Story for the old bass setup

[TomGale]

About a few decades ago, I was at a Gary Karr master class. At the end, he took a Q&A session and some young man asked, "What was the hardest position for him to learn on the bass?"
He said, "Half position".
Many chuckled thinking he had to be kidding. He didn't chuckle and neither did I. I remember with the old setup with the high nut, high bridge and heavy gut strings, the Ab, Eb, Bb and F were painful to sustain. In my first season with the Harrisburg (PA) Symphony, I had to hold a low Bb for several million measures and a veteran player showed me that if I put the second finger on top of the first, it helped take off the strain.
Gary was correct - it was the most difficult.
Tom Gale
ASODB.com

[jdapodaca]

Originally Posted by TomGale

In my first season with the Harrisburg (PA) Symphony, I had to hold a low Bb for several million measures and a veteran player showed me that if I put the second finger on top of the first, it helped take off the strain.
Gary was correct - it was the most difficult.
Tom Gale
ASODB.com

i started doing this about a year ago. i wasn't sure if it was frowned upon or anything, as i advised the rest of the section to try it and see if they thought it helped.

they all said it was weird.

anyway, it works for me too, even with the modern bass setup.

[TomGale]

I did an article on the old vs new and Bill was kind enough to post it on his web site - bottom of third column in PFD format for downloading. There are also a few duets you can download and try - bass/bass or bass/cello. I even did two with a bassoon!
copy and paste.
www.siasmusic.com/2xlbass.html

Tom Gale
ASODB.com