Thank you! That's really good information. Let's me know that I haven't been completely out to lunch with using 1-3-4. Also that there's much more flexibility to be learned. I'm in Portland, Maine, do you know anyone in my area from the Joel Quarrington school of playing?
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Double Bass Joel Quarrington technique
- Thread starter Reiska
- Start date
Personally I do not have any names to offer in Maine, and having only attended a summer program and a few masterclass events with Joel, I am not as plugged in as some of his students. I have studied with a few of his former students in Southern Ontario as well but that isn't very close. Montreal is about as far as NYC is from you though, a great city, and there are still plenty of McGill students that studied with Joel around. Orford (the summer program mentioned here) is even closer and a fantastic program, but they tend to be "ageist" and prefer to cater to college/university students.
Ask around, you might find out that someone just down the street from you studied with him. There are some fantastic bow makers living in rural Maine so anything is possible.
Ask around, you might find out that someone just down the street from you studied with him. There are some fantastic bow makers living in rural Maine so anything is possible.
You're right, I bet you're referring to George Rubino, he's very well known. I used to work with his niece. I'll keep looking -- getting better at the bass is a lifelong endeavor.
George Rubino and Lynn Armour Hannings are both in Maine, both make fantastic bows, and both are really dedicated to passing on that knowledge to the next generation of bow makers. They are also both bassists in the Portland Symphony and studied bass playing with some fantastic teachers as well.
If you have a chance to find someone who is well versed in Joel's technique I would strongly encourage you to pursue working with them. If you can't find that person though, Joel's technique developed as a result of him studying with some of the greatest bass pedagogues in the world, building on their methods with years of intense practice and merging aspects of each of them. He played very strictly Simandl technique in 4ths with a french bow and a machine at one point, and it created a foundation for him to build on. If you have an opportunity to work with a great teacher you will learn and grow regardless to which school of technique they use, and you might find that one day your technique becomes a hybrid of many schools.
If you have a chance to find someone who is well versed in Joel's technique I would strongly encourage you to pursue working with them. If you can't find that person though, Joel's technique developed as a result of him studying with some of the greatest bass pedagogues in the world, building on their methods with years of intense practice and merging aspects of each of them. He played very strictly Simandl technique in 4ths with a french bow and a machine at one point, and it created a foundation for him to build on. If you have an opportunity to work with a great teacher you will learn and grow regardless to which school of technique they use, and you might find that one day your technique becomes a hybrid of many schools.
Absolutely, like I said, this stuff translates poorly on a chat boardDidn`t find a single video on rolling technique either. Anyone?
It would be lovely if one of Quarrington`s students joined the discussion
As a student of his from many years ago, what I remember is that it has to do with treating 1 and the thumb like a kind of hinge, so that when you are holding a note with just 1 your wrist is kind of 'rolled' up and the other fingers are kind of floating in air, waiting to be rolled into position as they are needed. It's a bit disconcerting when you are used to a more traditional, rigid kind of hand placement, but it is weirdly expressive and surprisingly easy to get used to. Shifting I always found more accurate doing this. It is, as someone in here suggested, not as relevant the further up the neck you go.
Maybe helpful, I don't know.
Picked up JQ's daily studies just day before yesterday, hoping to get his thoughts on the left hand in 5ths tuning (especially in the lower positions).
Great book!
Great book!
Last edited:
His book is really good in 4ths too. I've been using it for a long time, and feel like it really improved my playing.
As someone interested in design, however, the formatting occasionally drives me crazy.
That's cool to hear. I haven't explored that version yet.
I'm pretty stoked on "rhythmic fingerings". I already had the inclination for it when I was working through the Vance books, but JQ brings it into clearer focus through his exercises.
As far as shifting goes...yeah. There was a long time where I would try to avoid shifting as much as possible to avoid getting lost in my intonation, but I would still get lost regardless. If the 4ths tuned version is similar, then, with what you say, maybe avoiding shifts was not the best of practices on my part.
I only ever did the "vomit" exercises with the intention of getting better with the bow. Maybe there's more to be gained...
Last edited:
I can't speak to specifics of Joel's method, but the relaxed hand concept is common to cello pedagogy- where an open left hand is actually used to slow and tighten the vibrato. Watching Alex Hanna play Mahler 7 last week, every time he went to an expressive vibrato, his hand relaxed into a similar shape to Joel's... and with a similarly beautiful result.
This is something I personally learned from studying cellists. Clearly it can be used just as effectively on the bass.
This is something I personally learned from studying cellists. Clearly it can be used just as effectively on the bass.
a question the about fingering in bar 2 of the knuckle buster #1, pg 16 in the fourths version of the daily studies:
is the c# on beat three fingered with 2?
this would make sense for me because then the shift in the next note is not using the same finger..
on the other hand, shifting 1-1 would be fine also..
trying to understand JQs fingering ideas..
is the c# on beat three fingered with 2?
this would make sense for me because then the shift in the next note is not using the same finger..
on the other hand, shifting 1-1 would be fine also..
trying to understand JQs fingering ideas..
I think the answer comes from looking at his shifting markers, the underscore "_", marking a shift back towards the scroll, and superscore (line on top of the note), meaning a shift towards the bridge. From what I'm reading here, you're on the D string all the way to the first C#, where you move from a B on the D string with 4th finger to C# on the G with 1st finger. you then play D with 3 (or 2 if you want to keep it simandl), go back to the C# with 1, and then shift up 1-1 to D.
What might be confusing you is that, as I have come to understand it, 2 and 3 are sort of interchangable (situationally). Generally, a semitone up from 1 in lower positions can be a 3 (to make the size more comfy), and a semitone down from 4 is a 2, for the same reason. The idea is to treat the space between 2 and 3 as the "true centre" of the hand, and to use the greater distance between 1-3, 2-4 to reduce stretching in lower positions. That said, anything chromatic is still usually 1-2-4.
I'd read the intro material again, I'm rereading it now and I'm pretty much quoting one of the paragraphs. It works a little differently than the average method, so sometimes a reread is necessary
hey eerbrev, thanks for your answer. it makes sense!
studying from the book without the author (or somebody that has studied with him) explaining, sometimes it just doesn´t click. same thing said with other words and suddenly it´s clear.
your explanation is great, now I understand better!
I really like this book - the concepts of JQ make a lot of sense to me, it makes playing the bass such a nicer experience! I hope there will be more videos of him on youtube soon, for further analysis.
I bought the book a year ago, picking it up from time to time.. but now I am practicing from it a lot and it gave me a great structure for.. well, daily studies. it works!
studying from the book without the author (or somebody that has studied with him) explaining, sometimes it just doesn´t click. same thing said with other words and suddenly it´s clear.
your explanation is great, now I understand better!
I really like this book - the concepts of JQ make a lot of sense to me, it makes playing the bass such a nicer experience! I hope there will be more videos of him on youtube soon, for further analysis.
I bought the book a year ago, picking it up from time to time.. but now I am practicing from it a lot and it gave me a great structure for.. well, daily studies. it works!
Happy to help! I use this book a lot as well. I wish I could say daily, but I've been slacking. gotta get back on the wagon!
Look at the height of the strings and he still makes it look easy and sound beautiful.
I now have mr Quarrington`s Daily Exercises PDF`s and a link to the Strad magazine video, where he shows his left hand concept in detail, and his own explanation of his rolling technique. That video propably needs a permission for sharing and I wouldn`t try to explain his technique before understanding, and beeing able to do a bit of it myself.
The thing about his technique is that it`s so completely relaxed and not forcing anything. He explains that he can play any string lenght and switch instruments with zero hassle. He says that he dislikes extensions because they hurt, but he also says that he suggests to go thru every method because each of them has something to add in your approach.
Besides beeing one of the masters and pioneers of the instrument, Joel Quarrington seems to be a very down to earth, no bs -attitude, great guy.
The thing about his technique is that it`s so completely relaxed and not forcing anything. He explains that he can play any string lenght and switch instruments with zero hassle. He says that he dislikes extensions because they hurt, but he also says that he suggests to go thru every method because each of them has something to add in your approach.
Besides beeing one of the masters and pioneers of the instrument, Joel Quarrington seems to be a very down to earth, no bs -attitude, great guy.
Hey Chris, send an e-mail to Quarrington? He has his Daily Exercises for both 4ths and 5ths and even if you wouldn`t use the bow you might find the book interesting. It`s not badly priced either.
The sound is divine, however how come no one has asked about mensure? Discussing technique without the context of what scale length fifths tuned musicians are playing on doesn't provide much info.
Tayamori sounds wonderful on his 38" bass, and with such a short string length it makes sense how four finger technique and rapid pivoting is so do able.
Do we know what mensure other fifths players are using?
Tayamori sounds wonderful on his 38" bass, and with such a short string length it makes sense how four finger technique and rapid pivoting is so do able.
Do we know what mensure other fifths players are using?
I don`t know exactly but JQ`s bass looks like it`s regular 3/4 mensure. If I remember correctly, eerbrev has had the change to play that bass, maybe he could chime in on this one?
