Double Bass Thumb position

[Les Fret]

While it is much more difficult than playing in the low ranges, .

I also think it is more difficult. But mainly because it is physically more demanding. You are hanging more over the instrument especially in the highest register above D. It is more demanding to practice over there for a longer time. Also it is a bit harder for the bow. Because you have less place to bow etc.
However it is difficult to play 100% in tune in all registers.

 

[lucas vigor]

Well, I received my copy of the Petracchi book yesterday. I cannot make any sense of it. This is what you people are really reccomending?

The Simandl 2.....yes, I am going to stick by it. Boring or not, it is easy to understand, yet hard to play. Bottom line is, it works.

 

[neilG]

Well, I received my copy of the Petracchi book yesterday. I cannot make any sense of it. This is what you people are really reccomending?

I never recommended it. I own the book and never use it. It's basically a compendium of many types of fingering to use in thumb position, along with some excruciating exercises and weird musical examples. You really can figure this stuff out on your own. In fairness, the book shows many possibilities, but not necessarily musical ones. Ignore the academic talk of diatonic and semi-diatonic positions and just play the exercises with the indicated fingerings. You'll definitely get something out of it, but if you're like me, you won't linger with the book for long. That my 2 cents. Others love the book and we'll hear from them too.

 

[eerbrev]

...Ignore the academic talk of diatonic and semi-diatonic positions and just play the exercises with the indicated fingerings. You'll definitely get something out of it, but if you're like me, you won't linger with the book for long. That my 2 cents. Others love the book and we'll hear from them too.

+1. I personally use another method that is unpublished. I got it from a friend who studies with the author. I mentioned the two methods I mentioned because they had been previously mentioned in the thread, and also because they are often lauded (especially the George Vance books) as the "bass playing of the future" whether you want to subscribe to that kind of talk or not. Using all 4 fingers, pivots, flexible and largely amorphous left hand, It's all designed to play with a really relaxed left hand without blockiness, which we inherited from the fisticuffs method.

I hope you find a use for the petracchi book, and not just as a "method for leveling your table"

cheers,

eerbrev

 

[lucas vigor]

I'll tell you the first thing that turned me off: The use of treble cleff EXTENSIVELY!

Can't everything be written in tenor or with 8va?

I have been playing in orchestras for a while now, and have come across treble cleff exactly one time, and that was for harmonics, only.

And I say it again; Simandl 2 is excellent for transitioning from lower to thumb positions, which seems more useful for most bass playing.

Why so many on this thread were against it confuses me.

 

[CButterfield]

I agree with Shwashwa's earlier post. I think thumb position is not harder than lower positions. It's simply a matter of what we practice. In fact with a decent instrument setup I find that thumb position is easier than the lower positions. We start to have as many notes under out hand at any time as the other string players - meaning we can finally play a scale without shifting around so much!
Regarding method books I don't really have any recommendations for thumb position exclusive books other than perhaps some concepts in the third Rabbath book. I always recommend scales and arpeggios though, and I don't think we need method books to figure out scales and scale variations. It's amazing what some time spent with scales and arps in thumb position can do for fluidity and intonation!

 

[AdmiralScreed]

It's amazing what some time spent with scales and arps in thumb position can do for fluidity and intonation!

Yep, scales and arpeggios are the key. And there are a billion ways every scale can be played, so you never have to worry about getting bored.