"Ian Iveson" wrote

A long time
ago, I used to play an E-flat bass, and it took so long for a note to get
out that to play anything fast I had to block its sound out of my mind
otherwise I got confused between what I was playing and what I played a
little while ago. It also carried on playing after I stopped blowing.

Any tuba player (Eb, F, Bb or C bass) in a orchestras or militarty band
will tell you that with a "slow speaking instrument" they need to play
"ahead of the beat" to compensate.

That's why they are restricted to umpah, umpah.

The role of the brass bass is to provide the first and third beats
of a 4/4 bar. But it is certainly not restricted to "umpah, umpah"
There are may compositions particularly in military band repertoire
where both Eb ad Bb basses are given fluid melodic passages to
great effect.

French horn players in orchestras must be really clever to play their more
complex passages ahead of time.

The same applies to the baritone, bass and contra-bass saxophone,
French horn, (and also the wildly popular Sarusaphone:-)

Do you still play Eb bass, Ian?
In a former life, I played both euphonium and French horn.
I am now struggling with hot licks on the tenor saxophone

Iain