Oh, yes, for sure... but that does mean you need to practice it to the point you can execute it effortlessly and without thinking about it.
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Double Bass The Four Finger Approach and Bowing approach
- Thread starter bass4art
- Start date
Same goes for shifting, and at that point the old way is just more stable. Pivots strength is speed, not stabilty.
Which is why it's the bread-and-butter of bass playing... everything else is there for extra flexibility for the times you need that. Yes, pivoting is good for speed, but my contention is that it is also more stable than open-hand, and works in the low positions as well.
Actually I have know the norm since 1995, I had studied with at least 6 teachers in the last decade each usuakkt 1 to 2 years.
My first teacher or real serious teacher on double bass was Walter Freimanus, who had graduated from Curtis Institute of Music on Double Bass in the early 1960's, then he got his masters degree from Manhattan School of Music in Cello performance. Learn Alot from him.
And the other teachers I had since,
I am just looking to better my bass playing, I practice 2-3 hours a day, taking passages, scales and bowing exercises slowing them down then speeding them to make sure I had gotten them down.
Since I am on social security disability what better way to spend my time. Accent from 7 years ago, did me in.
Kirk
My first teacher or real serious teacher on double bass was Walter Freimanus, who had graduated from Curtis Institute of Music on Double Bass in the early 1960's, then he got his masters degree from Manhattan School of Music in Cello performance. Learn Alot from him.
And the other teachers I had since,
I am just looking to better my bass playing, I practice 2-3 hours a day, taking passages, scales and bowing exercises slowing them down then speeding them to make sure I had gotten them down.
Since I am on social security disability what better way to spend my time. Accent from 7 years ago, did me in.
Kirk
ok, you didn't say that in your first post. I guess when you have played double bass since 1995 and the traditional fingering isn't working for you you have to look for other methods or approaches.
What did your teachers say about this?
What did your teachers say about this?
I don't think that can be proven - by the time either shifting or pivoting is effortless, either works just as well.
As I have said before - set up and technique play a part - I have yet to hear anyone get a huge Wilbur Ware/Jimmy Garrison acoustic tone while pivoting as a default.
I will say pivoting has proven more stable than 4 finger in the low positions.
Well, since I'm a classical player, I'll have to say that I don't quite know how it works out for Jazz, especially for pizz tone. However, for my own playing, pivoting is distinctly better than shifting for both intonation and flexibility, despite my having 20-something more years of experience in basic Simandl technique (I learned to play in the mid 80s, and have only been seriously working on pivot-style technique in the last few years).
Add below-the-octave thumb position, and it's night and day when things get complicated. Of course, standard hand shape is where you default when you don't need the extra speed, you wouldn't stay in a pivoted position for more than a small fraction of a second unless you're immediately going to pivot back again.
Add below-the-octave thumb position, and it's night and day when things get complicated. Of course, standard hand shape is where you default when you don't need the extra speed, you wouldn't stay in a pivoted position for more than a small fraction of a second unless you're immediately going to pivot back again.
Yeah, it is amazing for getting a tough passage, but I wouldn't recommend it at all for an ostinato. Once you have been playing for a long time it is really hard to tell how well these things work. Veterans who have swtiched to Rabbath sound a lot better than those who came up on it, but only time will tell.
- Aug 1, 2005
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- Private Inventor - Bass Capos
Sorry to always be the spelling troll here, but is it possible you mean Dr. Mark Morton?
If I remember correctly, in the School Of Agility he uses 1-3-4 as an example for playing F-G-Ab on the E, for an F minor scale fingering. Not sure if that's you exactly what you mean by 1234 all over the bass, but just thought I'd share that it's in that book.
It depend on what I am practicing and playing what finger system I use. I mostly use the 124 approach on the Upright Bass.
But looking into other ways to do things, to help imrpove my playing and intonation. Which I have no problem with, just want to make it a little more simple to work with,
Kirk
But looking into other ways to do things, to help imrpove my playing and intonation. Which I have no problem with, just want to make it a little more simple to work with,
Kirk
While I don't pivot much, I do generally use the concept of a minor third inside of a hand frame. If I don't NEED the minor third, I'm obviously not going to stretch my hand out for it, but I don't stretch my hand out for a whole tone either.
Once I'm on the next note (especially in slower passages) I close my hand so that all of the weight is concentrated on top of the note I'm playing. in faster passages I will "open" my hand up to grab a minor third if I need it (mozart 40, dittersdorf concerto, other classical works), but it's still not a static hand position. removing the tension inside of your hand is a pretty good long term plan in terms of physical health. Also, as an addendum, I use 3 a lot, but it's for semitones between 1-3. Super stable and in tune if you're in a scalar passage where you're not moving to 4th finger.
eerbrev
Once I'm on the next note (especially in slower passages) I close my hand so that all of the weight is concentrated on top of the note I'm playing. in faster passages I will "open" my hand up to grab a minor third if I need it (mozart 40, dittersdorf concerto, other classical works), but it's still not a static hand position. removing the tension inside of your hand is a pretty good long term plan in terms of physical health. Also, as an addendum, I use 3 a lot, but it's for semitones between 1-3. Super stable and in tune if you're in a scalar passage where you're not moving to 4th finger.
eerbrev
