Double Bass A few items to pay attention to

[kurt muroki]

Few things to listen for when practicing...

If tone seems uneven from note to note, and/or tone starts off nice in lower positions then gets thin in upper positions, it is often caused by the left hand not having equal contact between all fingers or positions. Also varying the amount of tension or stiffness in the hand and fingers affects tone from lower to upper positions.

It is important to remember that we often play for ourselves and forget that we are really playing for our audience. It's good to get in a hall as often as possible to really play for the farthest spot in the room. Listen to the sound bouncing back from the far wall. Listen to the room. It is easy to be self indulgent when performing.

 

[David Potts]

Just as often the tone thins out because you don't adjust the bow contact point for the height of the left hand position, or the bow speed for the thickness of the string and speed of notes. ie, check out what the bow is doing too.

Once the string is pressed to firmly reach the fingerboard any extra pressure may only affect tone slightly because all you are doing is to tighten the flesh where the string leaves your finger pad. The down sides are that you may inhibit your freedom to adjust pitch, do vibrato nicely and shift freely.

Establishing the balance between your hands while they produce notes across a wide range of variables is important IMO. Your LH fingers have to be strong yet flexible in order to do their dance, equally quick to release notes as to form them. Tension in your LH can quickly tense up your L elbow area and shoulder, inhibiting the vibrato movement (here the height of your elbow is also important).

My most relaxed body, and best tone and projection of sound, come from playing seated with the weight of both hands and arms relaxing in towards my body. Both arms are in front of my shoulder line with as few shoulder "crane" muscles working as possible. There is a feeling that both hands are resting on, and connected to, the sound as naturally as possible.

There are perhaps two simple tests to demonstrate whether the string is pressed hard enough. The first is to bunch up your LH fingers and gradually press all down together, starting from just resting lightly on the chosen string, as you begin to bow. The note will start to appear but will sound flat and muffled until the string "clicks" down on the fingerboard. Now try pressing more firmly and see if this will affect pitch,clarity and tone. How much more will your hand lock up?

The second is to play a note using your pinkie alone, then adding ring finger as backup, finally all fingers. See if the tone and clarity change. Then play the same note with second finger (alone or with index finger) then index finger. This is especially revealing when playing A flat on the E string, which is where I have most problems with my pinkie!

Cheers,

DP