
guy and so he had this bass I went went
to his shop looking for basses for this
reason you know for something I could
travel with okay didn't find anything
that day and he called me a few weeks
later said I think I have what you're
looking for yeah I mean it's like you
know because these are you know factory
you know hybrid bases so this is a
hybrid instrument yeah so the top is spruce but
everything else is yeah pressed wood and
I even though they're factory like that
they all sound different so you kind of
have to just try a bunch and see which
one's come close to your idea of what
sounds good so you're taking the neck on
and off when you fly and then yes and
just reattach it and put the bridge set
the bridge up it's takes me under five
minutes now oh I sped up the process so
you can get a hotel room practice and
yeah in let the bass kind of relax with
the tension on so by the nighttime it
stays pretty much in tune
yeah but I've seen you play with this
instrument a few years ago in Leeds when
you hit there with Brad Mehldau trio and
it was a yeah sound was absolutely
wonderful and it's beautiful I mean the
tell us about the strings bass players
love to talk about strings right I do I
love the talk about swings
I'll tell you one thing today and then
you've asked me a couple weeks they're
probably different I really change
strings a lot I changed you know types
of strings okay so you've got spirocore on the bottom yes weich I think
yeah and then an Oliv G yes it's a
beautiful combo and what about the
helicore I would associate that I use
those I still use those two you know I
like those strings too you put them on
they sound great right away
yeah they're they sound good with the
bow you know I mean they're very
versatile strings I mean these these are
the original strings that I had as a kid
oh yeah like these particular ones I was
just going through my attic and checking
out all the things I had I said well I'm
gonna try these if you got a big string
I have a string draw right kind of pulls
out and there's something about these
strings and I just think they're
inspiring for the moment you know and
maybe in a couple weeks the setups 
fairly moderate were you looks like you you
know there's nothing extreme and now no
I mean you know this idea of having high
action you know I quickly learned that
that's not where it's at for me yeah you want
to have it high enough so you're not
falling off the string of course but it
the sound is not because you know when
it's too high the tension can be too
high depending on the string tie yeah
and it just kind of chokes the note to
me so actually you're not getting the
full response of the instrument that way
and you're obviously working too hard so
I see there's a pickup on that is
do you play much using the pickup it
depends on the the musical environment
with Brad
I use a mic but I use a mic kind of like a
pickup in the sense that I I put them
it's not on now but I use the Schoeps
yeah I can I put it pretty much like
where the sound post is yeah you know
and then I put it through a mic preamp
yeah a Felix always a grace design
nice yeah and then that goes into a
powered monitor which I have up high
behind me so it's got like a little
private PA yeah it's nice having a I've
never I've never played that
to be honest with you but having it
behind you must be I was recommend bass
players check it out at least because
it's it's a really different thing and
kind of Ron Carter hit me today because
he had been doing that with with pickups
and the amplifiers for a while and you
hear it
obviously very directly and quickly and
down when most people have their amps at
their ankles you know it's kind of going
in the wrong out into the audience and
yeah bass players nobody getting information
us it gives you a certain low-end which
is nice you know but the clarity can be
not as good so its I've really
appreciated then then I have kind of
complete control of my sound on stage
I'm not looking to the monitor guy or to
the front of house to get what I need if
I need to EQ it or volume wise I can
just boom yeah so it's really nice and
what about in the studio so you so tell
me the name of the mic you're using as a
it's a schoeps
yeah it's a I think it's called the cm6
but it's the hyper-cardioid version of
that mic so it's the tightest pattern
would you use that in the studio I could
I typically don't I usually kind of
believe that to that I usually leave
that to the engineer and they have
whatever you know there's a lot of mic
side a lot of times I'm recording in the
same Studios in New York so I know
certain mics and certain studios that I
really love that I've used over the
years so I kind of trust the engineer to
do their thing unless it does not work
it for me yeah no it's fantastic and
then with your you mentioned were
chatting previously about working with
the bow when you're when you're
practicing arco do you have a using
the same strings you switch in between
you have one base set for classical
maybe yeah now I do when I started
working on the solo record I explored
using strings that were made for bowing
and it was like oh this is what they're
talking about yeah you know it's like
you know the the bowed grips the string
grips the bow here and it's just it's
also I'd say softer and darker warmer
and so yeah I did explore that and so
one of the Ben's bass I have at home I
set up for that actually so I use that
to kind of practice classical or you
know bow Arco stuff
so yeah I mean I can bow these strings
they sound fine I mean actually the
oliv sounds really good bow yeah I agree
yeah very warm but it's it's yeah to me
like the bow the string issue is really
it's like you wake up and you feel like
something else for lunch that you did
the other day yeah and I like just kind
of moving through it and seeing how the
strings kind of affect me in a way to
what it brings out in my own playing
because at this point hopefully the the
core of Who I am as bass player is there
enough when I could switch strings and
maintain that so it's this different
different taste every day so I I do like
moving through strings quite often yeah
yeah I think it's a it does present ya a
new kind of sound world doesn't it yeah
and be working with which all ya get you
back on the instrument and it's been
fascinating speaking to you about this
Larry because I've always followed what
you do and I've always checked out the
different strings and I'm you know with
all my kind of favorite bass plays I'm
always kind of looking to see what
they're using and and think about their
sound and you know and also you
mentioned about the Gerold Genssler
strings which you'll learn off as well
often will put on yeah and he makes
quite a few different versions of his
strings and yeah they're beautifully
made and they stay in tune amazingly
well and they they bow very well
considering that they're you know
wrapped cut so there's there are so many
options now I was thinking back when I
started it seemed to me from my
perspective that there were either Tomastiks there were Golden Spiral gut
strings and I think they were the
La Bellas these black nylon strings and
that was about it maybe from this from
what I saw now there's dozens and dozens
so it's kind of crazy and it might be
overwhelming but it's kind of expensive
to experiment but I always tell bass
players to experiment because you're not
sure what's gonna sound good on your
instrument what sounds good on my bass
may sound not so good on your bass
that's it because I know that if you
know everyone's thinking what should I
put on my bass you're like oh and by the
spiracores that you've got on it you
know as you say every bass is
different and maybe you're a different
place and you're playing what about some
of your recordings
you think you've got a really great
sound from that you really proud of it
so anything I guess to be found with
Gleaners is a that that was fun you know
in that way because it was so alone I
could really you know highlight that
those aspects and then also I was there
for the mix which typically as a bass
player as a sideman you're not part of
the mix but you know I like I said this
engineer James Farber who I've worked
with some dozens and dozens of records
all of Brad's records you know I really
trust him and I feel he knows what the
bass he knows what the bases sound like
he knows what I sound like over the
years so you know all those records with
Brad I think he's captured it really
well this Paul Motion record I told you
about I think this guy could really
capture the captured it well too so yeah
it's that you know it's it's not an easy
instrument to record you know obviously
it's not an easy instant to amplify
either so you know we do the best we can
with the way we play the information
comes out clearly so that they have an
easier time getting it to tape yeah
absolutely
well listen Larry thank you so much for
sharing your time with us this afternoon
at the Barbican Centre we've had a
really terrific afternoon hearing you
play and checking out your instrument of
course talking about double bass strings
one of my favorite things to do and yes
been a real pleasure to meet you thanks
so much for your time thank you for
watching at home if you want to learn
more about what we do please visit
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in the next video
