Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

National Symphony Orchestra principal bassist Robert Oppelt put together a great page of information about the wide variety of grips used by professionals on the German bow.  As a French bow player, I always find myself struggling when offering advice to students on how exactly to approach the subtleties of German bow technique, and this page is a wonderful survey of the methods used by professionals.

Robert has a great synopsis of the various German bow grips commonly used, along with a photo for each one.  Here’s a brief synopsis–you’ll definitely want to check out his site for descriptions of the following grips (plus the accompanying photos):

1. Two fingers on top, free thumb
2. Like the previous, but only the first finger applies the weight
3. Two fingers on top, assisted by the thumb on the stick
4. One finger on top and thumb on top
5. Fingers on top, thumb buried under first finger
6. Side of the thumb on top along stick, fingers on side (or tip of first finger on top)
7. Similar to (6), but the thumb is less on its side, more on its tip
8. Thumb on top along stick, frog deep in hand
9. Thumb along stick, frog very deep in hand, wrist very bent
10. Straight thumb, bow further out in fingers and thumb
11. Thumb wraps over stick at about 45 degree angle, stick not completely deep in the hand

This is a fantastic resource for bassists everywhere, and I know that I’ll be referring to it frequently in my own teaching.