Double Bass How to finger the E string

[Sean Ormiston]

Hey, I'm full of questions these days.

I surf youtube looking for top notch bass players, just, yknow, watching and watching and watching, checking out their posture, arm movement on shifts, their "bass claws." But all this footage is solo stuff - cuz people don't post their orchestral excerpts! - and solo stuff doesn't seem to come off the G string!

How does a PRO get a good solid, no-pressure-on-the-thumb tone from low F through Ab? My teacher recently told me to think of my fingers as little hammers or and play on their tips, this advice helped me tremendously and I can tell I'm already getting bolder tone with crisper attack, getting that damned thumb less involved, and using a more efficient set of muscles. But the E string just laughs my fingers off.

Has anyone come across some footage?

 

[mcnaire2004]

I would maybe get one of those stress balls and squeez all day while you are doing other things. Most of all, just sit there (this is boreing but works with anything) and play those low notes over and over. Nothing to fast, just hold the note down and use medium bow pressure and just hold the note out. Let it ring for a while. Then add some very very slow vibrato. This should make your fingers stronger.

 

[sikkinixx]

Personally, Im much more fond of fingering a G-string. lol

 

[jdapodaca]

Personally, Im much more fond of fingering a G-string. lol

sigh.

 

[Simandl Fan]

It will come with time and practice. That was the hardest area of the bass for me, back in high school with the Rubank book and no teacher.
Lots of slow chromatic scales starting on low E will do the trick (and lots of patience, too!)