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Double Bass Music book for basic technique

Q

Quasimodal

Jan 29, 2007
1
0
#1
I'm beginning the double bass and need a book on basic technique. Preferably one that is logical and practical. I am a graduate in music and my first instrument is the guitar so note reading and theory are not a problem. I would like to learn mainly pizz technique, however I'd also like to pursue some bowing studies as well.

Any suggestions?
 
#2
The Simandl books are an awesome start. When doing the etudes feel free to try them both arco and pizz it will help either way. then you can graduate to Simandl book 2 and also you could fiddle around with simandl 30 etudes, but book 1 is a nice starting point for any bass even covers how to hold the bow, proper holding of the bass etc. so... Pick it up.
 
#3
Avoid Simandl. Boring and very limiting. If you have a background as a guitarist. you will eventually want to combine the closed hand tech (1,2,4 = major second) with the open hand (1,2,3,4 = minor third) plus 1/2 step pivots in either hand position. The books are out there if you look.
Tom Gale
ASODB.com
 
#7
Quasimodal said:
I'm beginning the double bass and need a book on basic technique. Preferably one that is logical and practical. I am a graduate in music and my first instrument is the guitar so note reading and theory are not a problem. I would like to learn mainly pizz technique, however I'd also like to pursue some bowing studies as well.

Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

I'd also recommend the Simandl for someone in your position. Basic, logical, and practical, just as you're looking for. Obviously it should only be a starting point. I'd recommend augmenting it with reading some melodies, perhaps in fake books, etc.
 
#8
TomGale said:
Avoid Simandl. Boring and very limiting. If you have a background as a guitarist. you will eventually want to combine the closed hand tech (1,2,4 = major second) with the open hand (1,2,3,4 = minor third) plus 1/2 step pivots in either hand position. The books are out there if you look.
Tom Gale
ASODB.com
Click to expand...

Tom,

Besides your books, what other books to you recommend?

phil
 
#9
I have all of Mark Morton's books. They are very useful. Naturally, I like mine, too but I can't mention them - got into trouble. I guess they reflecct my 50+ years of playing and writing and I have concluded ALL bass techniques can be covered by the closed hand tech (1,2,4 = a major second), the open hand (1,2,3,4 = minor third), the thumb positions above and below the octave, and 1/2 step pivots that extend intervals in the closed hand to a major third and the open hand to fourth.
Add more use of the 1st and 2nd fingers in lyrical passages and thats that. I don't what else you would need.
Tom Gale
ASODB
PS. Any questions - try off line.
 
#13
TomGale said:
what's a pm?
Click to expand...


It's a "private message;" check in the upper right hand corner of the screen, in the blue box where it says "Welcome, TomGale."

While the TalkBass Commercial User Agreement does prohibit commercial users from inserting statements about their own products except in cases where the item has been specifically brought into a question (i.e. "Do the Tom Gale books address open-hand technique?"), we do appreciate the input of any user, like Tom Gale, who has had a great deal of experience with the topic of any given thread.

I personally have gone through a few phases with bass methods, and I recently completed a fairly thorough review of most of the major method books currently available; it seems to me that no one book answers every question, but that most of the available methods are able to cover at least a few aspects of playing the bass in excellent detail. So Simandl is useful for some things (I particularly like Book 2 of the method right now for those students struggling with an introduction to thumb position); Nanny is conservative but effective; Rabbath is quite emboldening and gives me hope for a double bass technique that is not designed to produce simply an orchestral bassist but a musician who plays the bass; and the George Vance books are just great for getting the student into playing music from the get-go (which is really what it's all about, anyway). I'm really looking for a method that gets students into playing with all four fingers right away (the open-hand idea mentioned above), which the Gary Karr books sort of do; I have heard that our own Tom Gale's books are excellent for this purpose and I'll be getting into them as soon as I get a free minute. I think that, ideally, we as teachers and serious students would have all of these books on our shelves and be able to access them for the strong points they have to offer; I know that Lawrence Hurst here at IU has an astonishing array of method books (many of them no longer in print) in his collection, and he can pull various ones out at any time to help a student address a certain issue.
 

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