Double Bass Please help..

[lowendrachel]

Hey folks. I should have known this. I really wanna make sure that I'm playing the right way.

So, piano is a C instrument and bass is a Bb instrument.

So if the pianist is playing a D7 chord. That means I play a C chord right? Thanks in advance.

 

[Scott Lynch]

Bass is a concert pitch or "C" instrument, just like piano. If the pianist is reading a D7 chord, bass is also going to see a D7 chord on a corresponding chart.

When reading, however, the notes will sound an octave lower than written, ex. Middle C on bass will sound the same as a C on the 2nd space of the bass clef staff played on piano.

 

[Steve Freides]

Hey folks. I should have known this. I really wanna make sure that I'm playing the right way.

So, piano is a C instrument and bass is a Bb instrument.

Only if you tune your bass down a whole step, which isn't anything I've ever heard anyone doing.

So if the pianist is playing a D7 chord. That means I play a C chord right? Thanks in advance.

If your bass was a Bb instrument, that means that when you read a C in the music, a Bb comes out, which means you'd have to play an E7 to match the pianists D7.

If your bass is in solo tuning, that's a step higher than concert pitch, and then you would have to play a step down to match the accompanist or the accompanist would have to play a step up to match you. (The latter is how it's usually handled, e.g., double bass concerti come with two sets of orchestra parts, one for standard tuning and one for solo tuning of the bass.)

In the orchestra and band world, there are a number of Bb instruments that read treble clef, e.g., trumpet. When a trumpet player on a Bb is looking at piano music, he has to play a whole step higher than what he's reading. When a piano play is accompanying a Bb trumpet player, the piano has to play a whole step down in order to match the trumpet's pitch. This would be me, e.g., when a trumpet student is reading from the same lead sheet as I am on the piano.

But it's worth mentioning that most _bass-clef-reading_ brass instruments, e.g., trombone, are reading at concert pitch, even though their instruments typically play a concert Bb overtone series when no valves are held down.

Clear as mud?

-S-

 

[lowendrachel]

Thanks guys. Really appreciate this!

 

[Don Hergert]

Just a few examples...

Some of the old bluegrass albums have the whole band tuning (or capoing) up a step, for example from the key of A to the key of B. In those sitations for double bass that meant either also tuning up, or else simply using B fingering. But these are all still C instruments.

If your whole band -- including the bass -- is tuned down a half-step so a C note as played is actually a Bb, you're still using a C instrument and the fingering remains the same. You'll be fine until you need to tune back up a half step and play with someone else who is tuned to concert pitch, but again, the fingering remains the same.

In contrast to that, if you're playing with Bb and Eb horn and reed instruments, it is the responsibility of those Bb and Eb instruments to resolve any transposition to play with C instruments. If a song is called to be played in C, you will play in C and the Bb and Eb instruments will match that. If your song is called to be played in Bb, you will play double bass in Bb ideally with Bb fingering. And so on... As a C instrument, the key that is called is what you have to play in, no matter what that key is.

FWIW, most of the transposing horns and reeds are also available to be purchased as C instruments and are often used that way in orchestral settings.

 

[VicDiesel]

bass is a Bb instrument.

If you're playing EDIT NOT: trombone or END EDIT saxophone.

 

[turf3]

Not trombone. Trombones read as written.

 

[Sertsa]

As everyone said, bass is concert pitch.

Standard clarinet, trumpet, tenor and soprano sax are Bb instruments. (Alto and bari sax are Eb).

When I played tenor sax and read a "C" score, I'd look at a note and play the next one up. See a "C," play what to me is a "D." That was much easier to me than sight-transposing down a minor third (see a "C," play an "A") when playing alto sax.

 

[Don Hergert]

Standard clarinet, trumpet, tenor and soprano sax are Bb instruments. (Alto and bari sax are Eb).

Because I play primarily C instruments, when I ordered my trumpet I ordered it as a C instrument so theoretically I wouldn't have to transpose. It didn't help, I was still horrible at it, I just don't have that lip.

I have great respect for horn players!

 

[JamesGrant]

Play as written. Doublebass/contrabass is technically a transposed instrument but it's a whole octave down and the composer will assume you play as written.
If people are playing an 'A' 440Hz, you play an 'A'!!

(We'll ignore basses tuned in F# rather than E…)

 

[Jazzdogg]

Hey folks. I should have known this. I really wanna make sure that I'm playing the right way.

So, piano is a C instrument and bass is a Bb instrument.

So if the pianist is playing a D7 chord. That means I play a C chord right? Thanks in advance.

Bass is also a C instrument; trumpet is a Bb instrument.

 

[knirirr]

Not trombone. Trombones read as written.

...except in British brass bands, where tenor (not bass) trombones are considered treble clef transposing instruments in Bb. ;-)

 

[turf3]

Everything is different in the British brass band.

 

[Paul New]

Bass saxophone is in Bb.

 

[Neon Scribe]

Transposing instruments is one of the most confusing things to understand as a musician, and it's something you have to deal with even when you're just starting out in the school band at a tender age. I honestly believe trying to figure out what "Bb Clarinet" means is the thing that started me on my lifelong quest to understand music theory.

 

[Don Kasper]

and bass is a Bb instrument.

Who told you this, or, How did this come to your attention?
Just curious.
Plz. and Thx (from a former Tonawanda-n.)

 

[logdrum]

Some of the old bluegrass albums have the whole band tuning (or capoing) up a step, for example from the key of A to the key of B. In those sitations for double bass that meant either also tuning up,

If your bass is in solo tuning, that's a step higher than concert pitch,

OP @lowendrachel -- Since you are confused if your bass is Bb or C instrument ( and that's perfectly okay) , PLEASE DO NOT TUNE UP the bass at this point. There are things to consider before doing this. You can end up with a collapsed top.

Get a tuner lowest string t from bottom or nearest to your right hand E - A - D - G. If you have a bass mode on your tuner, use that

 

[Bruce Calin]

Everything is different in the British brass band.

I read somewhere that every brass instrument in British brass bands, including basses(tubas), read treble clef. Is this right?

 

[Lionel Albert]

I read somewhere that every brass instrument in British brass bands, including basses(tubas), read treble clef. Is this right?

Yes, including trombone, everything is transposed but that is or was available only in military orchestras or kind of.
If you're a bass player and have got scores for Bb instrument. Read them in C clef fourth line (I don't know how you call it in English). For Eb instruments just read them in bass clef.
On new read B and E (+ A coming from Eb score) notes , natural becomes flat, sharp becomes natural.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

If you're a bass player and have got scores for Bb instrument. Read them in C clef fourth line (I don't know how you call it in English). …

I think you mean G clef on the fourth line from the top (standard violin clef like the top staff of a piano score).

C clef is mostly used as alto clef for viola (da braccio) or tenor clef for violoncello, bassoon and trombone (classical) to avoid too many ledger lines.

The clefs are named after the notes that get marked. For the G clef it is the spiral, forming a g with the lower part of the clef, the upper part of this clef is only decoration, for the C clef the vertical center of the clef, a residue of a c, the wings above and below are only decorative, and for the bass or F clef the line between the two dots which are the residue of two horizontal lines forming an F with the bowed vertical line.

If you really meant a C clef on the fourth line from the top, that would be the mezzosoprano clef (the range without needing ledger lines is that of a mezzosoprano (well, closer to an alto these days).

In 16th Century Music (1501-1600) where early music typesetting started with elements that were single music notes on a staff each note duration and position needed a separate element, ledger notes would need even more elements, so to avoid them it was simpler to change the clef to keep the notes in the range of available typesetting elements. So often C or F clefs move up or down (mostly down) or a G clef moves or changes to a C clef and back. Often in the "middle" of a phrase.

Just an explanation where the clefs come from and why they were needed/used.

Nowadays we hardly need to be able to read more than three clefs for a certain instrument (bass, tenor or alto and violin), in many cases only one or two.