Jason Heath’s Double Bass Blog

Prompted by a recent listener question on Contrabass Conversations, double bassist Phillip Serna wrote in with some notes from a technique class he recently gave on trilling. I thought that it would prove to be interesting reading for many string players out there. Enjoy!
Discussion on Trills from Valparaiso University - Double Bass Faculty - [...]

 

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We’re featuring something a bit unusual for this week’s Contrabass Conversations episode. Ball State University bass professor and International Society of Bassists president Hans Sturm has been featured several times on the podcast in video episodes, and this week we’re featuring Hans discussing the fundamentals of the Rabbath technique left hand positioning system.
This dialogue [...]

This is a guest post from German bassist Andreas Wiebecke-Gottstein. Learn more about Andreas at his website www.probass.de. Enjoy!
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„Do you know Thoedor Albin Findeisen?„ - „ Findeisen? - Isn´t it this guy who has written this
double bass method!„ So, in any case, most double-bass players and double bass learners will
answer to this question which was [...]

Ahh, those lovely and divisive double bass issues like standing–fodder for eternal and impassioned debate on both sides of the fence. Deciding whether or not to stand while playing the instrument (or to do both depending on the context) is a pivotal decision for every single bassist, and it is the source of much controversy [...]

Bassist Jon Stefaniak recently forwarded a link to me featuring this excerpt of a video lesson with Metropolitan Orchestra Principal Bass Tim Cobb.  Tim teaches a bass student (likely a Juilliard student, though this is not specified in the video notes) the primary first movement audition lick from Mozart’s Symphony No. 40.

The entire video [...]

Post by Phillip Serna - www.phillipwserna.com
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My student Patrick Richards (has a fabulous project restoring amplifiers and bass guitars for low-income bass students http://www.myspace.com/thefreewheels &
http://www.myspace.com/swimmermissing) passed on this interesting post by Denson Angelo, bassist and teacher in the Salt Lake City area. It is always good to find new stretches and exercises to do while on [...]

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 [...]

If At First You Don’t Succeed recently posted about a comment from bass blog contributor Benjy detailing his experiences studying the Rabbath technique.  There is a lot similarity between Rabbath’s scale and arpeggio practice methodology and that of Ivan Galamian, and this post details a cellist’s perspective on this sort of practicing.  It’s always interesting [...]

I’ve been exchanging some great e-mails recently with electric bassist Ben Torrey, who blogs about and performs classical music for the electric bass (although he also plays upright as well). Yes, that’s right–a bass blog specializing in classical music for electric bass. How cool!

International Society of Bassists President and Ball State University Bass Professor Hans Sturm and I got together recently and filmed a chat about the Rabbath left hand position technique. This final segment of our chat covers more general mental approaches to practicing the double bass.
If you’d like to watch the complete series, you can do [...]