fingering question

[shwashwa]

Hi Mr Neher,

i was wondering if i could post a 2-3 measure phrase to get your fingering opinion. its high in thumb position, so i can post in bass, treble, or alto cleff, which ever is best.

thanks

[PNeher]

Sure. Or you can private message me, with a link. I will pm you back.
PN

[shwashwa]

i guess ill reply here because im not sure how to put an attachment in a pm. here is a phrase. tempo is quarter note =180-200bpm. legato phrasing. i put in the fingerings that i use because that is the way that i can get it the most legato, and because these patterns will repeat in various keys. how would you do it? how would rabbath do it? i basically kept everything on 2 strings. playing it with less shifts across 3 strings is an option too, i just cant seem to get it as legato... not sure what to do. the crab technique (which is what id be using here, moving my thumb down to the next position as im fingering the previous note) seems to make it most legato for me at that tempo.

[PNeher]

Hi,
I can say those are INTERESTING fingerings! If you are working on the Crab Technique, it shows. I cannot make any suggestions that would be significantly "better" because your goal of super legato has "defined" what you do. If the character or demand (say Classical Era sound) changes, then I usually change the fingering to accommodate the musical demand. So, I think you are going about the fingering issue with the "right" attitude (at least right in my book of "Let the Music drive the fingering"). I also am critical about the rhythm, so no shifting on strong beats. All shifts are heard (bar none!) so you want to shift in places that make rhythmic sense ("Rhythmic Fingering" of David Walter and his students). Beware applying patterns just for the sake of applying patterns. That works well on electric bass but often timbral issues can cause a string bassist to change those patterns (not to mention musical issues). So, bravo, you are definitely thinking!!!!

One last thing: don't do fingerings just because they are hard/challenging. We don't want to strain ourselves. But at the same time, some harder fingerings should not be ignored just because they are hard. There are times when to get the right sound, we need to challenge our fingering technique.

Hope this helps
PN

[shwashwa]

thanks for the help! actually for me, these are also the easiest fingerings. if you were to put fingerings on here, lets say not for legato phrasing, maybe just the easiest fingering you could think of, how would you approach it?

Originally Posted by PNeher

Hi,
I can say those are INTERESTING fingerings! If you are working on the Crab Technique, it shows. I cannot make any suggestions that would be significantly "better" because your goal of super legato has "defined" what you do. If the character or demand (say Classical Era sound) changes, then I usually change the fingering to accommodate the musical demand. So, I think you are going about the fingering issue with the "right" attitude (at least right in my book of "Let the Music drive the fingering"). I also am critical about the rhythm, so no shifting on strong beats. All shifts are heard (bar none!) so you want to shift in places that make rhythmic sense ("Rhythmic Fingering" of David Walter and his students). Beware applying patterns just for the sake of applying patterns. That works well on electric bass but often timbral issues can cause a string bassist to change those patterns (not to mention musical issues). So, bravo, you are definitely thinking!!!!

One last thing: don't do fingerings just because they are hard/challenging. We don't want to strain ourselves. But at the same time, some harder fingerings should not be ignored just because they are hard. There are times when to get the right sound, we need to challenge our fingering technique.

Hope this helps
PN