Double Bass Dimoff's Warmups

[darrenmccarthy]

I would be fascinated to hear what you cats thought of this.

I found it online last week and have been really enjoying it. Especially 'Max's Magic'.

Others I don't quite understand (2,6,9).
Maybe someone could shed some light on these?

Also I'd like to talk about some of the benefits of each individual exercise.

I'm going to practice this stuff for a few hours everyday for a month. Then maybe customize or omit others.

Exciting!


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[gerry grable]

I couldn't find them, but thanks for the tip.
Clicking on the long video of The American String Project in action and rehearsal is really worth the trouble.
Thanks.

 

[darrenmccarthy]

Try this...

Not sure why it didn't work

http://doublebassblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/max-dimoff-warmups.pdf

Thanks for the tip

 

[neilG]

Others I don't quite understand (2,6,9).
Maybe someone could shed some light on these?

No. 2 is the pattern used in the Flesch Scale System for violin:
a one-octave scale followed by arpeggios (tonic minor, tonic major, vi chord in first inversion, IV chord in second inversion, iv in second, diminished, 7 chord resolving to IV). Then thirds, then a chromatic scale. In the original you would each octave separately, then put them all together at the end. Flesch advocates practicing a different scale daily, with various bowings.

No 6 appears to be a pattern you play with your thumb only. I suppose there's something to be gained there. A callous, certainly.

No. 9 is putting your fingers down and then picking them back up in different orders. Done studiously, this is valuable considering that's mostly what your fingers do on the instrument. The idea of using trills and trill-like exercises to strengthen the fingers and establish hand position is fairly universal in string pedagogy.

 

[gerry grable]

Thanks. That came up for me.
GG

 

[darrenmccarthy]

No. 2 is the pattern used in the Flesch Scale System for violin:
a one-octave scale followed by arpeggios (tonic minor, tonic major, vi chord in first inversion, IV chord in second inversion, iv in second, diminished, 7 chord resolving to IV). Then thirds, then a chromatic scale. In the original you would each octave separately, then put them all together at the end. Flesch advocates practicing a different scale daily, with various bowings.

No 6 appears to be a pattern you play with your thumb only. I suppose there's something to be gained there. A callous, certainly.

No. 9 is putting your fingers down and then picking them back up in different orders. Done studiously, this is valuable considering that's mostly what your fingers do on the instrument. The idea of using trills and trill-like exercises to strengthen the fingers and establish hand position is fairly universal in string pedagogy.

Excellent ! You certainly seem to be in the know. May I ask you a few more questions?

What is meant by 'descending' in ex1 , does it imply the thumb position range of the bass?

Also is the second half of ex2 meant to be played on one string would you say?

I don't understand 7 at all!
And would 9 be entirely in thumb position?

Many thanks for taking the time to write. Much appreciated.

Darren

 

[neilG]

What is meant by 'descending' in ex1 , does it imply the thumb position range of the bass?

It looks like he's just showing the pattern, low note to high note, for the descending part of the exercise. You would use whatever fingerings you used in ascending.

Also is the second half of ex2 meant to be played on one string would you say?

I think in the original violin book, you were meant to play each octave on one string. It's worth trying on the bass.

I don't understand 7 at all!

Bit of a mixture here. The up and downbow stacatto are useful to know as a bow control exercise and to facilitate different kinds of combination bowings. There will be many times when you'll want to play two notes in one direction in any part of the bow. As far as I can tell, the other part of no. 7 is, more or less, a moving slur exercise. This is more of a left hand exercise meant to make you use fingerings that facilitate slurring.

And would 9 be entirely in thumb position?

The parts where he has "+" indicated, for sure.

 

[darrenmccarthy]

It looks like he's just showing the pattern, low note to high note, for the descending part of the exercise. You would use whatever fingerings you used in ascending.

I think in the original violin book, you were meant to play each octave on one string. It's worth trying on the bass.

Bit of a mixture here. The up and downbow stacatto are useful to know as a bow control exercise and to facilitate different kinds of combination bowings. There will be many times when you'll want to play two notes in one direction in any part of the bow. As far as I can tell, the other part of no. 7 is, more or less, a moving slur exercise. This is more of a left hand exercise meant to make you use fingerings that facilitate slurring.

The parts where he has "+" indicated, for sure.

Wow thanks Neil, I bet you're a great teacher.
The tone of your posts are helpful and do not at all condescend, very hard to do! Many thanks

 

[Basscat125]

in exexercise four is it meant to be an octave leap on one string?