Charles Mingus I am not, but with a little help from my friend Don, I know roughly how this thing is held, where some of the notes are hidden and how to get a nice, sharp snappy tone off the strings.

How awful was I? Notice there’s no audio or video accompanying this post.

But what a cool instrument. Don also showed me a simple bassline that could set me up as a country-blues accompanist if I practice for a couple decades.

Cowboy chords on a double-bass. Yee-haw!