Hi, it's Geoff Chalmers here, from discoverdoublebass.com.
That's the home for free video double bass lessons online.
So, if you're interested in more like this, please go and check the website out.
Now, I hope that you enjoyed the piece that you just heard.
And it's a steady piece that I have written to help you play basically with drones, with
open strings acting as a drone.
Now, the melody is all played on the D string and I'm using adjacent open strings to act
as a reference point.
Now, because the melody is all on one string, you've really got to have your shifting together.
And you got of be playing in tune or those drone notes will show a penny overs.
So, let's have a look at the piece and the techniques behind it right now.
Well, drones are really effective when you're practicing and I often use them if I'm playing
arco.
So, for instance, if I'm playing, just to tune up this A, I'll play the open D. And
I'll keep referencing against that open D, but it will also work if you're playing pizz
as well.
And now, I'm playing open D in a D Major scale, but you don't have to keep everything in the
same key.
You could practice other scales and arpeggios.
So, for instance, you could practice Bb Major.
And I'm referencing against the open D still to make sure it does the A, using the harmonic
as a tuning anchor, to make sure that I'm actually playing in tune.
So, these open strings are really important.
You can play pizz/arco, they're both going to work.
Now, the piece that I'm playing combines the two, and its starts on the note B. And then
what I'm doing is, I'm gently plucking with my...so I'm playing the B with my little finger
here, and I play the A twice, and then the open G.
Now, you can even hammer on those, but I find it harder to do in this piece because the
clanking against the finger board starts to be a bit too prominent.
But you could do that.
But let's just keep to open strings right now.
And then I'm moving up to the D harmonic with my third finger.
Now, D and C#.
And all the time, the open strings are ringing, so I can hear that the C# is in tune.
Let's play that again.
D harmonic and there's the D harmonic sounding, I'm shifting back.
And what's happening here, I'm going between the D and F#.
And when I come back down... so, from the beginning.
When I come back down to the D, there's this little melody.
And that's the first finger, the third finger on the E, and then the E shifts to the D,
to allow me to play the C# with my second finger.
Down to the A, with my first finger.
So, let's go through the whole little section and it repeats from there.
Up to the D, the harmonic, shift back, C#.
And we start from the beginning again.
To the D, following to the C#, on the second time.
Another sweet piece of a piece, but it then it goes all the way to the note B there.
So, let's see what's happening there.
B, the low B. So, what are those notes?
D, F#, D, F#, A, and then it goes up to the note B. And when I hit the note B, I play
the open G with my thumb.
And then I slide down to the A and play the open A.
So, and that part there, I'm going A to F#, F# to E, E to D. So, I'm going back down there.
A, F#, E, D. I'll do that phrase ascending and then back down.
So, there's the A, that's the F#, down to the E. And then, when I hit the D here, at
the bottom, you go E and then D at the end.
I'm playing the E, the D sorry, the harmonic.
I'm plucking the string with my first finger and plucking the G at the same time.
And then, up bow and then finally one last down bow.
And I'm going to release the pressure halfway through the bow stroke without stopping the
bow.
So, that really disguises the change of note, from the lower octave to the higher octave
to lower octave.
It's less obvious then going...you know, you just kind of smooth the edges out there.
And keep it nice and slow as I move towards the tip.
So, the only real, well...the challenging aspects are the shifting.
And I would recommend picking the notes, maybe let's practice staccato for a second.
And just moving in between them.
There's the F#, the A, the B, F#, E, D, B. So, really practice coming back and getting
in first position with the neck heel to get that note, the B here.
And the other thing you need to work on, is letting the B sound.
I'm picking the other open string.
So, let's just...the first phrase again.
So, just keep doing that.
And at this end, because the B is in under my second finger, it kind of makes sense to
pluck the open G with my thumb.
And when I finally get down to the bottom here, I'm doing the same kind of thing, where
I'm playing the D and I'm plucking the G, at the same time.
So, this combination of pizz and arco is really a fun thing to practice.
It's just a little, you know, area that you can explore.
It will help you with your tuning, you might be able to compose some interesting pieces
with different textures.
It has a very layered and thick sound and I really like it.
Works well in the solo context, but not quite as well in a band context.
So, you may want to bear that in mind.
I hope you enjoyed today's lesson.
If you have, you can let me know by clicking that "like" button on YouTube and we will
be able to share these with more people.
Keep practicing hard and I will see you next time.