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Double Bass Bowing the E string

bassbuddie

bassbuddie

Jan 8, 2003
229
2
53
Montreal
www.francoisbrisson.com
#1
I have difficulties with bowing the E string, My teacher insist to bow closer the bridge (half way between the neck and the bridge). When I play an open E, it sounds ok, with minimun pressure, but if i play a G on the E, I have to move closer to the neck, almost over the neck to obtain a good result. I play french bow. Any advice?
 
#2
I rarely bow more than a few inches away from the fingerboard on the E string unless I need to use a very slow bow. It sounds like you are not applying pressure and that's good. Every bass is different in it's optimum sounding point for any given note. Does it sound better near the fingerboard or half way down?
 
#3
I've found the bow angle, especially on the E, is more important that distant from the bridge when trying to pull a big sound. I start with an arc when I begin the stoke (bow at an angle slightly below 90 degrees from the bridge) and after 3 or 4 inches I gradually flatten the stroke out (bow parallel to bridge and perpendicular to the string). It's much easier to bow close to the bridge on the E (and the rest of the strings) when your bow is follow a slight arching path.
 
#7
thedbassist said:
I would recommend getting a laborie endpin. It opens up the whole bass so you can have equal access to all the strings instead of having to reposition the bass to play on the E string.
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I think advice like that needs to come from the OP's teacher. If he doesn't have anyone to show him how to hold his bass with one, or even how to cut it to the right eight, it may not help at all. It is easy to find a sitting position that gives you equal access to all strings as well.
 
#8
Yeah, that's true Joey. But if you have a teacher who knows about it and how to use it, I would try it out.
The reason you're having a difficulty bowing is most likely because when you play the double bass with a straight endpin you have to tilt the bass toward yourself to alleviate weight on your left thumb.This tilting causes unequal weight distribution that you can put on all of the strings(specifically, you can put the least weight on the E string and the most on the G string, I don't mean pressure, just natural arm weight).
 
#9
bassbuddie said:
the funny thin is that on my eminence string with anima, i have no problem. I use pop rosin. I have evah pirrazzi on my doublebass.
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One thing my bass teacher talks about is a thing called bow planes. Basically that when you do an up bow or down bow the angle of the bow in relation to the strings needs to change. So when you do a down bow on the E string it will be much more angled away from the rest of the strings almost touch the c bout of the bass (well not that much that's a little drastic, but hopefully you can visualize what I'm talking about), and on an up bow you would be almost touching the A string when you bow. Another thing that he suggests to me is that when you play with the bow lower towards the bridge (which is harder at first) you need to really slow down your bow speed. Otherwise you get a harmonic an octave high or it doesn't sound clearly.

Are you a French or a German bow player?

I just had one more thought, you might try standing more behind the bass instead of around the side, that gives me more power and ability to use my shoulder weight on the E string.
 
#10
I studied for a few years so I am no expert. I do, however, bow quite a bit and have recently been working that open E to great effect. I think it's like any other string. You have to find your weight, placement and speed that is particular to that string. If you didn't say you were a beginner I wouldn't bother with this back to basics advice but...

Start with some string starting exercises with the bow at different points both up bow and down bow, frog and tip. Place the bow on the string, relax and draw try to get the string vibrating immediately then release the hair (some call this a "ping" sound). Try to get a nice round sound right away.

Try some long tones as well, then try long tones starting near the fingerboard then work the bow down to the bridge on the same bow. Study the weight and speed needed at each point to get a consistent sound.

Do some slow-bow exercises. Set met. @ 60 bpm, draw long, even notes for as many counts as you can get with a full consistent sound. Play a chromatic scale (or any scale) up the neck on the E string.

This may all seem to remedial but I find that this simple back to basics can really clean up your bowing pretty quickly.

Oh also just listen to some great E string playing to get a real clear sound in your head for what you want to hear coming off of your bass. I think that really helps me a lot. I've been working towards that great E string sound that Edgar gets, focused yet broad and woody.

Good luck.
 
#12
Also, look closely at your left hand. Are you on your fingertips? I use a kind of Streicher method, particularly on the E string where my fingertips are curved and I pull the bass into my center with my arm/shoulder/back instead of squeezing with the left hand. This enables me to really pinpoint the pitch and makes for a more or less tireless approach to sound production.
 
#13
I tend to go with John Allen and play faster notes on the E string closer to the end of the fingerboard with only very long sustained notes bowed half way towards the bridge.

The three basic variables, bow speed, arm weight and contact point are painfully evident on the E string, especially for clean note starts. Generally across the 4 strings I find the thicker the string the less bow length that is required to support the same tone and projection. The bow will move faster across the G string and closer to the bridge to support the faster vibrations (stay away from the end of the fingerboard!). Conversely I might be down to playing the same length note using half as much bow on the E string, and closer to the fingerboard, to match the sound quality.

Try playing faster and faster notes on the E string and you have to shrink bow length and move gradually closer to the fingerboard, always listening for quality and clarity of tone and watching the width of string movement. Match your bow length to the increasing flexibility of the string. Stay in the "comfort zone", not too close to the frog and not further out than half way. Around the balance point is the magic place, so easy for string crossing too.

Another trick to produce even tone across all strings is to play flat on the hair on the E string and, without altering the bow hold, roll across to play more on the top side of the hair on the G string (which does not need as much hair contact?)

It takes any bowed string note about the first 10 vibrations to reach its full tone according to Knut Guettler. The open E is vibrating about 41.7 times per second so fast notes will never fully sound. What can be heard first in fast passages is the mechanics of starting notes with the tone of notes following slightly later. The 1/4 second lag in full tone might be a good reason for not using much (or any?) vibrato on E string notes.

Happy hunting!

DP
 
#14
Thank you David. It helps. Th exercise My teacher ave me is to play whole notes @ 69 on each open string using all the hair of the bow. When I play the E string i used the same speed and all the bow.

Now, with your advice, I tried to slow down on the E string. Much easier. It imporoved my sound right away. But, as I said before, I have more difficulties on the F, F#, G, or Ab on the E string.
 

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