For some reason vibrato comes naturally to me. Cello training 50 years ago??? Something must have stuck. Being a guitar player first made cello relatively similar in hand spacingIt isn't necessary once your hand-shape is fully developed - watch some cellists like Jacqueline duPre or Mischa Maisky - as soon as the vibrato is used all the other fingers come off.
Absolutely! The beauty of the fretless bass is you can bias the vibrato on the flat side, pushing quickly up to pitch and allowing a slower fall back before pushing again in an asymmetric (sawtooth) manner - much sweeter than just going sharp as you have to with a fret in the equation.
I loved playing cello, but only one semester. I had a viola some time ago but alto clef made me nuts. I also had a violin, but that didn’t take at all. I think I was too musclebound to stuff the thing under my chin and tuck my left elbow and where it was supposed to be. Always super uncomfortable and never give it a chance.
A funny thing happened just moments ago. I have been practicing a lot with my fretless and picked up my P5 bass that I will take to my gig tonight. My hand was so confused. Actually, it wasn’t my hand that was confused but looking at the fingerboard. Suddenly all the frets and and that’s confused me. It reminded me of some thing that I had to learn when I was alternating between B-flat and C trumpets; that I had to cycle through them during my practice sessions so that I could go back-and-forth on the fly without feeling all discombobulated.
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