pieces for two double basses

[Les Fret]

I am practicing together with another double bass player from time to time. It would be nice if we could do some pieces for two basses.

I was thinking about doing some Bach two part Inventions. But the 1st part is usually too high. A lot of times it goes above the (high) G in G-clef.

Do you have some suggestions for pieces we can try?

[reedo35]

Lemur Music has some good duet books Here

[JtheJazzMan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GcXUSJZ4oo

Heres a favourite of mine. The links to the sheet music website are in the side bar.

[Tom Gale]

[quote=reedo35;8515132]Lemur Music has some good duet books

For some reason, Lemur forgot to list my duet book with all the others. You can check ASODB, store, books... Most of them do not go above the octave G.
Tom Gale

[Les Fret]

Thanks for the input. What we need is intermediate pieces, since we only use it for practicing together not to become a real duo or so. They shouldn't be too simple either.
Are there bass or cello versions of the Bach two part inventions? I love those.

(BTW by high G I meant the 2nd octave on the G string)

Originally Posted by JtheJazzMan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GcXUSJZ4oo

Heres a favourite of mine. The links to the sheet music website are in the side bar.

that is a very nice piece indeed.

[Bill Bentgen]

There is an edition of the Bach concerto for 2 violins available for 2 basses. Needs piano accompaniment.

There are some Labro duets for bass & cello that work for 2 basses available on my website: http://www.billbentgen.com/music/etudes.htm

There are a bunch more of these I gotta take time to put into Finale. The Labro bass method has some good stuff in it. Too bad it's been out of print for over a hundred years. I have an old, old copy wrapped in plastic that my long deceased teacher gave me.

[Les Fret]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for the Labro etudes. That is great stuff! gives us something to do for now.

so there is no double bass edition of the Bach two part inventions that someone knows?

[Peter Ferretti]

It really shouldn't be that hard to edit them for yourself! Bach would certainly approve of his inventions being adapted for two basses.

[Les Fret]

It is not hard. But it takes a lot of time to put it in Finale and I rather spend this time on practicing. But if that is the only solution I have to do it.

[Bill Bentgen]

Ok, I stole the 1st 2-part invention from the Amazon.com "look inside the book" feature. (I ordered the book of all 2 & 3 part inventions too, by the way, it's less than $10.00.)

It took about 20 minutes to put into Finale with 1 interruption. It looked a little hard for casual playing, so I lowered the top line an octave. The music still works listening to midi, but I'll probably have to answer to Bach in the afterlife. If you have a cellist play the top line, the octave placement will be as written, although both lines will be an octave lower than the original.

I posted it here: http://www.billbentgen.com/music/bac...vention_01.pdf

The last chord really needs some work. I listened to some possibilities on midi, but will have to wait for a rehearsal this weekend when I can try it with another bassist.

[Les Fret]

Thanks Bill, you are a great help!

The problem with the two part Inventions is that the 1st line is too high for double bass. You cannot tranpose it to a different key because then the 2nd part will become too low.

Curious how it will sound with the 1st line transposed an octave lower.

It will take me a lot longer then 20 minutes to put it in Finale I think.

Good work!

[dompol]

Hi!


Let's try some Bottesini pieces, maybe " Passione amorosa" or another from " 3 duets for double bass"

[joehaven]

Check out the two compilations for duets published by international, 12 Duets edited by Sankey and 24 classical and modern duets, edited by Zimmerman. Kind of old school, but two fun books to have on hand in any studio for some impromptu duet reading sessions.