Suite 3 Gigue
 

Hey all! I'm currently learning the 3rd suite gigue right now, and looking at the bass transcription, it makes me pretty upset that at measure 33, we are unable to have the drone underneath. Then when I saw Rinat Ibragimov's recording, he somehow does add the drone! Could anyone educate me as to how he does it? Is it generally do-able, or does he do it because he is simply who he is?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2wpUsvtkd4 Here's the video.

I play open a drone and switch to the harmonic a on the d string when playing c# d and also the lower e. While not optimal to change the octave, I think it's hardly noticeable. Also, I think it's what Rinat does. Much better than putting the c# to d on the second string....

http://qkme.me/3szyq6

And to answer your question, he plays it up the D string to allow the bow to hit the low A at the same time (the drone).

It really looks like his is using his thumb to play the A drone while playing the G A Bb lick up the D string. Alternatively, you could just play the open A while doing something similar for the top line unless you have monster hands and could nail the A with your thumb on the D string, which would just be awesome.

Thread cleaned of random "GuyRoll" spam. Let's please stay on topic.

Why is this suite not played in, the original key of, C?

I'm sure it's theoretically possible to play the 3rd suite in C, but playing in G has a lot of advantages for bass players attempting this suite.

- an open string for the tonic AND the dominant
- keeps all of the notes within a nice tonal range without going altogether too high on the fingerboard (though that's debatable)

are two of the biggest advantages. In terms of disadvantages, there's not many. Sure, you're not in the original key, but you are in the Dominant, so that's not too bad. None of the notes is "too low" ( I personally see low G as the drop-off point for clarity in the solo literature).

I have personal opinions on the legitimacy of bassists playing the suites that disagree strongly with many others, but I feel like if we, as bassists, are going to play the suites we should do whatever we can to make it so we can play them as musically as possible.

+1