Double Bass Simplified Higher Technique by Petracchi question

[damonsmith]

Agreed. This is similar to Rabbath's idea without the bent endpin and I have used it for years.

If you were my student, I'd advise you to take a step back and let the bass lean more into you when in TP. I don't often play standing, but on the occasions that I do TP is the only time I'm truly comfortable because I can lean the bass back into my collarbone and not have to support it further to keep it from falling. With the bass in this more angled position, it is much easier to get around the front of it to apply downward/inward weight to the strings without an over extension of the shoulder.

 

[Anthony White]

Thank you kind folks for your replies on this.

If I can ask a few follow-up questions —

Steve - you “kick your hips back”? To me, this reminds me of a coaching cue for initiating a squat when lifting. It has the sound of being a very vigorous movement, and quite dynamic. I’ve been working more on an understanding of “hinge at the hip” motion. You are suggesting my hips need to move further back when hinging? I find that this is working well if I want to move a walking line up into power thumb position, and then back down, but it is fatiguing my lower back if I am spending a lot of time in this position drilling an exercise, for example.

Chris, Damon, Co. - This “leaning the bass in more to approximate a sitting position” “Rabbath without the bent endpin” feels really nice biomechanically. It’s nice for sustained drilling of an exercise, or working repertoire in higher thumb position. How do you move in and out of the position smoothly? Is it just, “practice moving in and out of the position smoothly”?

Thank you again. I really appreciate the feedback. My tallest teacher was three inches shorter than me, and my shortest and current teacher is ten inches shorter than me, so this is really helpful.

Best wishes.

 

[Co.]

How do you move in and out of the position smoothly?

You definitely don't want to move the bass too much with your left shoulder. If you choose to lean the neck of the bass on your shoulder, so be it, but the shoulder has to be relaxed at all times.

Try this exercise: Play the open D string with a very slow bow, relatively close to the bridge. When you get the sound really smooth and stable, start doing a glissando with your left hand on the G string, from the lowest position to the highest position of the fingerboard and back. You won't hear the notes, that your left hand is fingering, because you are bowing a different string, but you will hear the impact of your body movement on the sound of the D string.
Try different speeds of the glissando, try different strings for the left hand and different strings for the right hand. Also try this with a very straight upright position.

 

[Chris Fitzgerald]

Chris, Damon, Co. - This “leaning the bass in more to approximate a sitting position” “Rabbath without the bent endpin” feels really nice biomechanically. It’s nice for sustained drilling of an exercise, or working repertoire in higher thumb position. How do you move in and out of the position smoothly? Is it just, “practice moving in and out of the position smoothly”?

Check out Lynn Seaton's segment in this video, which addresses that point exactly along with many others.