Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

University of North Texas and Cleveland Institute of Music bass professor Jeff Bradetich will be hosting his annual master classes this coming week in Denton, Texas. With that in mind (and with some gentle nagging from my students), I’m putting Jeff’s technique packet up as a PDF download. This packet is the one that Jeff gave to me in high school, so it is fairly old, and while I made my best Photoshopping attempt to clean it up, it still shows its crusty old age. Here are the details for the packet, along with some other materials that you may get a kick out of. All of this material is available from my (recently revamped) downloads page.

I have a lot more material to add to this page, but time is at a premium these days, and blog plus podcast plus playing plus teaching equals very little free time for such projects. Expect to see more material added to this page over the summer. I have a big stack of material that I plan to add sitting next to my scanner, and I’m looking forward to having an opportunity to tackle it and share it with the community.

If you have any materials that you would like to contribute, please e-mail me (jsh17@yahoo.com). I’d be happy to share it with blog readers!

Jeff Bradetich Technique Packet (PDF 5.2 MB)

University of North Texas and Cleveland Institute of Music double bass professor Jeff Bradetich has created a technique that has truly withstood the test of time. I use this material with my students all the time. The packet includes shifting drills, 3, 4, and 5 note progressive scales, Clark thumb drills, shiftless scales, string crossing exercises, and rhythm practice figures.

Max Dimoff Warm-Up Packet (PDF)

Cleveland Orchestra principal bass Max Dimoff has a rigorous technical routine that he has developed for double bass players. You can check it out by clicking the link above.

Miloslav Gajdos Bowing Packet (PDF)

Czech bass virtuoso and master teacher Miloslav Gajdos has adapted the Sevcik School of Bowing for the double bass in this concise packet. The exercises are organized into ten groups for daily practice.