Double Bass Orchestral

Technique
Contents
General Advice
Resources for beginners
How to practice
Method and Etude Books
Equipment
Injury prevention
General Technique
Health issues related to playing
Intonation
Musicality
Playing fast passages
Using a metronome
Right Hand Technique
Tips for differentiating styles
Fundamental bow strokes
Bow effects
Pizzicato
Left Hand Technique
Vibrato
Shifting
Dexterity
[I]Must have[/I] recordings
Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Mahler
Mozart
R. Strauss
Stravinsky
Excerpts
J.S. Bach
Beethoven
Brahms
Britten
Ginastera
Haydn
Mozart
Mendelssohn
Mahler
Mussorgsky/Ravel
Prokofiev
R. Strauss
Stravinsky
Tchaikovsky
Verdi
Standard Concertos
Koussevitzky
Bottesini No.2
Vanhal
Dittersdorf No.2
Bach Cello Suites
Suite No. 1
Suite No. 2
Suite No. 3
Suite No. 4
Suite No. 5
Suite No. 6
Student Pieces
 Capuzzi Concerto
Eccles Sonata
Marcello Sonatas
Miscellaneous
Rossini Duet for Cello and Double Bass in D major

General Advice (top)

Resources for beginners (top)

First, stop reading and go get a teacher. Come back when you've
got one.

Talkbass beginner's guide

Articles by David Gage: David's Corner
Andy Anderson teaches the double bass (10 youtube videos)
Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10
Michael Klinghoffer's videos on Teach me to drive a double
bass.

How to practice (top)

Have a routine. Your routine will be different depending on personal

preference, your level of playing and your goals. Pretty much all
routines should include:

Warm up
scales/arpeggios
 technical exercises
music, of course

Additional suggestions are:

record yourself
find a limit to your ability (Dynamics, speed, etc) and push it a
little bit
time yourself, so that you can control efficiency (you won't be
unemployed forever...)
take short breaks

The primary factor that should set your routine is your goal. Check
out this thread for examples of routines.

Warm up. There are lots of routines for Warm-up. Suggestions

include:

Stretching and moving your body before playing

Long tones on Open strings
vomits (see here)
12421424 pattern with left hand, shift up half step, repeat.
Check out Max Dimoff's warm up exercises.

Play scales/arpeggios. It can be grueling and tedious, but

repetition of scales and arpeggios is a key part of learning to play in
tune. Make sure to practice all keys and different fingerings and
practice with a metronome (and drone/tuner). Advice for making
scale practice more fun:

play musically and beautifully

use different rhythms and bowings
 challenge yourself to find new and useful fingerings
play as fast or as slow as possible

The Flesch scale system is a standard, with some version of Ševčík

to guide bowings. Also, most method books will have scales written
out with recommended fingerings, but you could try Rabbath Book
3 or Bill Bentgen's site or Vade Mecum or Morton's Miraculous
fingerings for supplementary ideas.

Method and Etude Books (top)

The great big thread on method books.

Simandl New Method for String Bass

Published in 1881, this is the most commonly used method book out
there. Simandl teaches the use of a "closed hand" 124 or 123
fingering pattern, dividing the fingerboard into 12 positions. Some
newer books are extensions or modifications of the Simandl
technique. Don't miss the Simandl 30 Etudes and Gradus ad
Parnassum.

Billè New Method for Double Bass

Published by Ricordi. There are a lot of books: Part I Volumes 1,2,3,4

and Part II Volumes 4,5,6 and an etude book 18 Studies in All Keys.
For beginners, go with Part I Vol 1 (Ricordi 261) and for someone
comfortable with the fingerboard up to the octave go with Part I Vol
3 (Ricordi 263). Ricordi 263 has a lot of very musical etudes in all
keys which provide a good supplement to Simandl or other
methods, and doesn't include anything in thumb position.
Rabbath Nouvelle Technique de la contrebasse

This method book is arguably the most distinct alternative to

Simandl. Rabbath divides the fingerboard into six "positions" larger
than the stretch of the hand, and each position is covered by
pivoting. Rabbath also focuses attention on the bow. The method
itself is controversial, but many players use pivoting in their playing.

Hans Sturm discusses Rabbath technique: 1, 2, 3, 4

Article by Jason Heath on Rabbath vs Simandl (and Vance): here

and the follow-up here.

Nanny Complete Method for the 4 and 5 stringed bass

Streicher My way of playing the Double Bass

Petracchi Simplified Higher Technique

Zimmerman A contemporary concept of bowing technique for the

double bass

A book of bowing exercises, excerpts and etudes, all built around

the idea of practicing string crossings. This book catches a lot of
criticism from some people (outdated, repetitive, aimless). Others
find it very useful. Definitely not a substitute for Ševčík, but a
supplement.

Ševčík School of Bowing Technique

A book of bowing exercises and etudes, meant to develop all

aspects of bowing technique. The original work is for violin. There
are various adaptations for bass: Robinson (Strokin') or Reinke or
Tarlton or Gajdos. The last one is free to download. You can also
freely download (and use effectively) the cello version.

Equipment (top)

If you are a beginner shopping for a bass, check out the Beginner'
Guide to Buying a Double Bass

Injury prevention (top)

Here is a great collection of links related to injury prevention and

awareness of health issues.

Because of the physicality of the double bass, we are very

susceptible to injuring ourselves. Here are some basic suggestions
to prevent injury:

Warm up off the instrument. Some warm-up exercises here.

Others?
Warm up on the instrument. Some ideas here or here.
Be conscious of your body, and if something hurts, stop.
Consider Alexander technique.
Invest in some high fidelity earplugs, which can be purchased
through an audiologist.

Playing with an ensemble

Sitting versus standing
General Technique (top)
Health issues related to playing (top)

A great collection of links on health issues.

Intonation (top)

Good intonation is something all bass player, even pros, must

continually work on. Suggestions for working on intonation:

Practice scales and arpeggios routinely.

Play along with a drone (tonic + dominant preferably) to fix your
pitch as you go. Set the drone on the tonic of your scale or the
key of your etude. Some players say to be wary of relying on a
drone. Discussion here and here.
Find drones here or here, for example.
Playing along with a tuner is also an option. Strobe tuners
are better than any needle type, there are iPhone and
Android strobe tuner apps.
Harmonics may also be used to check intonation. As an
example, there are Harmonics on the G string where B, C,
D, E, octave G and octave D are located. Since there may
be a harmonic tone over a Wide space for a given note,
lightly touch the string while bowing and move your finger
to the spot where there is the least amount of vibration.
That is the true harmonic. Press down on the string while
bowing again and the resulting note will be in tune.
 Be able to sing/hear the notes you are about to play. Doing this
correctly will involve some ear training. See here and here for
more on that.
Intonation in an ensemble is also about listening and adjusting,
even if you think you are right. Listen for pitch around you and
in other instruments of similar range (cellos and bassoons for
example). Always remember that pianos and other keyboard
instruments are not going to match what you are used to, which
makes concertos difficult to play in tune and an exercise in
compromise.
Further reading here.

Musicality (top)

10 tips on musical bass playing

1. Listen to great opera singers. Try to observe how they Sustain

notes, apply vibrato, use rubato and make cadences.
2. Go to live concerts where respected soloists are playing works
from the repertoire.
3. Record yourself playing and criticize yourself.
4. Work slowly with a metronome so you understand the rhythm
of what you're playing so you can be elastic with it when the
time comes. One of the most common 'unmusical' pitfalls is not
understanding how the rhythm changes organically in ritenutos
etc..
5. Listen to great string players. Observing Heifitz, Cassals,
Bashmet or Milstein will teach you much more about music
than listening to most virtuoso bassists even if the bassists
offer more technical information on where a particular note
 might be played. The sheer physical effort involved playing the
double bass well consumes a large amount of energy which
would otherwise be directed towards more 'musical' ends.
6. If you play well enough to be involved in chamber music try to
work as closely with your fellow musicians as you can,
duplicating phrasing and Dynamics, note lengths and accents
etc.
7. Be flexible. Never assert that your interpretation is definitive.
8. If you play in a section where you are not the principal, try not
only to copy the first players but to understand their philosophy
through which they reach the decisions about how they play.
9. If you are lucky enough to be a principal bassist try to
encourage your players to be with you emotionally, and
psychologically as well as physically. Praise good work and try
to find out why things go wrong when they do and fix them.
10. Be yourself! Know your limitations and don't tackle works way
beyond your level. Playing an easy piece musically is so much
better than playing a difficult piece badly!

Playing fast passages (top)

There are basic approaches to playing an unapproachable passage.

Before trying any, you should (tentatively) decide on a
fingering/bowing. You can of course adjust these decisions as you
go. A metronome is essential here.

Begin at a very slow tempo, slow enough that you can play the
passage without struggling, tensing up, or doing other things
that you wouldn't normally do.
 Play through the passage at this tempo until it feels
comfortable.
Add rhythmic variations at this tempo. For example, if you
are playing quarter notes, replace the quarter note with a
dotted eight + sixteenth note. Do other variations too.
Kick up the metronome a couple clicks and return to step
1. When building up speed, you should use very little left
hand contact, trying to emulate the amount of contact you
would have at Full tempo. With this amount of contact, the
bow speed should be slower and the notes should not
speak as well as you would expect at a slow tempo.
Begin reasonably close to the performance tempo. Again make
sure that you are not tense or struggling as you play. The idea
of the following is to emphasize the fact that every single note
of the passage is important; each note has a beginning and an
end.
Play just the first note of the passage, imagining the
passage continuing after you play.
Play the first two notes of the passage, then play the first
three notes of the passage, then the first four, etcetera,
until you have played the whole passage.
Return to step 1, but begin on the second note of the
passage instead. Next time through, begin on the third
note, etcetera.
Some further reading here and here.

Using a metronome (top)

Smart use of a metronome can make it less annoying and more

useful. There are two basic uses for a metronome:
Developing good rhythm. The ultimate goal of metronome use
here is to internalize rhythm (and tempo) so that you can play
rhythmically without the metronome or play purposely outside of a
steady beat. Here are some tips for doing this:

First and most basic idea: set the metronome on the beat that
you feel the time rather than a further subdivision. Do the
subdivision in your head.
Set the metronome on the largest subdivision possible (halfs,
whole bars or even multiple bars). Further subdivision should
be done in your head.
Set your metronome on the backbeat (beats 2 and 4 of a 4/4
pattern for example). For some reason this especially helps if
you are rushing 16th or faster note patterns. Be careful not to
start playing rock and roll or you'll never get a job.
Put the click on a funny beat in the measure, like 4, or even the
and of 2. See here.
Play tough subdivisions of the beat. For instance, with your
metronome beating quarters, play a scale or etude on quarter
note triplets (three notes to 2 clicks) or play quarter notes with
the metronome beating half note triplets (4 notes to 3 clicks).
You can make this exercise really hard if you try.
Play just in front or just behind the beat. That is, play as if the
click is coming a split second earlier or later than it actually is. It
is useful to be able to do this in orchestra for various reasons
(pushing without accelerating or playing in time with an
instrument that is far away for example).
Use just the blinking light on your metronome, no sound.
Further reading here or here or here.
Developing good timing. The idea here is to make sure that the the
notes you play begin and end at the right place. Some ideas for
practice:

Basic détaché stroke exactly with the metronome.

String crossings exactly with the metronome.
Longer notes with a rest in between. Make sure that you start
and stop exactly in rhythm.
Short Series of spiccato notes with rests in between. Focus on
a Clean and even start and finish.
Metronome set at higher subdivision to make sure that your
rhythm doesn't become "lazy" (make sure those dots or double
dots don't drift into triplets or vice versa).

Right Hand Technique (top)

General reading: A guide to orchestral bowings

Tips for differentiating styles (top)

Discussion here and here.

Mozart

Beethoven

Brahms
Fundamental bow strokes (top)

Détaché

Legato

Portato

Staccato

Linked, hooked

Discussion here.

Spiccato

Crisp, brushed, Marcato

Tremolo

Bow effects (top)

Ponticello

Sul tasto

Col Legno

Pizzicato (top)
Left Hand Technique (top)
Vibrato (top)

There are many ways to learn and practice vibrato. It can be taught
as a rocking motion: moving sharp then flat around the desired
pitch. In lower positions this rocking comes from the arm, not the
wrist. In thumb it can come more from flexibility in the wrist. It can
also be taught similar to violin vibrato: sliding sharp then flat around
the note with no pressure. Pressure is gradually applied until it
sounds like vibrato. The vibrato motion is the same as the shifting
motion. More reading here and here and here.

An exercise for starting out: here. General suggestions:

practice rhythmic vibrato with a metronome (slow and fast)

practice different "width" vibrato
practice maintaining vibrato through shifts and finger changes
(playing scales or vomits for example)
don't forget to try vibrating on your thumb
generally, vibrate "around" the pitch rather than "up to it" (this
is a little controversial)
listen to singers and other strings for musical ideas

Shifting (top)

Further reading here.

Dexterity (top)

Exercises:

dexterity exercises

Further reading here.

[I]Must have[/I] recordings (top)

It's hard to be a good player if you don't have something/someone
to emulate. You should build a basic listening library. Here are some
recordings that a lot of people think are good. Most of them are
relatively cheap, and some of them are historically significant.

Bach (top)

Pablo Casals, Cello Suites amazon

Pieter Wispelwey amazon

Anner Bylsma amazon

Yo-Yo Ma amazon

Beethoven (top)

Karajan and Berlin Phil (1963) Symphonies 1-9: amazon

Carlos Kleiber and Wiener Phil Symphonies 5 & 7 amazon

Brahms (top)

Mahler (top)

Bernstein with New York Phil, complete amazon

Solti with Chicago Symphony amazon

Mozart (top)

Mackerras and Prague Chamber orchestra, all symphonies: amazon

Pinnock and The English Concert, all symphonies amazon

R. Strauss (top)

Fritz Reiner and Chicago Symphony (Don Juan, Ein Heldenleben)

Stravinsky (top)

Excerpts (top)
Getting music: The orchestra music below is frequently in public
domain, so can be downloaded for free. See

International Music Score Library Project

Bill Bentgen's website
Recommended Listening:

Harold Robinson Double Bass Excerpts Part 1, Part 2

Miscellaneous

A survey of the frequency of requested exerpts.

J.S. Bach (top)

Orchestral Suite #2

Badinerie
Double

Beethoven (top)

Symphony 3

Movt. 3 (Scherzo)

Symphony 5

Movt. 2
Movt. 3 (Scherzo and Trio)

Symphony 7
Symphony 9

Recitative
"Ode to Joy" theme

Brahms (top)

Symphony 1

Symphony 2

1st Mvt
4th Mvt

Britten (top)

The Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra (variation 8)

Listen here

Ginastera (top)

Variaciones Concertantes XI (Solo)

Listen: here or here

Download: here or here.
Haydn (top)

Symphony 31 "Hornsignal" (Solo)

Listen: here or here

Download: here

Symphony 88

Mozart (top)

Symphony 35

Symphony 39

Symphony 40

Mendelssohn (top)

Symphony 4

Mahler (top)

Symphony 1

Principal Bass Solo

Owen Lee on Mahler 1 solo

Symphony 2
Mussorgsky/Ravel (top)

Pictures At An Exhibition

Prokofiev (top)

Lieutenant Kije

Principal Bass Solo

Owen Lee on Kije solo

Symphony No. 1

R. Strauss (top)

Ein Heldenleben

Don Juan

Stravinsky (top)

Pulcinella Suite (Revised 1949 version)

download: here

Tchaikovsky (top)
Symphony No. 4

Verdi (top)

Otello

Music: here
Listen: here and here

Standard Concertos (top)

Koussevitzky (top)

Serge Koussevitzky, bass player and conductor of the Boston

Symphony from 1924-1949, wrote this concerto in 1902
(supposedly with orchestration help from R. Gliére) and premiered it
in 1905.

Solo parts:

download (Public domain)

Arrangements for orchestra:

Ludwin

Recommended listening:

Gary Karr youtube,amazon

 Edicson Ruiz Part 1, Part 2
Rinat Ibragimov Part 1, Part 2
Serge Koussevitzky himself

Bottesini No.2 (top)

Giovanni Bottesini composed this concerto possibly in the 1870s???

Solo part:

no public domain download?

Recommended Listening:

Rinat Ibragimov Youtube

Edgar Meyer Amazon or archive.org
Ludwig Streicher youtube

Vanhal (top)

Written by Johann Baptist Vanhal in the 1770's for the bassist

Johannes Sperger. It is usually performed in D major or C major (E
major or D major solo tuning).

Solo part:

no public domain download?

Recommended listening:
 Scott Pingle with SF Academy
Rinat Ibragimov (Viennese tuning)

Dittersdorf No.2 (top)

Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf composed this concerto around 1762.

Solo part:

download (original manuscript from 1763)

Recommended listening:

Ludwig Streicher Mvmt 1, Mvmt 2, Mvmt 3

Rinat Ibragimov (Viennese tuning)

Bach Cello Suites (top)

Suite No. 1 (top)

Originally in G major, and usually played at cello pitch, although the

Sterling edition is transposed to C major.

Recommended Listening:

Jeff Bradetich, prelude, allemande, courante, sarabande, minuet,

gigue. Buy the DVD here or rhapsody here.

Edgar Meyer, amazon (included suites 3 and 5 too)

Suite No. 2 (top)

Suite No. 3 (top)

This suite is originally in C major, and is sometimes played at cello

pitch. More often it is transposed to G major (see International
edition Ed Bernat, for example). Bourrées I and II from this suite are
very common audition pieces.

Recommended Listening:

Rinat Ibragimov, Movements 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,

Suite No. 4 (top)

Suite No. 5 (top)

Originally in C minor. Played in the original key at cello pitch or often

transposed to A minor.

Recommended Listening:

Derek Zadinsky, Prelude, Courant

Nikita Naumov Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande,
Gavotte I & II,

Gigue
Suite No. 6 (top)

Recommended Listening:

James Oesi Allemande

Student Pieces (top)

Capuzzi Concerto (top)

Listen:

Bozo Paradzik 1st mvmt, 2nd and 3rd mvmt. This version is the
"original composers version", played in D major, but an octave
higher than a beginner would want to play it.

Zbigniew Borowicz 1st mvmt (this is at the pitch most students

would play)

Part:

imslp (first movement only, D major version)

Yorke edition (D major, good for beginners)

Eccles Sonata (top)

A baroque sonata, originally written for violin by Henry Eccles, an

English composer.
Listen:

Klaus Stoll Largo, Corrente, Adagio, Vivace

Part:

imslp (use cello transcription)

Marcello Sonatas (top)

Miscellaneous (top)
Rossini Duet for Cello and Double Bass in D major
(top)

Recommended Listening: