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Double Bass Dealing With the High Stuff...

Hey Everyone.
I'm new to the Forum, but have been playing the Classical Bass for 7 years now. Not too bad.

However, I was wondering if anyone had some good advice as to how to approach the higher notes on the Bass. The notes I'm referring to are the ones above the high G. It's just so hard to get those down and my muscles just don't want to memorize where they need to go to hit them. Plus, I have to hit them going at break-neck speed. Thanks.
 
Learn to find all the harmonics up there, including the ones that come in strange orders. That will get you finding the reference points. But then you just have to practice.

I've been finding learning the Bach first 'cello suite at 'cello pitch a great exercise, but you don't really have to start with something that hard (if you do, start with the minuets, then the sarabande). You can always play Simandl exercises or what have you up an octave or two.

One trick that helps is to realise you don't have to have a hard boundary between transition space and thumb position; you can use your thumb quite a way back on the bass (I've had occasion to use it down to A on my D string) and you can also use transition positions with your thumb on the side a bit past the octave too.
 
I found all the harmonics by doing the Dragonetti concerto first movement. Well not every harmonic on the bass but it got me more comfortable with the upper off the string stuff. I would recommend only practice it on YOUR BASS! I cant hit the harmonics on my bass at school on a bad day. They are like 2 inches higher than my bass at home. Can get really annoying.
 
divide the higher end of the fingerboard in positions...thats how you learned the lower half of the fingerboard, right? same concept. Do lots and lots of scales three octaves, going from as low as you can to as high as you can...eventually it will come if you work on it consistently. Rabbath has a way of dividing the positions of the fingerboard based on location of harmonics....so that kind of goes along with other people's posts on finding the harmonics.
 
Your suggestions really seem like they would help. I think what I'll really end up doing is just practicing some 3 octave scales and getting firmiliar with the stuff up there. I'll also talk my parents into getting me a bass tutor. I haven't had one in years, but since I'll be moving to the top orchestra in my school next year, I really want some lessons over the summer.
 
I know a bass tutor would be a great idea. But it's so hard to orchestrate and get put together. Which is why summer will be the best time to do it. I am really looking forward to it. Hardest thing is picking one. Which is why I think I'll ask my Orchestra teacher for reccomendations. I really feel at a disadvantage from someone who has a tutor.
 
In addition to the advice above, I believe that isolating your particular issue is key.
Rather than 3 octave scales, you could play only the top octave of the scale, all on its own. You'll quickly find it fatiguing and annoying, probably. The next step is to break down the factors that make it difficult.
On the one hand, you have the left hand pressing down strings that are much higher than they are at the nut, and a vast black expanse that isn't familiar to your fingers. The easy part is to experiment with bringing your weight to bear on those notes, which will bring into question the angle of your hand, whether you collapse your knuckle joints, what intervals you will have between each finger.
Once you have found a comfortable and easy way to press down single notes, you then need to develop muscle memory for that particular region of the bass, absolutely separate from the rest of the fingerboard. Get really intimate with playing there, learn different scale patterns that only involve your thumb up there, try scales up the A and E strings as well.

The next problem is how to use the bow in this register. IF you come off the string, you will have to play a much more sustained stroke than in the lowest depths of the bass range. The strings ring at a higher frequency and don't sustain as long by themselves, which means you will need to use more bow speed. The tension is higher, so less weight is also necessary. As you travel past the first octave G, you will have cut the string length in half. Because of this, the bow needs to move closer to the bridge as you climb higher to compensate for the reduced string length and keep as much string vibrating as possible.
In playing quickly, you would do well to use less bow than playing legato. The string responds quickly in the upper registers and does not need as much momentum to set in motion. Less bow, moving towards the middle and upper half of the bow, will sound better than too much speed near the frog.
 
Yes, having a rational, logical approach to fingering in thumb position is essential. So many of my students come to me with solid "Simandl" approach to fingering and positions in the lower positions, but then resort to the hit-or-miss "1-2-1-2-1-2-1-2" approach when above high G.

One suggestion I have is to play whatever passage is giving you trouble one octave down. Observe carefully your fingering, shifts, etc., and then try to mirror that in T.P. (substituting, of course, thumb for 1 and 3 for 4 where appropriate).

I've been successful with a couple of my students using the Vance method, which takes the beginning student up to thumb by the third or fourth exercise.
 
you can practice the last two octaves or start at the 3rd octace and play downward... you can also pull the string to the side and push down a little bit. this gives a little different timbre though. i do some kinda replacement fingerings like violinists use. my best friend at college is a violist and we usually can't help but talk shop so i learn alot from him. i get to sit in on their masterclasses since i did the bloch hebraque rhapsodie... practice and find a good teacher
 
Do very slow exercises in thumb position everyday. The main thing that would probably help is to build strength in your fingers at that angle. Muscle memory doesn't work as well if you don't have the muscle to memorize it.

Also, like bcarter said, and many notable teachers like Larry Hurst have said, don't try to push down the string directly from the top, pull it to the side a bit. By that I mean if you were looking down the finger board towards the bridge, imagine the string as a clock and try to curve your fingers so that they press between 1 and 2 o'clock.

This is for multiple reasons. One is it provides some security as your fingers can "hook in" to the inside of the string as you shift up and down. Another reason is that it doesn't take as much strength to stop the string from the side as it does to stop it from the top. The string vibrates from left to right, so why put most of your effort into stopping it from vibrating up and down? Let physics work with you, not against you.