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Double Bass French Bow Techique with Double JOinted Thumbs

M

MrSaturn

Oct 25, 2001
30
0
37
Palm Springs, CA
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#1
Hi, I have a private instructor for double bass/electric(we ahve been working our way over to double since there isnt really anything worthwhile to work on with my electric studies). Anyway I have been using a french bow, and he noticed today that my thumbs are weird. They are hitchiker thumbs that are almost paralel to the ground if i give a thumbs up.

Anyway this is impeding in my ability to hold the bow correctly, the waythat he showed mewith my thumb bent inward through tbow. I can't seem to hold a french bow properly.
Is there anyone with double jointed thumbs that have had problems like this before? My teacher said he has never seen that before.
I was thinking that using a german bow may be better from what I have seen it used, with my thumb problem. But I have even less experience with german than I do french bow. I havent been playing DB for long, should I stick with french bow or should i confront him about playing german?
 
#2
It's not going to hurt you to try German, but wielding the stick of either flavor takes a lot of time and practice to get right. I have a student with Jaco thumbs and he's much more comfortable with the Freedom bow and dropped German and went back after about a year of fussing with it.
 
#10
When it comes to choosing a bowing style, it seems that in the early stages it's up to the private teacher, or whatever is put into the hands of the student. Later on in a bassist's career, I feel that it is very wise to get exposed to both grips. Especially if one is comfortable in one bowing style, it is valuable to have the knowledge in the other bow style. I am a french player. I do have knowledge of the german bow style, but for me the french bow hold is more comfortable. I find that to be true with my bass professor. He is a german bow player, and when he wants to demonstrate something for me on my bass, he finds it difficult to play the same way as he would on his bow and same goes for me. So I would say try both, whatever feels more comfortable and gives you a better sound, go with it. Good luck.

Michael :bassist:
 
#11
I just recently discovered that I'm double-jointed in the thumbs. I just started playing the upright about a month ago. My teacher and I use German bow, which I haven't really had any problems with (just getting used to the hand motion on up-down changes).

I'm wondering about your left hand technique though, if you have double jointed thumbs. I know the proper way to grip the neck is using a closed "C" shape using the tips of the fingers, including the thumb, but when I try to use the tip of the thumb, it always seems to collapse and it bends back at the big knuckle on the thumb. I think that's why I initially started with just using the "pad of my thumb" for grip (more like with BG). Just wondering what your thoughts are.

Jovan
 
#12
Krtalaz91 said:
I just recently discovered that I'm double-jointed in the thumbs. I just started playing the upright about a month ago. My teacher and I use German bow, which I haven't really had any problems with (just getting used to the hand motion on up-down changes).

I'm wondering about your left hand technique though, if you have double jointed thumbs. I know the proper way to grip the neck is using a closed "C" shape using the tips of the fingers, including the thumb, but when I try to use the tip of the thumb, it always seems to collapse and it bends back at the big knuckle on the thumb. I think that's why I initially started with just using the "pad of my thumb" for grip (more like with BG). Just wondering what your thoughts are.

Jovan
Click to expand...

I'm double jointed not only in my thumbs, but actually in all of my fingers. I play German because I can't get a proper hold on a French bow. In response to your question about the left hand, your best bet is to keep your palm as open as you can. The tip of my thumb tends to curve backwards most of the time because I rest the pad of the thumb against the neck of the bass, rather than the tip, as you suggested before that you do. It has had no adverse effect on my playing over the years. I hope this answers your question at least somewhat.
 
#13
Krtalaz91 said:
I just recently discovered that I'm double-jointed in the thumbs. I just started playing the upright about a month ago. My teacher and I use German bow, which I haven't really had any problems with (just getting used to the hand motion on up-down changes).

I'm wondering about your left hand technique though, if you have double jointed thumbs. I know the proper way to grip the neck is using a closed "C" shape using the tips of the fingers, including the thumb, but when I try to use the tip of the thumb, it always seems to collapse and it bends back at the big knuckle on the thumb. I think that's why I initially started with just using the "pad of my thumb" for grip (more like with BG). Just wondering what your thoughts are.

Jovan
Click to expand...

My right thumb is double jointed where it meets the hand. I had some trouble with it collapsing when I began playing. Over time, as my hands became stronger (and a bit meatier) the problem resolved itself. The muscles in my thumb now hold that joint in place and I have to really make an effort to hyper-extend it now. If I understand correctly, your thumb hyper-extends at the joint closest to the nail. If that's the case, I'm not sure that you can count on the muscles in your hand eventually gaining better control of the joint. If it's not causing problems, I suppose it's okay. What does your teacher think?
 

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