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Double Bass dexterity
- Thread starter menoluv
- Start date
Learn to pivot. Also consider using thumb position below the octave... seldom necessary, but the best answer when it works.
I find practicing a passage slowly while concentrating on moving the fingers slowly and gently helps with relaxation and economy of motion. FWIW...
More information needed! One hand or both? French bow or German?
Lots of things to do, both on and off the bass, that will improve strength, nimbleness, timing and coordination. Try these for starters.
Buy a soft rubber stress ball, small enough to wrap your fingers and thumb around as they close together towards a fist. Squeeze a few times at first then build up to several sets of ten a few times a day. You can also open and close your fist without the ball and build up endurance in your forearm muscles. Keep your wrist straight while exercising- don't pronate - to avoid injury or RSI.
Flick/throw your hands open very quickly from fists to splayed straight fingers as you rotate them away from you. I believe this is a pianist's exercise.
Drum your fingers firmly on your bench top (or desk, keyboard, piano) as though you are playing the piano. Rest the weight of your arm on your arched fingers and transfer the weight from finger to finger as they dance up and down. Make different combinations/patterns like five finger exercises (eg 12345, 13243542, etc, over and over again). Try drumming evenly as well as dotted then reverse dotted (short note first) rythmic patterns.
As humans we have no problems closing our hands quickly and powerfully during everyday activities. As musicians we also have to find ways to inject life, speed and control into the muscles that open both our hands.
Must go food shopping now. Will add more ideas later.
Cheers.....
DP
Lots of things to do, both on and off the bass, that will improve strength, nimbleness, timing and coordination. Try these for starters.
Buy a soft rubber stress ball, small enough to wrap your fingers and thumb around as they close together towards a fist. Squeeze a few times at first then build up to several sets of ten a few times a day. You can also open and close your fist without the ball and build up endurance in your forearm muscles. Keep your wrist straight while exercising- don't pronate - to avoid injury or RSI.
Flick/throw your hands open very quickly from fists to splayed straight fingers as you rotate them away from you. I believe this is a pianist's exercise.
Drum your fingers firmly on your bench top (or desk, keyboard, piano) as though you are playing the piano. Rest the weight of your arm on your arched fingers and transfer the weight from finger to finger as they dance up and down. Make different combinations/patterns like five finger exercises (eg 12345, 13243542, etc, over and over again). Try drumming evenly as well as dotted then reverse dotted (short note first) rythmic patterns.
As humans we have no problems closing our hands quickly and powerfully during everyday activities. As musicians we also have to find ways to inject life, speed and control into the muscles that open both our hands.
Must go food shopping now. Will add more ideas later.
Cheers.....
DP
If by dexterity, you mean speed, I was taught a trick years ago.
If you are playing a fast passage of eighth notes, practice the passage at increasing speeds playing them as dotted eighth/sixteenth and then as sixteenth/dotted eighth. this helps reduce the time it takes to get from one note to another.
If you are playing a fast passage of eighth notes, practice the passage at increasing speeds playing them as dotted eighth/sixteenth and then as sixteenth/dotted eighth. this helps reduce the time it takes to get from one note to another.
haha food, makes me hungry all the time.
Thanks for the advice! And I currently use a german bow, probably quite small for my hands, and yes, I would like to know how to increase dex for the german bow hold, and those for my left hand.
BTW, I would like to know how to make my notes sound more connected over strings/ without slurs. Thanks!
Fine, I have too many problems already. I shall list only the majoring ones right now.
OK, since I'm a german bow holder, any ideas how to improve the, dynamics (clear enough to hear my diff in p and mp and mf), dex, sound quality,(one more, how do you make crossing strings sound pleasing, and pressing on 'frets' on a string sound connected without slurs)?
And for my left hand, my dex, strength...i have a grip master, but i've seen lots of debate on it.
Sorry for the long query....
OK, since I'm a german bow holder, any ideas how to improve the, dynamics (clear enough to hear my diff in p and mp and mf), dex, sound quality,(one more, how do you make crossing strings sound pleasing, and pressing on 'frets' on a string sound connected without slurs)?
And for my left hand, my dex, strength...i have a grip master, but i've seen lots of debate on it.
Sorry for the long query....
So, if you are asking those questions, I bet you have a very rigid bow hold, perhaps with the frog clamped against your palm. That means all those joints in your wrist and hand are not contributing to your bow control. Instead, you should be controlling the bow just with the finger tips and the point where the screw touches the side of your hand.
Then you can use the flexibility in your fingers and wrist to get much more precise control. You can turn the bow around almost instantly because using the flexibility in your hand you have much less weight to control; you can start the turnaround from your shoulder and kind of 'flick' it along your arm, so the bow is actually turned around by your fingers when most of your arm is already going the other way. String crossing is similar.
With both hands, all the weight required is just the weight of your arms; you NEVER think of left hand 'pressure', and you NEVER clamp the neck in your hand. Instead you're hanging your arm off the bass and walking your fingers along the strings. Although you will get really strong hands, doing it this way means you don't really need them.
Same with the bow, you're focussing the weight of your arm on the string through the bow. That's really hard to describe in words, but if you think of your shoulder as a pivot and the weight of your arm and the bow, what you're doing is making that weight fall around the pivot, and the bass gets in the way.
So those are the principles. The rest is just lots and lots of practice.
Then you can use the flexibility in your fingers and wrist to get much more precise control. You can turn the bow around almost instantly because using the flexibility in your hand you have much less weight to control; you can start the turnaround from your shoulder and kind of 'flick' it along your arm, so the bow is actually turned around by your fingers when most of your arm is already going the other way. String crossing is similar.
With both hands, all the weight required is just the weight of your arms; you NEVER think of left hand 'pressure', and you NEVER clamp the neck in your hand. Instead you're hanging your arm off the bass and walking your fingers along the strings. Although you will get really strong hands, doing it this way means you don't really need them.
Same with the bow, you're focussing the weight of your arm on the string through the bow. That's really hard to describe in words, but if you think of your shoulder as a pivot and the weight of your arm and the bow, what you're doing is making that weight fall around the pivot, and the bass gets in the way.
So those are the principles. The rest is just lots and lots of practice.
As well as the strength and dexterity of each hand there is also the issues about timing and coordination between hands.
I'm with Andrew re Bow hold flexibility and sensitivity (and I'm a Frenchie!), and relaxing the weight of both arms back towards your body will complete a sort of natural circle (think of how many daily tasks are carried out with both hands working together in front of you).
Where I differ from Andrew's LH approach is that when I need speed (say, fast loud passages of 1/16 notes) my LH fingers do a heavier dance, crushing down so that the pressure between thumb and fingers is not released as you change fingers.
Example. Take G A B A on G string, fingered 0 1 4 1. Play 1/16s at say about MM90. Stiffen your LH fingers slightly and raise them minimally, almost like rippling them and being conscious of transferring the constant pressure from one to the next.
Away from the bass I have already suggested drumming your fingers on the table as though you are playing the piano.If your fingers are arched and a little stiffened you can support the unchanging weight of your arm as you transfer from one finger to another. The arched fingers flap from the big knuckles.
Try other patterns, 0414 0121 0212 0242 0424. Separate or slurred, each with straight, dotted, reverse dotted. In all, 36 little exercise that can be selected from as part of your warm up. Note that bow length/speed is fairly critical. Too short or too long for any given speed of notes won't work.
Add to this, say, playing D E F G A (0 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 0) on D string using sep/slur and 3 bow patterns and you give shifting technique as well as timing and coordination a workout.
Cleanly joined notes, whether or not you are crossing strings, require good timing and coordination. Each separate bow movement starts, plays and ends the note. If you correctly pick that moment in time that the bow is stationary to start the next note there is no need to even back off the bow weight at each end of the bow. Everything is timed and coordinated to that moment in time. You feel confidently in control of time/rythm and feel the "pull" of down bow and "push" of up bow. Be mindful of the acoustics of the bass(slow to start and slow to stop speaking), observe the way each note/string vibrates and joins up with the next note/string movement, and listen carefully.
Cheers....
DP
I'm with Andrew re Bow hold flexibility and sensitivity (and I'm a Frenchie!), and relaxing the weight of both arms back towards your body will complete a sort of natural circle (think of how many daily tasks are carried out with both hands working together in front of you).
Where I differ from Andrew's LH approach is that when I need speed (say, fast loud passages of 1/16 notes) my LH fingers do a heavier dance, crushing down so that the pressure between thumb and fingers is not released as you change fingers.
Example. Take G A B A on G string, fingered 0 1 4 1. Play 1/16s at say about MM90. Stiffen your LH fingers slightly and raise them minimally, almost like rippling them and being conscious of transferring the constant pressure from one to the next.
Away from the bass I have already suggested drumming your fingers on the table as though you are playing the piano.If your fingers are arched and a little stiffened you can support the unchanging weight of your arm as you transfer from one finger to another. The arched fingers flap from the big knuckles.
Try other patterns, 0414 0121 0212 0242 0424. Separate or slurred, each with straight, dotted, reverse dotted. In all, 36 little exercise that can be selected from as part of your warm up. Note that bow length/speed is fairly critical. Too short or too long for any given speed of notes won't work.
Add to this, say, playing D E F G A (0 1 2 1 4 1 2 1 0) on D string using sep/slur and 3 bow patterns and you give shifting technique as well as timing and coordination a workout.
Cleanly joined notes, whether or not you are crossing strings, require good timing and coordination. Each separate bow movement starts, plays and ends the note. If you correctly pick that moment in time that the bow is stationary to start the next note there is no need to even back off the bow weight at each end of the bow. Everything is timed and coordinated to that moment in time. You feel confidently in control of time/rythm and feel the "pull" of down bow and "push" of up bow. Be mindful of the acoustics of the bass(slow to start and slow to stop speaking), observe the way each note/string vibrates and joins up with the next note/string movement, and listen carefully.
Cheers....
DP
Expanding on what Bill said in reply #6.
Say you have a fast eighth note passage such as the Trio of Beethoven 5 and you want to play it more cleanly. Play at a much slower tempo but change each eighth note into a triplet (C B C D G A B C B C D E F G becomes CCC BBB CCC DDD GGG AAA BBB CCC BBB CCC DDD EEE FFF G). Only play it as fast as you can play very articulated and cleanly. As it becomes cleaner, increase the tempo.
This way, the bow direction remains the same as played regularly but the time between notes becomes three times as quick but it gives your brain time to think about what the next note is and how to make the best fingering/shift. Then go on to the dotted eighth sixteenth method so the timing is 4 times as quick.
Do this for about 5 minutes and go back to playing it the regular way. You'll be impressed at how much better you sound.
Say you have a fast eighth note passage such as the Trio of Beethoven 5 and you want to play it more cleanly. Play at a much slower tempo but change each eighth note into a triplet (C B C D G A B C B C D E F G becomes CCC BBB CCC DDD GGG AAA BBB CCC BBB CCC DDD EEE FFF G). Only play it as fast as you can play very articulated and cleanly. As it becomes cleaner, increase the tempo.
This way, the bow direction remains the same as played regularly but the time between notes becomes three times as quick but it gives your brain time to think about what the next note is and how to make the best fingering/shift. Then go on to the dotted eighth sixteenth method so the timing is 4 times as quick.
Do this for about 5 minutes and go back to playing it the regular way. You'll be impressed at how much better you sound.
