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Double Bass Ein Heldenleben Fingerings
- Thread starter MDEbass
- Start date
There's many fingerings a bassist could use and I won't go over each possibility, but if it's that nasty high-C your'e worried about this is what I do:
I go up the D-string with 4 on the middle-C then Eb with 1 in thumb position then play the high-C with 4 (yes, the pinkie). That way you don't have to shift and fingers 2 and 3 are still over the D-string and you don't need to rotate your hand a bit as you would to play the high-C with 3.
The B-natural could be played in thumb position on the A-string but I find it sounds too muffled for a long note and there would be a huge shift to the low-C. I play it on the D-string with 2. That way you don't have to jump too far from the high-C or to the following low-C.
In the next run, same thing goes for the high-C and I play the F on the G-string with 4 for the similar reasons above. I use 4 because it's the same hand position as the previous B on the D-string and I've played that F with 4 millions of times before so it's a very familiar feel to shift there.
I go up the D-string with 4 on the middle-C then Eb with 1 in thumb position then play the high-C with 4 (yes, the pinkie). That way you don't have to shift and fingers 2 and 3 are still over the D-string and you don't need to rotate your hand a bit as you would to play the high-C with 3.
The B-natural could be played in thumb position on the A-string but I find it sounds too muffled for a long note and there would be a huge shift to the low-C. I play it on the D-string with 2. That way you don't have to jump too far from the high-C or to the following low-C.
In the next run, same thing goes for the high-C and I play the F on the G-string with 4 for the similar reasons above. I use 4 because it's the same hand position as the previous B on the D-string and I've played that F with 4 millions of times before so it's a very familiar feel to shift there.
Fingering doesn't really matter for the excerpt. Just put on a lot of rosin and play everything with your fourth finger.
Hey mike--
There are a lot of different fingerings, and I think i've learned about 3 different fingerings, and I hear that later in your career you'll know about 12.
For that high C run (the third and fourth), i've started working on it this way
E A D G A
4-1-4-2-+-3-1
The 1 on the B is definitely necessary to play a solid B and vibrato to round it out. By playing the Eb on the thumb, it sets you up pretty nicely for the C. Similarly, for the fourth run, you're right there for the F on the D.
You can practice it by rythmic permutations, one bow per note, one bow per eigth-note triplet, playing the string crossings as double stops, etc.
Hope this helps.
There are a lot of different fingerings, and I think i've learned about 3 different fingerings, and I hear that later in your career you'll know about 12.
For that high C run (the third and fourth), i've started working on it this way
E A D G A
4-1-4-2-+-3-1
The 1 on the B is definitely necessary to play a solid B and vibrato to round it out. By playing the Eb on the thumb, it sets you up pretty nicely for the C. Similarly, for the fourth run, you're right there for the F on the D.
You can practice it by rythmic permutations, one bow per note, one bow per eigth-note triplet, playing the string crossings as double stops, etc.
Hope this helps.
Hey jonathan, thanks a lot for the fingerings and practice tips. I'll definately try it out. I just had a lesson with Paul Ellison yesterday, and he gave me some new ideas to try out as well. To anyone else interested, Pauls favorite fingering is this:
E string: 1(C) 2(Eb) A string: 2(Ab) D string: 1(C) +(Eb) G string: 3(C)
E string: 1(C) 2(Eb) A string: 2(Ab) D string: 1(C) +(Eb) G string: 3(C)
Ok so I just tried out your fingerings Jonathan. I think this is the one I'll stick with. After a week of using other fingerings and practicing those, I was still struggling a bit, but with these fingerings that C run took me just tonight to get the hang of. I've still got a lot of work to do on this excerpt, but this made is waay easier. Thanks a lot. Also thanks to everyone else that contributed.
