Double Bass Bowing help for Bach Orch. Suite No. 2 bm (BMV 1067)

[PaulCannon]

Wow ... first time post and all I can say is, I've been reading a lot of really strange things here! "Loosen the bow hairs and play like a gamba bow???" Anybody who thinks you can do baroque articulations that way is delusional. Play the gamba that way, not the bass! Playing the Bach Chaconne on the bass is nonsense anyway, but that's just my opinion, to each his own.

Those were jokes.

 

[G-force]

. One of our teachers have suggested I play with the baroque bowing style with my French-style bow, by holding the bow overhand by the stick itself, not directly from the end of the frog.

This helps with playing softly and lightly, but offers no solution with the faster parts of the piece, primarily the Overture and Badinerie. I find it very difficult to play the faster quavers and semiquavers without them sounding messy, as if I were scrubbing the notes instead of playing them individually. The teacher has suggested that I play every other note in the bar (i.e. 1, 3, 5, 7), though I am wondering if anyone plays Baroque music often and has a French-style bow bowing technique which allows for playing of fast notes without them sounding messy? Or do most experienced players tend to play every other note as well?

Thanks!

well first of all. This thread made my day. There is so much material in here to get me kicked off the web for so long. I'll be a good boy though.
First of all. People have such hang ups when it comes to stroking the string with a bow. Jeez just practice , have a sense of what you want. Practice some more. Stop intellectualizing it all and start listening. There is no trick or bow hold. I can hold the bow any way I want and get the sound I want.
Holding the bow on the higher up on the stick CAN be a good thing as opposed to the utter nonsense that was suggested here before. It will give you a new PERSPECTIVE on what is going on. You will FEEL different things. These are the things that will help you out. I can't tell you what they are but believe me you will feel them.
Plus holding the bow in this manner looks real cool, like you really know what you are doing ( joke, please don't report me)

But that business about playing 1 3 5 7 . I don't know. I am a 2468 type guy myself. It is too easy to play 1357.

Good luck.

PS don't let these goons get you down. we all love the sound of our own typing.

G

 

[neilG]

well first of all. This thread made my day. There is so much material in here to get me kicked off the web for so long. I'll be a good boy though.
First of all. People have such hang ups when it comes to stroking the string with a bow. Jeez just practice , have a sense of what you want. Practice some more. Stop intellectualizing it all and start listening. There is no trick or bow hold. I can hold the bow any way I want and get the sound I want.
Holding the bow on the higher up on the stick CAN be a good thing as opposed to the utter nonsense that was suggested here before. It will give you a new PERSPECTIVE on what is going on. You will FEEL different things. These are the things that will help you out. I can't tell you what they are but believe me you will feel them.
Plus holding the bow in this manner looks real cool, like you really know what you are doing ( joke, please don't report me)

But that business about playing 1 3 5 7 . I don't know. I am a 2468 type guy myself. It is too easy to play 1357.
Good luck.
PS don't let these goons get you down. we all love the sound of our own typing.
G

G-force,
This is an internet forum where EVERYONE is an expert. Your common-sense approach will get you nowhere here. I suggest you re-think your attitude.