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Double Bass fingering advice

S

shwashwa

Aug 30, 2003
4,796
2,009
NJ
www.myspace.com
#1
PDF files of the exercise in question below.

hey guys, i have a question on a fingering and i posted it in the classical section because i wanted your view on the fingerings. the exercise is to play two triads and their inversions all the way up and down the bass. in right now im experimenting with fingerings playing the 3rd inversion across 2 strings and also across 3 strings.
the descending while ascending and the ascending while descending make for some difficult jumps. how would you guys play this?
 
#4
ill try to load 2 versions here. one in bass clef and one in grand staff. as you can see, its just triads, so my fingering concepts were to try to keep the triads grouped, but maybe that's my problem... i didnt finish writing the exercise decending in the grand staff version, but you get the idea. it will be ascending triads, decending the instrument. the bass cleff version shows the whole thing
also, i will eventually be playing this in all keys
 
#8
what is your goal in doing this exercise? you say it should be played as fast as possible. i could work out fingerings but the exercise is extremely awkward, and i find it unmusical. the bass part for till eulenspiegel would give you a much better workout with better music, and the awkward intervals are similar.
 
#9
the goal is to familiarize myself with playing 2 triads a whole step apart in every key so that i may draw upon that material when improvising. (this is my assignment from my teacher, a piano player, so it has to be done, not negotiable) its really common material in the jazz vocabulary of horn players and piano players and other soloists. there are many books out there on the application of triad pairs and jazz improvisation. this is one of the basic foundation exercises, and i must master it in all keys, so im not looking for other material. i need to find fingerings for this in this key, preferrably without open strings because i will be transposing this stuff. i have some fingerings of my own, but im curious to see how other people would do it. as you can see it is techically challenging.
 
#11
Hmm. That's not so bad, actually. However, there's no fingering for that pattern that will work in all keys.

So, across the strings, shifting into thumb position with the first G and back out immediately after the last high G (back to 1st finger on the D string).

Point out to the teacher that this is about as hard as some of the passages in the Bach 1st 'cello suite... which is getting right up there in the solo literature for the instrument. Move it up a minor third and it's massively harder, so the exercise is a tad unrealistic to play in that octave. Move it down an octave and it's straightforward.
 
#13
Andrew McGregor said:
Hmm. That's not so bad, actually. However, there's no fingering for that pattern that will work in all keys.

So, across the strings, shifting into thumb position with the first G and back out immediately after the last high G (back to 1st finger on the D string).

Point out to the teacher that this is about as hard as some of the passages in the Bach 1st 'cello suite... which is getting right up there in the solo literature for the instrument. Move it up a minor third and it's massively harder, so the exercise is a tad unrealistic to play in that octave. Move it down an octave and it's straightforward.
Click to expand...


actually ill be moving it to different keys, but keeping it in the same range. in other words, ill never really be going above the double octave G on the G string. ill just be changing keys within that range, starting on the lowest note in the key and playing the exercise up to around the double ocrave or so, maybe not quite as high if i get lazy
 
#15
Andrew McGregor said:
Hmm. That's not so bad, actually. However, there's no fingering for that pattern that will work in all keys.

So, across the strings, shifting into thumb position with the first G and back out immediately after the last high G (back to 1st finger on the D string).

Point out to the teacher that this is about as hard as some of the passages in the Bach 1st 'cello suite... which is getting right up there in the solo literature for the instrument. Move it up a minor third and it's massively harder, so the exercise is a tad unrealistic to play in that octave. Move it down an octave and it's straightforward.
Click to expand...

how are you fingering the end of measure 2 and the beginning of measure 3? the 2nd inversions decending (A down F down C, likewise for the G triad) in thumb position are tricky for me. do you barre with the thumb? do you barre with fingers 2&3? do you play that 2nd inversion across 2 strings or 3 strings?

id be thrilled if i could get it to 8th notes at quarter note = 200. so far im around quarter = 140. not sure ill ever get it to 200 but its something to shoot for. im in no rush to get there
 
#18
shwashwa said:
how are you fingering the end of measure 2 and the beginning of measure 3? the 2nd inversions decending (A down F down C, likewise for the G triad) in thumb position are tricky for me. do you barre with the thumb? do you barre with fingers 2&3? do you play that 2nd inversion across 2 strings or 3 strings?

id be thrilled if i could get it to 8th notes at quarter note = 200. so far im around quarter = 140. not sure ill ever get it to 200 but its something to shoot for. im in no rush to get there
Click to expand...

200 is definitely possible... haven't worked it up to that myself, but for comparison, look at Menuet 2 of the 1st 'Cello suite (which I'm playing at 'cello pitch)... I can do that well faster than it needs to be.

Ok, so from the beginning of measure 2, using plain + for thumb and (+) for potential harmonics: 1 3 2 + 1 2 1 3 (+) [or 2 up the D string] (+) 3 + 1 (3) 1 (+)

Essentially, thumb barre is asking for intonation trouble, unless one or both notes is a harmonic, so use 2+3 or 1+2 for that, preferring 2+3 because 1+2 is usually awkward. You can also reach past 3 on a higher string with 2 for a diminished 4th, although that doesn't happen here.
 
#19
Andrew McGregor said:
200 is definitely possible... haven't worked it up to that myself, but for comparison, look at Menuet 2 of the 1st 'Cello suite (which I'm playing at 'cello pitch)... I can do that well faster than it needs to be.

Ok, so from the beginning of measure 2, using plain + for thumb and (+) for potential harmonics: 1 3 2 + 1 2 1 3 (+) [or 2 up the D string] (+) 3 + 1 (3) 1 (+)

Essentially, thumb barre is asking for intonation trouble, unless one or both notes is a harmonic, so use 2+3 or 1+2 for that, preferring 2+3 because 1+2 is usually awkward. You can also reach past 3 on a higher string with 2 for a diminished 4th, although that doesn't happen here.
Click to expand...

cool, what ive been using is similar. the 1 that im going to put in quotes, you play on the A string right? 1 3 2 + 1 2 "1" 3 (+) [or 2 up the D string]
 

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