Upright Bass Journal #1

Here's my new baby, a Florea Lupeni Pro 1/2.  Made of a solid carved Carpathian spruce top and laminated maple back and sides (fully-arched back), this bass includes an ebony fingerboard, nut, saddle, tailpiece and endpin.  I've had it all of 9 days now and love it.  Enormous thanks to Mom & Dad for the greatest gift ever!!!  Without further ado:

So far I'm working with Todd Phillip's Acoustic Bass DVD and the Essential Elements for Strings 2000 book.  Being self-taught on guitar and bass, it's a comfortable position to take the useful bits of instruction and go from there.  I'm working on technique, ear training, and hand (pinky) strength.  You know, the usual beginner stuff: hand positions, running scales, and working on intonation.  I've found YouTuber bassius's videos to be especially helpful.  Here's his basic left hand concepts.  Everything is strictly pizzicato for now, but I look forward to learning bowing methods at some point.  Video coming soon.