The Five String Double Bass in North America

Snakewood · #1 02-26-2007, 05:42 PM

Hello Mr. Neher, just curious if you know of any orchestral players in North America that use five string instruments? It seems that the trend in North America is to use some sort of extension or altered tuning, whereas the rest of the world will either play a four stringed bass or five. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

I played on a 5 string Poellman in South Africa last summer with the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra, and I loved it. Just wondering if there are any five string orchestral bass guru's in this part of the world.

Take care!

Pete G · #2 02-26-2007, 05:56 PM

Joe Guastafeste, principal of the Chicago Symphony, uses a five-string Busan as his everyday work bass. There's a lot of good discussion of five string basses at Bill Bentgen's terrific website:

http://www.billbentgen.com/bass/bass_page.htm

Mostly from the example Bill set, I got a five string Kolstein Fendt. It's a very nice instrument, but I doubt I'll ever play it the way Bill plays his.

kontrabass · #3 02-26-2007, 07:45 PM

I know that Dennis Trembly, Principal of the LA Phil, uses a 5-string as his main orchestral bass. The Chicago Symphony bass section uses mainly 5-stringers for their summer performances at Ravinia.

They aren't too rare. If you look around, you're bound to find a reasonable amount.

Pete G · #4 02-27-2007, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kontrabass

I know that Dennis Trembly, Principal of the LA Phil, uses a 5-string as his main orchestral bass. The Chicago Symphony bass section uses mainly 5-stringers for their summer performances at Ravinia.

They aren't too rare. If you look around, you're bound to find a reasonable amount.

I had heard that Brad Opland sometimes plays a five. I'm surprised to hear it said that the section "mainly" uses fivers at Ravinia.

PNeher · #5 02-27-2007, 08:34 PM

Lotsa good information here! Five strings are wonderful, aren't they! It is not THAT much of a technique change to adapt to a five string (I think) and it is pretty common in the European (particularly in Germany) orchestras. Having a B string is definitely a bassists turn-on! So go for it. And, hey, try tuning it in fifths, wow! you'd have a bigger range than a cello or violin. Watch out for how BIG the bodies "need" to be for full-sounding five strings. Extra size in body may be needed and could translate into a tension headache for some smaller players. Maybe you could have a big body bass with a short string length?
Best!
PN

CamMcIntyre · #6 05-02-2007, 11:52 PM

I had no idea the CSO guys played 5s. Next time one of them stops by the store [if i can get coherent words to come out of my mouth] i'll ask about it. I work in the CSO Store, if anyone comes to a concert from about September thru May, i'm the long haired guy.

sibass89 · #7 05-10-2007, 04:26 PM

Two guys use them in the Cincinnati symphony. If it sounds good, no American orchestra is going to tell you no.

kurt muroki · #8 05-11-2007, 10:14 AM

I love 5 string basses... wish I had one many times... Hey Patrick, I am wondering what you do when you run across music with low B's etc? Would you tune down or take it up the octave? thanks, and hope all is well.

PNeher · #9 05-13-2007, 07:20 PM

Hey Kurt,
All's well here... thanks for asking. I will be out of the forum until June, but have fun! When transposing a B-string passage (anything below E natural) I try to consider the entire phrase and whether an octave trans. is really a benefit or not. Sometimes, like in Brahms, the jump of a seventh seems to be nuts, so I will tak the whole phrase up an octave. In Bach and Haydn I usually play with a low D string instead of E and just get used to playing with a fifth on the bottom. In fact, most of the orchestral stuff I do now is Classical Era so I pplay always with GDAD tuning. But those with five strings have an advantage for many Eras. Anyway, always consider the phrase!
Best to you!
Patrick

Quote:

Originally Posted by kurt muroki

I love 5 string basses... wish I had one many times... Hey Patrick, I am wondering what you do when you run across music with low B's etc? Would you tune down or take it up the octave? thanks, and hope all is well.

kurt muroki · #10 05-16-2007, 09:43 PM

cool thanks for the info! great answer. cool to have the low d str on the bottom

dchan · #11 05-26-2007, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kurt muroki

cool thanks for the info! great answer. cool to have the low d str on the bottom

I ran into this problem and solution when playing the first movement Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite". You know, the absolute beginning where all the lower strings play the theme of the movement.

What I noticed besides that it's pretty easy to play the low D-string (credit that to the fact that I know how to play the higher D-string pretty well

) was the fact that the bass was so much more sonorous with the low D instead of a low E. It was as if my bass were made for a low D-string. To me the low E-string always seemed to be not in tune with the bass; sure it makes a decent sound when played open, but not the ground-shaking sound you would associate with the bass. With the low D, it seems like this ground-shaking sound can be achieved with a adjusting of the setup.

Anyway, after playing the first movement, I had to scurry and tune up the D to and E for the second movement because of the E and B-harmonics the basses play in the movement