Need some easy pieces to work on

[SteveFreides]

A brief bit of background:

I'm a lifelong musician who recently started playing upright bass after 40+ years on both classical and jazz guitar, 30+ years on electric bass, and about six months playing a fretless electric. I don't gig much right now, mostly teach.

I bought my first upright about 6 weeks ago and took to it like the proverbial fish to water - after one lesson, my teacher told me she had a week-long run of a show she had to back out of and that she wanted me to do it. Long story made shorter - I did it, it was 95% pizz (Sondheim's "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum"), and I did just fine, even on the arco parts. I managed to get a second lesson in there but my teacher is also a friend and the lessons have taken the form of me asking a few questions, playing a little, and otherwise we're sitting around chatting, and maybe we manage to get together once a month or so.

I'm working my way through Simandl and, since I'm probably going to continue to only manage a lesson irregularly, I could use some repertoire to work on. My background is mostly classical. I taught theory and ear-training at Mannes College in NYC for about 10 years and, fwiw, I've got perfect pitch which certainly hasn't hurt me any learning to play this instrument. I have hopes of playing with the local volunteer community orchestra sometime in the not too distant future and, after that, who knows ...

Suggestions for pieces to order online appreciated. Simandl is great but I'd like some variety, maybe even pieces for bass and piano so that my wife could accompany, just nothing too terribly difficult since I am still fairly new to the instrument.

Thanks in advance.

-S-

[Phil Rowan]

Simandl is a good place to start. There's also Storch-Hrabe and Kreutzer 18 studies, both of which work out a variety of technical things. Bille is good too.

This post probably belongs in the orchestral technique section...

[reedo35]

Those are good suggestions for technique, but if you are just beginning and want to have some fun, play some popular tunes that you already know, and have your wife play the accompanying chords. good for intonation practice and memorization.

[jallenbass]

The George Vance books have piano books to go along with them. Good fun music.

[SteveFreides]

Do you know if the piano books for the George Vance progressive pieces also include the bass part on the page? If so, that would be all I'd need for now - I can look over my wife's shoulder to play them.

Based on the price, I'm guessing not, but most accompaniment scores do include the solo part.

-S-

[greitzer]

Originally Posted by SteveFreides

Do you know if the piano books for the George Vance progressive pieces also include the bass part on the page? If so, that would be all I'd need for now - I can look over my wife's shoulder to play them.

-S-

Try a book called "Solos for the Double Bass Player with Piano Accompaniment." Selected by Oscar Zimmerman. published by G. Schirmer Inc., distributed by Hal Leonard. Bass and piano parts on same page. Over-the-shoulder friendly, as long as your eyesight is good enough to read the music from over-the-shoulder distance.

Includes pieces by Bach, Vivaldi, Handel, Beethoven and Bottesini, among others.

For practice doing wide intervals and just getting to know the fingerboard, try figuring out by ear some of the songs from "West Side Story." Challenging, and some of 'em sound beautiful on DB.

[SteveFreides]

Solos for the Double Bass Player with Piano Accompaniment - looks great, but too hard for me at this point in my budding, young career. I will get it, but can anyone recommend anything easier? I'm thinking things that don't go about first ledger line D or so for now.

Thanks in advance.

-S-

[SteveFreides]

Looking at the Vance pieces again, I think those will be about right to start with.

-S-

[Stan Haskins]

As a word of advice, don't be afraid of 4th position (first finger on D above the ledger lines). It's an incredibly secure and comfortable position, and many beginners start there now.

Here's a link to all of the Suzuki bass books, CDs , and piano accompaniments. They are a good collection of songs laid out in a progressive manner. I recommend them all.

+1 on George Vance, as well.

Also, I really like that Zimmerman "Solos" book recommended above. My wife and I have been working through the Handel C minor sonata in that one. It's not terribly hard, but you do have to go into thumb position and be able to shift easily.


Have fun!

Stan

[jaff]

I'm enjoying Francois Rabbath's First Book very much. A lot of pleasing stringcrossings with some nice tunes.

[downneck]

Originally Posted by Stan Haskins

As a word of advice, don't be afraid of 4th position (first finger on D above the ledger lines). It's an incredibly secure and comfortable position, and many beginners start there now.

+1

sturm's 110 etudes spends quite a bit of time up there in the first couple pages

[damonsmith]

The Vivaldi and Marcello sonatas are manageable and still have worthwhile challenges.
There is a beautiful "Sarabande" by Corelli I love to play. Another favorite is "After a Dream" by Fauré. The version I have starts low in the first two positions and then does a lot of the same material in tenor clef. It is just a page long so it is a good one to get reading tenor clef out of the way.