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T U TO R S
F R E E L E S S O N S ( / L E S S O N S - L I B R A RY / )

COURSES
Lauren
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I S C OV E R(/lesson/?
DOUBLEBASS.COM)

author=57d2830bb8a79bcf399380ed)

DOUBLE BASS
ARTICULATIONS
& MARKINGS
GUIDE

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 July 14, 2017 (/lesson/double-bass-articulations-markings-guide) · Articles
(/lesson/?category=Articles)

The Definitive Guide to Articulations &

Markings on the Double Bass
Includes video demonstrations, notated examples and written
explanations.

MEET THE AUTHOR

Lauren Pierce is a professional

double bassist and educator. Her
hugely popular YouTube channel
features virtuosic performances of
double bass solo repertoire.

Lauren is our classical double bass

teacher & co-presenter of 'Ask
Geoff & Lauren'. She has released
numerous lessons and three step-
by-step courses ‘Double Bass
Bowing Technique’
Lauren Pierce
(https://courses.discoverdoublebas
s.com/p/double-bass-bowing-
technique), 'Concepts of Solo
Playing'

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 (https://courses.discoverdoublebas
s.com/p/double-bass-solo-
music) & 'Double Bass Thumb
Position'
(https://courses.discoverdoublebas
s.com/p/double-bass-thumb-
position).

INTRODUCTION
Below is a list of some of the most common articulations and markings you
will find in written music. For some of the articulations, I’ve included the
equivalent vocal sounds - these are from Henry Portnoi’s book, “Creative
Bass Technique,” which is a fantastic resource for orchestral playing and
overall a great read by a legendary pedagogue.

The information below is intended to be used as a reference guide so I

recommend bookmarking this page for later use. If you have a friend or
student who you think would benefit from this information please share the
page with them and help spread the word about what we are doing here at
DiscoverDoubleBass.com (https://discoverdoublebass.com).

If you would like to learn more about these articulations, as well as other
bowing techniques, check out my step-by-step course, 'Double Bass
Bowing Technique' (https://courses.discoverdoublebass.com/p/double-
bass-bowing-technique). It's comprises 5+ hours of HD video across 70
lessons for beginners to advanced students.

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 Please note: The video demonstrations are not playing the specific notated
examples.

INDEX/QUICK LINKS
A R T I C U L AT I O N S :

Arco Sforzando
Pizzicato Sforzando-piano
Staccato Hooked Bowings
Spiccato Sul Ponticello
Legato Sul Tasto
Détaché Col Legno
Portato Harmonics
Marcato Tremolo
Martelé Trill
Tenuto Con Sordino, con sord

WRITTEN SYMBOLS:

Slur Decrescendo
Down bow/Up bow Caesura
Lift/Retake Fermata
Crescendo Repeat Sign

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 ARTICULATIONS

ARCO

If you see the word “Arco” written in your music, it means to play the
notes with the bow, instead of plucking them.

Arco

P I Z Z I C ATO

Pizzicato means to pluck the strings with your fingers, as opposed to

using the bow. The technique varies between different musical
genres. To play a classical pizz, grab the string with your index finger
and pull the string upwards, away from the fingerboard. For a jazz
pizz, the string is pulled more to the side.

Pizz

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 S TAC C ATO

Short or detached. When a dot is placed over a note, there should be

a clear separation between that note and the following one. When
dots are placed over a series of notes, there should be a clear space
or break in between each one.

Staccato

S P I C C ATO

While staccato refers to a type of sound or shape of a note, spiccato

is the bow stroke often used to achieve that sound. To play spiccato,
the bow bounces off and back onto the string throughout a series of
quick notes, making them short with a percussive quality.

This is one of the more notoriously tricky techniques in bowing, so I

would recommend getting together with a teacher who can show you
the intricacies of this stroke and how to do it properly.

Vocal sound = "Peter Piper".

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 Spiccato

L E G ATO

Legato indicates that the notes should be played more connected

with no space in between. When playing this, you should aim for a
sound similar to a slur, but played with separate bows.

Legato

D É TAC H É

“Detached”.

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 Non-legato, but with no accent at the beginning. To play detache, use
an even amount of weight and speed throughout the stroke (to create
an unaccented beginning), but with a distinct break in the sound
between every note.

The vocal sound might sound like, “Dado”.

Detache

P O R TATO

A combination of legato and détaché, this indicates that the notes

should be played connected like legato, but with a more pronounced
beginning like detache. Usually slurred, each note is re-articulated
throughout a continuous bow.

When playing portato, be careful not to add space by stopping the

bow in between each note. The bow should continue to move
throughout, re-articulating each note by using more weight and a
faster bow speed. It should sound like rounded and pulsing, not sharp
like an accent.

The vocal sound for this might sound like, “ha ha ha”.

Portato

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 Portato

M A R C ATO

“Marked”.

This is a type of accent that indicates a noted to be played with more

force. You should aim for an accent at the beginning of the note, but
the notes should have no space in between.

To play this, begin by playing a series of legato notes - connected

with no space in between. From there, add an accent at the
beginning of each note by increasing the weight in your arm and
speeding up the bow at the beginning of each note.

The vocal sound for this might sound like “tar tar tar”.

Marcato

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 MARTELÉ

“Hammered”.

This is another type of accent, but with a sharper attack and more
space between the notes. You might think of martelé as an
aggressive form of staccato - short, but with a lot of force. The
“hammer” sound comes from the sharp, aggressive accent at the
beginning of the note but, unlike marcato, a series of martelé notes
will have space in between each one.

The vocal sound for this might sound like “Cocoa”.

Martele

T E N U TO

"To hold".

Usually, this marking means to hold the note for its full value (or
slightly longer, when taking time or pulling back the tempo), or to play
the note slightly louder. Essentially, the tenuto marking means a note
should have emphasis.

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 If the tenuto marking is written over a staccato dot, play with a space
between the notes, or detached. In that instance, the marking is
indicating length of the note.

If the tenuto marking is written over an accent, it is calling for

emphasis on the accent. In this instance, it is indicating the dynamics
of the note.

Tenuto

SFORZANDO

“Suddenly with force”.

A sforzando is a type of accent that indicates a very sudden, sharp

emphasis on one note. To play this type of accent, use an increased
amount of weight, combined with a faster bow speed. This works best
with a down bow because of the natural weight closer to the frog, but
can also be done in an up bow.

The vocal sound for this would be, “K.”

Sforzando

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 SFORZANDO-PIANO

A variation of sforzando (written sfzp or sfp), which is a sforzando

accent immediately followed by a piano. This creates a sharp contrast
in dynamics.

The beginning of the note will be played exactly as a sforzando would

be played - with a large amount of weight and fast bow speed.
Immediately after the accent sounds, lighten up the weight
considerably and slow down the bow speed to play. This will create a
sharp, loud accent at the very beginning of the note, followed by a
very soft dynamic.

Sforzando-Piano

HOOKED BOWINGS

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 Commonly used on dotted rhythm passages, hooked bowings help to
play groups of notes short, but without accent. A slur marking is
placed over two notes with dots over each note. This indicates to play
the two notes in one bow direction, but with a space in between each
one.

To play hooked bowings, stop the bow in between the two notes that
are connected to create a small space.

Hooked Bowings

S U L P O N T I C E L LO

This means to play with the bow close to the bridge. The sound
produced is thin and tinny, and allows the higher harmonics to be
brought out. Common examples of Sul Ponticello are in Francois
Rabbath’s “Poucha Dass” and Bela Bartok’s Roumanian Folk Dances.

To play this technique, move your bow as close to the bridge as

possible while still able to get some pitch. If the bow moves too close
or on top of the bridge, very little sound will be produced. As you

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 play, use a free bow speed (not too slow) and not too much weight.

Sul Ponticello

S U L TA S TO

The opposite of Sul Ponticello, this means to play with the bow above
the fingerboard. This creates a glassy, airy tone quality with a soft
dynamic level. To prevent the string from crunching underneath the
bow, use a light amount of weight with a fairly quick bow speed.

Sul Tasto

COL LEGNO

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 Flip the bow over so that the stick is on top of the string. To play the
notes written, tap the stick of the bow against the string. This creates
a soft, percussive sound. The most common example of this
technique is in “Mars” from Holst’s “The Planets.”

Col Legno

T R E M O LO

This is an effect caused by quick bowing on a single note. The rapid

re-articulations create a shaking or trembling sound.

The trick to playing tremolo is to use as little bow as possible. If you

use too much bow, even when the dynamic is marked as forte, you
won’t be able to move as quickly. This technique works best if you
stay away from the frog and move closer to the center or tip of the
bow.

Tremolo

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 TRILL

A trill is an ornament that calls for a quick alternation between two

pitches. In context, “tr” will usually be written above a note,
sometimes with a wavy line following. The two notes in the trill consist
of the note written and the pitch directly above it.

Unless otherwise indicated, the pitch will be the in the given key
signature, making it a diatonic trill. If there is an accidental over the
trill, it is called a chromatic trill. For example, if there was a trill over
the note G in the key of C major, a diatonic trill would use the notes G
and A. A chromatic trill might use Ab or A#.

Depending on the time period of the music written, the trill will either
start with the note written (the lower note) or the note above. Trills
begin on the written (or lower note) in music written during the
Romantic Era and later (example 1 in video below), while trills in music
written during the Classical Period and earlier are played starting on
the upper note (example 2 in video below).

Trill

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 C O N S O R D I N O, C O N S O R D

“With mute”.

This indicates the musician should put their mute on the bridge. This
created a softer, fuzzier, and generally more muted tone quality.

Alternatively, “senza sord” means to remove the mute.

WRITTEN SYMBOLS

S LU R

Play two or more notes within the same bow without re-articulating or
changing bow direction. This creates a smooth, legato sound with no
break in between the notes.

Vocal sound = “minimum”.

Slur

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 DOWN BOW/UP BOW

Down bow is notated by a symbol that looks like a square with the
bottom missing. This means to move the frog from left to right.

Up bow is notated by a symbol that looks like an uppercase V. This is

the opposite direction of down bow, where the frog moves from right
to left.

Down Bow

Up Bow

L I F T / R E TA K E

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 Lift the bow off of the string and return it to the starting point. This is
used when you need to play 2 down bows right after each other, but
a slur or a hooked bowing isn’t appropriate.

Lift or Retake

CRESCENDO

Get louder or increase the dynamic level.

DECRESCENDO

Get softer or decrease the dynamic level.

Crescendo Decresc…

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 HARMONICS

The string can be divided into intervals - 1/2, 1/4, 1/8, etc. At each of
these points is a node where, when touched on a vibrating string, will
produce a harmonic overtone. The most common harmonics are the
octave harmonic of each string, an octave and a 5th above the open
string (on the G string, this would be the D harmonic above the octave
G), and the 2nd octave harmonic (2 octaves above the open string).
Outlined below are some of the more common harmonics.

Some harmonics are the same pitch as the note when pressed down,
like the octave G harmonic. These are notated like a regular note
would be, but with a circle above the note to indicate it should be
played as a harmonic.

Some harmonics produce different pitches than when the note is

stopped. An example would be the A on the D string (see chart
below). The note that sounds is an A, but an octave above the A
when stopped. These are notated with an open diamond to indicate
not only that the note should be played as a harmonic, but also that
the pitch will be different than the stopped note on the fingerboard.

To play a harmonic, touch the string with one finger without pressing
down. Make sure only one finger is touching the string - otherwise,
the harmonic won’t sound properly. To get a clear sound, move your
bow closer to the bridge and use a fast bow speed.

Harmonics

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 CAESURA

Full stop in the music. Stop playing, then wait for either the conductor
or ensemble leader to resume the music.

F E R M ATA

Indicates the note should be held longer than the written duration.
The prolonged duration is not exact and is up to the discretion of the
performer or ensemble director. However, it is common to hold a note
with a fermata for about twice as long.

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 R E P E AT S I G N

This means to go back to the last double bar or inside repeat symbol
(see below) and play the passage again. Unless otherwise specified, a
section with a repeat is played twice all the way through.

I hope you have found this page useful. If you have please share it with
another bassist and help spread the word about what we are doing here at
Discover Double bass.

If you want to learn more with me check out my step-by-step courses

'Double Bowing Technique'
(https://courses.discoverdoublebass.com/p/double-bass-bowing-
technique) and 'Double Bass Thumb Position'.
(https://courses.discoverdoublebass.com/p/double-bass-thumb-position)

DOUBLE BASS
BOWING
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 BOWING
TECHNIQUE
- A step-by-step video course to master the French bow. 70 lessons,
5+ hrs.

L EAR N M OR E
(H T T PS : / / C O U RSE S. D IS C OVE RDO UBL EBAS S. C OM /P/ D OUBLE-
BASS- BOWING - TEC HNI QUE)

DOUBLE BASS
THUMB
POSITION
47 Lessons, 4+hrs.

L EAR N M OR E
(H T T PS : / / C O U RSE S. D IS C OVE RDO UBL EBAS S. C OM /P/ D OUBLE-
BAS S-T HUMB- POS ITIO N)

Thanks for checking this out! - Lauren Pierce

Tagged: classical (/lesson/?tag=classical)

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 Join the discussion…

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Bill Mottinger
− ⚑
8 months ago
Thank you so much, Lauren, for this compilation of articulations so nicely
demonstrated. Hope you have a wonderful, happy prosperous New Year.
△ ▽ Reply

Georg Óskar Ólafsson

10 months ago
− ⚑

Very helpful.A real professional guide.Awesome.

△ ▽ Reply

Josh Uá
10 months ago
− ⚑

awesome!
△ ▽ Reply

Gordon Harvey
− ⚑
a year ago
This is truly an outstanding resource! The best guide to articulations I've seen anywhere
for any stringed instrument. The right amount of information of the right kind delivered
with the right use of media. Great job!
△ ▽ Reply

Andrea
− ⚑
a year ago

Thank you so much ! Wonderful resources!

△ ▽ Reply

Joe Wimberley
a year ago
− ⚑

This is fabulous, the live clips are a great resource to check if I'm doing it right.
AND, the spiccato link is very death metal...is that Lauren's new project?
△ ▽ Reply

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 △ ▽ Reply

Geoff Chalmers > Joe Wimberley

− ⚑
a year ago
Lol, she's hoping to get a distortion pedal and a marshal stack this Christmas :-)
△ ▽ Reply

Deryl Gallant
− ⚑
a year ago
what a fantastic resource this is! Thanks so much for compiling this.
△ ▽ Reply

Geoff Chalmers > Deryl Gallant

− ⚑
a year ago
Thanks Deryl! :-)
△ ▽ Reply

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